There’s Two Cents on the Table With Your Name on It If You Have Thoughts On What the Democratic Party Needs to Do To Win
Seriously. You have ideas? Share them.
The only bright note in my county was the vast increase in Democratic votes in vote by mail.
Tonight I had to hug a guy who worked his butt off block walking every day, phone banking, fund raising – he dedicated his life to this race and only got 300 more votes than a guy who did nothing.
The Democratic brand is damaged and repairing it is our first order of business.
Get rid of Citizens United? Figure out a strategy to get control away from the super duper rich? There. I’ll leave my two cents in the little bowl by the cash register.
1I haven’t anything pithy to say in answer to your honest question. I feel your pain. Texans voted today against their self-interest. It is amazing. And I see Texas after the Bush-Perry years resembling a third world country, governed like the most graft-ridden banana republic. I’m morbidly curious as to what new low Abbot will set in his term.
2Get rid of straight party ballot voting. Make elections about ideas and Dems will win.
3Oh, Abbott has already promised that if anyone puts a bill across his desk saying that women should get paid the same as men for doing the same work that he would veto it. We’re not quite a third world country yet but things are shifting.
4America is now Jonestown. Only instead of drinking the cyanide-laced Kool-Aid we elect Republicans. But the result will be the same.
5http://www.wolf-pac.com/
6Here is what the Democrats need to do to win in Texas: (1) Oppose gay marriages, (2) Join the NRA, (3) Oppose abortions of any kind under any circumstances, (4) Immediately deport all person in the USA illegally (5) Exhibit righteous indignation at every opportunity with Bible in hand with pages dog eared to the scripture that supports that indignation, (6) Support a program where anyone can attend any private school and use taxpayer money to do so (vouchers), (7) Declare climate change to be a liberal conspiracy to destroy jobs (8) Do away with minimum wage laws, (9) Repeal welfare, especially healthcare and foodstamps, (10) Restrict voting to only “real Americans”, and (11) privatize all state functions. Simple, isn’t it?
7Juanita asked the right question because our Democratic brand is badly damaged or non-existent. The Party and its principles are larger than one candidate – including Wendy Davis and Bill White. We should be lifting them on our shoulders, not expecting them to carry us. If you read this blog regularly, you know our opposition really isn’t that bright.
8Figure out how to kill the SCARY.
We have government officials openly saying that they don’t trust the people that will protect EVERYBODY to do the right thing (because, why???).
I think it’s time to do something like pushing for terrorism charges for ANYBODY that contaminates a drinking water supply for ANY reason. Let the FUD work for protecting the people for a change.
9The State of Texas today elected a Felon as the Attorney General, a crazy person as Lt Gov, and an asshat as Governor. A complete incompetent as Land Commissioner. And a myriad of idiots to the US House.
Nothing is going to change until all the old white men die off.
10Even before this election I had seen stats and read statements by both sitting elected officials and candidates for office that in sum indicated that I can’t comfortably live in Texas much longer. The 2014 vote tells me in the strongest language imaginable that when I retire next year, staying in Texas isn’t any longer on the table. These voters elected the Hate candidates today.
11Maybe it’s time to explain what government does with our tax dollars. Like explaining about Public Health, and how LACK of the ACA leaves us open to greater epidemiological risk. You know, it costs MONEY to pay for expert training in using the expensive supplies required to keep things like Ebola from KILLING US ALL!!! How relying upon Emergency Room care opens us up to significantly greater risk. But hey, we already accept all those Flu deaths (and we can’t mention the epidemic of lead particle ingestion either).
12Iowa just elected Joni Ernst because we Dems ran another standard “republican light” Democrat. The lines below are from the Roosevelt Memorial. Every Democrat running for office should believe them or find a different party. We thought we had one when we sent President Obama to Washington. Elizabeth Warren might be the only one in DC.
*From the FDR Memorial-
“No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources.
Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order.”
“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose a path of social justice…
The path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.”
“Among American citizens, there should be no forgotten men, and no forgotten races.”
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much;
It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
“Among American citizens, there should be no forgotten men, and no forgotten races.”
“We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all citizens, whatever their background.
13We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.”
– all from Franklin Delano Roosevelt-
Sorry about the length but it’s important.
Focus on making government work – Democrats can demand excellent public service from government agencies. The VA mess is absurd; Common Core is not a useful advance in education.
Hold some votes that matter – minimum wage, attorney General, Surgeon General, student loan interest limits, drivers’ licenses (I want all the other drivers to have been tested before they drive near me). Then use these votes to identify progressive legislators from the dodos.
Get some money from polluting industries for public health
Find some new candidates (not Rep lite, not older than most Baby Boomers, not 15 year Congressmen)
14I go back and forth between “WTF is wrong with people” and “If they are this stupid, to hell with them.”
15#12 is the reason why FDR was almost a saint in my childhood home; my parents had survived the Great Depression and really valued the work FDR and his administration had done.
16Uhhhhhh…since poll after poll shows that voters all across the political spectrum will actually vote for sensible liberal issues (equality in marriage, equal voting access, responsible gun laws), maybe the Democrats should stop running as “Republican Lite” and hoping to get the GOP base to vote for them?
17“The Republicans, of course, have turned against Obama, and the Democrats have also turned against Obama…Gas under $3 a gallon. Unemployment under 6% — whoever thought? Stock market breaking records every day. No wonder the guy is so unpopular.” — David Letterman
President Obama isn’t perfect, but our country is a better place because we elected him over John McCain or Mitt Romney. And to show our gratitude, we had candidates who did everything they could to distance themselves from him.
Obama was elected by a base set of voters. By running away from him, those candidates ran away from that base of voters. Those voters would have made the difference today.
When you get elected to office, do the work and get things done. Once you get things done, take ownership of those things. Denying your own work will only make you look ineffective and impotent. And it will confuse and alienate those base voters who want to believe in you.
18Not sure if I have the definitive answer, but getting more young people to vote during midterm elections would help.
19Republican Lite won’t win against Republican Crazy. Be like Bernie Sanders.
20Just for a sec, think how history will record the so-called Rethug “winners”; Joni The Castrator Ernst, for instance. I could go on, but you get the idea. So heads up, chin up. By 2016 this country will realize just how much they don’t like these “winners” and Hillary will romp! Until then we will need all of our strength and solidarity as the Senate, particularly, will get nothing done as per usual and the House will try to impeach the President but get nowhere cuz oh gosh heck there’s no sex involved!
21What should democrats do?
They shouldn’t be republicans.
They should defend the policies that
have helped millions and not sit around like cowards
ducking from the GOP crazy.
Now comes the real crazy. Let us see who will become hostages other than the American people.
22JJ, this is a freebie. The bigger question is what kind of Democrat Party do we want to have?
If we are going to be a lite version of the Republican Party, we might as well save the money, and forget candidates and elections. They will all be a waste of time.
If we are going to being the party of Roosevelt, Kennedy, and LBJ, it’s going to be a “re-build.” And a “re-brand.”
You “re-build” from the bottom up, not from the top down. We need candidates for local school boards, city councils, mayors, local judges, state legislators. How many election cycles has it been we have been asked to contribute millions to elect a new Governor, and Lt. Governor? And failed? Too many. We have a party that believes we should work for the working people of this country, which is the majority of people in this country, and if people can’t stick to that message… they aren’t Democrats.
If we don’t get the neanderthals out of the court room, and off the school boards, and out of Council chambers, and out of the state leg, it doesn’t matter who sits in the Governor’s mansion.
We are back to building a movement. And it starts from the ground up, not from the top down.
JMHO.
23Well, I think we should keep this GOTV boots on the ground thing going. Now. Keep registering people to vote, keep talking to them, keep pressing ISSUES not candidates, and keep engaging young people. We have got to make people see that these policies matter to them and that they have a stake in it.
We need to root out this religiosity as a litmus test for everything. If churches and pastors want to “participate fully” in the political process they need to pay taxes. Period. Those of us that are Christian need to man up and call out the hypocrisy of the loudmouths and start stressing what JESUS CHRIST said and not what Moses said and did. Those of us that are of minority religions or abstainers need to continue to stress the real meaning of religious freedom. Never mind the separation of church and state (but go ahead and press that too!) the first amendment guarantees your right to practice your faith or live your life with minimal government interference, and the majority is not allowed to overwhelm you. I am not allowed to impose restrictions on you, and you are not allowed to impose restrictions on me. We need to shout this and shout it and shout it. From the rooftops, if possible.
We need to draw on our diverse base. We need to stress that we are for all people, and that we are building a community. We need a CA Proposition 47 at the federal level. (Did it pass?? I haven’t found out yet) We need to press the decriminalization of petty drug offenses and get rid of zero tolerance style policies of every kind. And we need to encourage each other at all times. I come here because the wit and humor keep me from throwing in the towel and just consigning it all to the devil. We need to keep planting seeds now and then we collect our crop in 2016 and 2018 and 2020. And attrition will take its toll, some of these really problematic people just can’t live forever; of course, none of the really splendid ones will live forever either.
Sorry for the long post y’all. Please feel free to embellish my ideas or correct me if you think I’m wrong.
24I agree with all of the ideas above. The Dems need to talk issues, continue to register voters, insure they have a valid ID, and provide transportation to the polls, especially during early voting when the lines are shorter. We also need to change the mindset of the voters in Texas, and hopefully this will happen if we continue to talk about issues. One woman’s comment in the newspaper illustrates this–she would vote unless something else came up. Seriously?
25Haven’t we been having this conversation in TX since 1998? The answer is the same as it was then.
Contest every race. Doesn’t have to be a viable candidate, could be Madge the Manicurist, but there needs to be names on the ballot. If you keep showing voters in election after election that you know you can’t win by not even bothering to field a candidate, voters start to accept that you can’t win. Then even when you have quality candidates, the electorate will have already learned well what you spent a decade teaching them…why bother?
And message discipline based on core values. This party is like herding cats and one thing the Rs do very, very well is producing a coherent, consistent narrative. If you see an R next to a name on a ballot, you know you’re getting X, Y, and Z for sure. It doesn’t matter if that R is in Livingston, Laredo, Liberty, Lampasas, or Lubbock. You’re getting X, Y, and Z. If you see a D next to a name on a ballot in TX, you have no clue at all what you’re getting. Pick three themes and everyone push those same three themes. That still leaves plenty of wiggle room for a each candidate to hit what will play locally but the core message needs to be simple, clear, and above all consistent everywhere across the state.
26Wally, Don and MieMaw have got it right. We need to run Democrats who actually are Democrats, not sugar coated Republicans. The only way to beat a right wing extremist is to run someone who is liberal and proud of it.
Now with the Republicans in charge at least we won’t have to to worry about being beheaded while pooping blood (yes I stole that, I would give credit if I could remember who I stole it from).
27What needs fixing? Have every baby born with a bilion dollar trust fund? How about a platinum spoon in their mouths? Spray paint all babies whitey wingnut white at forced birth? Indoctrinate kids with above all else, give to the wealthy? Every thirty seconds of every day buy another gun? Teach them to hate and distrust peoples of color? Accept sub minimum wage jobs gracefully? Learn how to be better liars? All praise to the koch bros? Learn to embrace inner/outer pollution because EPA is actually NAZI spelled backwards? Learn the chant-all that is bad is good? Suspect your parents and siblings of being Liberals? Repeat after me-A crust that is shared is finer food,if you give it all to the koch bros dude.( then the koch bros dude can have his feast in solitude).
I spent Monday and a large part of Tuesday in the hospital with acute bronchitis and never felt as ill as I did when election results were phoned in early last night. With bronchitis I couldn’t take a breath, With this past election I see how breathtakingly stoopid wingnuts really are. I hope Dems don’t have to emulate loser whitey wingnuts to get control of our gubmint.
28Here are the names of some of the Democrats who DIDN’T LOSE yesterday: Senators… Al Franken, Jeff Merkley. House Members: Ellison, Grijalva, Conyers, Lee, McGovern, Grayson, Schakowsky, Pocan, Nolan, Lieu, Coleman.
The common denominator. They are all Progressives, and ran as Progressive Democrats.
There’s a lesson there….. if we want to learn it.
29I feel your pain. Maryland, usually sane, has elected Republican Larry Hogan as Governor. Republicans will now control the US Senate, as well as the House. We are about to get the government we deserve, and a lot of people who voted their anger are going to be unpleasantly surprised.
30The theme seems to be to run Progressives against the Right. And to start with our local elections and move out from there. I agree, and then when our candidates win or lose we’ll know they represented the ideals of Roosevelt and Kennedy.
31Bearing in mind that almost all I know of Texas politics I gain from here… I can’t tell you how to win tomorrow. I can’t tell you how to win in two years. What I can tell you is this:
1) The prevailing winds are against us everywhere because of gerrymandering and voter suppression/intimidation. 2010 absolutely killed us. The ONLY way these guys win is to make sure as few people vote as possible, because the nature of our two parties means they have a lot more motivated, angry jackasses who come out and vote.
2) The prevailing winds are against us in the courts from the local level up because these guys take the long view. Way back in the 80s, the religious right started pumping out lawyers from their fake colleges, and on the local level (again!) prosecutors, judges etc are being elected in elections that no one else pays attention to, and when the time comes to pick the next crop of appellate judges or state supremes, or the federal bench, or the jutice department, they have a full bench to fill the bench. Think Alberto Gonzales. The lawyers working for him were even worse.
3) The prevailing winds are against us on the money front. That requires no further elaboration.
4) The prevailing winds are against us on the media front. The Dems are Doomed meme has been bleated from all media since Jan. 20, 2009. No wonder no one turns out..who would bother? It makes no difference if I vote, and there’s not difference between them, either. Thank you false equivalency meme from who? Also the so-called liberal media.
5) The prevailing winds are against us on the education front. The idea of a public education in America has been bastardized and balkanized, where out and out facts of science and history – INDISPUTABLE TRUTH – is in dispute. Homeschooling is an abomination.
6) Finally, I return to a truthism I repeat before, during and after every election: individuals are smart, PEOPLE are stupid. That can work for or against us, but all of the above proceeds from this.
So, that’s the bad news. What’s the answer? I’ll present that in a bit in a second post.
32I agree that we need to run as true Democrats and not as Republican-Lites, but what has me REALLY knotted up is knowing that our state is insanely gerrymandered (thanks to JJ’s neighbor, Tom DeLay) to KEEP the Republicans in power.
With the gerrymandering, Texas politics are rigged in this state to a fare-the-well. It’s like Republican districts here are impenetrable enclaves that mere Democrats cannot pierce, and we can’t hope for federal help to get a more level playing field, either. How do we get around THAT?
33One mo thang…. Thank you, Susan, for giving me ANY hope. If I couldn’t come here and see your energy and hard work and humor, I don’t know what I’d do. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Today is a day of mourning for me. I feel like I lost my state. Tomorrow I hope I will feel better. I’m taking the day off to lick my wounds and figure out where I go from here.
My husband and I are retired. Today, I don’t want to live in a state with A-butt and Dan Patrick in power. I’m not sure how far away they can push me, but I’m seriously not happy about living in Texas right now.
34In the 1930’s, people like Albert Einstein and others saw the rise of fascism for what it was, and left Europe for America. I am thinking of doing this in reverse. My country is broken, and I cannot fix it. When I retire from education in a year and a half, I am seriously considering expatriating.
There are many reasons I can think of for leaving, but the final straw for me to feel that there is no hope for America was Sandy Hook. When 20+ little kids die, and nothing is done, truly nothing, there is not much hope to be had.
It’s a big world. There has to be a better life somewhere.
35daChipster is so right. This race was fixed from the word go by the Frickin’ Five Supremes gutting the Voting Rights Act, the Republican gerrymandering and the unconstitutional Voter ID laws. Throw in the billions of dark money and their strategy wins every time.
36So, get rid of Voter ID laws, overturn Citizens United, pass a new Voting rights Act, gerrymander districts back to fair and get billions of dollars to buy the election.
Easier said than done.
Interesting to me that I don’t think I saw the name Obama in any post above. Until we can speak truth friends we will lose.
37Mr. Obama has been a poor President and a terrible leader. His
actions through-out his Presidency have been Republican Lite to Republican Strong. It is sickening. The country needed to see bankers do perp walks after so many were hurt in 2007 – 2009;
the re-upping of the Patriot Act; the follow-on practices of so many Bush policies; and here we are. If you don’t stand for something . . . well, you know the rest. Now, where will we be with SCOTUS? America voted as it did because they wanted to see leadership and the Republican’s vowed they would show it. And, for my money Hilary has been a politician too long to be the answer in 2016. We need new faces on the national stage. I would much prefer an Elizabeth Warren from what I know of her at this point.
Sad news, great comments and thanks everyone for their hard work.
You cannot fix a problem unless you know what the problem is.
Republicans declared WAR, winner take all, gloves off, no hostages agenda, many years ago. They will do ANYTHING to succeed. We are dealing with dangerous extremism here. Don’t ever forget that. Please pay attention to what Lakoff has to say, all of it, he is right on. If you do not understand it, it is not his message, it is your understanding that needs correction.
“Conservatives really want to change the basis of American life, to make America run according to the conservative moral worldview in all areas of life. ”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/what-conservatives-really_b_825504.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/the-real-issues-a-wiscons_b_828640.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/santorum-strategy_b_1338708.html?ref=homepage
1. Promote Progressive Principles, they work!
382. Republican propaganda controls 95% of the Media. We need to be heard.
3. Democrats need to be more united.
4. Repeal Citizens United and outlaw Fox News/ Hate Radio
5.
6.
Old Fart, you are so right. People have no clue what their taxes do for them. I taught for years at a public college and students were clueless that taxpayers were funding their education. (“You mean my $1700 tuition isn’t paying for this?”) And yeah, the scary. Joke in CT is that Tom Foley has lost more gubernatorial elections than the number of Americans who’ve died of ebola. (OK that was really about Scott Brown.) I’m happy to (still) be in a solid blue state, but the rest of you really scare me.
39In Maryland, there were 25 electronic voting machines taken out of service because they were “flipping Republican votes to Democratic”. But that may be just a red herring to appease the masses. Remember the CEO of Diebold’s pledge to deliver the election to GW Bush? Diebold makes electronic voting machines. There is no paper record of a vote when we use an electronic voting machine, and there is no way to tell whether a vote is registered correctly. We need to be able to trust our election process, and the only way that can happen is with a paper ballot. Ultimately, we must have a paper record of votes cast in order to have an election result that is trustworthy.
40This Republican Lite is a big deal. I think one way to get rid of that is replace Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Not only is she and her leadership Republican Lite, her pathetic 9, uh 8, uh 7 state strategy is a grand loser. My state, Ohio, was abandoned by the DNC very early and for the last two months, every hour of TeeVee had 8 ads for Kasich and zero for Fitzgerald. She believes Rove when he pronounced the country center/right and her strategies reflect no confidence in Democrats running as a stark choice from Republicans. I am grateful for those who ran as open liberals (like our Sherrod Brown 2 years ago, Alan Grayson this year) who offer something more than center/right garbage.
41Mark, PRESIDENT Obama (for whose election, I am proud to say, I managed two Ohio counties) has done the best he could under unprecedented circumstances. He has made some mistakes, and I believe he tried to be inclusive to a fault for too long. But from the day Ted Kennedy died, his legislative Presidency was over. Recall that Kennedy died during the summer recess of 2009, and that Al Franken (whose recount I am proud to say I worked on, right after the Presidential election) was not seated until July, and you realize that he never had a chance to overcome the obstructionism.
Recall, too, that he burst onto the national scene in 2004 saying no red states, no blue states, but the United States and then ask yourself, at the start anyway, how he could have acted any differently than to try to reach out to the Republicans.
No, he will be remembered in history as a President who managed the greatest period of economic growth since the post-war boom, the full fruition of the gay rights movement, the greatest healthcare reform EVER in this country, and, I believe, as the person who put Sonia Sotomayor on the Court. Her shadow will stretch over the history of the 21st century.
All while being law-blocked by a coterie of thugs beholden to the oil industry, the gun-death industry and the Confederacy for having the temerity to be Presidenting While Black.
Poor President? In my lifetime, who has been better? Maybe Kennedy, but who will ever know? Johnson and Viet Nam? NIXON? Carter and malaise? REAGAN? Bush I? Clinton, triangulating and gutting the financial regs? Bush II?
All deeply flawed men. Some emotionally incapable, others intellectually bereft, many morally bankrupt. All victims of circumstances and their times, to a varying degree.
Take your “not liberal enough” cant to the next block. I’m not in the market for it today.
42The answer shows up several times in the previous comments.
#1. “Centerist” is just another name for “Republican Lite.” The pundit media loves you but nobody else does.
#2. Run a populist campaign.
#3. Stop buying into the totally non-factual claim that Obama is not a good president. Google up the achievements he has on his record and you will be amazed. Things you never heard about and that’s what the problem is.
#4. Where the hell was Obamacare? There were about 15 Republicans that ran with the “repeal Obamacare” flag and won. If fear is such a great motivator for voters, what about the fear of losing their health insurance? ACA isn’t all what we wanted but it was and IS a huge achievement that is helping millions of people anywhere the GOP hasn’t blocked it.
No wonder Democrats lost. This was only to be expected. Get REAL progressive and REAL liberal candidates and this would be totally different.
43We got pummeled. Accept it and learn from it. The Tea Party did. While I abhor (a weak word in this context) the things that the Tea Party stands for, they are ignorant and stupid but elements of that party learned that ANGER was not enough of a tool. They replaced it with FEAR (and kept the ANGER).
What will Democrats use to counter FEAR? Spouting rational arguments to the electorate has not/will not work. Try asking the question “Where’s the fire?” to a panicked mob enclosed in a dark room..see how far you get.
To paraphrase, “The beatings will continue until the motivation to change gets real.”
The electorate will seek an alternative only when the pain becomes intolerable. We should plan on the opposition party inflicting more and more pain BUT we better provide a clearly defined, differentiated alternative.
My half cent is to base this alternative on unapologetic, clearly defined progressive planks. Minimum wage, immigration, student loans, environment, etc. Articulate progressive planks, trade nothing (Democrats are p*#s poor traders, my apologies for bad language), give nothing.
These ideas will stand in stark contrast to the policies that will be put in place shortly. While Republican Lite values can be included, these are not CORE values and gain us nothing (see mid-term election results). Keep focused on the progressive core values though we get beaten repeatedly. Place candidates on the ballot who are willing to articulate these values and stand by them.
Look at what the Tea Party did and LEARN from them. This does not mean to imitate them but to LEARN what they did and how they are doing it. We must correct our own ignorance or it will lead us to irrelevance.
AND yes, I want to leave Texas today but I will stay and continue to wear my 49ers cap in Texas (get all kinds of vibes on that that). I will stay because I have grandkids here and refuse to give up.
44Thank you, DaChipster! See what happens when you leave the back door unlocked!!
CO is disgusting this morning … they actually voted in Cory Gardner … I almost choked when I saw the idiots brought Ken Buck in!!
It’s a wait-and-see game to just see how the Repukes are gonna totally eff up CO … they even voted against labeling the GMO poisoning that is going on in the country … and they did vote down that personhood thing that Gardner pushed in … I am so disgusted this morning!!
45What did change nationally is that Republicans boosted their percentage among African-Americans from 6 percent won by Romney to 10 percent yesterday; from 27 percent to 35 percent among Latinos; and from 26 percent to 49 percent among Asians. Meanwhile here in Texas, 44% of Latinos voted for Abbott.
46Remember when the repubs ran those billboards in OH, about “felons voting”? It was intended to reach “low information voters” (Da LOV’s!). It was a good idea, because the intended audience does not watch the news.
47Dems would be wise to use this strategy, because:
It’s cheap!
You can’t turn off a billboard! You can read it at every truck stop while listening to Limpbaugh!
A billboard can note the source of it’s facts. Scary!!
You need to ask people who are between the ages of 18 and 30 this question. I think these are the ones who are least likely to vote because they feel disenfranchised and they can’t do anything about it or they flat out don’t care about voting possibly because they don’t see how this affects them in any way and they’re more interested in their “toys”.
48Wow…I am a somatizer of amazing ability…so I have internalized this election and am so sick (heart and body) that instead of exploring the town where we may move to I’m in so much pain, I’m unable to move.
49Return to the basics and the rest will follow.
We need infrastructure, from (physical) bridges to (political) county clerks. Why wasn’t that being talked about? Gravel roads and no water? Building and repairing would provide jobs. Replacing the politics of fear with being constructive and proactive…I absolutely hated the memes of this election of devastation and loss, “no hope” bullshit. I gave more of my money than I should have..my handicapped self just doesn’t have a lot of cash…but the process made me KNOW I was throwing good money after bad–because that’s what they told me every time I gave…dang, stupid PR people. Instead where were the talks about the need for water, internet access, unpolluted air and land…the sound bites that talked about children lives shortened and autism and breathing problems (holding good thoughts and prayers for you EPO) all over the place–3 children on my street have those problems and there are only about ten kids on the block…where is that conversation? We need to stop biting the bait of gay marriage-abortions, etc., by simply covering the “rights” of all people, the right to engage in contracts, make medical decisions, including to stop ineffective medical care and end your own suffering. We don’t know what anything is for, so if everyone had simply the same rights–then their choices (other than ones they wish made public–“This is my child, partner, etc.”) should be private–if we could MYOB then things would be more livable–individual rights are the answer! “Pursuit of happiness” should cover that, as “Provide for the common welfare” should cover single payer, education (free college) internet access, basic food, water, shelter–heck, guaranteed income for all–education, relationship counseling, showing people they have choices so they aren’t operating from the scarcity and fear of the lowest level of reptilian brain and the crushing needs of security—that’s why you are a submissive wife–you don’t believe you have choice-giving away our country because of fear–fear MAKES people stupid and that’s what we are dealing with–fear of “thugs”/ other…which is the first step to the gas chambers and it happens so quickly, the signs are everywhere–I had to stop reading some of the “red” sites I used to look at to try and keep taking the pulse of the nation because what they really endorsed was killing all the “liburals”so they could get their country back–and the Blacks, Jews and Wetbacks would get “theirs” too. THAT violence is real, we celebrate it, in football and most sports–hit ’em hard–kill them!! The bread and a circus insanity along with hard drink….sigh.
We need Bernie Saunders, Elizabeth Warren and Grayson, Franken–straight talkers and brilliant.
It’s time to call the SOB’s out. As in, these are the people who died today because of no health coverage-these are the names of the children who were shot today because anyone, nuts or not, can get a gun–these are the roads that are closed because of structural defects, these are the towns that have no drinking water because the corporations are using it all–on and on, with the names and #s and emails of the people to complain to next to the names of victims–the “shoes” exhibit that came to California’s capital (a single pair for each person killed in Baghdad–the little baby shoes in the center of the spiral exhibit) was very effective…so anytime there is a “war” decided upon, the senators and congress people’s children go first..so they have some skin in the game..especially the ones who have more than two kids–regular people can’t afford more than two, so people who can afford more ( like a tax) get to give back to their country (Duggars have lots of offspring, so this land has been very good to them)
Sorry it’s so long, but those are my ideas..back to basics
@daChipster, thank you for your last post, with which I agree completely.
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