Dems are Great at Phylosophy, but Suck at Math. Reps are the Opposite (confessions from 1968)

[louis c]

I was 16 years old in 1968, but politically active from birth. My Father (God rest his soul) was an administrative assistant for US Senator Ed Brooke, the first African American Senator elected since reconstruction.

I was actually tutored in politics by a former Mayor in my home town who was black listed in the early 50's for his left wing politics, hence my more left leaning philosophy than my Moderate-Republican Dad (1960's Moderate, like Dirksen, Percy, Elliot Richardson, etc.; Republicans that are quickly becoming extinct).

I knocked on doors for Eugene McCarthy and was against the Viet-Nam war. My mentor was a delegate to the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Hubert Humphrey represented the status quo. I know I couldn't vote, but after Humphrey's nomination, I railed against the "rigged" system that nominated him and said that there was no difference between Humphrey and Nixon.

Remember, this was 1968, and divisions in the party and the nation were much deeper than even today. Riots, assassinations, demonstrations with a million people were the norm.

How wrong I was about that moral equivalency. Nixon's supreme court appointments and his basic philosophy were abhorrent for what I stood for. If there was no Nixon, there probably would have been no Reagan. A Democratic, Progressive President, like Humphrey, with an overwhelming Democratic majority in the House and Senate would have made sweeping changes It wasn't until about 1984 that I realized the error of my ways. I know, what difference does a young man of only 16 years old make politically in the whole scheme of things. but I wasn't alone, my mentor felt the same way and my older contemporaries (voting age was 21 at the time) who could vote all agreed. A vast majority of them sat out the election of 1968, and Nixon won by a whisker.

As a result, my philosophy was an "A" but my math was an "F".

I'm afraid a lot of people, young and old, will come to the same conclusion in about 10 or 15 years for their action in 2016. In health care and strengthened workers rights and civil rights. It would have had a profound positive affect on me and my future.

Let's face the facts. When the Democrats are left with the final choice of two candidates, too many of us are willing to vote for some obscure third party, write in or sit out. The Repukes are more reluctant to do that.

Let's look at today's facts. A clear majority of the general public agrees with our basic Democratic Philosophy on every major issue. Common sense laws on gun ownership, gay rights, workers' rights, income inequality, civil rights, women's rights, health care, immigration, and the list goes on.

How is it that we can be on the right side of almost every major issue, but lose every political category? The Republicans control the Presidency, the Supreme Court, the US Senate, the US House of Representatives, the Governorships and a vast majority of Sate Legislatures.

The only way these two facts can exist simultenacely, in my opinion, is we are great at philosophy, but we suck at math.

[Xipe Totec]

1. Repugs suck at Philosophy AND Math. Check the Kansas Tax Cut Disaster

In 2012, the Kansas legislature cut individual tax rates by 25 percent, and repealed the state tax on sole proprietorships. In 2013, state lawmakers voted to cut taxes even more by gradually lowering tax rates over the next five years. Governor Brownback strongly supported these efforts to cut their way to a stronger economy. Here are five charts that show how well that's going.






http://www.thinkncfirst.org/research/kansass-tax-cut-disaster-explained-in-five-charts

[louis c]

2. They are still in control of everyhting politcally

I'm talking about political math.

Their philosophy will always suck and the outcomes will always be disastrous.

So tell me, why do they control every branch of government in Kansas?

[Xipe Totec]

3. They control Kansas because Kansas drank their Kool-Aid

They're in control, yes. And look at what they've done with it.

What good is it to be in control when you fuck everything royally?

Would you be happy if Democrats changed their philosophy to a more republican fairy-dust magical thinking philosophy and continued to fuck up the country the way the republicans did?

Power? To what end?

[louis c]

4. Their Phylosphy is different than ours

They want government to fail, even when they control it.

[tblue37]

18. Propaganda + Koch money. Tribalism, too. nt

[marylandblue]

5. Democrats suck at marketing, but Republicans are good at it

See the works of George Lakoff. Democratic operatives major in goverment and law so they can learn how government works Repiblican operative major in business and marketing so they can get elected.

[karynnj]

6. Silly generalization

In 1972 a large portion of people volunteering for McGovern in the town I lived in worked at a near by Bell Labs location. Needless to say, we were pretty good at math. For the 24 years that I wored there, a very high percent of the technical staff were liberals.

[louis c]

8. Every time a third party swung an election, it was the Dems who lost

1968, 2000, 2016. Each one was a generational change.

Funny how that works

[KelleyKramer]

15. A third party swung the election to bill Clinton in 1992

[louis c]

16. All polls after that election proved that the Perot votes were evenly divided

[LanternWaste]

20. I've read otherwise. You will provide objective evidence to support your premise?

I've read otherwise. You will provide objective, peer-reviewed evidence to support your premise?

[yardwork]

7. There's a lot of right wing infiltration of the left. They sow FUD.

I'm glad that you woke up. A lot of people remain brainwashed. I grew up in a college town in the 1960s and I saw two kinds of infiltration and brainwashing.

One approach came from genuine far-left true believers. Their agenda was to spark a revolution that would overthrow the U.S. government and replace it with a socialist paradise. Still waiting. Things worse than ever. Their strategy isn't working.

The second approach came from right wing infiltration, the goal being to divide Democrats and ensure Republican power. Their strategy is working well.

[louis c]

9. we still would win if we always stuck together in the final election

[yardwork]

11. FUD: Fear, uncertainty, doubt.

Examples from the 2016 general election:

1. The Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans. Vote for Jill Stein.

2. Hillary is just as corrupt as Trump, plus she's a b***. Might as well vote for Trump. At least he's pro-union (obviously, this was a blatant lie. Doesn't matter. Ends achieved.)

[louis c]

12. Well, come on. We all have our transgrations of youth.

I didn't "wake up", I grew up.

After all, none of us are without a learning curve between 16 years old and 65.

[yardwork]

13. Of course! My comments weren't directed at you personally.

I'm sorry if it came out that way. I think this is a great thread that has created good conversation.

[louis c]

14. I was trying to relate my experience in 1968

to the many young people who, for very good reasons, supported Bernie Sanders, but couldn't quite bring themselves in the General Election to vote for Hilary.

In 2008, I was a huge Hillary booster in the primaries. The day she withdrew, I put a Barack bumper sticker on my car, wrote a check and volunteered in New Hampshire. I would have done the exact same thing for Bernie if he won the Primary in 2016.

I had learned the hard way about binary choices in general elections. I was trying to share my experience of youth with those who also need to learn that lesson, so that we don't end up divided over and over again to our own detriment.

[maxrandb]

10. Retrumplicans are great at racism

and dehumanization too

[Demsrule86]

17. This is why the GOP has made progress (if you want to call it that) and we have not.

And this year is worse than the other times;we will lose more. This was a must win election and defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory...This is why I have no respect for 'our revolution', 'greens' or any of those groups who attack Democrats instead of the GOP...we have to accept the fact, they are against us and learn to win without them. In 10, I saw Obama viciously attacked for not getting single payer...Dems bailed on the mid-terms...and not a damn thing was done for the rest of the Obama presidency; we eventually lost a Supreme Court pick as a result.. the GOP was handed the House in 10 and later the Senate. Until we figure out that Greens and all the more recent groups that were formed by BOB'ers undermine Democrats and enable the right, we will lose and not just elections but progressive policy dating back to Roosevelt. They are toxic to the progressive movement and are successful only at spoiling elections...they never win elections. The Republicans will continue to make gain even though I believe much of the country agrees with us until those who are insistent on 'reforming' the Democratic Party while ignoring the truly rotten GOP stench stop knee capping the Democratic Party. There will never be a viable third party...only a conservative country if such folks keep it up...every year they help the GOP move us more and more to the right while shouting their purity platform at the rest of us...purity won't win elections:quite the opposite.

[LessAspin]

19. Clean for Gene

Last edited Tue Jun 20, 2017, 12:01 PM - Edit history (1)

It's a great question. Whatever misgivings one may or may not have about a given candidate I can't see not voting for Democrats in any election.

The alternative obviously is tacitly endorsing the Republican candidate. Which brings me back to that 1968 election.

After that 1968 election the next we hear from Hubert H Humphrey in a Presidential Election is in 1972 to congratulate Richard Nixon. Which would be fine but Humphrey sounds genuinely pleased that Nixon defeated McGovern.

Fast forward to 1980 and we get Eugene McCarthy dumping all over Jimmy Carter and eventually endorsing Ronald Reagan. I just don't get how someone, especially a former candidate for the top spot in a political party, can turn like that.

Link to tweet

[LessAspin]

21. Peter Paul & Mary

Link to tweet

[alarimer]

22. Republicans only win by cheating.

Gerrymandering, voter suppression, lying in ads, dark money are the only way they win. They do not fundamentally believe in democracy. They are not legitimate in any way. They hold the media, too, and have manage to sway millions of complete fucking idiots that they are brilliant.