Is social justice more resonant than economic justice, and if so, what follows from that?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday June 08, 2020 · 4:40 PM PDT

2020/06/08 · 16:40

In the last decade:

-Historic crowds protested racism and police brutality

-Me Too stirred the hearts of the whole country

-The movement for LGBTQ* rights gained enormous traction and victories

These social issues moved people and created change. Much more needs to be done, of course.

But there are no equally gigantic protests against corrupt crony capitalism, poverty, lack of health care, and disgusting levels of inequality.

This even though all these issues are obviously intertwined!

It seemed as if Bernie’s campaign foundered on the perception — justified or not — that it emphasized economic more than social justice.

Why are social justice issues so much more psychologically powerful as a force in American politics than economic justice?

What implications does it have for how we work for economic justice, too? How do we structure the story of the struggle given these facts?

Indivisible, Swing Left, etc. -- who thinks most globally and strategically about this election?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday May 15, 2020 · 8:48 AM PDT

2020/05/15 · 08:48

Which organization is really sitting down, if any, and figuring out, at every level — local, state, and federal — what it takes to win the race?

Are there any that are working in this comprehensive, strategic way, just really laying it all out and really thinking about what it will take to win at every level?

When is the next gigantic march for democracy -- as big as the first Women's March?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday February 06, 2020 · 9:14 AM PST

2020/02/06 · 09:14

Given the continuing stream of insanity, one (or more than one) is badly needed. Is there one planned in the future — something with all the connections to make it truly huge?

Why don't Dems use Hollywood to create better stories & media?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday July 29, 2019 · 3:39 PM PDT

2019/07/29 · 15:39

The Dems have an enormous talent pool in Hollywood.

Why not create advertisements and a vision that come out of that talent pool — that are beautifully written and produced, that have heart and soul and a little magic? You know — stories of redemption, humor, all the things that great Hollywood TV and movies do so well…

Why isn’t this an obvious move? Is there something I’m missing?

Thought experiment: what if the Dem agenda was ONLY the overwhelmingly popular ideas?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday July 18, 2019 · 1:03 PM PDT

2019/07/18 · 13:03

I consider myself a progressive, but I want to think out loud here.

For all the anti-democratic, racist, corrupt garbage that Trump/GOP puts out, what if Dems simply ignored all that — and simply emphasized 5-7 policies that have polled with OVERWHELMING support among all Americans?

They could repeat them like parrots over and over and over. They should try to pass them in the House, over and over and over.

-Gun control (“Republicans don’t mind your kids being killed in school shootings”)

-Anti-corruption (“Republicans want politicians to be bought by greedy corporations”)

-Minimum wage to $20/hour and index to inflation (“Republicans don’t want your wages to increase”)

-Paid family leave and subsidized childcare (“Republicans want working families to suffer”)

-Medicare as an option for all but not mandatory (“Republicans don’t want you to have quality health care”)

-Tax increases for the richest, tax cuts for everyone else (“Republicans only want to protect their rich, corrupt friends”)

-Renewable energy bill to fix climate change and create jobs (“Republicans want your air and water poisoned and the planet to burn”)

Why would happen if we just emphasized these like a broken record?

How to uproot the GOP/conservative culture and machine? It's NOT just gerrymandering

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday July 10, 2019 · 7:42 AM PDT

2019/07/10 · 07:42

Republicans have long thought strategically about how to rig the game against Democrats in all the ways we know so well — everything from gerrymandering to voter suppression to lying, wedge issues, false cries of fake news, etc.

Democrats need to start thinking structurally about how to destroy and dismember the conservative machine of evil.

It’s not just about reforming the electoral college and gerrymandering. Those are just legal-political changes.

When Democrats are back in power, which, God/universe willing, they will be, we need to be prepared to take action to utterly annihilate the very roots of conservative evil.

How can we destroy the entire culture and organizational mechanics of the Republican party and of conservatism?

-How can we disable Fox News?

-How can we destroy the effectiveness of claims of fake news and all the lying?

-How can we uproot and dismember the special interests that fuel and fund the GOP?

-How do we put into place institutions that can resist the influence of future GOP politicians?

In other words, how do we smash the Trumpian party and everything it represents, burn it at its roots? That’s what we need to try to accomplish. That’s what we need to think about.

What is most effective way a person can spend their time to help save this country?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday June 22, 2019 · 6:31 AM PDT

2019/06/22 · 06:31

Right-wing terrorist militias in Oregon threatening the state legislature.

Concentration camps which abuse and torture children.

Republicans trying to retain power by undemocratic means, and conservative courts helping them.

This is not even to mention the GOP thugs in the WH, Congress, and many of the courts.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of literally thousands of things threatening to tear our nation apart.

Here’s a question: suppose an ordinary person says: I have — 1, 2, 5, or 10 hours a week I’d like to devote to saving our country.

Where can those hours, that effort, be most effectively deployed?

-Volunteering for a political campaign? State? Local? National?

-Helping some issue-specific organization?

-Forming groups of people that can then act jointly on some task?

What’s the best bang per hour?

Let’s play a game: what statement is most likely to shake a Trumpist’s support?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday June 21, 2019 · 3:42 PM PDT

2019/06/21 · 15:42

Racoons playing poker at Calvin T's Smoking Gun BBQ, Kanab, Utah

Imagine you have a typical Trumpian — whatever you imagine them to be. You can make them read or hear something about Trump. What statement(s) would be most likely to shake their support?

Part of the game is what the supporter is most likely to believe, too, without simply dismissing it as “fake news.”

I’ll start:

“Trump cut taxes for the rich by $2 trillion. But look at your tax refund: is it bigger or smaller than last year?”

Why is electoral security not worth shutting government down over?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday June 20, 2019 · 9:17 AM PDT

2019/06/20 · 09:17

Am I misunderstanding something?

With stories like these (about NC’s election system vulnerabilities) --

Just days before the 2016 voting, Greenhalgh and other activists had heard the first reports that Russian operatives had tried to hack into an election technology company called VR Systems. She wondered that day if VR Systems was Durham’s vendor.

It was.

...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his GOP lawmakers are refusing to vote on critical election security bills that would provide federal dollars and support to local election systems to upgrade cybersecurity, as well as requiring paper ballots and audits that would ensure the integrity of the vote.

Why isn’t this a #1 priority for the Democratic House? Why are they not refusing to fund the government unless electoral security is implemented? This seems a no-brainer, and something the large majority of the public would get behind.

Or is this not as big a deal as it seems?

Could the census be re-conducted after 2020?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday June 03, 2019 · 2:19 PM PDT

2019/06/03 · 14:19

Everyone thinks the census must be done every 10 years, but the census clause in the Constitution reads:

“The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

Doesn’t that suggest that 10 years is a maximum and not a fixed term, that the census must be conducted at least every 10 years?

So that if a census with a citizenship question is included now, if in 2020, fate willing, we have a Democratic President, we can simply do it again.

Has any court ruled on this issue?

Who is systematically thinking about how to take back the Senate?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 17, 2019 · 2:11 PM PDT

2019/04/17 · 14:11

This seems to me critically important and underrated. Is there any competent organization which is thinking about each Senate race and figuring out how to win enough to get a majority back?

I guess there’s the DSCC, but are they doing enough? Is there anyone else?

Why do Democrats have such un-unified messaging?

KafkaWest

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 08, 2018 · 4:36 PM PDT

2018/10/08 · 16:36

You always see Trump quoted. You see Mitch quoted.

On any particular issue, it seems all the Republicans are all saying exactly the same thing everywhere — and the papers quote them as such.

But when, for example, the Trump family’s vile tax theft came out — why weren’t the Democrats out in unison screaming to the high heavens about it?

Dems are not able to articulate and express their unified outrage. Why not?

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