Except things are changing because people here are pushing for change:
It’s not helpful to give up on an entire segment of the country because of the past. Demographics are shifting in places like GA and the Democrats are making headway in many places in the south by putting out positive messages to the electorate and offering real, tangible policy proposals. And people like Stacy Abrams are working to make sure that we can all vote by focusing on the voter suppression tactics employed by the GOP. We can and will flip this state and the rest of the south, but not if we pretend like what has been for only a very short time will continue to be the case.
I suppose it bears repeating, Trump had a 29-30% chance of winning three years ago. Nate Silver has compared those odds to a batter getting a base hit. They’re not zero, not even non-zero.
Also bears repeating (and, granted, “didn’t vote” probably has significant overlap with “couldn’t vote”):
Yep. The Dems would rather alienate a million liberals and progressives if it means there’s a chance of six conservatives beating they might refrain from kicking a Democrat in the teeth some day. Theoretically.
That gif looks like a backfire to me. Pedal to the metal, timing is off, and boom. Hopefully this analogy doesn’t become unintentionally accurate in the next 3 weeks.
Even more exciting from an electoral standpoint is that Texas is within striking distance of going blue this cycle. This would be particularly humiliating for Trump and his supporters since they seemed so obsessed with that color-coded map showing election results by land area instead of population.
May I remind trumpers that “standing up for what he believes in”, without any critical questioning of that “what”, describes accurately all taliban suicide bombers as well?
Biden isn’t as concerned as I would prefer on environmental issues but I don’t thonk he eould stand in the way of progrssive bills. Same for medicare for all- he wouldn’t push for it. Might even push against it, but he wouldn’t use a veto to squash it either.
That means as the Republicans have moved towards autocracy and actual fascism the “centrist” Democrats will follow. If you have no principles and no core values you will just become terrible a little more slowly. And that is what the DNC has done.
I am painfully hopeful about this. I would be so happy if Texas turned blue. But even if Biden loses in Texas, the lower the margin of loss, the more democrats will win on the down ballot races. More democratic reps. The possibility of the texas state legislature, the house, going blue. No more republican super majorities in the Texas legislature. More progressive judges both in lower courts and the highest.
It also means they can be pulled back to the left if we apply pressure and vote progressive down ballot. Rejecting the fascists is not sufficient. We need to be the alternative as well.
Strategically, the best bet real progressives have of having a national party of our own is if Biden/Harris shatter the GOP into pieces that fracture into multiple parties. Before we can have an independent voice, the two-party system must be broken.
From the article:
…Biden’s and Harris’s weasel talk over fracking, the supreme court, and anything else that implies actual policies conservatives would hate. They won’t even commit to positions that are overwhelmingly popular, such is their terror of upsetting conservatives or being seen to have any ideological association with their own left-leaning voters.
It makes absolutely no sense to ‘work with’ conservatives.
They don’t exist. They are Trumpists now, and in their eyes, compromise=captitulation.
Trumpists do not compromise; it is their way or the highway as far as they are concerned, so, fuck 'em.
If Biden wants to try and work with a side that has no interest in reciprocating, then he is a fool.
There is no going back to the ‘good old days’; the rules of the game have changed. The Trumpists have repeatedly shown their true colors: Fascists, the lot of 'em, either overt or enablers.
It is amusing to see the ads by the Trumpists; to a man, they don’t mention his name… hell, they barely admit to being Republicans. Now, they claim to have all these Big Ideas, Big Plans for Healthcare, Jobs, etc… funny how we heard nary a peep about any of this stuff until just before the election.
As far as I am concerned, they are all tainted, no matter how much they try to seem mild & harmless & looking out for everyone they represent.
Four years ago, I voted in a Primary for the first time, so I could vote for Bernie. I held my nose & voted for Hillary (the first Democrat I voted for since Carter). This time, I voted in the Primary again… for Bernie. This time, I will hold my nose once again, and vote for Biden. Truth be told, it’s not a vote for either Hillary or Joe. It was (and will be) a vote against Lord Dampnut.
IF Biden wins, & does the same wishy-washy bs that Obama did (and no, I didn’t vote for him. Between Carter & Hillary, it was 3rd party all the way) then I am DONE with the Democrats.
It’s not just Trump. The Republicans have been this way since the Carter Administration and always, ALWAYS gotten worse. The Democratic Party knows this. The fact that they continue to start their “negotiating position” by giving the Republicans pretty much everything they want and then halving the loaf tell you they are positioning themselves to be very slightly less bad than the Greedy Old Pedos.
As both a woman and a Person of Color, I’ve been voting ever since I turned 18… not because any candidate was ever ideal, let alone “perfect”, and not because I’ve ever expected change to come overnight.
I vote because I’m a fucking citizen and my ancestors fought and died for the right to do so.
And if there’s even the tiniest chance that my vote does help sway the course of public policy in a positive direction, then that’s all to the good…
