Well, Bobert, there are a couple of ways one can go.

One way is to support one of the minority parties such as the Greens or the Independent Party ("Independent Party." Isn't that an oxymoron?). The problem here is that the way the political system is set up in this country, "third" parties, which generally pull maybe four or five percent of the vote at best, don't stand much of a chance. The best they can do is to indicate that there is a small percentage of people who feel they are not being represented by the two "biggies." No matter how good their platforms are, they generally have little money, and about the best they can do to get the word out that they exist at all is to have a web site and maybe have their candidate get an interview or two on an NPR station. Quick! Tell me the name of the Green Party's presidential candidate in 2004. See what I mean? I can't remember it either.

Another way:   Thom Hartmann, whose articles I have linked to several times here on Mudcat, offers what is probably the most productive outlet for one's endeavors. Here it is again. This appears to be the most optimistic option. At least the mechanism is already in place. Read this article. Read it twice. Print it out and read it again. Third party advocates don't like what Hartmann says here and want to dismiss it, but both historical and current events more than amply demonstrated that what Hartmann says is true. Hate it if you like, but think hard about it. Hartmann isn't making this up. He's just pointing out the way things are. Swear! Kick! Spit! Now—read the article again. And really think about it!

Now, at the risk of being told, "Look, Firth, you've already posted this quote at least 372 times on various threads!" I will post it yet again. When you go to party meetings, keep repeating this like a mantra:

"Between a Republican and a Democrat who acts like a Republican, the Republican will win every time!"
                                                                                                                               —Harry S. Truman

There's an organization which, as I understand it, is based on Vashon Island, near Seattle, called "The Backbone Campaign." HERE. They're on the backs (one could say "literally") of the Democratic Party, harassing the hell out of them. When you pull up the web site, go over to the right column and click on the photo of the guy with the two girls, then scroll down for the blow-up of the back of the T-shirt and read the group's platform and what they are bugging the Dems about. These folks are seriously pissed-off, and they're doing something about it.

Forget what Boss Hogg "owns" or doesn't own. The Republican Party now represents the neo-conservatives and the Christian Right because these groups knew what they wanted, they got organized, formed a coalition with each other, then moved in and essentially took over the Republican Party. Real Republicans and real conservatives (and might I add real Christians?) are not too happy about this. They got left out in the cold along with the rest of the country. In the meantime, the Democratic Party is not organized, they're standing around with their fingers up their . . . noses . . . and wondering what the hell happened. They have no direction. The best they have come up with so far is a slogan for the 2008 campaign:   "We Can Do Better!" Oh, Jaysus! If they can't do any better than that, this country, under a Christian fundamentalist neo-conservative government, will collapse into a Dark Ages-style feudal state within the next decade or two.

It's up to you and me to get in there and kick some butt. C'mon, Bobert, you're a fighter! Subscribe to the Democratic Party's e-mail news letter and bulletins (they keep begging for money, but since I don't have much, I ignore that and make my contributions in other ways) so you have an idea of what they're up to (right now, they're just sort of groping around), and also subscribe to things like AlterNet Headlines and MoveOn. Probably you already do. Good!

It's a matter of steering the Democratic Party in the right direction ("right" direction? Lousy choice of words, all things considered, but at least it's grammatically correct). If the Dems can't figure it out—as, so far, they don't seem to be able to—then it's up to people like you and me, and the folks in the Backbone Campaign organization, and other essentially disenfranchised people to give them a direction. Drag them kicking and screaming, if necessary.

If the Dems offer a definite alternative (see the back of the Backbone Campaign T-shirt), and if it is articulated clearly and briefly, and if it resonates with a sufficiently large enough number of people as I'm sure it will, then Boss Hogg's money is not going to matter that much.

Nothing will be accomplished if all we do is just sit around bitching and complaining. Attend meetings. Talk to people. Write letters. There are lots of folks out there who believe as you do. Yell your head off. Make a real pain in the ass of yourself.

(End pep talk. Let's get crackin'!)

Don Firth