To rebuild the Democratic Party, which has been hollowed out, we need ALL Dems everywhere.

[LBM20]

Between 2010 and 2016 the Dem Party got smashed to pieces all over the country. The party went too corporate and dropped the ball bigtime especially in middle America. It disconnected. It ran horrible campaigns without a good message. The DNC was a mess. We had Wasserman instead of a good full time leader there. Too many Dems stayed home or even voted for Republicans. Just a disaster. So we lost 1000 legislative seats, lost governorships bigtime, lost the congress, and lost the presidency to a complete moron.

The thing is, we have got to understand ALL of the reasons as to why it happened and change course in a big way. The opportunity in 2018 is there to win back much of what we have lost and wipe out the Republican Party in areas all over the map. We have already started to do it with state level special election wins and the Conor Lamb win in PA18, and many of those wins, especially the Lamb win, show us how to do it. We can't just have an anti Trump message. We also need to say what we are FOR.

We can not just be a coastal big city party. We need to be an EVERYWHERE party, and the issues that bind ALL Dems are the bread and butter economic issues. We all want good jobs with good wages and benefits, a secure retirement, unions, progressive taxation, education and training, healthcare, etc. But we have to be willing to understand that there are cultural differences between urban and rural America, so as with Conor Lamb, who just swung a red district 19 points which we should all celebrate, we need candidates who fit the districts. And that means candidates who support hunting, are willing to talk about their faith, are more moderate on abortion, and have a more moderate to independent bent. The plain fact is that MANY Dems and moderate Independents and even moderate Republicans pulled the lever for Trump not because they are racists, and not even because they liked Trump on a personal level, but because they simply wanted change, were desperate for change, and so voted on the change/reform message that he put out there. They want jobs and hope, and like it or not, as much of a repulsive moron as Trump is, he said things they wanted to hear about creating jobs and "draining the swamp."

Make no mistake. I am NOT "excusing" or "apologizing" for Dems and moderate Independents who voted for Trump. I wish they had all done as I did and voted for Hillary. I as much as anyone agree they made a big mistake doing it. But we must understand why they did it, and for anyone to use a wide but shallow brush to paint every single one of them as "racist redneck assholes" is just plain wrong. Barack Obama would say that is wrong. Van Jones would say that is wrong. Bernie Sanders would say that is wrong. And Hillary Clinton would say that is wrong. That epithet does not apply to ALL of them.

I also know there were other reasons Hillary lost: i.e. Russia meddling, the Comey letter, the third party candidates, etc. But I am most concerned with voters who have left us but whom we can win back, and voters who did not vote at all. We need to fix the party and reverse this.

If we are all rejoicing in the Conor Lamb win where we just swung a deep red gerrymandered district 19 points and have struck fear into the hearts of the Republicans, as we all should be rejoicing, this gives us so much insight into what we need to do. MANY Dems and Independents and even some moderate R's who voted for Trump came back to the Dem Party with Conor Lamb (and in a number of the special state level elections too). So we can and must run candidates who fit the districts and unite around the economic issues that bind us all and focus in the heartland especially on those issues. And we should not write off and alienate voters who voted for Trump out of economic despair and frustration. Many are now sick of the Trump circus and are returning to us. But we have to continue to focus on the bread and butter issues that will continue to win them back. And that is a good thing.

[JI7]

1. more concern should be with Russian Hack, Voter suppression of minorites and other Dem areas, and

things like Comey.

because without that shit we would have won. and we still won milions more with all the shit that happened. all while embracing diversity.

we lost after Obama because democrats and democratic leaning voters did not feel too worried with Obama as President. and the backlash over a black president and other demographic changes.

white men are not the center of the universe. you think white men should get more and special attention. you discuss things as if black, hispanic, asian, women, etc are not part of the working class .

democratic areas passed minimum wage raises in cities within red states. but red state governors who won with largely white men signed bills to block those raises because they didn't think minorities and women deserve more money.

[3Hotdogs]

11. You left out voting machine hacks.

[JI7]

2. they change they wanted was to get rid of minorites and make then lower class citizens. to take away

rights from women.

that's the fucking change they wanted with trump.

and if this is not true then why the fuck aren't they out there protesting against him and polls show most of them still support him .

Conor Lamb did what he needed to do in that very right wing gerrymandered district. but not every district is like that.

[MrsCoffee]

3. Fuck all that noise.

The party went “too corporate”, so now we must go soft on abortion and guns?

Don’t say you aren’t making excuses. Just yesterday you were talking about kissing Trump voters asses while lashing out and attacking Democratic posters here.

GMAFB.

[Freddie]

4. Health care is huge

I know a lot of people won't like this but I think insisting on single payer right away is a mistake. Too much disruption, most working people like their employer-based plan and are scared of trading that in for something that may not be as good (for them personally). I'm not an economist but putting major insurance companies out of business all at once could cause a stock market crash or other bad consequences one would think.
I really like the new proposal called Medicare for Everyone. This would be based on the present Obamacare structure (returning the protections that Trump sabotaged) and adding a robust public option, Medicare for Everyone, wherein you could buy Medicare under 65 for a reasonable price, eligible for subsidy. And tax the rich to lower out-of-pockets for all ACA plans and end the "family glitch." At first Medicare for Everyone would only be available to those who did not have a (qualifying) employer plan available. After a transition period, employers would be able to buy it for employees or give them a stipend to do so. This would eventually put regular insurance out of business and morph into Medicare For All, with insurer selling supplemental plans like they do now for regular Medicare.

[betsuni]

5. This again.

Democrats are corporatists/don't care about the middle class
Democrats run horrible campaigns/have no message
Debbie Wasserman Shultz is bad
Democrats have no leadership
Democrats only have an anti-Trump message
Democrats are coastal urban elites.

ETC.

[NurseJackie]

22. Oh, good Lord! It never ends, does it? Same shit, over and over again. I'm...

... I'm pleased to see that this OP is getting some good push-back and call-outs (both here AND the other threads/posts as well!)

[betsuni]

27. Recycling isn't always good.

Make it stop...

[NurseJackie]

28. Thankfully, we aren't the only ones who are noticing. It's my opinion...

... that people are catching-on and that some of the worst actors are skating on very thin ice.

[uponit7771]

26. +1, and putting little onus on Russia, Comey or voter suppression

[crazycatlady]

29. Have you read the comments on Alternet?

All Democrats not named Dennis Kucinich are bad. You must vote Green11!!

If a Democrat does not pass a purity test with 100% of the vote, they're a Republican (one called Phil Murphy a Republican).

[Soxfan58]

6. Hang

Their nra pricetag on every reperv.

[Funtatlaguy]

7. Rural Democrats vs Urban Democrats (a world apart?)

I have been (fortunate?) to live in both large cities and small towns in several regions.
Though we all share most of our DNA, live in the same country, and eat primarily the same preservatives filled food, we have vastly different lifestyles.
Because of traffic and levels of pace, we value time differently.
Because of family mobilization of city dwellers and often lifetime permanency of rural people, we often value our relationships differently.
And, because of education levels, family history, and the association or non-association with diversity in ethnic, lifestyle, spiritual and other differences, we quickly develop different world views.
Some are quite global and inclusive where others are tight knit and value birds of a feather.

So, why vote differently?
Because we value different things.
To most rural people, a strong white male father figure has always been expected to lead.
This is true in businesses, churches, in homes, and in political office.
To most urbanites, the move from white male Christian heterocentic patriarchy to equality and diversity (though not always seamless and by no means still achieved), is generally considerable a laudable goal.

We progressives are fine with bottom up governance and organizations.
Conservatives prefer top down authoritarianism.

When you see it this way, you don’t shake your head so much at what you might consider incredible electoral choices.
Now, I know not ALL city mice and country mice act this way.
There are many exceptions. Sometimes family or work requirements dictate your location.
But, most go where they feel at home and to be around like minded people.
In fact, I know a lot of former country folk who have moved to the city because it just felt right for them. Not just because of a job opportunity or relationship entanglement.
And, I’m sure, it goes the other way with some city folk moving to the country for that “simpler life”.

We are different. We city mice and country mice.
But, we are all part of this still quite young experiment called America.
The Trump era may end up giving us all a strong challenge unseen since the Civil War.
If Mueller has enough to bring Trumps Presidency down, Heaven help us if it is not handled properly by all of our political, religious, and social leaders.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. It is all-hands-on-deck to fight the Trump-RepubliCON Crisis. . . . . nt

[Hortensis]

9. We lost 2010 because we were too ANTI-corporate.

The Democratic Party had to be stopped, and fortunately our corporate enemies had the enormous wealth and new information technology to do it with. We'd cut personal taxes on the wealthy all the way back to where they were before Ronald Reagan was elected, enacted the Wall Street reforms of course, were leading nations gathering to fight climate change and imposing environmental regulations, and had big plans for doing more. Much more.

How our corporate enemies did it in 2010 is that they with the Republicans microtargeted key districts and poured unprecedented money and effort into turning them red -- not just to take control of congress but to affect the 2010 census for redistricting. This was political microtargeting using new computer information capabilities, and the Republicans did it first, devastatingly. They also poured enormous amounts of black money and effort into governorships and state legislatures.

Far too many of the people who believed that "too corporate" garbage, instead of believing the ideals of our party, were among those who were foolishly and dreadfully dissuaded from voting.

But deluded leftists were only of the disaffected groups who assisted 2010's corporate takeover. There was huge national backlash to too much change too fast, helped enormously by right wing swiftboating. A black president was the biggest change, of course. The liberal agenda in Washington threatened to force healthcare on everyone. Women taking jobs from white men. This was the era of "trolling for assassins" on Fox, a symptom of the national fever we went into the 2010 midterms with. Most ironic, the rising anger at corporate greed and the devastation of the 2008 economic collapse lead voters to give them control of our congress--they called it "change."

But in the end, Democrats lost in 2010 for the only reason we ever lose: The right wing's hate and fear brought them out to vote in larger numbers than our ideals did.

Millions of us Democrats did go vote our beliefs, of course; but a critical number of armchair warriors chose to confine their concerns about liberty, justice, wellbeing of those in need, and of course "corporatism" to their usual complaining.

“The enemy isn’t conservatism. The enemy isn’t liberalism. The enemy is bulls**t." —Lars-Erik Nelson

[beachbum bob]

10. the party is not broken, we have gotten where we are as too many voters are simply too

lazy to get involved and vote. Gerrymandering is the single largest reason we have problems winning elections as the Koch brothers and their BILLIONS have bought local and state elections which results in the gerrymandering. Where are the democratic antidotes to the the Koch Brothers? We have none, as the rich liberals take a backseat too.

Democrats get more votes in the congressional elections but fail to gain majorities because of this.

[stonecutter357]

12. lol !

[mtngirl47]

13. Here on the ground in rural Appalachia I see it a little differently

2010 was a banner year for Republicans because of several things: Citizen United was decided in January 2010 so dark money poured in everywhere to elect right wing nuts. The Tea Party received a huge boost from the media because they ran around in costumes. The ACA passed in March 2010 and the hysteria on the right went through the roof--remember death panels? We were still deep in the recession and the Republicans blamed the man in the White House and American homeowners instead of Wall Street and their gambling problem. And the right wing media fed the racism at every turn.

We weren't ready for this perfect storm. We went high while they went low. Half of our fellow Americans drank the kool-aid and we lost everywhere in 2010.

Then in 2016 a Democratic woman won more votes than her opponent. She had a platform and ideas and nobody heard them because the media let Trump turn the race into a reality show.

2018 will be a banner year for Democrats because of Trump's reality show.

[Farmer-Rick]

14. I agree with you, I live in rural TN and we should not give up on any opportunity

Some of the Trump voters around here are so racist, bigoted and hateful, nothing but a born again Hitler will turn them away from the Trump. But some just wanted some economic opportunity and felt the status quo had turned their back on them. Those people could be convinced to vote against Trump.

Funny how your post elicited so many other theories on why Dems lost nation wide. Everything from being Not corporate enough to a totally rigged voting system. The truth is No One knows why the Dems lost. But we should Not give up on any opportunity. And there are people here with me in rural America who know what a traitor Trump is and are just looking for an excuse to vote against him.

[safeinOhio]

15. I'm going with

just give repubs more rope, picks and shovels. Give them enough time and they will piss off everyone.




ok, said in jest, but seems to be happening.

[LexVegas]

17. They voted for Trump because they are bigots. nt

[ihaveaquestion]

24. And Sexists!

[EffieBlack]

18. Here we go again with the "If white men aren't the center of political attention we're all DOOMED!"

It's the latest craze around here.

You DO know that a whole lot of black and brown people also yearn for change but didn't vote for Trump. Why do you think that is? "Cultural differences?"

What exactly is different about the respective "cultures" that would lead white rural men seeking "change" to vote for a racist while minority voters seeking change did not? And what about the white male rural culture would cause white men to completely ignore the minorities who jumped up and down waving and screaming and begging them not to vote for the racist?

[workinclasszero]

20. I'm so sick of this garbage too

White racists are the only important voters, we must bend over backwards to please these scumballs!

[NurseJackie]

23. It's on an endless loop. I'm so tired of it.

[dalton99a]

30. +1

[Hortensis]

31. Professional operators are trying to disgust Democrats into

staying home on November 6 by trying to sow discord.

Just imagine leaving social media and trying to see how many real white Democrats we could turn up in a week who think the Democratic Party should ask its minorities to sacrifice their needs to woo bigoted white males.

Of course, this is also an attack on women of all colors. A growing number of white men not only haven't been getting any of the decent jobs they were raised to believe were their birthright, they're increasingly not getting ANY -- no girlfriends, no wives, no children, no families -- which is believed to be adding to the very real anxiety and anger toward our largest "minority." Of course.

For them, we'll offer the same affordable college and job training, and as soon as possible a return to a living wage for full time work that we are committed to achieving for everyone. They'll have to work on the rest themselves.

[FSogol]

19. Unrec. N/t

[Scurrilous]

21. ...

[Progressive dog]

25. Those supposed Democrats who left us

didn't all leave for the same reasons. I might leave if the party decided to support the NRA but I would support an individual candidate for Congress, if that individual was the party candidate.
If that individual ran for statewide or national office, I would not vote for them.
The Conor Lamb victory gives us no insight in what we need to do as Democrats. As far as the steel and aluminum tariffs, they do nothing to help the economy in boosting wages or creating jobs. Every manufacturer and builder that uses steel or aluminum will be placed at a disadvantage to their foreign competitors. That means fewer jobs, a larger trade deficit, and lower real wages for the vast majority of Americans who don't work for steel and aluminum manufacturers.
The productivity at steel mills averages five times what it was in the early eighties and some mills are at twice the average.
https://www.steel.org/~/media/Files/AISI/Fact%20Sheets/fs_newsteel_oct08.pdf
Those jobs are not coming back. Pretending that they are may help elect Democrats in the short term, but in the long term it is toxic to our party and to our nation.