Tomorrow is the big day!!
Before you go to vote, let me have a moment of your time to advocate we stand together as a party.
The money never rests, so why should we? That is the civic question posed by Citizens United. Will we answer?
These are the people we need to stand against. This is why we need to vote as a party this time.
Can anybody tell me a scenario where a stronger GOP makes any sense? Seriously, I've not heard that case made in a way that makes me think fewer overall Democrats helps us make the right decisions.
And isn't that all the vote is?
At the basic level, we vote to decide who gets to decide how to run the place, and we vote for those people we believe will make the BETTER decisions.
When do the Republicans make better decisions?
Voting the party ticket doesn't mean we said it's all ok, but a lot of us are stuck on that point. A lot of us don't want to have to say we voted for somebody who isn't aligned with our principles, whatever they are.
I get this, and I have a potential solution:
Let's pick a fight! Instead of worrying about this vote, allowing the GOP to grow, only to waste a lot of time, money and energy beating them back again, let's hold them where they are, then change the game!
Let's pick that fight!
Which fight you say? Glad you asked!
What we normally do is get all worked up prior to the election, influencing voters to vote in ways we think make sense. Then we pull back and see what happens right? In this way, our vote is sort of a referendum. We either like what we got, or we don't, and we vote again.
The product of that has often been a cycle of ugly, where we vote a Dem, that Democrat goes coin operated, votes against our best interests, so we either challenge and lose because the party leadership favors the coin operated Democrat, or we don't vote, or vote third party, and a Republican gets in there.
Now that Republican goes big, and votes against our best interests, over and over, and tells us to like it! Fuck that, we say, and in comes another coin operated Democrat, or if we are lucky, like we were with Gordon Smith in Oregon, a real Progressive, in that case Merkley.
Who lives with those bad decisions? We do. Do we really think our elite leaders are significantly impacted by most all of the legislation they pass? Do we think that with all the money in play? Really.
I don't. Either they are in office, or they are not, and if they are in, they are going to do what they want, because they can, and that's the truth, and that's the fight we need to pick, if we are to break this awful cycle.
They get to do what they can, because it doesn't cost them much to screw the ordinary people and favor the corporations, and the corporations pay a lot of money to make sure that's true. Our real politics are ordinary people vs corporations, not Democrat vs Republican.
Why?
Because there are two kinds of Democrats. One is Progressive Democrats, who happen to be the only political body of size fighting for the best interests of the middle class. The other Democrats are coin operated Democrats, who differ from Republicans enough to be called Democrats, but do not differ from them on the core, problem, pro-corporation economic issues, and that is where the problem is.
Most ordinary people don't know this! They just see "Democrats", and they ask, "Why did the Democrats not do what we need done?", and the excuses pile on, frustration builds and we rapidly reach a point where a lot of the people say both parties suck, enough of the time to leave us in the position of losing the very power we need to complete the agenda.
We've all been here before, and was it good for us then? Hell no it wasn't, and it's not gonna be good now either, so what is a principled Democrat to do?
Pick that fight!
Let's take steps after the election to begin differentiating Progressive Democrats, from coin operated Democrats, while at the same time showing the people the real politics, so they can understand why enough of the Democrats fucked them, and how throw away, protest, fantasy, sincere, stay home, third party, Republican votes won't change anything.
Yes, I know that's divisive, but unless we change the game, we are going to see it play out the same way it always plays out. Progressives will get lip service on things, but when the legislation gets passed, it won't actually be Progressive enough to matter, because there are not enough Progressive Democrats to make that happen! We can change that, take some seats, build our numbers, and see good bills pass!
So you may ask, "how does voting a straight ticket change any of this?", and I would answer, "it doesn't, but it does hold back the GOP", "hold them back for what?", answer: THE FIGHT!
That's new! That's the game changer, and here is what it looks like:
After the elections are done, we fire off some PACs, or corporations, or whatever entity needs to form to put the top 50 economically regressive politicians on plan. These are the gold coin operated ones, who are the problem. Some of them will be Democrats, some Republican. It won't matter, because they are all going to be framed as one and the same, with the only difference being the coin operated Democrat, lumped in with the Republican won't mind letting the Gay people marry, and the Republican would oppose that, but both will gladly legislate corporate welfare, because that is how they keep their seat.
As soon as possible after the election, and I'm talking the first of the year tops, challengers are picked, and announced! We don't wait a year, we don't wait a day, if we can help it, we challenge on DAY ONE, putting those economic regressives on plan proper.
The entity begins to fund raise, soliciting regular donations from active Progressives. Let's say a bunch of us can afford $20 a month, or maybe even $50 a month, enough for one dollar, per coin operated target, nation wide.
Some small part of that dollar funds the entity, another goes into the challengers war chest, and the rest goes to run AD's, in the home district of that coin operated target, which criticize how they vote, and what they do for the people they are supposed to serve.
The entity, staffed by a few people, or even one person, with some ability to tap into shared resources nationwide, or leverage existing resources and groups we have operating now, is the watchdog. They work on discovery as to the goings on with this target, they help produce and direct media aimed at the target, and they are responsible for grooming the challenger, taking statements, and essentially building the case for replacing them, starting on DAY ONE.
When the target votes to screw the people, we make them own it! The ads go up, challenger makes their statement, entity funds them, does mailings, and fund raises off those bad votes, building the case.
This also shows the people who exactly is on their side, and it's Progressive Democrats, by the people, for the people, of the people.
We then make it clear we need to transform our party into one that serves the people, not the corporations, and the only way to do that is to either take seats, or raise the cost of fucking us over to a point where it doesn't make any sense. Then we won't get screwed over.
In case you were not reading closely, that's also WHY Progressives get screwed over. It's cheaper to deny us, than it is the special interests and corporations, and so it happens that way, and it's gonna happen over and over, until we choose to stand, pick that fight, and fight to win, raising that cost to a point where it makes better sense to do the right thing.
That's what this vote is about --or could be about, if we are willing to pick that fight.
Over time, the political entity continues to fund-raise off of bad votes, building brand awareness among the people, feeding media stories and research of interest, grooming the challenger, helping to facilitate and grow person to person advocacy efforts, at all times letting the people know where the problem is, who is working to fix it, and how they can help.
50 states maybe. One gold coin operated target per state, for a target recurring donation of $50 per month, with the idea of that being enough to start, getting more over time as people see the results and continue to buy in.
The entire time that gold coin operated politician sits in office, this goes on, forcing them to address that entity, and the people it motivates, which will cost them TIME, and DOLLARS, both directly in terms of spending, and indirectly as the case is made for big doners to reconsider doing that, because the word is out.
Either that target reforms, and we get some good votes, or they don't, and we run the challenger.
Here's the beauty of it folks!
It doesn't matter much, which one actually happens!! Let's say that target reforms, and we get Progressive legislation. That means Progressives win, have a nice story to tell, and can build the movement off of that.
Let's say they don't reform, and we make a great case for challenging them with a real Progressive. Still doesn't matter. If they are that ugly, the race could easily be winnable, and win or lose, a whole lot of Progressive advocacy and movement building happened, making it so Progressives win again.
That's the fight! Let's pick that fight, raise the cost of screwing the people, and most importantly, give those people who voted that full ticket, who didn't want to violate their principles, some action they can point to and know that vote was worth it!
With a strategy like this in play, holding the GOP back makes great sense, because we can be "voting" every single month, pushing on those politicians who need the pushing, while at the same time denying the GOP the mindshare it needs to gain momentum.
Regardless of your position on the full ticket, GOTV tomorrow. Thanks!!