"Ignoring the forrest for the trees" should be the motto of the current Democratic Party. It would be hard to argue it is not already the quasi mantra.
When it comes to most of the major issues in this country (living wage, equal pay for women, legalizing marijuana, gun control, foreign policy, criminal justice reform, getting corporate pac money out of politics and Medicare for all) the majority of the country sides with the Left. Only about 1/4 of the country self-identifies as a Republican. Yet, the Democrats can't win elections on the local and state levels. Their electoral success is limited in Congress. And, while they have won six of the last seven presidential elections, they've managed to actually enter the White House in four of them because they lost the Electoral College. So, even when they win, they lose.
Why is this the case? How can a party that has a majority of the country agreeing with its stances have no power? Democrats don't control the legislative nor the executive branches of government. And, now, they don't seem to have any firm grasp on the judicial. They just lost any influence on the Supreme Court.
Many reasons exist for the Democrats' ineptness. Awful leadership is atop the list. Catering to corporate and lobbying interests along with a vacuous affinity to compromising with people who have absolutely no desire to compromise with them instead of actually listening to their base and adhering to their needs and voices.
This leads back to the 2016 Presidential election. Yes, we need to stop litigating it but it provided valuable lessons that still appear are not being learned.
The Neo-Liberal wing of this party, which is also where the power structure lies, is literally suppressing victory. It is not deliberate, but it is obvious. While the Neo -Liberals and corporatists want power they seem to be content with the status quo. They don't want the boat rocked.
Instead of listening to their base they continuingly concede to the GOP without getting anything of significant value in return. An example of this is the military budget. The Democrats signed off without much pushback on the Trump Administration expanding an already bloated military budget to $700 billion while saying virtually nothing about social programs including the VA getting slashed under the guise of "we don't have the money for those programs".
Another example of the party leadership' ineptness or simple willful malpractice is not pushing the issues the party claims to care about. Medicare For All is something the majority of Americans favor. However, people like Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), belittle the idea. Likely they reject it because they don't want to upset the insurance companies. They along with most of moderate, centrists and neo-liberal wing say, "How can Medicare For All be paid for?" This question is being asked by people who signed off on an unnecessary increase in military spending to $700 billion.
The party leadership doesn't appreciate their base. They don't adhere to their concerns. They seemingly refuse to make any competent attempt to energize the base. They take it for granted. All of this is partially why turnout for the 2016 election was low.
However, the corporatist neo-liberal wing of the party is not at fault alone. A small but boisterous section of the Progressive/Leftist wing has caused issues and consternation also.
Before and after Hillary Clinton won the nomination in 2016 the "Bernie or Bust" crowd made it clear they would not support Clinton. It was understandable. They believed Bernie Sanders was cheated out of the nomination. While the DNC was abhorrent in their overt bias for Clinton the fact is she won the nomination by obtaining the most votes. But, that's neither here nor there.
The issue was this wing of the party literally went on the offensive against Clinton. They repeated and vehemently insisted they abhorred Donald Trump; yet, they didn't criticize him but obliterated Clinton.
Their criticisms were legit and mostly factually accurate. However, they seemed to not understand or simply didn't care that their relentless attacks on Clinton and refusal to support her candidacy was ignoring the forrest for the trees. They seemed to fail to realize what was at stake in the election.
Their nuanced issues with Clinton was neglecting the larger scale issues.
This attitude has continued since the election. Basically, anyone who doesn't see things precisely the way they do they dismiss as naive, a cuck or a fake. The attacks on the Democrats are incessant but there doesn't seem to be be many, if any, attacks on Trump nor his policies per se. They complain about his policies but somehow lay the blame solely at the feet of the Democrats.
This wing of the party other Progressives have began to dub the #DumDumLeft has also began implementing purity tests and demonizing anyone they deem has veered even slightly right of them.
An example of this is recently a well-known and well-liked leftist YouTuber, Jimmy Dore, totally dragged New York District 14 House candidate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for saying New York Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, should be supported in his re-election bid.
Ocasio-Cortez is a Democratic Socialist who has become a rock star in the Progressive movement and has well established her Progressive roots and beliefs. She endorsed Cuomo's opponent in the primary, Cynthia Nixon. AOC's "endorsement" of Cuomo, who make no mistake is a corporatist Democrats, wasn't her saying he is a great candidate. It was her saying that he is better than the alternative.
Yet, Dore went off on her and the progressive takeover of the Democratic Party. He called the attempted take over fake. He also implied AOC was fake. And, while most agree AOC shouldn't have said anything regarding Cuomo, they understood where she was coming from. But, for Dore and the #DumDumLeft it was seen as traitorous which is patently stupid.
The entire AOC/Dore situation highlighted a major problem with this insurgency during the 2016 election. Politics and issues are often complex. Rarely are they black and white. Gray is usually the dominant color. Ironically, however, when it comes to voting for candidates the choices are almost always binary even if there are more than two choices.
This is what this insurgent sector of the left didn't grasp in 2016 and apparently still do not. Jill Stein never had a chance; neither did Gary "Aleppo" Johnson. The choice was between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. And, yes, Hillary is a centrist, an interventionist, a war hawk, a corporatist and corrupt; however, Trump was all those things plus anti-women's reproductive rights, anti-unions, favored giving tax cuts to the rich, xenophobic, transphobic and racially a bigot, if not a full fledged White Nationalist. The man openly said he wanted to ban all Muslims from entering the country, he wanted to build a wall to keep Brown folks out and wanted to bring back "stop and frisk" to keep Black people in check. So, how did they not see this was a binary choice? They claim to care about those issues.
Jimmy Dore (not to single him out necessarily) said choosing the lesser of two evils is a false choice and "propagandist bullshit". The fact is it is not. The country now realizes it is not a false choice.
Both aforementioned wings of the party are about to learn the hard way that sometimes choices are binary and choosing the lesser of two evils is real.
One of the greatest acts of political malpractice in modern times is the way Democrats ignored the importance of the judiciary.
Conservatives have seen the importance of the judiciary for decades. They have been feverishly working and manipulating to mold the courts into their liking because they understand the judiciary is where the real power is. Legislation can be voted into law but it only remains law if the courts allow it.
Democrats appear to not understand the importance of the courts or simply did not care.
The Merrick Garland fiasco should have been made a central issue of the 2016 campaign. It is not hyperbole to say the GOP stole the Supreme Court seat vacated due to Scalia's death nor is it hyperbolic to say President Obama's constitutional oath and right was violated and hijacked.
But, the Democrats did nothing to fight back. They whined and bitched some but ultimately they did what they always do. They acquiesced and cowered.
In fairness to Clinton during the debates she stressed the vitality of the courts but it was never apart of her campaign and stump speeches. It certainly was never stressed as a central issue by the DNC or party leadership.
It was clearly an issue that could have been a rallying cry for the entire party. It certainly is an issue that people within the party who claim to be policy oriented should have understand its importance and pertinence.
Because of the neglect, apathy and misguided sanctimony Donald Trump won the presidency. Furthermore, he and the Republicans control the Supreme Court and are gaining influence in the federal courts.
Liberals should think about this. President Trump hasn't been able implement or fully implement his most amoral and heinous policies such as the Muslim ban and separating migrant children from their parents because of the federal courts intervention. Thanks, Obama and Bill Clinton.
Now, give this some thought. The #DumDumLeft said the courts don't really matter. They are "not as important as policy".
Well, here is the thing now that President Trump has been able to add Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court giving it a decided Conservative majority. Issues that are near and dear to Liberals are in danger and likely in lame duck status.
Unions have already been gutted. Civil Rights are going to be partially rolled back. Citizens United is as good as completely safe. The Muslin Ban will likely be implemented. Trump will be protected from consequences of his crimes and corruption. And, Roe V Wade might not overturned but will be so gutted it essentially might as well be.
Imagine if Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or Kristen Gillibrand win the presidential election in 2020. Let's say a President Sanders or a President Warren get Medicare-For-All to pass. The opposition will sue and the case will very likely go before the Supreme Court. As currently constituted what are the chances that the court will uphold law?
The federal judiciary matters.
The selling out, the apathy, the sanctimony and the ignorance that has pervaded the left from one end of the spectrum to the other has been destructive. Refusal to see the bigger picture and hold noses for the greater good has placed the Democrats as bystanders to what is certain to be erosion of 60 years of social and cultural progress.
The party with the overwhelming majority of the country on its side has managed to allow this country to become minority ruled.
Inexplicable. Unforgivable.
When it comes to most of the major issues in this country (living wage, equal pay for women, legalizing marijuana, gun control, foreign policy, criminal justice reform, getting corporate pac money out of politics and Medicare for all) the majority of the country sides with the Left. Only about 1/4 of the country self-identifies as a Republican. Yet, the Democrats can't win elections on the local and state levels. Their electoral success is limited in Congress. And, while they have won six of the last seven presidential elections, they've managed to actually enter the White House in four of them because they lost the Electoral College. So, even when they win, they lose.
Why is this the case? How can a party that has a majority of the country agreeing with its stances have no power? Democrats don't control the legislative nor the executive branches of government. And, now, they don't seem to have any firm grasp on the judicial. They just lost any influence on the Supreme Court.
Many reasons exist for the Democrats' ineptness. Awful leadership is atop the list. Catering to corporate and lobbying interests along with a vacuous affinity to compromising with people who have absolutely no desire to compromise with them instead of actually listening to their base and adhering to their needs and voices.
This leads back to the 2016 Presidential election. Yes, we need to stop litigating it but it provided valuable lessons that still appear are not being learned.
The Neo-Liberal wing of this party, which is also where the power structure lies, is literally suppressing victory. It is not deliberate, but it is obvious. While the Neo -Liberals and corporatists want power they seem to be content with the status quo. They don't want the boat rocked.
Instead of listening to their base they continuingly concede to the GOP without getting anything of significant value in return. An example of this is the military budget. The Democrats signed off without much pushback on the Trump Administration expanding an already bloated military budget to $700 billion while saying virtually nothing about social programs including the VA getting slashed under the guise of "we don't have the money for those programs".
Another example of the party leadership' ineptness or simple willful malpractice is not pushing the issues the party claims to care about. Medicare For All is something the majority of Americans favor. However, people like Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), belittle the idea. Likely they reject it because they don't want to upset the insurance companies. They along with most of moderate, centrists and neo-liberal wing say, "How can Medicare For All be paid for?" This question is being asked by people who signed off on an unnecessary increase in military spending to $700 billion.
The party leadership doesn't appreciate their base. They don't adhere to their concerns. They seemingly refuse to make any competent attempt to energize the base. They take it for granted. All of this is partially why turnout for the 2016 election was low.
However, the corporatist neo-liberal wing of the party is not at fault alone. A small but boisterous section of the Progressive/Leftist wing has caused issues and consternation also.
Before and after Hillary Clinton won the nomination in 2016 the "Bernie or Bust" crowd made it clear they would not support Clinton. It was understandable. They believed Bernie Sanders was cheated out of the nomination. While the DNC was abhorrent in their overt bias for Clinton the fact is she won the nomination by obtaining the most votes. But, that's neither here nor there.
The issue was this wing of the party literally went on the offensive against Clinton. They repeated and vehemently insisted they abhorred Donald Trump; yet, they didn't criticize him but obliterated Clinton.
Their criticisms were legit and mostly factually accurate. However, they seemed to not understand or simply didn't care that their relentless attacks on Clinton and refusal to support her candidacy was ignoring the forrest for the trees. They seemed to fail to realize what was at stake in the election.
Their nuanced issues with Clinton was neglecting the larger scale issues.
This attitude has continued since the election. Basically, anyone who doesn't see things precisely the way they do they dismiss as naive, a cuck or a fake. The attacks on the Democrats are incessant but there doesn't seem to be be many, if any, attacks on Trump nor his policies per se. They complain about his policies but somehow lay the blame solely at the feet of the Democrats.
This wing of the party other Progressives have began to dub the #DumDumLeft has also began implementing purity tests and demonizing anyone they deem has veered even slightly right of them.
An example of this is recently a well-known and well-liked leftist YouTuber, Jimmy Dore, totally dragged New York District 14 House candidate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for saying New York Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, should be supported in his re-election bid.
Ocasio-Cortez is a Democratic Socialist who has become a rock star in the Progressive movement and has well established her Progressive roots and beliefs. She endorsed Cuomo's opponent in the primary, Cynthia Nixon. AOC's "endorsement" of Cuomo, who make no mistake is a corporatist Democrats, wasn't her saying he is a great candidate. It was her saying that he is better than the alternative.
Yet, Dore went off on her and the progressive takeover of the Democratic Party. He called the attempted take over fake. He also implied AOC was fake. And, while most agree AOC shouldn't have said anything regarding Cuomo, they understood where she was coming from. But, for Dore and the #DumDumLeft it was seen as traitorous which is patently stupid.
The entire AOC/Dore situation highlighted a major problem with this insurgency during the 2016 election. Politics and issues are often complex. Rarely are they black and white. Gray is usually the dominant color. Ironically, however, when it comes to voting for candidates the choices are almost always binary even if there are more than two choices.
This is what this insurgent sector of the left didn't grasp in 2016 and apparently still do not. Jill Stein never had a chance; neither did Gary "Aleppo" Johnson. The choice was between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. And, yes, Hillary is a centrist, an interventionist, a war hawk, a corporatist and corrupt; however, Trump was all those things plus anti-women's reproductive rights, anti-unions, favored giving tax cuts to the rich, xenophobic, transphobic and racially a bigot, if not a full fledged White Nationalist. The man openly said he wanted to ban all Muslims from entering the country, he wanted to build a wall to keep Brown folks out and wanted to bring back "stop and frisk" to keep Black people in check. So, how did they not see this was a binary choice? They claim to care about those issues.
Jimmy Dore (not to single him out necessarily) said choosing the lesser of two evils is a false choice and "propagandist bullshit". The fact is it is not. The country now realizes it is not a false choice.
Both aforementioned wings of the party are about to learn the hard way that sometimes choices are binary and choosing the lesser of two evils is real.
One of the greatest acts of political malpractice in modern times is the way Democrats ignored the importance of the judiciary.
Conservatives have seen the importance of the judiciary for decades. They have been feverishly working and manipulating to mold the courts into their liking because they understand the judiciary is where the real power is. Legislation can be voted into law but it only remains law if the courts allow it.
Democrats appear to not understand the importance of the courts or simply did not care.
The Merrick Garland fiasco should have been made a central issue of the 2016 campaign. It is not hyperbole to say the GOP stole the Supreme Court seat vacated due to Scalia's death nor is it hyperbolic to say President Obama's constitutional oath and right was violated and hijacked.
But, the Democrats did nothing to fight back. They whined and bitched some but ultimately they did what they always do. They acquiesced and cowered.
In fairness to Clinton during the debates she stressed the vitality of the courts but it was never apart of her campaign and stump speeches. It certainly was never stressed as a central issue by the DNC or party leadership.
It was clearly an issue that could have been a rallying cry for the entire party. It certainly is an issue that people within the party who claim to be policy oriented should have understand its importance and pertinence.
Because of the neglect, apathy and misguided sanctimony Donald Trump won the presidency. Furthermore, he and the Republicans control the Supreme Court and are gaining influence in the federal courts.
Liberals should think about this. President Trump hasn't been able implement or fully implement his most amoral and heinous policies such as the Muslim ban and separating migrant children from their parents because of the federal courts intervention. Thanks, Obama and Bill Clinton.
Now, give this some thought. The #DumDumLeft said the courts don't really matter. They are "not as important as policy".
Well, here is the thing now that President Trump has been able to add Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court giving it a decided Conservative majority. Issues that are near and dear to Liberals are in danger and likely in lame duck status.
Unions have already been gutted. Civil Rights are going to be partially rolled back. Citizens United is as good as completely safe. The Muslin Ban will likely be implemented. Trump will be protected from consequences of his crimes and corruption. And, Roe V Wade might not overturned but will be so gutted it essentially might as well be.
Imagine if Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or Kristen Gillibrand win the presidential election in 2020. Let's say a President Sanders or a President Warren get Medicare-For-All to pass. The opposition will sue and the case will very likely go before the Supreme Court. As currently constituted what are the chances that the court will uphold law?
The federal judiciary matters.
The selling out, the apathy, the sanctimony and the ignorance that has pervaded the left from one end of the spectrum to the other has been destructive. Refusal to see the bigger picture and hold noses for the greater good has placed the Democrats as bystanders to what is certain to be erosion of 60 years of social and cultural progress.
The party with the overwhelming majority of the country on its side has managed to allow this country to become minority ruled.
Inexplicable. Unforgivable.
