So you want to know what is on my mind? You want more diaries? You shall have them. For starters, it is funny you should ask because my ideas are not in line with the present democratic party. I like what Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have been saying much more.
My take on the past election is that justice was done. People who run from our values and join the racist movement against our president have no business in office. George Lakoff gave some pointers in a recent diary. Some responses were full of scorn based on total lack of understanding that make some of the anti-science republicans look intelligent by comparison.
Read on below and I'll say more in the first of a long series.
Lakoff, as I recall, suggested that our candidates need training. I agreer and they need screening. If they are going to pander to the right they should not be supported by the democratic party. You can't stop them from running but you can make it clear that they are using the name without our support.
No one is really qualified to lead in office if they have not organized a progressive movement and led it first. All candidates should recognize that elections are but one important part of what a movement for change must be. It has to be ongoing and it has to manage its resources rather than take the Koch brothers bait and squander them.
Losing an election is not a tragedy if ground was gained for building the movement. Attacking republicans using their framing is a sure way to lose and yet we see it happen all the time.
Kropotkin had a message to students:
Think about what kind of society you want to live in and then demand that your5 teachers teach you how to build that society.
Every legitimate candidate has to be that kind of teacher. The leadership should be there win or lose. The building o0f the society we want should be ongoing win or lose.
There was a big march about climate. Where is the movement? There is poverty all around. Where is the movement? The agriculture we have dictated to us is poisoning and depleting. Where is the movement?
I know, there are "movements" out there. Fragmented groups organized around single issues. That is why we need a real political movement behind our party. It has to unify and build a massive force for change.
Words like "revolution" and "socialism" are tainted. There has to be a way of speaking that gets to the heart of what needs to be done. The message needs to be positive. Stop complaining and go forward.
I have written many diaries about the system we are up against. The democratic and republican parties are part of that system and our phony elections strengthen that system.
The argument that voting must matter or they wouldn't try to stop it is so off the mark it is funny. Put the "war on voting" into perspective as part of a larger "war on the people". They will use any ploy they can to tie up time, energy, and resources that might go into building a movement for change.
Build that movement and the votes will follow. It can not happen the other way around. At present allmost all, if not all, our effort is really counter productive. Until we dedicate ourselves to building a permanent, effective movement for change we are fooling ourselves and strengthening the system that is crushing us and robbing future generations.
The choice is yours.
