Both parties show fractures. I suspect, without proof mind you, that as the far right would be happier without the country club republicans, and the progressive wing is highly suspicious of the third way dems, perhaps this could end with a true multiparty system. That would be so much more productive for our country. IMHO, of course.
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OK, I’ll bite. Which parts of the modern Democratic party platform are as racist/harmful as the overtly racist policies currently being championed by the Republican party?
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Of course its the blatantly racist argument made by Republicans claiming not to be racist. Claiming minorities are too stupid to vote the way they do.
Of course it also misses the point that minorities run for cover to Democrats when Republicans target them for all sorts of discriminatory polices and bigoted rhetoric.
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I’m not asking you to bite anything. And I’m not talking about any formally codified platform.
I’m sure you know that there’s much more to a party and the behavior of its members than its formal platform. I hate the term “identity politics,” but there’s long been a pernicious version of it in the Democratic Party’s policies and actions. For a lot of Democrats, it’s clearly been a lot easier, and even seemingly preferable, to display some non-white faces in the mix than to address and try to fix historical and systemic problems stemming from ongoing de facto white supremacy.
That’s what can make the racist actions and policies of Democrats harder to combat, and thus in that sense worse; it can be harder to fight back when they’re throwing their hands up and saying, “What, my actions and policies are ‘racist’? As you can see by the people around me, I LOVE black/brown/Asian/etc people! It’s obviously THOSE GUYS who are the racists!”
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my belief is that the democrats provide space to do the hard work of fighting inequality. it’s not just written law and politics that matter. it’s the way people think about black lives, the lives of lgbtq folks, and so on.
in my view, the republicans - and trump - are very deliberately having us fight the battles of the past so that we can’t move forward any further.
it’s not really up to elected officials to swoop in and save the day. they just need to not stand in the way, and we the people can do the rest of the work.
( ugh. i’m a horrible idealist. sorry. )
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I very much agree with this part; rehashing old long defunct arguments, the flagrant attempts at gaslighting, even the resurgence of a failed hateful ideology like Nazism all seems like a massive attempt at misdirection and derailment to keep our society gridlocked and stagnant.
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Nothing wrong with idealism. I find myself riight there with you. To riff on Malcom X, I think we at least acknowledge the presence of the knife and are working on getting it out. The right either does not acknowledge the knife, or thinks that the problem is that it is not far enough in and needs some twisting. As a straight, white, Christian, fairly well to do male, I will never know the pain and suffering POCs and LGBTQ persons live with every day just going out of their homes. But I have close friends and family in all those categories, and listen to them. It’s not an end, but it is a beginning.
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Listening is a good first step, and it’s more than many self-styled “allies” of progress ever do.
All too often people who claim to be on the same side as people like me are just trying to control or dictate how where & when we fight for progress, usually in some ineffective way that won’t disrupt their own privilege.
Jinx.
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FYI Seems even the poster was too overt for the hate group who brought it to the W. Va. capital in the first place:
The light! It burns!
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I agree. As a “fer example,” i live in VA, where, as you may have heard, there is a bit of a dust up over our gov’s choice of costumes in med school. It was pointed out to me as i was busy being outraged that, if i was going to express anger about an offense to black people, it might be good to talk to a black person about it. In essence, she said to chill, in the big picture, while she would prefer he had not done it, it was not that big a deal. If republicans could play this to regain power it would be much worse for her. It is not ever me right or responsibility to instruct her when to be outraged and I needed to shut up and listen. So I did. In a way, it was liberating. I should add, she did not actually say the last part, she is far too kind to do that. That was my interpretation. 
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Which, it should be spelled out, was just one black voice. I’ve heard others say that of course he should resign.
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Never claimed otherwise. She was the person i was speaking to at the time. Very different petspective and experience than mine.
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Right. I wasn’t saying it’s you who might need to have that “spelled out.”
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Good points, and as Millie points out, that’s just the opinion of one person of color, whereas many others may feel differently. That’s why agency and everyone having a voice matters so much, as does actually listening to such people when we speak up.
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But they never really remain silent. They just wait and resume at a later point.
Of course, the GOP counts among its ranks masters of the disband and rebrand. The issue isn’t solely the organization, it’s the people in it.
The base, as well as the ones that profit off of that base.
Getting rid of the GOP doesn’t eliminate stupidity, fear, jealousy, and hatred. I bet it wouldn’t even dilute it.
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Republicans aren’t the only ones showing their asses by hating on her.
Fucking cowards.
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