I’ve given a few hundred bucks here and there to the Democrats. I gave to John Kerry in the 2004 primaries when things looked hopeless. That money was well-used, since he became the front-runner just after cashing it. I should have given him a few hundred more after primary season, that undoubtedly would have been the turning point to beat Bush! I haven’t given this primary season (all the Democrats are good enough for me), but I’ll probably chip in again during the general election.
I’ve focused more on Congressional campaigns the last four years. I’ve given a bit each year to the DCCC, the clearing house for Democrat congressional races. But I’m done with that. Two particular incidents have sent me over the edge.
1) As part of the ongoing FISA madness, Congress is trying to give the telecoms retroactive immunity from any lawsuits. That’s bad. Chris Dodd has been taking the lead in trying to stop this. He placed a hold on the bill. Harry Reid ignored it. That is very bad. These holds are incredibly pernicious (one of my father’s favorite words), in which any senator can stop pretty much anything, just by asking. They are always honored. Harry Reid decided to make an exception. The exception was for a Democrat, his own party!, who was concerned about the President breaking the law and the Constitution. Harry Reid apparently was not. Glenn Greenwald has the definitive take on this, as well as many other posts about it.
2) Hedgefund managers found a loophole in the tax code that lets them treat their income as capital gains instead of normal income. This is a much better taxrate, it nets them hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe billions. This is a simple loophole, an understandable oversight in complicated tax law. Not a big deal, you just close the loophole and get back to business, right? Wrong. Once again, a prominent Democrat stepped in. Charles Shumer (D-NY/Wall Street) stopped the legislation. He didn’t even try to defend what he did — he knows it was craven pandering to his donors. That’s money lost that could be used to pay down the debt, pay for Iraq for a while, get ready for the growing “unfunded liabilities”, help with the subprime crisis, all kinds of useful things.
I’m not giving them any more money for a while.
ultimately, I don’t think you should give them any money until they startdoing their jobs.
while, yes, the republicans have been filibustering or threatening to, the dems have been backing down without a fight.
as I said in your “do nothing congress” post, the dems HAVE to stand up and show the country what is hppeninf, not roll over in fear. They have been given a mandate to change thing, and all they seem to do is exactly what the republicans want them to do (instead of what the american people want)