Poor Democrats. Always the tortured souls of the American political landscape. They always have this innate ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Sanctimony and pretentious principled stands often contribute to their complex.
Also, the lack of a killer instinct to win also adds to their seemingly reoccurring problems. The desire to win is omnipresent, but they always get in their own way.
The current Democratic Party emboldens these issues and stigmas. Here we are in 2018 and Democrats are still litigating the 2016 election. They are wringing their hands and scratching their temples as to how they lost the presidential election to the most unpopular uncouth candidate to ever run for the office.
To help sleep at night they comfort themselves with valid reasons albeit not the reason that allowed the others to factor into the election. While the GOP candidate was the most unpopular nominee to ever run, the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, was a close second. Yes, YES, Russian interference likely had a hand in the election because of all the misinformation they were spreading. And, of course, the tendency of a large swath of the electorate to vet nothing and never employ critical curiosity and thinking helped that misinformation campaign. Ughhhhh. Anyway...Also, besides from Clinton being unpopular, she ran a shitty ass campaign. She, Robbie Mook (campaign manager) and John Podesta were so convinced the American people would never vote for a nominee who spouted racist tropes, demeaned Gold Star families, disparaged an entire religion and called an entire group of people "rapist and murderers (except for the ones he *assumed* were good people) that they unforgivably abdicated the job of campaigning. Clinton literally not one time visited any of the three states that made up a 77,000 vote difference that cost her the electoral college.
With all of these things being said and true it is not what truly cost her the election. What cost Clinton the easy win she should have had along with partially being responsible for the Dems losing over 1000 federal and state elected seats during the Barack Obama presidency is the reluctance, if not refusal, of the party to embrace its base.
If the 2016 Democratic primaries did nothing else, it illuminated exactly where the base of the party is. Bernie Sanders tapped into the left populist movement he has purveying for years and that more and more party voters had been moving towards after Obama's first election. Honestly, the shift likely began happening after the 2000 elections.
Sanders, as a 74 year old man, energized young people. It was similar to what Obama did in 2008 and Bill Clinton in 1992. Sanders spoke to what young voters believed in. But, as it turned out, he reached older voters as well.
It became apparent that a large contingency of the party supported what Bernie was proposing even if some them weren't supporting him over Clinton. Bernie gave her a fight. It could be said he dominated in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. As we know Bernie didn't win the nomination. I'm not going to go into the particulars of that.
But, his policies did win. He forced Hillary to the left but it was obvious she didn't embrace or believe in them. Consequently, along with other reasons, a segment of Sanders supporters didn't support her. The base as a whole did not energetically campaign for Clinton. The diehard "I'm with her" Clinton supporters rallied around her but because the rest of the base was unenthusiastic they tended to shun and side-eye what was actually the majority of the base. They were so concerned with electing the first female president they neglected to acknowledge the issues that resonated with Democratic base voters.
Now, here we are two years later and the party leadership along with the neoliberal wing of the party still aren't getting it. No, that's letting them off the hook. They just don't care or are so entrenched in their own bullshit they're not seeing what is clearly in front of them.
I like Chuck Schumer but he and Nancy Pelosi are doing the party a huge disservice with their leadership. Frankly, their leadership sucks! They refuse to listen to the base instead catering to the donor class. They are stuck in this inane doctrine of appealing to centrists and "working" with the Republicans.
Lawd Jesusssssss! You all still haven't learned the lesson Obama finally painfully learned? The GOP is NEVER going to work with you! Neva, evah, evah, EVAH!
The GOP gets it. They understand where their base is. Sure, many of the elected officials find some of the rhetoric and core beliefs distasteful but they realize if they want to win elections they have to cozy up to the Republican base. And, those who cannot stomach it such as Paul Ryan, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake are leaving. But, the RNC recognizes who their base is and has conformed its platform to the base while trying to appeal to moderates, I guess. Regardless of what you might or might not think about Republican values embracing their base has worked for them.
Democrats need to take the cue and do the same. Look, the base of the party is no longer neoliberals and centrists. The base is largely comprised of left leaning classic liberals, Progressives, Justice Democrats and Democratic Socialists. The party has moved left. It's not far left like Republicans claim but the base is no longer tolerant of center left Democrats who seem more beholden to their donors and big money than they do their voters.
Now, I recently said on Facebook that the party needs to unify and support candidates of all stripes. Some districts and states require a more moderate candidate to run. Winning needs to be the priority because an agenda cannot be implemented if elections aren't being won. I stand by those comments. It is just common sense.
However, as a whole the party has to move away from corporatism if they want win and get back into power. I understand that folks like Schumer and Pelosi sorta cringe at the rise of progressiveness and Democratic Socialism. I, also, understand they love power. But, what they, the centrists and the Clinton wing of the party must come to grips with is their ideology no longer aligns with the base. They better realize that continuing to ignore and alienate the base is not a winning strategy. In fact, it will drive people out of the party. It already has.
The old guard lives in the present as if it's 1993. It simply isn't. The country has changed. It is obviously more polarized.
They shun the left wing of the party because they don't want to be called "socialists" by Republicans. First of all, grow a spine. Who gives a shit what Republicans say?! For the love of God fight back! Second, the GOP are going to call you socialists, Marxists and Communists regardless.
Let's be real here, a'right. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein (warning: someone will be triggered) Obama were all left of center to centrist Democrats. They were. All of them have some progressive beliefs but their core approach politically is centrists. Republicans called of three of them Marxists, Socialists and Communists.
So, Dems, stop letting the ignorant erroneous propaganda of the right dictate your approach. The right likes to strawman. How about embracing what the party is and actually employing the big tent mantra you claim to possess? Stop being disingenuous and explain what progressivism is.
Fact is the majority of Americans support many of the main tenants of the Progressive platform. Over 60% of voters support single payor healthcare. Ninety percent of Americans support sensible gun control. The vast majority of Americans support an increase in minimum wage/living wage. Almost 60% believe in justice/prison reform. Nearly 65% of voters support legalizing marijuana. A majority of Americans support getting big money out of politics.
So, this really shouldn't be hard for Democrats. Endear yourselves to policies proposed by Justice Democrats and supported by the American people. This is not rocket science.
The midterm elections are 100 days away. Most people believe a blue wave is coming. I'm skeptical. Democrats have a long history of choking. Considering where the majority of the country stands on the key issues and the daily shitshow out of the White House the midterms should be an easy layup.
But, Dem leadership, that will be up to you. Will you continue to be petty and myopic or will you fully support the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's of the party? 2020 is fast approaching. I'm not saying Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders or Kamala Harris is the guaranteed answer to defeating the Great Pumpkin of Mar-A-Lago. But, I am certain Hillary Clinton or Tim Kaine or that ilk will result in a certain loss.
I supported Hillary in 2016. I won't apologize for that necessarily. But, I will admit I was wrong about why I chose her over Bernie. I supported with my intellect what Hillary was proposing, but my heart was closer with Bernie's vision. I erroneously thought Bernie had no chance of winning. I saw the polls showing him trouncing that orange dude, but I just didn't believe people would vote for someone the GOP was calling a socialist. I was wrong.
Democrats, don't be wrong again in 2018 and 2020. Our democracy literally hinges on you getting it right.
Also, the lack of a killer instinct to win also adds to their seemingly reoccurring problems. The desire to win is omnipresent, but they always get in their own way.
The current Democratic Party emboldens these issues and stigmas. Here we are in 2018 and Democrats are still litigating the 2016 election. They are wringing their hands and scratching their temples as to how they lost the presidential election to the most unpopular uncouth candidate to ever run for the office.
To help sleep at night they comfort themselves with valid reasons albeit not the reason that allowed the others to factor into the election. While the GOP candidate was the most unpopular nominee to ever run, the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, was a close second. Yes, YES, Russian interference likely had a hand in the election because of all the misinformation they were spreading. And, of course, the tendency of a large swath of the electorate to vet nothing and never employ critical curiosity and thinking helped that misinformation campaign. Ughhhhh. Anyway...Also, besides from Clinton being unpopular, she ran a shitty ass campaign. She, Robbie Mook (campaign manager) and John Podesta were so convinced the American people would never vote for a nominee who spouted racist tropes, demeaned Gold Star families, disparaged an entire religion and called an entire group of people "rapist and murderers (except for the ones he *assumed* were good people) that they unforgivably abdicated the job of campaigning. Clinton literally not one time visited any of the three states that made up a 77,000 vote difference that cost her the electoral college.
With all of these things being said and true it is not what truly cost her the election. What cost Clinton the easy win she should have had along with partially being responsible for the Dems losing over 1000 federal and state elected seats during the Barack Obama presidency is the reluctance, if not refusal, of the party to embrace its base.
If the 2016 Democratic primaries did nothing else, it illuminated exactly where the base of the party is. Bernie Sanders tapped into the left populist movement he has purveying for years and that more and more party voters had been moving towards after Obama's first election. Honestly, the shift likely began happening after the 2000 elections.
Sanders, as a 74 year old man, energized young people. It was similar to what Obama did in 2008 and Bill Clinton in 1992. Sanders spoke to what young voters believed in. But, as it turned out, he reached older voters as well.
It became apparent that a large contingency of the party supported what Bernie was proposing even if some them weren't supporting him over Clinton. Bernie gave her a fight. It could be said he dominated in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. As we know Bernie didn't win the nomination. I'm not going to go into the particulars of that.
But, his policies did win. He forced Hillary to the left but it was obvious she didn't embrace or believe in them. Consequently, along with other reasons, a segment of Sanders supporters didn't support her. The base as a whole did not energetically campaign for Clinton. The diehard "I'm with her" Clinton supporters rallied around her but because the rest of the base was unenthusiastic they tended to shun and side-eye what was actually the majority of the base. They were so concerned with electing the first female president they neglected to acknowledge the issues that resonated with Democratic base voters.
Now, here we are two years later and the party leadership along with the neoliberal wing of the party still aren't getting it. No, that's letting them off the hook. They just don't care or are so entrenched in their own bullshit they're not seeing what is clearly in front of them.
I like Chuck Schumer but he and Nancy Pelosi are doing the party a huge disservice with their leadership. Frankly, their leadership sucks! They refuse to listen to the base instead catering to the donor class. They are stuck in this inane doctrine of appealing to centrists and "working" with the Republicans.
Lawd Jesusssssss! You all still haven't learned the lesson Obama finally painfully learned? The GOP is NEVER going to work with you! Neva, evah, evah, EVAH!
The GOP gets it. They understand where their base is. Sure, many of the elected officials find some of the rhetoric and core beliefs distasteful but they realize if they want to win elections they have to cozy up to the Republican base. And, those who cannot stomach it such as Paul Ryan, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake are leaving. But, the RNC recognizes who their base is and has conformed its platform to the base while trying to appeal to moderates, I guess. Regardless of what you might or might not think about Republican values embracing their base has worked for them.
Democrats need to take the cue and do the same. Look, the base of the party is no longer neoliberals and centrists. The base is largely comprised of left leaning classic liberals, Progressives, Justice Democrats and Democratic Socialists. The party has moved left. It's not far left like Republicans claim but the base is no longer tolerant of center left Democrats who seem more beholden to their donors and big money than they do their voters.
Now, I recently said on Facebook that the party needs to unify and support candidates of all stripes. Some districts and states require a more moderate candidate to run. Winning needs to be the priority because an agenda cannot be implemented if elections aren't being won. I stand by those comments. It is just common sense.
However, as a whole the party has to move away from corporatism if they want win and get back into power. I understand that folks like Schumer and Pelosi sorta cringe at the rise of progressiveness and Democratic Socialism. I, also, understand they love power. But, what they, the centrists and the Clinton wing of the party must come to grips with is their ideology no longer aligns with the base. They better realize that continuing to ignore and alienate the base is not a winning strategy. In fact, it will drive people out of the party. It already has.
The old guard lives in the present as if it's 1993. It simply isn't. The country has changed. It is obviously more polarized.
They shun the left wing of the party because they don't want to be called "socialists" by Republicans. First of all, grow a spine. Who gives a shit what Republicans say?! For the love of God fight back! Second, the GOP are going to call you socialists, Marxists and Communists regardless.
Let's be real here, a'right. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein (warning: someone will be triggered) Obama were all left of center to centrist Democrats. They were. All of them have some progressive beliefs but their core approach politically is centrists. Republicans called of three of them Marxists, Socialists and Communists.
So, Dems, stop letting the ignorant erroneous propaganda of the right dictate your approach. The right likes to strawman. How about embracing what the party is and actually employing the big tent mantra you claim to possess? Stop being disingenuous and explain what progressivism is.
Fact is the majority of Americans support many of the main tenants of the Progressive platform. Over 60% of voters support single payor healthcare. Ninety percent of Americans support sensible gun control. The vast majority of Americans support an increase in minimum wage/living wage. Almost 60% believe in justice/prison reform. Nearly 65% of voters support legalizing marijuana. A majority of Americans support getting big money out of politics.
So, this really shouldn't be hard for Democrats. Endear yourselves to policies proposed by Justice Democrats and supported by the American people. This is not rocket science.
The midterm elections are 100 days away. Most people believe a blue wave is coming. I'm skeptical. Democrats have a long history of choking. Considering where the majority of the country stands on the key issues and the daily shitshow out of the White House the midterms should be an easy layup.
But, Dem leadership, that will be up to you. Will you continue to be petty and myopic or will you fully support the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's of the party? 2020 is fast approaching. I'm not saying Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders or Kamala Harris is the guaranteed answer to defeating the Great Pumpkin of Mar-A-Lago. But, I am certain Hillary Clinton or Tim Kaine or that ilk will result in a certain loss.
I supported Hillary in 2016. I won't apologize for that necessarily. But, I will admit I was wrong about why I chose her over Bernie. I supported with my intellect what Hillary was proposing, but my heart was closer with Bernie's vision. I erroneously thought Bernie had no chance of winning. I saw the polls showing him trouncing that orange dude, but I just didn't believe people would vote for someone the GOP was calling a socialist. I was wrong.
Democrats, don't be wrong again in 2018 and 2020. Our democracy literally hinges on you getting it right.
