Opposition or Infiltration?

The progressive declaration of independence from the Democratic Party posted at Docudharma, and excerpted here yesterday, has provoked a response from The Dog, who argues in favor of infiltrating the Democratic Party in the guise of challenging progressives to build an effective progressive opposition to the global warfare and corporate welfare state. The Dog helpfully summarizes the party building process from foundation, through candidate and staff recruitment to acquiring ballot access and ensuring funding, but the intention of the piece is to dissuade others from engaging in third party activism by framing it as a virtually impossible task. Of course, there is no need for progressives to build a new party from scratch. If, as The Dog argues, progressives would be better served by working within the structure of an already existing party, there are any number of progressive, left-wing alternatives to the Democrats, from the Greens to the various Socialist Parties, which, unlike the Democrats, are sympathetic to or explicitly advocate a progressive agenda and are not invested in the reproduction of the political status quo.