Arkansas Democrats Need To Rebuild Their Shattered Party Based On Populist Principles Not DCCC Expediency

The last time a Democrat won a majority in any of Arkansas' 4 congressional districts was in 2000, when Gore edged out Bush 50-48% in the first CD. It's been straight downhill for national Democrats since then-- in all 4 districts. Obama lost the 1st CD in 2008, 38-59%, but affable alcoholic Marion Berry, the Blue Dog incumbent who had replaced Blue Dog Blanche Lincoln back in 1996, won reelection without opposition. In 2008 none of the state's congressional incumbents-- 3 Democrats and a Republican-- had opposition. Berry and Vic Snyder decided to retire in 2010 and both seats went Republican. This year the last remaining Democrat, reactionary Blue Dog Mike Ross, is also retiring and is likely to be replaced by a Republican. Clearly, the time has come for Arkansas Democrats to rebuild their party from scratch and embrace the populist principles that kept them in power long after Nixon's Southern Strategy had dominated the rest of the South. By embracing the anti-family/anti-worker, pro-corporate Blue Dog vision, Arkansas Democrats hollowed out the Democratic brand and allowed for the triumph of conservatism across the state.

In the reddest of the 4 districts, the 3rd, in the northwest, Blue America is proudly backing Ken Aden, a genuine movement progressive who will offer voters a clear choice between a corporate shill mouthing Tea Party platitudes and a man of the people and for the people. The first CD next door, the northeast corner of the state, could have had a similar dynamic-- except for interference from the DCCC hoping to install another very conservative Republican-lite corporate shill to face, futilely, the Republican very conservative corporate shill incumbent-- a losing formula the DCCC loves to embrace over and over and over... with the same disastrous outcomes.

Gary Latanich is offering a progressive Democratic set of solutions and he's facing off against Clark Hall, a Blue Dog. Gary's dad, a factory worker and janitor, urged him to do better and Gary enlisted, fought in Vietnam and used the GI Bill to put himself through college. He wound up with a doctorate in Economics and has been teaching at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro for 30 years. He worked for then Governor Clinton's Economic Advisory Board in the late 80’s and early 90’s and lead studies on what policies can be crafted to create jobs. He continues to work with local communities throughout the state on studies and policies for job creation and helps train K-12 teachers in Arkansas on how to teach economics in their classrooms. Gary makes a habit of speaking out for the Lilly Ledbetter Fairpay Act, Medicare, Social Security, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and told me on the phone the other day he believes government should do everything it can to craft policies to restore full employment for out-of-work Americans. He believes we need to invest in Pell Grants, apprenticeship training, health-care for “All Americans,” as well as our infrastructure. He advocates steering away from austerity programs that have proven disastrous in Great Britain but are being pursued by the right-wing in America. And his message is resonating. He's picked up the endorsement of the International Union of Painters & Allied Trades and says numerous others are in the works.

In the opposite corner is the newest pup from the 2012 Blue Dog litter. Clark Hall is currently a sitting Representative of the 13th House-seat in Arkansas. He's best known for redrawing the current political district lines “with his granddaughter's coloring crayons.” He's also known for sending his children to a segregationist Private School called the Marvell Academy. The Marvell Academy and it's sister school, the DeSoto Academy, were the brain child of the White Citzens Council, (now currently the Council of Conservative Citzens) in the late 1950's in the Delta Regions of Arkansas and Mississippi. If you were a southern white racist during the 1960's and were concerned about President Eisenhower sending federal troops to integrate the schools and the prospect of your fourth grade child having to share the same air as another African-American fourth grade child? Fear no longer! Private Schools were your answer. Recent demographic of children attending the Marvell Academy reveal that it is 99% Anglo, and the 1% you might ask? The 1% is Asian.

A quick look at a recent Census report shows that Phillips Co. Arkansas, where the Marvell Academy is located, has a population of almost 22,000 people. 63% of the residents in Phillips County are black while 35% are white. Given these numbers, it's hard to understand how a private school can exist without schooling at least ONE black child and claim that this isn't intentional or worst that the white supremacist roots present at it's founding 50 years ago are not still flourishing in it's culture and academia.

This brings us back to Rep. Clark Hall and his meteoric rise in the Blue Dog Coalition. Less than a week after his announcement for Congress, he had secured the endorsement of congressional Blue Dog Caucus in Washington. Within a month of his announcement Blue Dog PAC had thrown him a fundraiser in Little Rock, Arkansas and another in Washington DC allowing Clark Hall the ability to report a little over $100,000 in political contributions. The Blue Dogs then demanded that the DCCC endorse him-- and, of course, that made perfect sense to "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel, the DCCC chairman and anti-progressive corporate shill. But what about the DCCC's policy of neutrality in primaries? They've always been full of shit when it comes to that, despite their protestations to the contrary. The DCCC now lists Hall on the “Emerging Races Red to Blue List," Hall publicly vowing to not support Leader Nancy Pelosi. Everyone knows that's just fine with Israel, who would love to replace Pelosi with Steny Hoyer anyway.

One has to wonder, either the DCCC feels so desperate to win a race in the South, that they will take whoever can raise the most money, or do they cynically believe all Southerners are inherently racist hicks and “well that's just life." Either way, it's is difficult to see this game being played again... “The Party” handpicking politically expedient candidates vs. progressives who could win with the right support. I didn’t think we needed to have this fight again but if they want one we should give it to them. We took out one Blue Dog in Arkansas-- Blanche Lincoln. And with your help Gary is poised to rub another one's (and the DCCC's) snout in their own shit again.