Originally published at: Watch: Simple explainer on why democracy in America will lose, unless Democrats wake up | Boing Boing
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This explainer makes the assumption that the Democratic party wishes to engage in any conflict at all. It might be better explained the when you refuse to confront the schoolyard bully, the bully continues to win.
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How about the deeply embedded belief that politics is some kind of “battle”, “conflict”, or “winner v. loser” (perfectly embodied in a two party system) rather than a way of raising the standards of living for every natural-born, indigenous, and emigrant citizen?
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So the Democrats need to wake up and do what exactly?
Stop spending/using their resources on congressional / senate / presidential elections and start spending them on gubernatorial / statehouse races down to the dog catcher level?
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Down ballot has been working out very well for the Dems, it’s the one place that has a bit of sunshine for our democracy.
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unless Democrats wake up
The DNC is still snoring away complacently, thinking that it’s still 1991 and they don’t have to put any effort into any election except for those for president and senator. The time for “comity” and “civility” and assuming the GOP is willing in any way to bargain in good faith is over; the time for rewarding the bad behaviour of obstructionists like Manchin and Sinema is over; the time for punishing and sidelining progressives who are championing policies 70% of the country want is over; but the zentrum still.doesn’t.seem.to.bloody.get.it.
Definitely something to consider after the duopoly party that’s trying to destroy liberal democracy and that wants to raise the standards of living for white Americans at the expense of everyone else is rendered harmless. Until then, yeah, this is still a battle and a conflict.
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Chuckle heads like this don’t help, went from Wiccan Liberal to bought & sold by the Koch’s in an Arizona minute.
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The US is losing its democracy. Trying to blame Democrats for the actions of Republicans is nonsensical at best and more typically just dishonest and ignorant. But demanding that Democrats save the US? That’s insane. The US citizenry will either wake up and do it, or they won’t. Demanding that particular political party do all the leg work to be their saviors is precisely why democracy in the US will probably fail.
If you want to save democracy in the US then you, personally, need to stand up and strike down the forces actively attacking it. Period. That’s the only way to accomplish that goal.
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So…in other words, we’re fucked.
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always have been
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I’m not going to argue with your point (yet), but I want to point out something in your comment:
It’s the “Democratic Party”, not the “Democrat party”.
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Very true. In my area, counties have gone from deep red to purple, and in mine we’re finally blue. The blanket generalization that Dems aren’t doing anything is false. Disagreement about policy setting and action at the national level is not the same as what is happening at the state and local level.
ETA: When I say doing anything, I mean they are/have been working in all 50 states.
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Correct you are. Fixed.
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Um Ok, but by doing what, exactly? Storming the fucking Capitol?
Granted that almost worked for the baddies, but it’s not going to happen, let alone work, if people on the left try what amounts to the same thing. Look how huge the protests were against, say, the attack on Iraq. Didn’t slow TPTB down one bit.
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Might be better branding if the Democratic Party renamed itself the Democracy Party.
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The Democratic strategy to win elections: focus on swing states and federal elections.
No shit. It drives me bonkers how the Democrats underplay down-ballot elections.
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Ok, I’m seeing variations on this same theme from a few people, so my reply addresses both the complaints about what the party is doing and questioning what we are supposed to do about it. If your state doesn’t have a local party (county level minimum) - contact your state office to find out why. If your county office officials aren’t taking steps to address local elections - contact the leaders and demand to know why. You clearly have the ammunition to point out their missteps. What’s needed is the will to work on changing their direction. That means attending the meetings (mine are on Zoom, so the pandemic isn’t stopping that), giving your feedback, and helping to achieve common goals.
Also stating the obvious, but the most basic things that will help are being registered and voting. Even when I moved from one state to another, and from one county to another, I didn’t have to do anything to contact the local party. They contacted me, because I was already on the lists - as a voter, and registered with the party.
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A million people, each doing their own random thing, won’t accomplish much.
People need to organize, to collaborate, to find out where the needs are and allocate their limited resources to winning these little battles. You could spend 10 million on a US Senate campaign and shift it by maybe one or two percentage points, or you could spread the money around and spend $10,000 on each county auditor, county commissioner, state representative, etc., and maybe shift 50% of the races. His point is these lower government seats are where democracy is enforced, and today they’re going wholesale to the Antidems.
It will take coordination across the board, to treat every seat as if it was important, because the Antidems already know that they are.
The concept of a political party is supposed to be exactly that of coordination, but the Democratic Party has always sucked at that, being far more interested in shoveling money into a dozen huge but corrupt races, and letting the rest go to chance. While they may be a super shitty team to field against the Republicans, they’re the only other large team in existence right this moment. Will they figure it out in time? (No, because they suck.)
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