Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/09/11/primary-those-dinos.html
…
11 Likes
The Republicans already burned down their home and are now living in a tent on their front lawn, I guess it is time for the Democrats to do likewise. It’s not like the GOP isn’t in total disarray or anything.
7 Likes
This is the wrong article for this week. Primary season is over. The chance to swap out some democrats for other democrats is gone for the year. Now the only choice is who wins the actual elected seat of office. Wringing our hands about whether Brown is a neoliberal or those california healthcare plans were nonsense is not useful this week.
24 Likes
I mostly agree but still see Trump and his GOP enablers as far more dangerous than any establishment Dem. Infighting among Democrats allowed Trump’s election in the first place. Let’s not make the mistake of splitting the electorate even further by imposing strict purity tests.
Maybe I’m just too practical but I’d rather make sure to hobble Trump’s agenda first by taking back Congress then we can figure out how to reform the Democratic party. We ain’t gonna get anywhere by splitting the vote or scaring people away.
I’m glad Sirota brings up Colorado. Gov Hickenlooper in a long time Denver restaurateur and businessman who knows you can’t be overly liberal in a largely purple state. Oil & gas is a huge part of the rural economy here and you’re not going to get far alienating farmers and ranchers who make substantial income leasing their lands to exploration. I’m sure the same is true for most states where sacred cows are going to be protected no matter what. That’s just the reality of politics where it’s impossible to stay totally consistent on your views and still get re-elected.
9 Likes
That the so-called Blue Wave didn’t sweep the old guard from the primaries tells us that the disenfranchised didn’t influence are much as we had hoped, and it bodes ill for the mid-term elections. I think we’ll see another weak showing from the young and minorities.
Same as it ever was…
3 Likes
Every time I see a progressive Democrat use the word “neoliberal,” I’m tempting to ask the person if they know what the word means. As Orwell observed in “Politics and the English Language,” the word fascist soon lost its meaning and just stood in for “someone I don’t like.” Among Democrats, neoliberal is the same way.
Furthermore, I agree with @jeff_fisher: this isn’t the time for this. Democratic in-fighting will only lead to the same division that helped elect Trump in 2016. You know what’s infinitely worse than a center-right Democrat who thinks some social problems have a market component to their solution? Any Republican.
16 Likes
newmedia and voters repeatedly demonstrate they can only focus on one issue at a time and any attempt to do otherwise ends in disaster like a candidate that almost purposely causes a new issue every single day so you forget the previous one
how about we first get control of the house and subpoena ability and then work on the rest, before the country implodes
3 Likes
So…you’re saying essentially everyone sucks then. Cool.
2 Likes
There’s no question that both of the duopoly parties’ establishments have prioritised the well-being of slow AIs above those of most human persons (big-money donors being an exception). However, there’s also a clear difference between them in terms of the degree to and the manner in which they do so.
While we need to support more progressive Dem candidates in the primaries, through small-money donations, and by demanding reforms in the DNC, once we hit the general elections we have to think strategically and shift our focus (at least in the short term) to defeating the GOP before returning to the on-going project of returning the Dems to a more sustainable course.
9 Likes
I’m starting to think of the left/right spectrum as a bribery spectrum. The further right a politician is, the less likely they’re going to act in the ordinary person’s best interest, but instead obey the dictum of the highest bidder.
1 Like
That’s how English works. It’s a feature, not a bug.
3 Likes
I completely agree. Primary the centrists all you like, but do not split the vote. Remember Nader? I remember Nader.
10 Likes
Also, from the other side, “remember Perot”? Clinton won in 1992 with a plurality of the popular vote. No candidate received a majority of the popular vote, and Perot – who was quite successful as third-party candidates go – peeled off a lot of votes that could’ve gone to GHW Bush.
2 Likes
Certainly the two major parties do. And the Libertarians seem to have lost their way back when the Greens split off, they are pretty sucky now too.
1 Like
Primary them from the left, absolutely. But do not throw up your hands if your favorite candidate is not the nominee. VOTE!!! Republicans will disagree with me 90% of the time. Center right dems will agree with me 70%. If I don’t vote because of that 30% disagreement, and get the 90% disagreement, how exactly am I better off? This is about the survival of our country as a representative democracy. The trumpists will end that if they are able. Do not enable them.
10 Likes
Again. Everyone sucks. Cool.
This is exactly the stupid argument that led to Trump in many ways. “Oh both sides suck so I’m not voting. What’s the point”.
No dammit. One side is CLEARLY worse than the other. Fuck that shit of false equivocation. Dems aren’t perfect little angels. But I’ll take the worst Dem over the best GOP at this point.
22 Likes
This exactly…I totally agree. While some democratic candidates aren’t ideal no republican has my best interest at heart.
7 Likes
I would add that too often “realpolitik” is mistaken for “neoliberal”. By any rational measure, Jerry Brown is still a progressive, however much Cory and Glenn Beck want to push the narrative that he’s a corporate sellout.
8 Likes
Democrats with shortcomings are far better than
authoritarians with saving graces.
- William Safire
8 Likes
