Well…
(Mine’s the one with the Best of the 80ies compilation cassette in the pocket.)
I did wonder about the thumbnail image of Arthur Scargill. I think the only way that a Tankie could help in the primaries is by making Bernie seem more reasonable, but I expect the Bernie Bros would jump ship.
Actually, that sounds good. How do we make this happen?
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Yes, of course. And that’s why the outcomes of elections are the responsibility of the people, not the candidates.
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I was just at one of those offices for a meeting.
Tables full of people all isolated and wearing headphones- crouched over - no talking at all - that foosball table and beer keg sitting over in the corner and never touched.
It’s a factory floor for white and pink collar workers. I worked in a factory- it’s just like it. Less big machinery and chemicals- the same atomization, rigidly and big boss watching your every move vibe.
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Which is the view of the DNC establishment as well. In some ways, they’re the core problem here. When their Third-Way heir apparent doesn’t the have rock-star charisma of a Bill Clinton or Obama, their campaign motto always defaults to “we’re not as bad as the other guy, and where else are you gonna go?”
That monopolist’s attitude is precisely why the party’s GOTV efforts are so pathetic, lodged in the past, and still focused on elderly voters rather than young ones. It’s what causes them to take the votes of PoC and LGBTQ people and blue-collar workers for granted. It’s also why the party establishment will always block ranked-choice voting in general elections and why they and their preferred candidates are so averse to campaign finance reform.
All that’s before you take into account the fact that their preferred candidate in 2016 was – as you correctly note – a horrible and tone-deaf campaigner who (since 2000) has surrounded herself with staff on the basis of loyalty rather than competence. Her legacy will be that she lost to a complete buffoon in 2016.
The party establishment is slightly less corrupt than it was under Wasserman-Schultz, but Perez seems to be paralysed and the party is still favouring another neoliberal-lite dud for nominee.
If Biden gets the nomination and loses the general, though, I guarantee that they’ll be pinning the blame on progressives (especially young ones) who wanted “impossible” things like single-payer universal health insurance and free or subsidised tuition or a Green New Deal. That they’re setting the stage for that this early shows how little faith they have in their preferred candidate to actually inspire voters.
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I’ve seen open office plans work, but only in very unusual circumstances: truly collaborative workspaces where the hierarchy is flat and where there has to be constant verbal back-and-forth to get things done. That isn’t most workspaces, and it sure as heck isn’t the White House.
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It could be the White House, but I can guarantee it won’t be the White House under Bloomberg, or any of the other likely candidates to be honest.
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Even under a progressive it would still be very hierarchical. The institution by its nature is infused with deference to supervisors, chain of command, titles, etc. Bloomberg is delusional if he thinks that running the White House like an advertising agency or a newsroom would work.
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Non-hierarchical organisation is possible, just highly implausible at this time. Put an anarcho-syndicalist in the Oval Office right now and when they leave it will still be hierarchical. Most people working against hierarchy tend to start dismantling at the bottom and work their way up for this reason. It’s that or revolution.
Bloomberg won’t even try for any of that, he just wants a panopticon workplace.
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Do tell, then, what impossible fantasy eminently plausible legislation implemented by dozens of other countries did you have in mind when you decided to compare it to wishing for ponies?
It is the candidate’s responsibility to convince people to vote for them, not the people’s responsibility to swallow whatever the party deigns to gives them.
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I had no specific examples in mind, but was thinking of the objections some people have already raised on this thread to Warren. I’ve been through this in multiple elections over decades, most recently as a Sanders supporter in 2016 disappointed at his primary losses juxtaposed with the excitement he generated at his rallies. It isn’t his fault his supporters didn’t show up to vote, it is that of the people who didn’t show up.
They need to appeal to voters if they want the job, but that is a responsibility to themselves and their families, not to us. We have the responsibility to make sure that the applicant pool contains people we like, and then to support those people.
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Bloomberg uses the senility excuse. After 10 years and $6M spent fighting a settlement for the Central Park 5, he claims he’s been away from it for so long and he doesn’t remember.
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Thread:
I know this thread is about the presidential candidates, but as a reminder, there are other races in 2020, just as important. House and Senate races. State level. Local.
Trump would not have been impeached under a Republican run House. The Supreme Court would look a lot different without a Republican-run Senate that refused to vote on a nominee.
It also won’t matter who the Dem nominee is, if people who have the time and privilege don’t work to ensure that those who don’t aren’t disenfranchised. Don’t abandon everything else just to focus on the president.
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Amen and amen! This was how the right got to where they are. They realized that the down-ballot races were just as important, and in part decide the up-ballot races. We seem to be lagging in this realization.
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Well yes, that and more willingness than Dems to engage in gerrymandering and voter suppression in order to increase their chances of “winning” such races.
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True, but the reason they were able to pass voter suppression laws and gerrymander voting districts is exactly because they prioritized down ballot elections, giving them control over local and state governments. When we had that control we were much less willing to do things to disenfranchise Republican voters. They have no such compunctions.
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