Speaking of Third Way influence...a few things to remember.

[madfloridian]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026682479

It's a long post, but I really like this quote by Markos in a post from last year...

These are Wall Street asshole corporatist Democrats (which literally dominate Third Way). They are correct on social issues, very very wrong on economic ones.

[marym625]

1. bookmarked for later reading

And the economic issues drive the social issues. No way around it

[djean111]

2. That's because the social issues cost them nothing, and social issues are, IMO, callously used as

a distraction from economic issues. This is NOT saying social issues are not just as important, just saying that there is a cold-blooded method to this, and they have pretty successfully gotten many people to believe that there is of course! a Sophie's Choice between social or economic issues, as if we cannot address both. Boils down to yes! Women and children can make the same crap not enough to live on wages as men! Which is all the Third Way really cares about.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

3. Agreed. Why can't we have the best of BOTH worlds. Had enough of that Turd Way crapola.

[rhett o rick]

4. The concept of the Third Way is brilliant. Not that I want to give them credit.

At one time you had the Left vs. the Right. A clear distinction. Then the Plutocratic-Oligarchs and their conspiracy tanks came up with a brilliant plan. Give the Left their social issues but keep the foreign policy, economic and NSA/CIA Dark State domestic surveillance issues of the Right Wing. As one can see here in DU, that was good enough to fool some pseudo-liberals.

[Enthusiast]

6. You nailed it. Third Way's goals have become painfully apparent.

My post below suggests essentially the same thing as yours.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[merrily]

7. It's not only giving the left their social issues. It's giving the far right their social issues,

esp. the far religious right. The male supremacists, the white supremacists, the homophobes.

They've been drawing the line at the most strongly held, most intractable beliefs of each side.

In each case, time is on the side of Democrats. It seems each succeeding generation is more willing to integrate with women, people of other races and religions, people of other orientations. Eventually, the Republicans will either move on social issues--which I believe they have been doing--or they will go down screaming about traditional marriage and vaginal ultrasounds.

The Supreme Court will also be a factor. The more it decides that people do or do not have reproductive choice, they do or do not have equal rights, the more one party or another can say, "I so agree with you, but it's out of my hands."

[Enthusiast]

5. K&R! Yes, by all means get this this post out there.

Social issues won't mean much if we're homeless, starving and without healthcare.

These Wall Street assholes are the thieves that robbed the entire world and got away with it.

One of their stated policy goals is to cut Social Security.

They owe no allegiance to either party, only to the extremely wealthy and corporations. Third Way might be more effective with a Democratic president as it enables them to carry out their ruse more effectively.

[swilton]

8. I read the article

I think it's a stretch to say that Third Wayers are 'correct on social issues' - The social issues they are correct on mentioned in the article and what I have seen vis a vis their behavior are abortion rights (a woman's right to make decisions about her body) and same sex marriage.

These two issues do not imho make Third Wayers 'correct on social issues' when you consider the other 'social justice' issues they either ignore or work against - to name a few: universal health care, minimum wage, progressive taxation, increased funding for infrastructure, increased funding for education - lower tuition for college, etc., etc. I'm certain that many of the readers of this post can think of other 'social issues' that Third Wayers are incorrect on.
To start with, here is an itemized list of social issues proposed from the 'Progressive Caucus Better Off Budget' - I don't see Third Wayers supporting any of these issues.

MAKING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BETTER OFF

Creating Good Jobs – creates 8.8 million jobs by 2017.

Long-term Unemployed – provides access to training and employment services to match

employee potential with employer demand.


Infrastructure – creates jobs in building and construction industries to repair and

modernize our ailing roads, bridges and water infrastructure.


State Aid – provides assistance to states to allow them to hire and rehire public employees such as police, firefighters and health care workers.

Public Works and Education – a direct hire program that includes seven jobs corps to hire physicians, students, construction and community workers and an education program boost to hire more teachers and improve schools.

Reversing Harmful Cuts – repeals the Budget Control Act and Sequester, restores Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, restores unemployment insurance, fully funds the Prevention and Public Health Fund, and ends the federal worker pay freeze.

Equity for Women and People of Color – enhances federal programs targeted at creating equity and improving outcomes for women, people of color, and their families.

Protecting Veterans and Workers through Retirement –adopts a cost-of-living adjustment that takes into account realistic retiree expenses and fully funds veterans programs in advance.



FAIR INDIVIDUAL TAXES




Implements a new Hard Work Tax Credit for households earning less than $150,000.


Returns to Clinton tax rates for households making over $250,000 and implements new

brackets for those making over $1 million.


Equalizes tax rates for investment income and income from a hard day’s work.


FAIR CORPORATE TAXES
Eliminates the ability of U.S. corporations to defer taxes on offshore profits.
Enacts a Financial Transaction tax on various financial market transactions.
Implements Chairman Dave Camp’s financial institution excise tax.

HEALTH CARE
Protects and strengthens Medicare and Medicaid without cutting benefits for seniors.

Builds on Affordable Care Act savings and successes, including implementing a public

option and expanding payment reforms.


Allows states to transition to single-payer health care systems.


ENVIRONMENT

Closes tax loopholes and ends subsidies provided to oil, gas and coal companies.


Addresses the climate change crisis by enacting a price on carbon pollution while holding

low-income families harmless.


Invests in clean and renewable energy, which creates middle class jobs, boosts the

economy, and cuts pollution.


DEFENSE
Modernizes our defense posture to create sustainable baseline defense spending.
Ends emergency funding for Overseas Contingency Operations.
Increases funding for diplomacy to stabilize key world regions and for the Office of
Economic Adjustment to assist in responding to defense program shifts.

IMMIGRATION
Implements comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship.

PRIVACY AND NATIONAL SECURITY
Calls for transparency in national security budgets to bring accountability to bulk data collection programs.

HOUSING
Meets funding needs for programs that help struggling families stay in their homes after the housing crisis.

PUBLIC FINANCING OF CAMPAIGNS
Funds public financing of campaigns to curb special interest influence in politics.

SOCIAL SECURITY
Endorses “Scrapping-the-Cap” and expanding Social Security benefits separately from the federal budget process.

http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/better-off-budget/