Democrats to oppose Republicans! Donate!11!!
To potential donors, volunteers and voters: As groups invoking Bernie Sanders and/or progressivism proliferate, please be cautious.
"Follow the money" is THE best and most terse analysis of US politics. The Democratic National Committee may be having trouble raising money. Maybe. When gjohnsit posted a story to that effect recently, as least one replier whose name I've unfortunately forgotten, wondered if the DNC had only PAC-ed the money where liberals could not find it. (Farfetched? Please at least skim this article.) Many google hits, though, report money rolling in to Democrats, thanks to Trump, lawsuits, Kid Rock, whatever. Either way, impoverished or not, the DNC and individual Democratic politicians like raising money and do much better at it than they do at helping us. (Hmmm...Could there be some connection?)
In a possibly-related story, as of April 2017, Senator Bernie Sanders polled as the most popular politician in the U.S. still in office. (Obama, a Third Way Dem, was first; Bernie, a liberal, was second; and Pence, a religious right Republican, was third. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.) And, as of July 2017, Hillary's approval rating was even lower than Trump's. In another story, also from July 2017, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's directed Hilary to blame only herself for her loss.
Okay, let's put all the above together so we can bake this cake. The titular head of the Democratic party lost the most recent Presidential election, taking the the Party's image down with her, and has lower approval ratings than possibly the most bizarre and disliked newish President in US history. However, a liberal who ran for President as a Democrat is the most popular officeholder in the country. So, if you were the DNC, or a candidate running for offic,e or anyone else looking to raise political money, what would you do? I suggest clicking your ruby slippers together while repeating "Bernie Sanders Progressives." (Hey! It worked. Here comes the hot air balloon now.)
Democrats, of course, have been using Bernie almost like a human shield. (I'm not buying it: They've also announced they're running more Blue Dogs.) What about all these new groups, though? Are they honest? Are they competent?
For reasons stated in an earlier essay, I am not optimistic about changing the Democratic Party from within. Nonetheless, I cannot help but wonder: Why are people forming group after group to attempt what Bernie's own group, Our Revolution, is already trying to do? If you want more candidates like Bernie, why not just support Bernie and his group, instead of only invoking his name? I cannot imagine that further fragmentation of the left and groups competing with each other for donations, volunteers, publicity, and other resources is the right answer.
Bottom line: For better or worse, we know what the DNC is, what it does and who is behind it. While Our Revolution is obviously much newer, we know Bernie, or at least some of us believe we do. If I were go to donate, volunteer, etc. for anything related to the Democratic Party--which I won't--I would go with Our Revolution, at least until I understood the newer ones a lot better than I do now.* Or, I would donate and work directly with and for a candidate in whom I believed.
At least, many people seem to want a new direction and are making themselves visible and audible in a number of ways.
* In fairness to the Incorruptibles (which I predict will soon get referred to unfairly as the Incorrigibles), their candidates cannot be members of any political party or accept corporate donations. That means that the Incorruptibles cannot work with either the DNC or Our Revoluton.
Comments
Say the magic words: Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!
The dollar floodgates open and the DemonRATic party is again awash with money. Money, honey, that's what makes the world go round. The eloquent essay needs no further comment than to cite the immortal words of John Geils, Jr.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip7wwUre4mc]
Thanks, Ed. And now, we even have a President whose
theme song was "Money, money, money." "Follow the money," indeed.
Same but different.
Funny how this keeps happening.
- They told us there was really no difference between Her and Bernie, yet they lied, cheated and stole to insure Her won.
- They told us there was really no difference between Tom Perez and Keith Ellison, but Obama had to make sure Perez won the vote.
No difference at all. Yet, it's still important for the DNC to shove their Designer Impostors down our throats rather than letting us have what we want.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Why would they let us have what we want instead of
making sure they get what they want? They ain't Mother Theresa.
I don't know what the deal was before I started paying attention to politics, but today's politicians seem to be about money and power. When I hear them called "public servants" now, I shake my head.
I remember they did try to tell us that the voting records of Bernie and Hillary were almost identical (implied: so vote for Hillary). I also remember a post on another board that addressed that. https://www.democraticunderground.com/128037156
Grass Roots Activism Is Good
Our Revolution and The Incorruptibles appear to be genuine Grassroots organizations fighting both corporate Dems and GOP neanderthals. Caution is always advised. What's wrong with that?
There are all kinds of ways to fight back against America's corporate Duopoly. Not everybody will agree on the best approach. Bernie is committed to reforming the Democratic party from the inside. That's a good thing. Somebody has to try.
I'm choosing to join up with Critical Resistance here in L.A. and go to some Green Party meetings or meetups. Will I change the world? I doubt that a lot, but I also plan to die trying.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
"Nothing wrong" with advising caution. Hence my essay, which
advises caution. I said, if I believed in working from within the Democratic Party, I would support Our Revolution or individual candidates, until I knew more about other organizations. That's not a terribly controversial position.
"Grass roots activism is good." My essay didn't say otherwise. However, I don't believe that all grass roots activism is good and I also don't believe that all who present themselves as grass roots activists have the best motives.
I don't know your basis for saying the new organizations "appear" legit. Did you investigate them and come to that conclusion? Where did they get their funding? What is the background of people running them? Any chance they stalking horses and sheep dogs for the DLCC, the DCCC, etc.?
As my essay said, legit is not the only criterion. Are they competent? Will donating to them be a good use of our money, or will we be throwing it at people who mean well, but don't have enough experience, grit, etc. to come anywhere near accomplishing anything meaningful? Or at people who are actually sheep dogging for the Democratic Party, which is desperate to keep progressives voting "Lesser of Two Evils" while is remains corrupt and corporate?
Perhaps most importantly, I disagree that fighting the Democratic Party from the inside is a good thing. While the Incorrigibles doesn't seem to have that as a stated m.o., many of the others do. The planet is running out of time for initiatives that go nowhere and individuals are running out of money, energy and the will to keep fighting. As it is, only a relatively small number of us even bother to vote.
IMO, thinking it will work is incredibly naive. Bernie's own run and post run experiences speak volumes about that.
Bernie himself thought Jesse Jackson should have run as an indie. Then, Bernie went to Congress and began suppporting Democrats. Look where it got him--and us. If Bernie had taken his own advice and run as an indie in 2016, he might be President. Starting a new Party after the convention or helping build the Green Party would have been far preferable and more effective than working within the Democratic Party, which continues to disrespect him at every turn, while using him as a human shield.
Our Revolution divided the left of the left even further than it has always divided itself. It takes away volunteers, donations, will, votes, etc. from other kinds of efforts that might, in my opinion, have a better chance of working. And it breathes life into something that stands in the way of better things and that was about to crumble. More in this essay: https://caucus99percent.com/content/la-revoluci%C3%B3n
The Green Party is a party that is at least theoretically separate from the Democratic Party and competing with it. It has also been around a long time. For those reasons, it has nothing to do with the subject of my essay and my essay did not mention it. I may write a separate essay about it, though, once my thoughts coalesce more.
@HenryAWallace
I would whole-heartedly agree - if free and fair elections were possible in the US.
In order to try to avoid a bloody revolution, for which others have said The Psychopaths That Be are leaving no other choice and thereby making inevitable, it seems that some are trying to cover every option, not knowing what exactly to do. On the plus side, they're gaining experience in this area - but even a country-wide strategic vote, such as was done in Canada to get the Harper Cons out, can be manipulated through propaganda and electoral cheating.
The fact that I have no idea of what to do seems irrelevant in the face of seemingly everyone not knowing what to do, but I do feel that all obstacles (including the fact of the entire US electoral infrastructure having been taken under Homeland Security control) must be taken into account, despite their number, and then perhaps some non-violent solution will present itself out of the muddle of created division and confusion.
(I should probably have waited for those first sips of coffee to percolate through my system before commenting, lol, but I did feel that this needed to be pointed out, even if badly phrased or garbled.)
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Good point about manipulation of elections, EN.
And Homeland Security. I often forget to assume criminality.
I think the first--and only--thing would be to put a lot of pressure on our cities and states to adopt paper ballots, counted by hand, and maybe have the count monitored broadcast via podcast.
If we can't get that, it's over. We're forever fucked, irretrievably. Even an armed revolution won't work. Maybe a kabuki revolution staged by the right, but never a revolution instigated by the left--most of whom have no arms and don't know how to use them anyway. The government has been planning against a popular uprising since 1917 or sooner. And now they have it nailed down. JMO.
NO MORE money from me for any of them.
I cannot trust in anything any of them say anymore, and I'm sorry but that includes Bernie himself right now. Actions, not words.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
On the one hand, I could not agree more. I donated a lot
to Obama in 2008 during both the primary and the general in the foolish belief that he would undo a lot of the damage Bush had done. Instead, he doubled down and broke a lot of his campaign promises. After the ACA kabuki ended, I resolved not to donate to politicians again. However, I started donating to Bernie even before his official campaign website went up.
I want to say, "Never again" and not break my word for the very next Presidential campaign. On the other hand, anything that may have a chance of working will need money and I am not sure I am totally ready to say, "Après moi, le déluge." Among other things, I have a son.
Sometimes I think I am done, but giving up is not what I do or who I am. Sometimes that ultimate results in success and, sometimes, I just wish I had just given up and moved on much sooner. Figuring out up front when I should persist and when I should give up seems to be beyond me.