The folks in Germany had to do it after World War II.  The folks in Russia had to do it after 1989.  Some successfully accomplish it.  For some, it is a condition that lingers and lingers.  After a totalitarian state falls, there is a mess--a mess of law, of courts, of bureaucracy, and especially of finances.

In 2006, 2008,  or God forbid 2010 or 2012, what must progressive Democrats have in place, ready to implement, when we regain power?  Think FDR's hundred days.

The other diaries in this series are:
Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 1 - Laws

Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 2 - Separation of Powers

Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 3 - Civil Service

Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 4 - Cabinet Departments

This diary looks at how the structure of the executive departments reflect progressive priorities.

The folks in Germany had to do it after World War II.  The folks in Russia had to do it after 1989.  Some successfully accomplish it.  For some, it is a condition that lingers and lingers.  After a totalitarian state falls, there is a mess--a mess of law, of courts, of bureaucracy, and especially of finances.

In the midst of fretting about the filibuster, babbling about Bolton, and fulminating about Frist, we need to take a little time to look at the long view.

In 2006, 2008,  or God forbid 2010 or 2012, what must progressive Democrats have in place, ready to implement, when we regain power?  Think FDR's hundred days.

The other diaries in this series are:
Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 1 - Laws

Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 2 - Separation of Powers

Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 3 - Civil Service

This diary looks at how the structure of the executive departments reflect progressive priorities.

The folks in Germany had to do it after World War II.  The folks in Russia had to do it after 1989.  Some successfully accomplish it.  For some, it is a condition that lingers and lingers.  After a totalitarian state falls, there is a mess--a mess of law, of courts, of bureaucracy, and especially of finances.

In the midst of fretting about the filibuster, babbling about Bolton, and fulminating about Frist, we need to take a little time to look at the long view.

In 2006, 2008,  or God forbid 2010 or 2012, what must progressive Democrats have in place, ready to implement, when we regain power?  Think FDR's hundred days.

The other diaries in this series are:
Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 1 - Laws

Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 2 - Separation of Powers

This diary looks at the de-Bushification of the civil service.

The folks in Germany had to do it after World War II.  The folks in Russia had to do it after 1989.  Some successfully accomplish it.  For some, it is a condition that lingers and lingers.  After a totalitarian state falls, there is a mess--a mess of law, of courts, of bureaucracy, and especially of finances.

In the midst of fretting about the filibuster, babbling about Bolton, and fulminating about Frist, we need to take a little time to look at the long view.

In 2006, 2008,  or God forbid 2010 or 2012, what must progressive Democrats have in place, ready to implement, when we regain power?  Think FDR's hundred days.

The other diaries in this series are:
Rebuilding after the Fall of the Bushevist State 1 - Laws

This diary looks at undoing the Bushevist consolidation of powers.

The folks in Germany had to do it after World War II.  The folks in Russia had to do it after 1989, but did it somewhat badly.  Some successfully accomplish it.  For some, it is a condition that lingers and lingers.  After a totalitarian state falls, there is a mess--a mess of law, of courts, of bureaucracy, and especially of finances.

In the midst of the fretting about the filibuster, the babbling about Bolton, and the fulminating about Frist, we need to take a little time to look at the long view.

In 2006, 2008,  or God forbid 2010 or 2012, what must progressive Democrats have in place, ready to implement, when we regain power?  Think FDR's hundred days.

This diary looks at undoing the Bushevist laws.  It is time we non-lawyer, er, non-attorney, progressives start looking at the language that controls our government and a not insignificant part of our lives.  And begin to do the homework that is required of citizens in a democracy.

Back in the day, going nuclear meant doomsday, the end of the world, nuclear winter, and all that.  But in some religious circles, it meant the fulfillment of John's prophecy in Revelation.  In my mainstream Southern church, Revelation was seen as this strange book that no one had ever found the symbolic key to unlock its meaning.  My fundamentalist friends were clear about its meaning -- fire and brimstone and punishment in the fiery lake--for just seeing a movie on Sunday, even if it was about Martin Luther.  Now all of this was before the Rapture was invented, er, well before it became a popular way out of social responsibility.

Revelation is probably the book that everybody knows about but nobody has necessarily read, unless they are absorbed with apocalyptic tinhat theories that try to line up Revelation and Daniel and Genesis and anything else labeled "prophecy" in the Bible and make predictions of what will show up in tomorrow's newspaper.

Generations are a market segmenting device.  The intent is to seel different things to different age groups.  It works only to the extent that there is something distinctive about and age group.  Today, as distinct from 1960, age cohorts actually have less in common because of the fragmentation of media.

This diary is a response to Death and the Whiniest Generation.

In the words of Crosby, Nash, Stills, and Young:

Treat your children well,
Their parents' hell
Will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams,
The ones they pick're the ones you'll know by...

There's more.

There's been a lot of bandwidth spilled on dKos discussing the messed up theology and politicization of churches, Baptist and evangelical, in the South.  In honor of Friday, here is some material that a Baptist friend of mine sent me that shows another side of Baptists.

Those of you who were raised as members of churches will find this familiar.  For others of you, it will be a venture into unfamiliar and threatening regions of the spirit.

--More below the fold---

Update [2004-12-12 13:58:27 by TarheelDem]: Last week I posted this diary as the first step in creating a statement of the intermediate principles that progressive democrats have.  When we stand true to our principles, what exactly are we talking about?  This has been revised to incorporate the suggestions in comments.  The revised portions are in bold italics.

What is a progressive  Democrat, or progressive democrat for that matter?

Liberal Oasis has my vote for the most accurate statement of the principle that makes a Democrat a democrat:

A progressive Democrat extends this principle to all institutions:

We believe in the ability of representative, responsive, and accountable institutions to address certain community problems and protect personal freedoms.

More below the fold.

The movement of modern conservatives is drawing to a close.  Its manipulation of the levers of power show its desperation.  When it comes to an end, as it will, we will have to clean up the mess.  What exactly will be the post-conservative reality that we inherit.

• The "Ownership" society
  
• End of Social Security
  
• Expansion of pork-barrel politics
  
• Blurring of church and state
  
• Destruction of American diplomatic and military power
  
• Monumental national debt
  
• Global political isolation
  
• Delining standard of living
  
• Voucher-based education
  
• Post-nationalistic hangover
  
• End of permanent, full-time jobs
  
• Abstinence-oriented sex education
  
• Energy industry capital expansion in non-renewables

More below the fold.

What is a progressive  Democrat, or progressive democrat for that matter?

Liberal Oasis has my vote for the most accurate statement of the principle that makes a Democrat a democrat:

A progressive Democrat extends this principle to all institutions:

We believe in the ability of representative, responsive, and accountable institutions to address certain community problems and protect personal freedoms.

This is our counterpart to principled Republicans (oh, there's an oxymoron for you) who "believe in limited government."

Progressive democrats frequently have jumped from this overarching principle to a laundry list of policy proposals.  There is an intermediate level of principles that people want to hear...

More below the fold.

[editor's note, by TarheelDem] Updated title to more accurately reflect the relevance of this diary.

There has been a lot of discussion in diaries and comments about tactics and strategies for building a progressive agenda. This diary is another perspective. This is a blast from the past.  In the April 2003 issue of Utne Reader there was a series of articles called "Imagine the America You Want".  Here is an outline of the points; go dig out the magazine for details.

Learning from the Right
1. Think long term

More below the fold.

In the six months that I have been reading the posts on dKos, Views from a former Christian conservative is the most important one for understanding one of the keystone groups in the Religious Right, the Southern Baptists.  

Those of you who think that Southerners are ignorant, stupid, and irrevocably racist must read it several times.  You must get beyond your own prejudices about what the former Christian conservative is saying.

Having said that, the rest of this post below the fold is about where he misses a few points.

I would assert that progressive Democrats need progrressive democratic think tanks.  The Center for American Progress does excellent work, but is built as a Washington institution on the same model as the Heritage Foundation and AEI.  We need them, but we also need an open-source, networked research institution for progressive causes.

Guess what! We of the dKos community are exactly that institution now.  Particulars below the fold.

Last week there were a bunch of Bush signs at major intersections on a major street that I travel frequently.  Over the weekend, these signs disappeared.  Today there are new signs that say: "The Bush 04 sign that was here was stolen by Communists."

Oh yes, this was not a handmade sign.  It was a mass-produced sign printed on plastic that stretched over a wire frame.  In other words, part of the last minute tactics.

Does anyone else see the hand of Karl Rove?

Yesterday was the first day of voting in NC.  According to a Google search of various newspapers, the turnout was good.

Cabarrus County Total 6125 (7% of registered voters)

Rowan County Total 4685 (2138 registered Republican, 2036 registered Democrats, 507 registered unaffiliated, 2 registered Libertarian)

Durham County Total 1700

Wake Country Total 1000

Pastodan had a diary G-ddammit! (DNC's Stupid Religious Voter Outreach) about the Kerry-Edwards campaign's religious voter outreach program.

Although I share pastordan's concerns, I have thought about this and have decided that Kerry and Edwards are approaching this in the proper way.

Details below the fold.

Business Week has a piece (subsription only) called "Stalking Deer Hunter Dads"; Why Kerry's attempts to woo gun owners are missing the mark so far" by Paul Magnusson.

Amazing!

More below the fold.