Max Sawicky wrote:
>
>
> A neglected factor is that those who control the Dems
> et al. would rather retain control of a losing party than
> lose control of a winning party.
>
I believe this is [only?] a more moderate and considered statement of a proposition that I have put forth a number of times:
The DP's reason to exist, and the alpha and omega of its politics, is to bar or hamper the emergence of mass working-class movements outside the electoral process. (This, incidentally, perhaps explains why "Northern Liberals" and Southern racists were able to coexist happily in the party until the rise of the Civil Rights Movement.) So _of course_ its leaders would far rather lose than compromise this central function of the party. This is why Dukakis quite carefully and deliberately went back on his "promise" to the Jackson following to provide money for voter registration. Mass door-to-door voter registration such as we had practiced in the campaign was exceedingly dangerous, because we usually spent quite a bit of time in each home talking politics in general with the person(s) we were registering. Such conversations are the core of any mass movement.
Carrol