I have been a Democrat for as long as I can remember. It’s pretty simple, really. I believe we ARE all in this together. I believe compassion is more important than profit, that people are (infinitely) more important than money. I believe that the Golden Rule postulates a fine, healthy and STRONG approach to living, and that no western political philosophy is more contrary to that than what we see from present day conservatives.
More below.
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Our party now ‘enjoys’ some of the greatest political advantages ever. Conservative ‘numbers’ become poorer by the day, as their percentage of the electorate diminishes. Their appeal is on the wane, not least because they have no interest in governing, only obstructing, blocking, undermining government. Their standard bearer is the most unqualified person to ever appear on the national stage (much less the WORLD stage). He is juvenile, petty, mean-spirited, small-minded, immoral. He personifies nearly everything that is terrible in humanity.
More worrisome is how he got there. An election I had thought was safe beyond the margin of error turned into a shocking, depressing defeat. But downstream is no better. Districts we should win by double digits are all too often close. Close districts are nail-biters, tossups are outright defeats.
Our adversary is a party that touts free market politics. Yet, they NEVER miss an opportunity to cheat, to seek unfair advantage. They, who defend the ‘rights’ of firearms advocates with their cold dead hands and hearts, think nothing of wiping away the voting rights of millions if it means politics advantage. They claim their policies and objectives are superior, yet they REFUSE to compete on those policies and objectives, with ZERO faith that the ‘free market of electoral politics’ will favor them and theirs. Why are they never called out on this? It is what should be a fatal flaw in their political approach, a terrible weakness we are not exploiting, we are not showing to others.
But we are perhaps a bigger problem for ourselves than they are for us. For all we talk about and work for societal infrastructure, for education, for resources, for jobs, for economic well-being and justice, what do we do for electoral infrastructure for our party?
This past election (and SINCE, even, particularly with Ossoff), I have donated more money than ever before in my life. But it seems to me that how much we contribute isn’t the true test. I suspect that with gerrymandering and voter suppression, a powerful multiplier is required to make the dollar I donate equal to the dollar a Republican donates. I haven’t read anything from anyone about this. My feeling is that I would need to donate close to ten dollars in an election like Ossoff’s to truly offset every dollar a Republican donates. Because the thing is rigged to that extent.
A team of attorneys is building a case to try to eliminate gerrymandering once and for all. Always before, from what I understand, arguments against it came up against the idea that it seemed to be true, but justices considering the cases couldn’t see objective data PROVING electoral bias.The Campaign Legal Center thinks they have found a way to make the electoral bias of gerrymandering quantifiable.
Here is a terrific (and for me exceptionally hopeful!) article about their approach to try to end unfair redistricting. Right now I think my campaign dollars may be best spent supporting their cause, because hundreds of campaigns may be positively impacted.
Beyond that, I would like to see our party invest in political infrastructure. I want to see Citizens United eliminated. I want to see voter suppression eliminated. I want to see Constitutional guarantees for the right to vote. If fraud cases can be proven, make the penalties be stiff, but never DENY anyone the right to vote.
I would like to see an end to corporate ‘citizenship.’ If corporations were DECENT citizens, if checks and balances existed for those citizens like they do for all individual citizens, perhaps it could be discussed. But as things stand now, corporate citizenship under the Constitution has to go. Their influence on our society is disproportionately great, and not in any good ways.
I would like to see our party do a much better job of engaging with minority voters, in consistent and organized, ongoing ways. Voter registration drive flurries may be popular, but they dodge the hard work of really getting to know and valuing potential voters, making them feel a part of something bigger than us all. They need to see us FIGHTING for their rights. They need to see us appreciating their participation and their contributions toward the betterment of our society. They need to know we value and need them ALL the time, not JUST when an election is looming.
We aren’t doing a good enough job on any of these fronts. It isn’t surprising that we are in the minority.
The question is, will we be content to let that miserable state continue in the months and years to come?
Thanks for reading. On to tonight’s comments! Formatted by brillig, a person I am always happy to stand beside!
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Two from Zen Trainer:
In this amazing comment by TrueBlueMajority she:
~answers a question
~scolds a poseur candidate
~promotes 5 authentic Democrats who are candidates
~chides readers for not vetting candidates
All the while she's doing that she's laying out a plan to beat the Republicans, starting with taking back all the school boards from them, and she highlights the whole Democratic Party platform.
Absolutely stellar, and I say that in part because I do agree. Here is just a taste of her comment:
"If the above-named people win, raise money, build mailing lists and reinvigorate the Democratic base in Tidewater and other key areas, that will go a long way toward breaking the back of Republicon dominance of undercard VA politics. And look at how many of them are women and people of color. That’s the kind of change that makes headlines and grabs positive media attention and makes Rcons quake in their boots."
Another excellent comment here, by Earnest T Bass. But it did depress me a bit, and make my teeth ache. It really would be simple to provide good health care in the US.
From Otteray Scribe:
In Aviator Doc's rec list diary, "Hell Is For Children," There are a host of comments worthy of mention on TC. However, 43north is a former first responder who speaks truth because he has been there, seen it, and done it himself. Some memories are harder to live with than others.
FWIW, his reference to "Daddy's Girl" was about the link I included in my comment upthread.
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