What would it take for you...?

I hear a lot of disgruntled Democrats calling in to Air America.  I read a lot of them here and elsewhere.  The Democrats in Congress, as a bloc, are failing us. There are certainly some Democrats in both Houses of Congress trying to do the right thing.  There are now over 20 co-sponsors in the House for HR 333 to impeach Cheney.  Last I checked, 77 Representatives had signed a pledge to vote against any military funding that does not specifically outline a plan to remove all combat troops from Iraq before 2009. Dennis Kucinich is offering America a truly progressive platform from a candidate whose record shows that he really stands by what he says, from standing up to death threats when he was mayor of Cleveland to being one of a very few who were not swept up in the post 9/11 mass hysteria, but kept his reason and voted against the Patriot Act, and against the AUMF.  Great, but...

The Senate brought three bills up this week aimed at ending Bush's military misadventures in Iraq, and all were stymied not by actual Republican filibusters, but by Senate Rule 22, and Reid's unwillingness to force Republicans to actually continue debate on the issue until either cloture is reached or the measure is tabled.  Instead they were merely withdrawn after one attempt at cloture.

Quite a few Democrats, including four of the current field of presidential candidates voted to get us into the current quagmire.  The party leadership still refuses to discuss impeaching the most criminal administration this country has ever seen.  Despite falling approval numbers for failing to get done what they told us they would, they continue to take a back seat to the Republicans, or at least to the status quo.

Often, I read or hear people saying something like, "This is going to drive me to the Green Party," which is inevitably followed by some party loyalist saying, "Supporting the Green Party elects Republicans."  

For the time being, I will avoid arguing that this could only be true in a very tight race, and that folks who live in strongly Republican or Democratic states or districts need not be concerned about it.  Instead I just want to point out that if enough of us voted Green, then we might actually elect a Green, but as long as we keep the defeatist attitude that we can only choose between the two corporate-supported parties, then that will remain a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So, my question to you is:  what would it take for you to stop supporting the party that has shared power with the Republicans since 1860, and has never brought the power to the people, or given us social justice?  Did the Democrats end child labor and the 16-hour workday? No, that was labor unions.  Did the Democrats give women the right to vote, or civil rights to blacks? No, that was the people in the streets.  Rather than asking, "What have you done for us lately?" we might ask instead, "What have you ever done for us?"  OK, the FDR administration gave us Social Security and Medicare.  What else?

What would it take for you to instead support the party that supports:
Social Justice, Community-Based Economics, Nonviolence, Decentralisation, Future Focus/Sustainability, Feminism, Personal and Global Responsibility,
Respect for Diversity, Grassroots Democracy, and Ecological Wisdom?

If enough of us support Greens instead of Democrats, then we can have a party to oppose the Republicans that really supports the people.  So, what would it take for you to make the switch?