tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11560235.post114817584294773480..comments2024-01-26T10:25:48.047-08:00Comments on shrimplate: Hare Today, Rabbit Tomorrowshrimplatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08347542266047278227noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11560235.post-1148444842166542502006-05-23T21:27:00.000-07:002006-05-23T21:27:00.000-07:00gail:The difference though is that the internal pa...gail:<BR/><BR/>The difference though is that the internal party structure of the Democrats allows for an 'insurgent' movement to change the direction of the party. I know this because I was completely uninvolved with party politics just four years ago, ran for precinct committeeman, and was the vice chair of my county party within two years and a member of my state central committee (where we collectively elect people to become members of the DNC) within three. Or put another way, if you told the DNC leadership four years ago that today Howard Dean (whether you like him or not) would be the party chair, they'd have just about had a heart attack and keeled over.<BR/><BR/>The problem with the Republican party is not that they are in bed with corporations (after all, they have always been the party of big business), but that they are so hidebound structurally that-- well put it this way: the last Republican national ticket that didn't include a Bush or a Dole on it was <I>1972</I>. That means that there are adults with kids in high school who weren't even born the last time the GOP had a ticket without a member of one of those families on it (and it's not out of the realm of possibility that either Liddy Dole or Jeb Bush could end up on the next ticket and continue that string.) And try to effect change in the GOP? Might as well try to effect change in the College of Cardinals. True, 'keeping the team together' does help them be more organized in elections, but they have become so ossified that they have little ability to change.<BR/><BR/>I can tell you from personal knowlege and experience that the real difference between the Democrats and Republicans is not in terms of doctrine, or who their big donors are, etc. but it is in the design of the party structure. Democrats are much more transparent and more open to getting people involved at the local as well as the state level.Eli Blakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743206074537073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11560235.post-1148319919749067002006-05-22T10:45:00.000-07:002006-05-22T10:45:00.000-07:00You wrote: "Someday this will happen to America."W...You wrote: "Someday this will happen to America.<BR/><BR/>"We will wake up and Bush will be gone, our mortgages to China will be paid down, alternative energy sources will be relieving our dependence on the largesse of Middle Eastern despots, ... "<BR/><BR/>Before I die? Not likely ... Democrats, while not as bad as the Republicans, are also too beholden to Corporate Power for the good of the country.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11560235.post-1148316817839033472006-05-22T09:53:00.000-07:002006-05-22T09:53:00.000-07:00It is so weird how completey confused patients are...It is so weird how completey confused patients are just over the past couple of weeks. On my two units (51 beds total) we had 6 bedside sitters. Completely crazy. Typical nasty combination of being old AND fast. It felt like winter. <BR/><BR/>God I hope it's over. --EricAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com