Beltway insiders vs. You

We know what's been going wrong inside the Beltway.

The Democrats won control of Congress in 2006. Then the Democratic Senate leadership let Republicans get away with dozens of "painless filibusters," so it now takes 60 votes to pass any law. The Democratic House leadership let their subpoena power gather dust, refusing to issue contempt citations against administration scofflaws.

After thousands of emails, faxes and phonecalls, Democratic leadership finally started holding the line on FISA, extending the old bill and delaying a vote on a new law by two weeks. Though they may still let outlaw telecommunications companies and President Bush off the hook for violating the Constitution. We'll need to pour in more emails, faxes and phonecalls in the next two weeks, just to beg them to do the right thing. So they might try to hold the president accountable to the law.

The Democrats still aren't listening to you. They still don't get it.

Part of the problem is 'Democrats' like Dan Lipinski that virtually caucus with the other side. Here's what the folks over at Down With Tyranny said about Lipinski, who sits in the safe, blue, 3rd District of Illinois, but is:

• Anti-choice (has a 0% rating from Planned Parenthood and a 100% rating from the National Life to Right Committee)
• Anti-stem cell research
• Supported government intervention in the Terri Schaivo case
• Supports a constitutional amendment against flag burning
• Voted against a bill that would have set a withdrawal deadline in Iraq and voted for the Iraq war supplemental

As you read that list, you're probably wondering to yourself how Lipinski's even considered a Democrat. If you guessed that it's because he has the full support of Democratic leaders like Rahm Emanuel, or if you suspected that he had the backing of an out of touch local party, you're right. So Lipinki's constituents can't get their views represented, and have to keep sending a staunch conservative back to the Beltway, or get even worse. And we all know how good the Republicans are at being "even worse."

That's why I'm writing you today, to ask for your help, because you can put better Democrats in office. You can give to candidates who will answer to the public interest. You can give here to better Democrats who will knock corrupt Lieberdems like Lipinski out of office; www.actblue.com/page/bluemajority

Remember how satisfying it felt to knock Sen. Lieberman out of the Democratic party? I do. And I remember why. It was because we could see a future where we didn't have to beg Democrats to do the right thing. Where we could trust them to support the rule of law and oppose an unjust war. We could see a party dominated by people who shunned the cheap morality of the village gossip and embraced the timeless values of justice and liberty. People who were inspired by our founding documents, and would instinctively oppose the president, or anyone else, using the Constitution like toilet paper.

When you give to Mark Pera's campaign, you'll be making an investment in that future we saw together.

www.actblue.com/page/bluemajority

The Democratic leadership will never oppose Lipinski. They will let this corrupt, legacy politician represent your party in a safe, Blue district. And that's the real problem. They don't think it's your party, they think it's theirs. The future they want is one where they stay in power, end of story. Even if that means cowering before the establishment press, or capitulating to Republicans whose outrageous demands never let up.

Don't let Democrats keep getting away with ignoring their constituents in IL-03 and around the country. Don't let them get away with caving in to the Beltway villagers.

It's time to end the conservative governing majority in Congress. It's time to take the Democratic Party back for progressive values, and fighting against out of touch incumbents in the primaries is the best way to do that.

It tells Democrats that progressives will make our voices heard.

We will hold them accountable to voters.

We will make them prove they deserve their seats or we will fight together to replace them, a few at a time, until they finally wake up.

That future can start with you. Right now.

I'm asking you to stand with me on behalf of the future we've been hoping and working for together. I'm asking today, because when you give $50 to Mark Pera's campaign, you'll tell the Democratic leadership that this is your party, after all. And you're going to win it back.

www.actblue.com/page/bluemajority

Thanks for all you do,
Markos Moulitsas-Zuniga