According to this Globe article, the chair of the Framingham Democratic Town Committee, abruptly resigned her post because of disillusionment with the Democratic Party. What they interesting leave out is that she quit the party altogether and registered Unenrolled, which she makes clear in her letter to the Democratic Town Committee (which they did publish).
Sivan says:
1. Our state of Perpetual War is continuing and even expanding. Next thing you know we’ll be in Yemen. Our resources are being spent, horrible atrocities are being committed by US troops, and the wars are pointless and unwinnable…2. The bailout which favored the very people who were to blame in the first place and has left in place the deregulation and too-big-to-fail institutions, while doing very little for the bottom 95% of us.
3. The continuing erosion of our civil rights to the point where American citizens are no longer guaranteed due process or habeas corpus, which basically means anyone the government deems as troublesome can be “disappeared”…
The final straw was the travesty of the Health Care Insurance Reform bill that was passed in the Senate on Christmas Eve. Not only is this a huge giveaway to Insurance companies, not only will this leave millions uninsured, not only does this bill include no cost controls and is structured as a means-based entitlement, which means that like welfare it will constantly be under attack from the Right, the 30% co-insurance will leave many families unable to utilize their insurance without going into bankruptcy. Just like today, except that today they aren’t forced into buying something they can’t afford. And as a final insult, it includes provisions stripping women of the most basic right of all – ownership of their own bodies. Note to Democrats – pro-choice is in the party’s platform and you don’t compromise on principles.
Open Letter to Rochelle Sivan below the jump.
Dear Rochelle,
THANK YOU. Thank you for your clearheaded move to part ways with a political party so invested in protecting and maximizing private profit at the expense of the people it pretends to represent. Thank you for your courageous letter of resignation from your Democratic Town Committee. And thank you for putting the public interest above everything else — party loyalty, party identity, or the social comforts of toeing the party line. This is a victory for your conscience more palpable than any victory the Democratic Party has been able to rack up in recent years.
The 4 things you pointed out as reasons for departure — perpetual war, bailouts to the greedy Wall Street firms which created the economic crisis, continued erosion of civil liberties, and the corporate welfare disguised as health reform — are important reasons to withhold your support from the Democrats.
But I would like to ask you to go one step further. You say there is no viable third party, but in Massachusetts what we need is a second party — a single opposition party that can present a countervailing force to corporate duopoly politics. The best hope for a second party in Massachusetts is the Green-Rainbow Party, whose commitment to grassroots democracy matches up nicely to the examples you gave for those working outside the existing political system.
The Green-Rainbow Party, however, is fully committed to a transformation of the political system because it is a system that is rotten to its core. We need grassroots democracy now more than ever. We need accountability, contested elections, democratic reforms that open up the process to regular people and safeguard decision-making from the special interests that currently run the show. By switching to Unenrolled, you have declared your independence, which is an important step in itself. But by remaining independent, you will voluntarily marginalize your voice. You will not have candidates to vote for that represent your values.
If you take an extra step and register in the Green-Rainbow Party today, you would be declaring something much stronger than disaffiliation. You would be joining with thousands of people in Massachusetts who have come to the same conclusions you have, and who share a common vision for the way things can be if the public interest ruled the day on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill. You would be standing together with alarmed citizens who have watched our rights taken away, who have seen our tax dollars fund egregious crimes — foreign and domestic, and who have seen people and the planet under ever-accelerating assault. And you would be merging your voice into a growing chorus that is singing out a bold new vision for true prosperity and true security based on justice and sustainability.
I think your letter to the Framingham Democratic Town Committee was the first note of a beautiful song.
Yours in hope, change, and action,
Eli Beckerman
Proud registered member of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts
Or, in other words, Join the Party!
#
I have spoken to many people who have expressed similar sentiments and take the same action that Ms. Sivan did. They usually feel that by Unenrolling and being “Independent” they are making a bold statement. They are usually surprised when I point out to them that over half of voters in Massachusetts are similarly unenrolled. The follow-up question is: “How has the fact that half the voters are Unenrolled affected public policy to reflect opposition to ruling party politics?” Thanks, Eli, for suggesting that Ms. Silva join the Green-Rainbow Party. It seems from her letter that she will be welcome and she will be making a much louder and bolder statement.
#
Hope everyone hits the link and reads Ms. Silvan’s letter in full. (Her commments on the ratio of progressive to conservative Dems in the congressional caucuses–and the ironic results of the same–are especially telling).
And Mr Beckerman’s is worth sending to everyone willing to disaffiliate, but who isn’t aware of a viable alternative.
I did enjoy State Chair Walsh’s spin, explaining that the Democratic Party is a big tent with plenty of room for disagreement–“What makes the Democratic Party strong and great is that we have lots of voices and diverse opinions.” And I have no doubt that it is, and that the Party will happily accept the vote of and hard work from folks who disagree on, well, most everything the Democratic Party stands for these days (in deed, as opposed to rhetoric). But in this year of disaffection, it’s inspiring to see Ms Silvan and so many others recognizing that while the Democratic Party may indeed “have lots of voices,” the leadership sure as hell isn’t paying any serious attention to most. (Quite the opposite: see Rahm Emanuel’s recent comments on liberals, which amount to STFU and get behind us).