Duty motives you, and me, and many of the people who comment at
Stonekettle. Unfortunately, as your Twitter responses showed, we are not
a majority. If we want people to show up, I think it is our job to make
the case, in terms that persuade people for whom duty is not a
sufficient motivation.
The Democratic leadership is an obstacle. Some Democratic candidates might as well be Republicans. Most of them are rich and insulated by their wealth from the hardness of most people's lives. (As David Dayen reminded us recently, every single bank deregulation bill of the past 30-40 years was bipartisan.) The Senate Democratic leader voted to confirm a torturer for Director of the CIA. And so on, and on.
If the goal is to build a Democratic coalition that defeats the fascists of the Republican Party, it will take strong leadership and careful planning to both satisfy the liberals and keep the more conservative factions in the Party. At this time, I see no interest in building such a coalition in the Democratic Party leadership. With the Democratic leadership opposed and no major leftist leader within the party, I do not see how the left is to be brought to enthusiastically support the Democratic Party in the next four years.
The Democratic leadership is an obstacle. Some Democratic candidates might as well be Republicans. Most of them are rich and insulated by their wealth from the hardness of most people's lives. (As David Dayen reminded us recently, every single bank deregulation bill of the past 30-40 years was bipartisan.) The Senate Democratic leader voted to confirm a torturer for Director of the CIA. And so on, and on.
If the goal is to build a Democratic coalition that defeats the fascists of the Republican Party, it will take strong leadership and careful planning to both satisfy the liberals and keep the more conservative factions in the Party. At this time, I see no interest in building such a coalition in the Democratic Party leadership. With the Democratic leadership opposed and no major leftist leader within the party, I do not see how the left is to be brought to enthusiastically support the Democratic Party in the next four years.
2 comments:
You cannot reason with people like Jim Wright. He will beseech Americans to become "better citizens" until fascism takes power in Washington. The Democratic Party exists to defend the status quo. It has succeeded in blocking progressive reforms for decades. With frustration building amongst the electorate, time is running out.
So, what would you suggest? Any attempt to form a third party at this time would make matters worse.
Working on making Americans better citizens is probably about the best thing to do at this time.
Me, I'm going to register voters.
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