I checked out of the Democratic party during Election 2000, after the Democratic purge of Ralph Nader from the election debate process.  I’d already broken philosophically with the Dems when Bill Clinton campaigned as a death penalty advocate, but  continued to nurture hope for a Democratic renewal (you know, the way some neglected spouses cling to the hope of a smile from their partner).

Instead, I’ve witnessed a largely uninterrupted Democratic slide to the Right, a compromise of one Democratic principle after another, and  loss after loss (or watered-down win) at the polls and in legislative battles. I think Nader was right all along–there is little functional difference between the Democrats and the GOP. 

Even our much-heralded victories, like the Big Pharma deal or the recent healthcare reform, are largely sops to the industries they purport to reform, and are masterpieces of Democratic principles compromised out of legislation.

This is my ever-growing list of reasons why I’ll try never to vote Democrat again (at the national level, anyway):

1. Bipartisanship
2. Harry Reid
3. Nancy Pelosi
4. Howard Dean, as in ignoring him
5. Healthcare reform
6. Bush crimes, as in ignoring them
7. FISA
8. Rahm Emmanuel, sleazey
9. Iraq and Afghanistan
10. Democratic Leadership Council
11. James Carville
12. Tim Geithner
13. Lawrence Summers
14. Looking Forward, Not Backward
15. Electioral Fraud, as in ignoring it
16. Protecting Torturers
17. Fairness Doctrine
18. Extraordinary Rendition
19. Henry Paulson
20. Ben Bernanke
21. Big Bank Bailout
22. UAW Ripoff
23. Patriot Act
24. Don Siegelman
25. Ted Stevens
26. New Orleans, as in ignoring it
27. Blue Dog Democrats
28. Single Payer Insurance
29. Public Option
30. Offshore drilling
31. Ralph Nader
32. Death penalty
33. Guantanamo
34. Cluster Bombs
35. Gay rights
36. Faith-based initiatives
37. Goldstone Report
38. Unconditional Support for Israel
39. Blackwater, as in ignoring crimes
40. Bechtel
41. Halliburton, as in ignoring crimes
42. Big Pharma
43. Protecting Bush policies
44. Dianne Feinstein
45. Harry Murtha
46. Van Jones
47. “Fucking retarded”
48. Max Baucus
49. Joe Liebermann
50. Massachusetts Election
51. Land Mines
52. John Yoo
53. Bush District Attorneys
54. Ben Bernanke, nominated again
55. Nobel Prize, as in accepting it
56. Rick Warren
57. Eric Holder
58. Bipartisanship, again
59. Killer Drones
60. Blackwater, as in new contracts
61. Business Week Interview
62. State of the Union Address
63. Looking forward, Not Backward, again
64. John Yoo
65. Judge Bibee
66. Clean Coal
67. Nuclear power
68. Blocking international investigations
69. $8 billion to Southern Co., country’s biggest polluter
70. Firing teachers
71. Consumer Protection Agency, not