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Originally Posted by Minirra
Sometimes winning isn't everything. One of the things the Tea Party did was displace undesirable (but a least qualified) Republicans with some truly mouth-breathing imbeciles under the guise of a grass-roots movement that was nothing more than a massive push by very powerful backers. Not only did they change that entire party for the worse they were decidedly non-productive.
if we learned anything from the tea party, it's that long-term we can be confident that showcasing our moral victories in lieu of tolerating disruptive redirection from an insurgent party wing is clearly the safer play. going forward we can be positive that assured paths to future democratic victory lie not within inexperienced candidates local to their communities, but rather with credentialed individuals yielded from larger professional circles.
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The Dems don't need another competing movement. If there are quality folks that want to challenge an incumbent and join the club, that's great. But I don't think the Democrats are a lost cause to the point they need to focus on another movement unseating more moderate and experienced Dems in primaries when they're already general election dogs vs. Repub crazies right now.
since hillary overwhelmingly won the popular vote, it's clear the party needs to double down on current fundraising strategies while reviving the campaign to target suburban republicans. this forgotten spoke of the base may be able to strengthen the party more than any other bloc, and should provide increased credibility to future democratic candidates planning to drift right-of-center in efforts to entice trump supporters into the party.
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My social circle is (relatively) strong with these harder-line progressive types--that's what this Justice Democrats thing is now that I've had a chance to look into it, Cenk (Young Turks guy) is behind it--and to me seems like a lot of them...their echo chamber is as bad as any alt-righter. Not all of course, but many have this whole edgy/elitist "true progressive" thing they wear and probably don't realize how isolated they actually are in the big scene.
if we compare hillary's impressive 17-million vote primary win to bernie's 13-million vote loss, we can look at this 4-million vote trouncing as one of the final chapters in a fading ideology on the waning path to irrelevancy. we can hope that by failing to win more than 23 states, these edgy eccentrics will now drop the act and step out of their isolated echo-chambers and finally conform to the mainstream views of the party.
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And it's not that like they have terrible ideals or goals (mostly). But they do have a very unrealistic view of how to actually accomplish them. First the far left just doesn't have the base that the far right does. They have Christian conservatives, energy folks, NRA, gullible older folks and so on WHO BY THE WAY ACTUALLY VOTE.
it's high time progressives concede their crusade and accept the well established message detailing how universal healthcare, a $15 minimum wage, and free public college equates to nothing more than pipedream fantasy. continuous refusal to become a reliable party voting bloc even after being told repeatedly these goals are unrealistic does not serve to strengthen the party, but rather exposes an overarching pie in the sky sense of entitlement.
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This group is talking for example trying to unseat Cory Booker. There are things I could pick at with him--his campaign funding from Wall Street is Republican-esque for one and that's been well-covered here in NJ press--but on the whole he's unquestionably become a great asset and rising star. Why the hell would a liberal start by trying to unseat? First of all he's in office until 2020. Second of all you have tons of (D) Senate seats at risk in 2018 or you know, maybe take a run at Nevada or replacing someone who retires. Or take some Congressional seats.
not sure why cory has yet to be accepted as a beacon for the progressive cause. his unmistakable level of leadership toward protecting the country from the potential onslaught of highly dangerous canadian prescription drug medications should be applauded while his prudent attendance record at prominent events clearly shows a civic dedication which should be recognized.
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No, it's just simpler to burn it all down rather than try to strengthen the party. Obviously the answer is to recruit laypeople who happen to fit their so-called platform, which btw is awfully specific...it reads like a list of someone's personal political vision. Oppose death penalty, NAFTA, TPP, stop & frisk, raise min wage, pardon Snowden, chain capital gains to income tax, up the estate tax and so forth. JFC why not just run for a seat yourself.
look, the party's broken yo. sorta kinda regret all the prior satirical snark (nothing personal) however the inherent threat of corporate money is not only going to further weaken the democratic party but it will eventually eradicate everything good our democracy represents. just because the republican party has been unequivocally corrupted does not mean we can automatically dismiss the tea party as a destructive or ineffective movement; in just a short period of time their campaign has earned them a convincing command of all three branches of government and as a result may allow them to achieve a good portion of their agenda.
otoh potential voters are in the streets and democratic leadership as a whole does not seem to be promoting a unified front against trump. legitimizing him now will only create a depressing sense of normalcy later which will only result in more lost elections. to counter we need to begin supporting grass-roots candidates who sympathize with the needs of the working-class and who effectively establish both voter trust and voter commitment by publicly financing their campaigns. and this is precisely the aim of the justice democrats coalition: to support candidates free of corporate control. so unless our goal is to continue losing elections, we need to collectively decide if supporting politicians who call donors during the day and attend fundraisers at night are really the kind of people we want taking on trump.