This week I wrote my confidence in Hillary Clinton as a candidate, and as our next president.
In particular, I addressed how on a personal level supporting Hillary seems the best antidote to the unprecedented debasing of our public life and civic conversation that's been visited upon us daily by Donald Trump.
With every week, it seems we are witnessing more the lurching birth of a new Breitbart/Trump media venture and less a sincere competition for president between political parties.
In Trump’s unshackled presidential campaign, there’s no need for actual discussion of legislation, laws and legislators when the candidate (or, “alt/right reality clown ”) is imploding before our very eyes.
Secretary Clinton has very good and strategic reasons to simply let this implosion happen.
But this election is actually about legislation, laws and legislators.
And that’s my point.
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While there’s only a 90+% guarantee that Clinton has the presidential race in hand, there is an absolute guarantee that on November 9th an actual political party with a demonstrated track record, the Republican Party, will control state legislatures, governor’s mansions, and, perhaps, majorities in both houses of U.S. Congress.
Now, the GOP may be, basically, in hiding right now. But the GOP has very good and strategic reasons for that, too.
And everything that kos and MB and the team here writes about working to win the Senate and the House is spot on.
November 9th will be the first day of a massive realignment of our political system.
Every progressive vote and voice we elect will make a difference.
And, sure as the sun rises, the Republican Party - currently in duck and cover mode across the USA — will be completely prepared to use whatever votes they can muster to continue to block, obstruct, thwart, confuse, obfuscate and stymie everything Hillary Clinton and the Democrats and we progressives propose.
While Trump and Deplorables Inc. may well be busy cashing in what they can salvage from the burning dumpster of this campaign, the very familiar GOP will be back executing the only play in their playbook.
And they will have a favorite fundraising target in “the Clintons” to help them try to rebuild their particular brand of no.
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And that’s where we come in.
Our party and our democracy need us to be involved now, and after this election.
With passing laws.
With electing legislators.
With advancing legislation.
And that begins with winning every possible majority available to us this election cycle, starting with the Senate and hopefully the House.
There’s too much at stake to let this moment pass.
And the same party that brought us Trump is more than ready to bring us four more years of their current playbook (and whatever nightmare they can come up with for 2020.)
The question for us, is what are we ready to do, voter by voter, precinct by precinct, law by law, to win the future we all deserve.