DCCC introduces No-More-AOCs rule

atop the global brain sits a fedora

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“Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle, and the Low. […] The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim – for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives – is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal. Thus throughout history a struggle which is the same in its main outlines recurs over and over again.” -Orwell, 1984

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This illustrates a(nother) deficiency in the language available to us to talk about political groupings. In a two-party system, every binary is rapidly conflated with that party labeling, so “libertarian” and “white nationalist” become “Republican”, while “centrist” and “progressive” become “Democrat”. Which arguably makes sense for the purposes of elections, but it makes it hard to focus discussion on trends that cut across party lines.

There should be a word for “the culture / industry of politics purely as a matter of money and networking”, without connotations of one party or the other. Because I think that is often the binary that exercises people most of all – people want to vote against insidery corruption more than they want to choose between left and right, especially when shopping for “centrist” candidates.

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:tada::confetti_ball:Hooray! We’ll have Hoyer forever!:sparkles::balloon:

Absolutely. I think it’s an emergent ‘bottom-up’ (for some values of ‘bottom’) phenomenon, produced without any need for coordination by independent actors acting according to their own interests.

That said, I think the clubby atmosphere of Washington D.C. political circles probably produces plenty of cases where supposedly opposing players make “gentlemen’s agreements” that further their own interests together at the expense of those outside those circles. However, the combined effect of dozens of independent self-interested actors is more than sufficient to explain the bulk of the observed behaviors.

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I donate to specific candidates, ones whom I respect. I refuse to donate to political parties, none of which I respect

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The DCCC is an organization run by incumbents. Even if everyone in there was a young minority they would still protect their own asses. It’s a structural problem.

The DCCC just needs to be taken away from house leadership. Leadership can have a leadership pack that backs candidates in primaries, and let the general election program be owned by the DNC raise its money in tandem with he house incumbents but not be governed by them.

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I stopped giving money to the DCCC a long time ago - they’ve always worked against my interests, I’m just a working guy leading an ordinary life, and they work for wealthy corporations and individuals. I donate to specific candidates, then I know who’s spending it.

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Thank you! I am stealing this as the most succinct explanation I’ve seen yet!

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I stopped donating to the DCCC years ago after I saw a report about how many dollars went to which candidates one election and I realized they really didn’t align with my views at all.

Best to just donate to your favorite peeps directly, and cut out the DCCC “administrative overhead” as well!

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Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent revolution inevitable.

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The work around to this is assassinating the incumbent.

Just sayin’

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The Bull Moose mess happened because party insiders conspired to block the most popular candidate for the Presidency, then sabotaged his campaign in the general election.

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Why not just call it what it is, a blacklist. After all, we might need Russia and WikiLeaks to let us know whether the exception you assert must be included is indeed included. As for the referenced article, the announcement clearly indicates that consultants providing services for opposition candidates to sitting elected officials will be blacklisted. But if you do uncover the exception for friendly primary candidates, please post it and put us all to shame, why don’t you?

But it was Taft’s turn! :wink:

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That’s one point of view, yes. But regardless of what LED to the Bull Moose Party, the RESULT was that the opposing party won due to the splitting of the progressive vote in the general election. So as a “solution” it was an abject failure.

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No. DCCC=/=Democratic Party. As you suggest, just don’t give anything to them and they’ll be irrelevant.

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Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible Indivisible…

If you haven’t heard of Indivisible… here they are… https://indivisible.org/

Indivisible is the first organization that is truly and really grassroots and run from the bottom up. Power actually resides with the people, individual members. As a collective whole.

Our Revolution is not. Brand New Congress is not. Move On is not.

And the Democratic Party? … …

At the national level? The DNC and the DCCC … well no, of course not.*

At the state level?.. yeah no… probably not there either. But I know enough about my state, the Texas Democrats, to know that they are actually trying. A few people who work at the HQ office in Austin seem to be headed in the correct direction. So I give them a buck. One buck a month for more than a year now. And when I see them actually turn over power to the members of the Texas Democrats – and by that I mean first the money – then I will give more. And encourage those around me to give more. Not until then.

On the local level? Well there ya have me. I can tell you in my rather small county the party doesn’t really exist much. So no, it isn’t a top down corrupt organization. Because it isn’t much of an organization. I know the people personally who work at trying to do something with my county party. I send them a buck a month. They are trying. And they will answer the phone.

But ya know who is awesome at the local level? Indivisible. It’s the structure that is ingenious. Because in truth, there isn’t much of one. Unless there is a large group of people who are ready to act. If there are only a few highly active people, not much gets done. If there are many barely active people, not much gets done there either. But if the few grow into a small group of active people then the national and state structure begins to support them. And if that small group grows into a medium sized group of active, committed volunteers they often get national attention. And when that medium group explodes into a large one it becomes like a singularity. It begins to draw in more and more support from more and more levels and suddenly something changes and boom. Blake Farenthold is out and Beto’s senate run gets legs.

I started giving Indivisible 3 bucks a month. I’m active and deeply involved. I don’t know what is gonna happen next but here is the thing. For the first time, I’m not worried about what some one in Austin or DC thinks or says. I feel confident that if my neighbors and I get it right, we will get help and support from the “higher” levels. They will have one goal, to help us raise our own voices. And if we get it wrong, we will still get help and support but just a different kind. To regroup, back up and start again.

This is the first time…in a long time… well no, I’ve been at this since 1988 where I attended my first precinct meeting after my first presidental vote at age 19. This is the only time I’ve seen an organization get it right from the start and even as it grows the fundamental basis for it’s existence hasn’t changed. It’s about We, The People.

And I like that. I really do. Don’t believe me? I challenge you to join one and see for yourself. There are over 6,000 Indivisible “groups” and at least 2 in every of the 435 congressional districts. Get to know a like minded neighbor and see what you can do.

*The DCCC did NOT announce anything. A spokesperson or press agent made an announcement of what maybe one or three people in charge at the DCCC decided all by themselves. The very definanition of “top down” and the antithesis of grassroots.

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As soon as I started working from the assumption that the Democratic Party’s top priority, higher than winning elections, was policing progressives, everything pretty much snapped into place.

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