| If you haven't heard yet, Garden State Equality's Board has voted to end the practice of donating to political parties, and is now going to dedicate its donating practices to those candidates and officials who share their views.
Personally, this is a great thing to see, as the Democratic Party (both on the local, state and national levels) have taken progressives for granted - using us as an ATM (or in this instance as coined by someone who I will certainly credit when I remember, a gAyTM) to elect their candidates because "the other party is worse" but then offering little in the way of real change.
"Better than the alternative" has gotten real old real quick - we have had large majorities as well as the Governorship here in NJ for quite some time now - and a good number of progressive issues and causes have gotten little traction. On the Federal level, this is the same story - first it was "we need a majority", then it was "we need a bigger House majority and 60 Senate seats", and even then it took a shitstorm to even get the repeal of DADT on the agenda.
The Democratic Party (again, here in NJ as well as on a national level) should see this as yet another sign of a wake up call. No longer are progressives happy to work and donate to the party structure only to get pushed aside. The rise of the national netroots has given progressives the ability to donate and promote individual candidates based on views, support of issues or to reward for "going to bat" for progressive causes.
Amazingly, equality is one that has to be pushed for over and over and over again - and is one that is pushed aside or given half-hearted "separate but equal" actions.
On the issue of marriage equality, AmericaBlog has already initiated a Don't Ask, Don't Give initiative, and as noted by Pam's House Blend (where you can also see the entire text of the resolution), this could lead to support for Republican Party candidates who support marriage equality.
National and State Democratic Party leaders should sit up and take notice - the progressive netroots and grassroots has been kicked around for long enough, and has been able to organize in one of the few ways that elected officials react to - money and donations. The tired excuses and lack of support by those who made promises in order to gain support and election will most certainly come back and bite them over time.
It may not be this November, but you can bet this is more of a blueprint for future netroots and grassroots campaigns and less of an aberration. The state and national Democratic Parties can ignore this or write it off, but they do so at their own peril. |
