I feel like I have a point that hasn’t really broken through.
So I will keep my sentences short.
Yes. There are lots of good and great things going on locally.
Here and here and here and here and here.
We all celebrate (and join in) that local liberal activism.
It's exactly what’s needed.
However.
There are also some fundamental misconceptions that are holding Democrats back.
We need to break out of the box.
Point One: We should all be talking to Trump voters, and nonvoters.
I have worked as a cook (five different restaurants), I have worked as a janitor twice, and, just this last year I worked for a good spell as a grocery clerk at a “Pacific-Themed” national chain store.
I’ve had countless breaks in ugly break rooms.
And in the process, I’ve met some amazing people.
Regular people. Annoying people. Quiet people. People who wouldn’t shut up.
I’ve worked with tons of folks, including countless white men...without a college degree.
I’ve worked with people of all backgrounds, from all over the world.
And the thing we always had in common is that we were working our asses off for too little money and all of us had plenty of things to think about other than politics.
If you think you know what the people cooking and serving you food, cleaning your hallways and toilets, what the folks stocking your grocery shelves and ringing up your groceries are thinking without even asking or meeting them, you are sadly mistaken.
These are all regular people with their own lives and experiences.
And the way you learn what they think, is simple: you talk to them and you listen.
If you think that you are going to persuade someone without giving them that basic courtesy, you are doing it wrong.
And, yes, the majority of whites with no college degree who voted, voted for Donald Trump.
And...aside from the hard-core pro-lifers...I would wager a bet that most of these folks were reachable if not on the question of their vote in 2016 then on the question of some issues that will influence their vote in the next election.
(That is, if they voted at all.)
Point Two: We should all be talking to Trump voters (and nonvoters) about issues that matter.
I would bet that polling, if you could even poll this kind of thing, would show that a significant chunk of Trump voters (and Stein and Johnson voters) just wanted to shake things up and didn’t take the consequences all that seriously.
You could argue with some good reason that some Trump votes were cast almost as a joke.
However, I would bet that underneath that joke, most people were angry and disaffected and hopeless enough that their joke/protest vote was also, in part, serious.
The point is, the way to counter this is NOT to talk about the latest bullshit that they put on TV. Or any kind of predictable agenda.
The way to approach this is to talk about some issues that you may have in common.
Something personal. Something real. Something basic. Something that matters.
People who think you are going to make progressive change without having these conversations are kidding themselves.
People who don’t want to have these conversations out of animosity and resentment are bound to lose.
Nobody really cares that McConnell shut down Warren. (Except for all of us here, of course.)
People do care about their job. Their family. Their sports team. Their TV show. Their money. Their gripes and their grievances.
And if we don’t talk to them, Donald Trump and Steve Bannon will.
And Trump and Bannon’s nefarious agenda is simpler, clearer and more to the point than 99% of what I read from liberal insiders on Twitter.
Point Three: American Politics is ALSO about pressure.
American politics can seem like it’s winner take all.
But it’s also very much about political pressure.
And people in motion make political pressure.
We are in motion, right now.
And we are doing two things.
1. We are putting political pressure on Donald Trump and the GOP to define and confine the limits of their possible.
2. We are building the NEXT Democratic Party, the one that is going to win back state Houses, Governorships, the House, the Senate and the Presidency.
Don’t stop moving. Don’t stop putting pressure on. Don’t stop acting locally.
Don’t stop, period.
Even when that means putting pressure on and calling out Democrats.
Final point: It’s time for new heroes. Leave the past in the rear view mirror.
Barack Obama went wind surfing, or some such thing, today, with a billionaire.
God be with you, Barack.
(If you want, or choose, to be relevant to us again, we will welcome it.)
But in the meantime, the rest of us are kind of busy.
And we need new voices, faces, insights, arguments and ideas.
That takes nurturing, nudging, mentoring, suggesting, enthusing and making mistakes.
We need to get this right. We may need to fail fast with our new ideas.
But I can’t think of a more apt image than wind surfing with a billionaire to underline this moment.
God bless the old guard, it’s time for NEW FACES IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Is that new face you?
Are you willing to do what it takes?