According to some local Democrats all it takes to be deemed a progressive in Coos County is a declared acceptance for certain irreconcilable social issues like a woman’s right to choose abortion or tolerance of gay marriage. Admittedly, there seems to be no firm definition of the term progressive when used in political terms but to this self avowed progressive it essentially means using government resources for the betterment of society as a whole and further to curb rampant exploitation by corporations willing to sacrifice the environment, the consumer, labor and the broader public in order to benefit a few shareholders. The Democratic party in its present incarnation is indistinguishable from the GOP, in my opinion. David Sirota once explained the disconnect between liberal Democrats and liberal progressives this way.

Let’s be clear – most progressives are also liberals, and liberal goals in better funding America’s social safety net are noble and critical. It’s the other direction that’s the problem. Many of today’s liberals are not fully comfortable with progressivism as defined in these terms. Many of today’s Democratic politicians, for instance, are simply not comfortable taking a more confrontational posture towards large economic institutions (many of whom fund their campaigns) – institutions that regularly take a confrontational posture towards America’s middle-class.

Additionally, peace loving progressives such as myself are inclined to believe that civil liberties and due process ought not be forsaken under any circumstances which is why sometimes I find myself on the same side as more conservative, gun toting groups like those arguing against the Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act. A US president, a Democrat carried out the assassination of an American citizen without due process! I mean really, where is the outrage? Where is the outrage about killing villages filled with women and children with cowardly drone strikes? If it were George Bush liberal Democrats would be calling for his impeachment but the party leaders offer quiet approval of Obama’s policies. It is hard to get past this issue alone. Who wants to associate with hypocrites?

The GOP mantra of smaller government, corporate welfare, privatization of essential services, imposed austerity and deregulation are anathema to values and practices I believe make for a healthy sustainable society. Never again will I register with the party so long as it adheres to these failed principles but today I can barely see the difference between either of the major parties on matters relating to social, environmental and economic justice. Both parties seem equally willing to sacrifice public health, contribute to environmental degradation and take risky gambles with public resources. The list of failings for both parties at the national level is too long for one post and their one-size-fits-all political blueprint permeates all the way down to the grassroots. Representative Caddy McKeown* and Senator Arnie Roblan, both democrats, are almost indistinguishable based upon their votes from republicans Rep Wayne Krieger and Senator Jeff, all members of the coastal caucus.

The topic of government sanctioned economic development and analyzing the return on investment, (or lack thereof), to the taxpayer should transcend partisan politics. Does it pencil or not? Is it paying off for the taxpayer or not? Do tax credits and incentives pay off? Even food stamps and unemployment show a positive return paying back $1.68 and $1.54 into the LOCAL economy for every dollar invested. When it comes to economic development when there is a mechanism by which to quantify results it is more likely to show degrees of loss. Perhaps for this very reason more often than not, like with enterprise zones, the engineers of these subsidies never devise a system to track the results. Imagine doing that with a hedge fund, or corporate balance sheet and trying to explain to the SEC you don’t know whether the shareholders earned a dividend or not. As a progressive I would like to see all funding contingent upon a track record of success but as it stands now, state and federal commerce departments are little more than vehicles funneling cash from the treasury by way of
conduits constructed from the remnants of economically depressed regions/qualifying census tracts designated for special programs. In fact, the poorer the region the better this strategy works for the handful of distant shareholders who will benefit from the investment.

The Coos County Democratic Central Committee despite calling themselves progressive has made the party completely unpalatable to progressives like myself. Under the leadership of Mark McKelvey, the local group will vote to reverse an earlier resolution opposing the controversial Jordan Cove LNG project and, if approved, provide the developers with another power point slide for their investors showing local support for the project. The resolution proposed is based upon many false premises that ought to provide plenty of fuel and entertainment at the next meeting on May 21.

The party, also under the guidance of McKelvey and the recently formed Make The Change PAC is attempting to run a “slate” of democrats in non-partisan positions regardless of qualifications. The effort to sweep the SOCC board with Democrats is just as distasteful to voters as the CCAP pushing three Bay Area Chamber of Commerce approved candidates, the “dream team”, to the Coos County board of commissioners. Narrow, self serving agendas don’t play well and the CCAP took an expensive and very public beating trying to ram a narrow agenda down the public’s throat yet the leadership of the local Democratic party is determined to repeat the same fiasco.

Wednesday evening I received a couple of emails from McKelvey cajoling me to get on board with Make The Change if I am “sincerely interested in changing anything significant in this county”. Well, I will be voting for Holly Stamper in the SOCC race but not because she is a registered democrat and I am not going to support or promote anyone just because they play for the home team or my alma mater or the anything-but-progressive local democrats.

McKeown was not the first choice of the local party to replace Roblan. Another candidate was groomed for several months until this person displayed some independence and disagreed with Roblan, whereby the party switched to the more conforming, fossil fuel loving and well behaved McKeown.