11 OCT 2017 … a few days before my birthday 🙂
What do we do now?
Time to assess, re-assess, think, go deep, investigate, introspect and THEN ACT!
My opening statement, essentially my analysis of the paralysis within the Democratic Party.
Part 1: The Bad News – or – MY problem with the Democratic Party
The Democratic Party has lost over 1,000 seats since 2010
Since 2008 Democrats have lost:
** 14 Senate seats
** 69 House seats
** 12 governorships
** 910 state legislature seats
That’s over 1,000 seats lost!
“He’s lost almost 70 Democrats since he’s been president,” Roberts said of Congress, “and more than 900 state legislators. So he needs to give Democrats something to run on.” Cokie Roberts on ABC’s “This Week” Jan. 25, 2015. http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/jan/25/cokie-roberts/have-democrats-lost-900-seats-state-legislatures-o/
The Democratic Party Got Crushed During The Obama Presidency. Here’s Why:
http://www.npr.org/2016/03/04/469052020/the-democratic-party-got-crushed-during-the-obama-presidency-heres-why
“Democrats currently hold fewer elected offices nationwide than at any time since the 1920s.”
Establishment Democrats in Office USING Republican Talking Points (High Taxes in European Countries – 70% tax = wrong, not true) Claire McCaskill, Diane Feinstein are PRIME examples of Democrats in Office using Republican talking points. Look it up and see if I’m wrong here.
Other bad things:
I am not alone in this, the Democratic Party and the way it handles elections, especially primaries is UN-DEMOCRATIC, especially with “Super-Delegates” and the whole system is challenging for any and all parties when you consider the electoral college, but that’s not going away anytime soon.
The Good News = The Shock. People have begun to wake up with pResident “Tiny Orange Hands the Terrible” in office. There are many Groups, some which have been in existence before Orange Donny Tiny Hands was ever in office. Progressive Democrats of America, Justice Democrats, Democratic Socialists of America (the DSA has increased their twitter followers by more than 10 times since Tiny Hands Donny was Elected)
Part 2: Before we fight ANYTHING we have to KNOW some stuff first.
1. Defining my terms:
For the purpose of communicating as much clarity as possible, I will define a few of the terms below as *I* understand them. I realize that these terms are NOT universally understood this way but are presented here so you know what I am talking about.
a) LIBERAL:
As the British would say, this is the BOG STANDARD DEFINITION of a liberal:
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/liberal
But, let me be concise as to what I mean.
When I say LIBERAL I mean someone that is advocating for things such as:
** Free College (for at least the first 2 years if not 4 years)
** A “NW European”/Canadian/Australian Style Medical Care system OR “MEDICARE FOR ALL”
** Reduction in Military Involvement overseas & reduction in military spending, do it smarter and not more expensively
**Investment and rebuilding, renovating, updating our infrastructure. (I could make a paper JUST on this topic alone)
b) Progressive = see “liberal above, especially the bog standard definition.
c) Establishment Politician or Candidate -AKA – THE ESTABLISHMENT
Again I will use some British Common Terminology to help explain this.
The Bog Standard Definition for “The Establishment” as I mean it and will use it here, is:
“The Establishment generally denotes a dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation or organization. The Establishment may be a closed social group which selects its own members or specific entrenched elite structures, either in government or in specific institutions.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Establishment
Political strategist Mark McKinnon told NPR how he defined “establishment”: “The measles. A disease. A political disease.”
http://www.npr.org/2016/02/11/466049701/how-establishment-became-the-buzzword-of-the-2016-election
2. What we are not talking about:
a) RepubliCONs:
I just won’t waste my time, there is enough evidence out there in the wild to show that the GOP is MORE corrupt than the Democratic Party (and that is really saying something) and sold out completely to multinational corporations LONG ago. Also they are just not my focus here.
Part 3. Some History of the DNC & DLC for CONTEXT – Let’s NOT forget this stuff folks!
a) History, The DNC
A Time-line of the DNC just for some CONTEXT:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democratic-conventions-history_us_573f10d5e4b0613b5129f635
A Little 1968 History of the DNC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention
b) What is the DNC? Simply put:
“The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_National_Convention
c) History, The DLC:
“The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation[1] founded in 1985 that, upon its formation, argued the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it took in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. One of its main purposes was to win back white middle class voters with ideas that addressed their concerns.[2] The DLC hailed President Bill Clinton as proof of the viability of Third Way politicians and as a DLC success story.”
“The DLC was founded by Al From in 1985 in the wake of Democratic candidate and former Vice President Walter Mondale‘s landslide defeat by incumbent President Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election. Other founders include Democratic Governors Chuck Robb (Virginia), Bruce Babbitt (Arizona) and Lawton Chiles (Florida), Senator Sam Nunn (Georgia) and Representative Dick Gephardt (Missouri)”
“Although progressive critics argue the DLC’s centrism has led the Democratic party to multiple electoral defeats, DLC candidates, office holders, and their moderate policies have been generally favored by the American electorate. When the Democratic party won majority status in the Senate in 1986, *it was done with centrist and DLC affiliated candidates Barbara Mikulski (a participant in the DLC’s National Service Tour), Harry Reid (who recently said Democrats have to “swallow their pride” and move toward the middle), Conservative Democrat Richard Shelby, DLCer Bob Graham, DLCer Kent Conrad, and DLCer Tom Daschle. When Bill Clinton, former Chairman of the DLC, made up his mind to run for the presidency in 1992, the DLC spotted the right candidate to promote its mission.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Leadership_Council
*My Comment: That might have been fine for back then, it certainly doesn’t work any more.
Part 4: What about those Super-Delegates?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2008/2/15/457181/-
http://billmoyers.com/story/secret-history-superdelegates/
My Comment: Does a DEMOCRATIC Party really NEED an undemocratic system which includes SUPER-DELEGATES? I admit that I’ll have to return to this topic later to get into the weeds of it, but on the surface I’d venture to say, uhm, NO, it can’t have SUPER Delegates and still be DEMOCRATIC, but that’s just me, call me crazy. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this because I still have a lot of ground to cover. Hopefully this (whatever you call it, paper, thought puke-age etc) will point you in the right direction (those who don’t already know this stuff or are just wanting to double check on a few things)
Part 5: What Wikileaks revealed (here’s some re-litigation reasons)
A lot of this stuff is known, I’m just puking this out for now and hey, it might help a few people still wondering WTF? These things are sometimes not easy for BUSY, working people to sort out.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/23/dnc-emails-wikileaks-hillary-bernie-sanders
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wikileaks-emails-show-dnc-favored-hillary-clinton-over_us_57930be0e4b0e002a3134b05
“At this point, it does not really matter who is behind the WikiLeaks email dumps. What is important is how WikiLeaks has revealed just how disdainful the Democratic Party leadership is of its voters. If anything, this new information should convince former Bernie supporters to never vote for Clinton.”
https://www.inquisitr.com/3590549/wikileaks-reveals-clinton-worked-with-dnc-to-throw-bernie-a-bone/
My Statement: I apologize right here and now to those who loved Hillary & supported her candidacy especially this last time. For the record, after Bernie was no longer one of the options, I voted for Hillary because for me Trump was just not going to be a President that I could stomach. Let that be for the record.
However, (and I’m not even blaming Hillary for this one) there was definhitely some hanky panky going on which makes the DNC and DLC questionable AT BEST, can we at least agree on that?
Also, How is the Democratic party going to withstand the losses from pissing off its progressive wing of the party? (I say it’s the progressive BASE, but that’s just me)
What are the options? What can we do? Just bitching about it and withdrawing won’t work.
In the next parts of this (jeez I didn’t think this would be that long and I am taking all kinds of short-cuts) already long presentation of mine – we will assess further and try to come up with some plans for action.
Part 6: Further Assessment of the situation & some ideas for what to do now, next, etc.
I could windbag you all to death but I am going to let Jamarl Thomas take it from here, he has much better diction and is much more educated than I, so give him a listen and think about what he has to say:
a) Just vote a straight Democratic Ticket – does this even get us anywhere?
b) Primary Establishment Democrats in Office – possible? Maybe.
c) Third Party? Is this viable right now?
d) scorched earth policy?
Please watch or listen (or both) to these videos by Jamarl Thomas Below, in my opinion he gets down to the essence of what all of this is all about, what is happening and what are our options.
Ladies & Genetlemen … Jamarl Thomas! Take it away!
https://youtu.be/Q-IvMqstWLU
https://youtu.be/4cs8iTwie4U
Recommended Video and a Book for further research:
Video: Stolen Democracy: How the Democratic Party Lost the Election and Lost its Soul
https://youtu.be/V8ERFwZoPXE
Book: LISTEN, LIBERAL – Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?
by Thomas Frank https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/thomas-frank/listen-liberal/
That’s all I have for now, I just had to get it out of my system, I’m not a college graduate so please excuse any and all errors as mine. I am open to suggestions & criticism as long as they are constructive.
Frei Lanser (not my real name) 11 OCT 2017