Good reason for not wanting GOP to have further control
I live in NC -- a swing state. We used to have Dem Governors and decent Dem state legislatures. We were considered one of the more "progressive" southern states.
In 2010 the GOP swept in and are in the process of ruining our fair state. They have gerrymandered the hell out of our state such that we'd need 3 votes to their 1 to get a Dem into office. GOP seriously hates the electorate fairly voting. It is really hard to unseat them.
They are trying to steal Asheville's pristine water supply and privatize it. They are ruining our public schools and universities. Their state legislative body is re-districting Asheville so they can gerrymander our city elections and get their Regressives to replace our Progressives.
Now we have the Great Land Heist where the GOP is writing and attempting to pass legislation to transfer control of your public lands from federal to state governments, in a thinly-veiled attempt to force their sale for purposes of resource exploitation.
Last week, the House committee on Natural Resources voted to adopt HR 3650, the summary of which reads:
“This bill directs the Department of Agriculture, through the Forest Service, to convey to a state up to 2 million acres of eligible portions of the National Forest System (NFS) in it that it elects to acquire through enactment by the state legislature of a bill meeting certain criteria. Portions of the NFS conveyed to a state shall be administered and managed primarily for timber production.”
HR 3650 passed committee with the support of all but one Republican congressman, every Democrat on the committee opposed it. Last year, SA 838, which called for the sale of national forests and other public lands, was also unanimously supported by Republicans, and unanimously opposed by everyone else.
The GOP is worse than the Dems. They can and are doing irreparable damage to our institutions and to our planet. As a progressive in a southern state, I have little patience for blanket statements " there is no difference in the GOP and Dem Party". I think the Dem Party is mess -- don't make me defend them -- but if you haven't lived under state GOP rule, you have no idea how horrible it can get.
Comments
I lived with Reagan as governor in California.
He messed with the Aid to Families with Dependent Children, but not nearly as much as the Democrats under Clinton. Just saying.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Sorry, but...
Both parties of the duopoly are to blame. If WJC's recent 'visit' with the AG isn't problematic, I don't know what is. And I can't see the planet being better off under his wife.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Gerrymandering
I was reading a book review today in the New Yorker, and was astonished to learn that the Republicans enlisted the help of the Congressional Black Caucus for their modern gerrymandering. I live in NYC and was always aware that black politicians did not serve their constituents well. This information provides proof that black office holders are in it for themselves. The book being reviewed: Ratf-cked by David Daley.
It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. Carl Sagan
If you stick with the present DNC
it's only going to get worse. Too much fail in that org.
Zackly!
Put forth Lackluster Candidates representing the Plutocracy rather than the people, and lose elections...
This getting the Big Corporate Money Out Of Politics isn't exactly a New Idea...
Just one whose time has come...
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
I live in NC and they have
I live in NC and they have made a disaster of the state and it is starting to to catch up to them. The Governor's race is going to be interesting this year, to bad the Dem candidate fell for Shillary's message. It will take the next census and a revolution in political discourse to win back the legislature. At the federal level The Republicans can nibble around the ends, but it will take a Democratic President to take down Social Security and they have found the crew who will do it. Notice how the Clinton's say they will protect Social Security but did not include expanding the program. In their spin the program will be in such dire condition they will have to cut to save it. Let's not let them near the White House. Rally the movement behind Sander's or Stein.
What is going on in NC is not unique to NC
You are describing MI, WI, IL and a whole host of states that now total 37. How do you think 37 states, many of them solid blue for years, turned red? Good ol' Obama and the crappy Democratic Party so out-of-toucy with Democratic voters they couldn't get anyone to show up at the polls to vote or them in 2010. We got Gov. Snyder. You know the guy that did to us everything your guy is doing to you plus poisoning Flint. Since he's arrived our state is paying more for lawyers than schools. I absolutely blame a Democratic Party that is so consumed with their own careers and personal finances that they threw all of our states, schools, and kids under the bus. Who do you think is privatizing the schools? Ask Obama, ask Hillary and their shitty-ass appointees.
Does the GOP suck? You bet, and I blame the Democratic Party for every bit of the mess they've made of our country and our states. Where is the opposition party to the GOP? It's Bernie, and you saw what the Clintons and DP did to him.
No, if I have to suffer they do to. My #1 goal is to make Hillary and the Third Way lose. Until we can hurt them, we have no power. Voting for a criminal like Hillary because we're afraid of the GOP isn't going to change a damn thing. The GOP is worse because the Democrats are so bad.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
I agree with you, dk
The democrats are in collusion with the republicans. DWS did what she was told to do, or else she would have been fired for doing such a shitty job.
Seeing all the state flip to Red is part of the elite's plan to decrease the social safety nets and transfer the wealth from we the people to the rich and the corporations.
And it was also her job to lose so many seats in congress to the republicans so that it could give Obama his cover for not getting any of his agenda done. Especially the TPP and the other trade agreements.
The big bad republicans are blocking every bill that the democrats want to pass.
But if the democrats were serious about passing decent legislation, then they would have done things like that bogus sit in about guns and the no fly list.
La Feminista's diary about all of the things that the democrats could have done a sit in ripped off the kabuki theater's mask about how the democrats have rolled over under the cover of republican obstruction.
There is no difference between the goals of each party.
Except on the social issues where it doesn't hurt the elites.
Each party has their social issues of showing that the parties are different.
The democrats run on 'liberal' social issues as do the republicans on their social issues like gays, abortion, guns and their new one, trans people using the bathroom. Funny how that came out of the blue. Trans people have been using bathrooms like this for years, but all of a sudden it's a problem? And the masses fall for these things every election while they rob us blind.
But Bernie exposed the democrat's agenda where instead of voting for the candidate that ran on the values that the democrats say are important to them they are behind the candidate that shows their true agenda.
And finally people have woken up.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
I live in Kentucky. We're going to find out how bad it can get.
When Matt Bevin started dismantling Kynect shortly after taking office, there were surprised cries of, "I didn't think he'd really do that!" Well, he promised, so why not?
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
I live in Kansas,
so I got nothin'.
There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
roonie, I live in Texas. Until I was
solidly middle aged, there was no real, effective Republican Party.
Then Reagan.
Then the slow slide of Democrats into the cesspool of thinking that poor people are poor because they are lazy, and POC are, well, not real Texans, and Democrats caving and now, Democrats like the semi-goddess Wendy Davis running ads showing herself with a fucking gun.
Democrats will NOT vote for tax increases to help the poor, improve our public schools, or any budget that improves the air we breathe. We voluntarily aim to do better about those smokestacks.
But Wendy stood up for women's choices for health care.
And nothing else we might call liberal, progressive, or FDR Democrat.
They are all part of the oligarchy.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
What have either the Clintons
What have either the Clintons, or the Obamas done to stop, or reverse school privatization? We have a democrat in the white house now. If he is not stopping these things, why do you believe Hillary will? There is abundant evidence the democrats don't fight to stop any of the bad things the republicans do. That itself is evidence that they agree with what the republicans have done. Obama has not only done nothing to stop school privatization, he hired school privatizers like Arne Duncan to head up the Dept. of Ed. I am have no patients for Democrats running on things they don't believe, or do. The Clintons contributed to the banking crisis with the repeal of glass steagall, and also allowed right wing assholes like Murdoch to consolidate control over our media, with the 96 telecommunications act. They don't have to be identical to the republicans to be bad enough to not vote for.
So this means
that you won't vote for down ballot Dems?
You prefer the GOP rules your state? Continues to rule the House and Senate? Serious question.
I will vote for Dems in the state party.
Dems running for federal office who were Hillary SuperDs will not get my vote. The more down ballot I go, the more I vote the person and not the party. I split my ticket. At the county level, I vote for a GOP county Exec. Our Tea Pots voted to eliminate straight party voting in MI. All the better to duck up the wait times in line my dear.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
I am a bit confused by your diary
http://caucus99percent.com/comment/122908#comment-122908
Your diary seems to advocate the fear mongering vote Hillary because scary GOP, but this comment of yours is a 180 degree reversal of that.
These two thoughts seem to be in direct contradiction.
When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!
Not sure how you find them in contradiction
You are calling "fear mongering" what I see as observing reality.
I do nuance. As does Bernie.
I am not going to further damage myself, my town, my state, my country by dogmatically refusing to vote for Democrats. That would be palpably harming my interests.
I am trying to figure out if the majority here would rather the GOP runs rampant, than vote for Democrats. Just trying to figure out the lay of the land here.
The point that many have made is that
the only difference between Rs and Ds is that Ds will call you sweetheart while they are screwing you.
IF there is a progressive D down ballot, then vote for that person (IF there is not a third party candidate who is equally or more progressive), and listen carefully to what the D is saying. Are the words and promises sweet whispers of what You want to hear or are there actions to back up the person's rhetoric?
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
I am only going to speak for myself
If others agree so be it.
This line is pure fear-mongering 101 worthy of Orange State. Basically if you don't vote for who Big Brother says out of love for party, you enable the republicans. The irony is that we as progressives mock republicans who use fear of islam,LGBT,BLM, etc. to support their agenda, yet see no double standard in using fear of the GOP to make us toady a line to where we must vote for and LOVE as Big Brother dictates the "Democratic" Party nominee.
Pushing that lesser of two evil party guilt is NOT something I am receptive to (and if I may be so bold) or many other people here. There is Orange State where you can parrot Love of Party as dictated by Big Brother, heck you will even be rewarded for that blind party loyalty.
I reject the false choice of supporting Trump by not voting for HRC (Her Royal Clinton). A vote for Jill Stein is a vote for Jill Stein. If HRC wants my vote she would need to earn it, but I have never seen any indication of that!
When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!
left with agree to disagree
You seem to enjoy calling reality, fear-mongering. An all-or-nothingist? I prefer nuance. So be it.
We disagree.
The reality for me, in my state is that the GOP are horrible and regressive. I live in NC where McGrory and his goons are ALEC-fed regressionary politics. Yes, even a moderate Dem is better than these goons.
It does nothing for my life, or my values to choose the GOP goons or to not vote, when I could staunch the harm- yes, real palpable harm -- with the best choice offered at the time.
In the meantime I work for better choices at the polls.
I think people are trying to tell you that Dems are like your ki
If you never make them responsible or hold them accountable for what they do, you will teach them nothing and they will run wild all over you.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
I personally am very confused
I've been a registered democrat since I turned 18. I've never voted for a republican, and I doubt I ever will. I do not want to vote for hillary, but I also do not -- really, really do not want trump to win. I think it would send a message to racists that it's ok, you can come out from under those white sheets and wreak havoc upon anyone who looks Hispanic or Arabic. That would also include my biracial sons. My white son was on the subway with his Mexican girlfriend last week and some older white guy and three white women started mocking them and making racial slurs toward his girlfriend. I know there were always racists, but at least they felt they'd better keep it under wraps because it was no longer socially acceptable.
I want to leave the dem party. I want to vote for stein, but I'm just not sure what's right anymore.
I have the opposite problem.
I live in a solidly blue state (RI) and we can't get seem to get rid of the neoliberal Democrats. Everyone knows that the state government is overflowing with corruption--even Cenk noted that my state is one of the most corrupt in the nation during the TYT election coverage--and we have a pension cutting, neoliberal, scumbag venture capitalist governor who's the poster child for the pro-Wall St. Democrats that have destroyed the middle class. And she wonders why 53% of the voters disapprove of her performance.
Here, the Democrats have been in power for so long, and the Republicans are so weak, that they feel that they can do anything and that the voters will still have to elect them to office. In my state, the Democrats are the ones enacting Republican policies. Sure, we still have abortion rights and gay marriage, but unemployment is through the roof, austerity is the official policy of the state, and practically everything is being privatized. Our capital ranks in the top 5 cities for income inequality in the nation. Almost every single liberal challenge to the establishment in recent memory has failed and things have only gotten worse. Many people I know are on the verge of voting Republican just to try to break the stranglehold that the Democrats have on the state. Frankly, in my experience neoliberal Democrats ARE as bad as the Republicans (maybe even worse), but I guess your mileage may vary.
Appreciate the post, but slightly
disagree with a couple of your generalizations.
BTW, this is a nonpartisan blog. Views here range from conservadem, to left of the late Howard Zinn.
At this point in time, I fall on the side of wanting to see the corporatist neoliberal Dems defeated--a 'house cleaning,' so to speak.
For instance, in our secondary state, we've seen a Democratic Senatorial candidate run to the right of the Republican candidate. And, frankly, we were glad that the Republican won, because we've had enough of Dem candidates who put a shive in the backs of their constituents, while claiming to 'feel their pain.'
But, hey, that's just my 2 cents. I imagine that there are others here who might think it too radical to 'start over,' or to go third party.
Have a good one!
[Edited: Deleted extraneous emoticon.]
Mollie
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."--Lao Tzu
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
I feel as though you are confusing two different things here.
You talk about the destruction the Republicans have wrought on your state, then conclude you should vote for HRH to make sure Trump is defeated. However, all the examples you point to as evidence of Republican corruption, malfeasance and nihilism were accomplished at the state and local government level - not Federal.
The two are similar machines, yes, but one impacts your day-to-day life orders of magnitude more than the other.
I don't see any conflict here for you. Leave the top of the ballot blank or vote your conscience and in the meantime, work like hell for the down ballot candidates you feel will actually represent your interests. Same for the Federal Congressional races; if this country's tide of anger cleans out Congress, then Trump will be obstructed by Bernicrat Dems the way Bush should have been.
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain
Even though I live in NC myself
The message I sent to Roy Cooper
"After what has gone down this election season you and every other D have lost my vote. Tell Hillary to buy you a replacement."
Some people have vote blue no matter who, I have never a dem ever again. I want to see the party burn.
Self destructive and possibly stupid? Perhaps, Pat has made a mess of things here. But I'll be damned if I reward the party I see no better if not worse (see the above, call you sweetheart as they screw you, that sums it up well) with a single vote either at this point.
See, their morals, their code... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be.
-The Joker-
Corporate Dems are not progressives
Here in Arizona, we're experiencing similar hardships -- gutting of education funds, selling off gov't lands for short-term gain, voter suppression, eliminating environmental protections, limiting reproductive rights, corporate tax breaks, and on and on.
It would be easy to blame Republicans, since they have so much control over the state since Obama took Governor Janet Napolitano. I don't like how her politics evolved once she joined the federal gov't, but when she was the gov here, she regularly vetoed the Republicans' craziest bills. I wrote and begged Obama not to appoint her, but he did, and we haven't recovered from it. And ALEC is powerful here.
Meanwhile, the AZ Dems at the national level, including Sinema and Kirkpatrick (who is now running to try to unseat John McCain), vote with Republicans much of the time. They do not protect working people, they do not vote in ways that reflect my values -- so why should I vote for them or contribute to their campaigns?
Although I couldn't bring myself to vote for McSally against Barber (who took Giffords' seat after she was shot), I couldn't vote for him either. His record was depressing, even with "D" after his name. My analysis was that we had to get him out of there, so I abstained from voting in that race last time (no Green was running), and now I hope we can replace McSally with a good Dem. We have two of them running. If Barber hadn't been defeated, neither of those Dems would have primaried him (the local Dem party actively discourages the primarying of incumbents), so this is a good scenario, imo.
That's all a very long way to say that not voting for Clinton is NOT a vote for Trump. Don't let them scare you into voting for the lesser of two evils and betraying your values. The DNC has the opportunity to salvage the election. They can nominate Sanders, and millions of us indies will vote for him, as will the vast majority of Clinton supporters. See how easy that is?
blaze
There is no justice in America, but it is the fight for justice that sustains you.
--Amiri Baraka