Why we can't have nice things

[crazycatlady]

I've been reading this a lot here in the last week. AS a political staffer, I want to share a few things with you.

1) It sounds wonderful when you say you'll give directly to candidates instead of the DNC (DSCC/DCCC, etc). Here's the difference. One is a short-term entity and the other is a long-term entity. Your donation to a candidate will help them go on TV or send out a mailer. Your donation to the DNC pays for the long-term infrastructure of the 50 state parties. They provide training to staffers and candidates (and volunteers), pay utility bills and rent to keep HQ opened, maintain the voter file (so a volunteer's call and walk lists are more accurate), provide rapid response to news, and other behind the scenes stuff. Is it sexy? No. But it is necessary.

2) If you think the DNC is writing off certain races, check my inbox. I've received more than a dozen job postings from progressive groups getting organizers on the ground in bright red Alabama. Many 2018 races are starting to staff up.

3) Progressive groups that make the perfect the enemy of the good are the problem not the solution. I have been active with my local DFA chapter in the past. They were a group that I admired and did work for. I'm very disappointed that they're pulling out of a crucial race less than a week out. The time to fight these battles is in the primaries and ONLY in the primaries.

4) ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL. As Frank Underwood said in the first season of House of Cards, vote your district. If Joe Manchin votes more conservatively than Kamala Harris, you need to look at their respective electorates. If Cory Booker is voting in favor of Big Pharma, keep in mind that many of the drug companies are based in his state. Before we rush to judge a politician's vote, keep in mind his or her district/state.

5) We need to focus on building our bench. This means that we need to run candidates in every race from dog catcher to POTUS. Many school board and city council (while technically nonpartisan) have Republican candidates running unopposed. This needs to stop. Step up and run for office (this is happening this year--- 250 women showed up at an Emily's List training about running for office last week in NY).

6) 2018 is shaping up to be a pretty big year but I don't want to speak too soon. We're ahead of candidate recruitment for congressional races than we were last cycle, but I worry that these large primary fields are ignoring downticket races. There's an 8 way primary for a seat in upstate NY. I wish some of those candidates would focus on running for state, county, and local offices to build our bench.

7) Turn your frustration into action. Register new voters in your district, knock on doors, help local candidates run for office, make phone calls, write postcards. There's many ways to get involved.

[SunSeeker]

1. Exactly. The DNC provides indispensable infrastructure for our candidates.

To say you won't contribute to the DNC is like saying you won't contribute to the Democratic Party.

[Demsrule86]

17. Yes it is and you hear it all the time.

[Raven123]

23. Yes, and it begs the question why?

I don't think this answer is as simple as divisions between those who want ideological purity. The Democratic Party has failed to make its case to many voters. Messaging is critical and the Dems have not done well.

For example, the GOP has its "job creators, death tax, Death Panels." Simple and effective to make their point.

I heard someone, whose name I cannot recall, state we should call employees "wealth creators." These are the obvious, simple messages that can reach Democrats and some indecideds.

[keithbvadu2]

2. But we must practice political/ideological purity. It has to be just right or it's all wrong.

But we must practice political/ideological purity. It has to be just right or it's all wrong.

(sarcasm thingie goes here)

[FSogol]

3. Great post, k&r. N/t

[tblue37]

4. K&R and thanks for this important post! nt

[bluestarone]

5. this is so true

we gotta for sure look at the big picture We control NOTHING if we just win a few local events

[lunatica]

6. Thanks for this post!

Copy it so you can paste it again every so often to remind us of what's important when we start fighting about purity.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

7. Crazycatlady, thank you!

That was a great review. Although I've been a voting Democrat for over 50 years, my travels in my work before retirement kept me away from the fine workings of our Party. I have a lot of catching up to do and DU is one the places that helps!

Please post more like this anytime you feel inspired.

[TygrBright]

8. It's rare that I wish I could recommend a post multiple times. This is such a post.

Thank you, crazycatlady.

Keep the reality checks coming.

In 1968 the younger me was certain that if we could have gotten Eugene McCarthy nominated all the Party's problems would have been solved, we would have won in a landslide, he would have had us out of Vietnam by February, and the GOP would be out of power for the next twenty years.

Of course, I was in my teens then. I knew everything. And reality was what I thought, believed, and wanted.

(Mind you, I still think we'd have done better in that election had McCarthy been the candidate... but had Nixon tanked, I now believe we'd have done better in government with Humphrey.)

Human beings aren't perfectly good or perfectly evil, and politicians have even more complex and morally ambiguous choices to make than most of us. If we eliminate all the experienced people based on that "bad" vote or policy choice they made five years ago, we'll hamstring our ability to build reach and connection in so many places that are not like the perfect world we want to bring about.

And we'll never get the chance to bring it about.

Every one has to decide for themselves where the 'neutral zone' is, how broad it is, and what they'll do when someone with a "D" after their name is out of that zone and on the other side.

But none of us can decide for someone else.

wearily,
Bright

[SharonAnn]

9. My recommmendation: automatic monthly donations to DNC and state parties. Year round.

Then, if you want to support a specific candidate, choose automatic or individual contributions.

National and state parties are building the highways, individual candidates are building and driving the cars.

[Wounded Bear]

10. K & R...for visibility...

We must all work together or we will all lose together.

-to paraphrase one of our Founding Fathers

[JHan]

11. great post K&R

[JDC]

12. This is a great post

[DK504]

13. When a Senator votes for Big Pharma or the Petroleum

industries they do so for their personal power. It is just as important for Senators to vote for the good of the country. These are the guys that keep the wolves from our door. Taxes, healthcare, independent counsel, etc. are for the good of the entire nation.

These senators don't have the luxury to vote as if they are state representatives or even Reps. in the House. They are the ones to keep the EPA, the Supreme Court, OSHA, Dept of Education, funding for CHIP alive and well. Senators are the entire US, Reps have a better chance claiming the good of their districts. Those lines have blurred with the like of Paul Ryan, Steve Scalise, Dana Robacher, etc. They have been about taking voting right, healthcare, public safety (CDC), yearly budgets, the Reps of the House have made a concentrated effort to harm the working class of America.

I haven't seen the Congress do the right thing in decades.

[GulfCoast66]

18. You sleep thru the Creation of the ACA? nt

[shanny]

24. Without cost controls, a public option or any kind of path to universal health CARE.

um, yeah.

[luvtheGWN]

15. All too often, folks tend to forget

that politics is usually defined as the art of compromise. As ccl says, it's dangerous (in both the short and long terms) to let the quest for perfection blind us to what is ultimately achievable (or good).

Consider how we all feel about the far-right, the rabid evangelicals, the quiver full movement, the Dominionists. We call them extreme, don't we? And we call them cults.

Now apply that description to those progressives who denounce various congress critters who vote against just one of many Democratic policies. Or those who firmly reject any compromise. They don't understand politics, they certainly don't understanding the art of governing, and IMHO, they are no better than the reichwing.

I remember listening to an interview programme on NPR a couple of weeks before the US election. Three were interviewed, all in their 20's. Two were voting for Jill Stein, the other for Hillary. The Stein voters both claimed that Hillary was too conservative.

Well, look where that got them.....

[LittleGirl]

16. great post

thanks for sharing!

[lunamagica]

19. K&R.Thank you!

[Madam45for2923]

20. Yep! You are probably talking about my district NY-19 where Zephyr and Yandik ran last time.

We have lots of candidates.

[Heartstrings]

21. Great post! Nt

[Awsi Dooger]

22. Big win for a liberal today

Stormy Liberal won the Breeders Cup Turf Sprint at 30/1 odds.

I'll take anything positive

[Mr.Bill]

25. Our county Board of Supervisors

has five members. Although technically a non-partisan position, it's not hard to tell their political affiliation by their actions. Ten years ago they were all republicans. Now three of them are Democrats. We also elected our first Native American to the board last November.

[pnwmom]

26. Thank you for your informed perspective and your hard work!

[betsuni]

27. Thank you!

[hay rick]

28. Point by point from someone who feels your pain.

First off let me say I am saddened but not surprised by the media's enthusiastic embrace of Donna Brazile's critique of the DNC. They will always err on the side that keeps their oligarchy-friendly advertisers happy. The same sentiments extend to the "progressives" who cherish any story that confirms their belief in a Democratic Party conspiracy against their values. Their howls of anguish are a righteous substitute for actually joining the better of two viable parties and improving it with their efforts. We live in an age that would make P. T. Barnum proud.

1) I am a 72-year-old retiree and volunteer with my county Democratic Party in Florida. Everyone involved with the local party is a volunteer. We maintain an office and stage multiple fundraisers every year just to keep the lights on. Our primary job is "getting out the vote." I have several functions in the party including VAN administrator. I put in 20-30 hours a week now and that number will increase after the New Year and again as we approach elections. People who contribute 0 hours a week offer all kinds of advice on what "the Democratic Party" should be doing. I take it personally because obviously they think I am the Democratic Party. I listen politely but their words come in one ear and exit through the other while I am thinking "The Democratic Party is not what I make it, it's what we make it. If you want to see the the problem, look in the mirror."

Enough with the venting already. Like the DNC, our local party is always fundraising. It's not fun but it's necessary. The local party supports all candidates, provides continuity between elections and basic infrastructure (the VAN, a meeting place, a source of information and volunteers). It's not all sweat and suffering, however- the incidental benefit is that you meet and get to hang out with some really good and interesting people.

3) Progressive groups AND Hillary partisans who regurgitate Bernie-blaming are part of the problem, not the solution. I miss DU's discontinued unrec feature. At the present time, the rehash of the DNC's problems is a convenient distraction from the rush to pass "tax reform" which will eventually impoverish tens of millions of Americans.

4) Ronald Reagan: " The person who agrees with you 80% of the time is your friend and ally- not a 20% traitor." If we don't support Hillary Clinton we get Donald Trump. If you voted for Jill Stein or undervoted you are complicit.

7) "Turn your frustration into action." In my area we have well-organized Indivisible groups. At this point their activism is mostly defensive- calling their MOC, showing up at town halls, writing letters to the editor and waving signs at rallies. They have meetings, but they are like a book club/pity party- they drink wine and compare notes on last night's Rachel Maddow show. They need to take the next step and talk directly to voters, not each other. Our local party is ready to help.

[murielm99]

29. Thanks for this post.

I am seeing lots of indivisible type groups in my area. Some of them have individuals who are joining the local parties and learning the ropes. Unfortunately, many of them do not understand that fundraising is important.

Your point number seven is important. I had not thought of it as defensive activism. That is exactly what it is. I think most of them will become discouraged as soon as everything is not fixed as if by magic. I give most of those groups 2-5 years before they cease to exist.

I am happy that there are some new activists. I am happy that a few of them will stay around. There will be some net gains. But this is work, hard work. Everybody does not get to go home once we have won a few elections.

[jodymarie aimee]

30. Bravo

but drop the dogcatcher line....oldy goldy and not true...we don't elect them where I live.

[BlueWI]

31. Best post ever!!

Timely and spot on. Thanks!

[crazycatlady]

32. Just kicking my own thread

See what happens when there's a Democratic infrastructure in place and ready to go? There was support from the DNC (Tom Perez knocked doors in my county-- result was a state senate flip), DLCC (how many leg seats flipped tonight?), DGA (2/2), and many more organizations as well as all of the candidates.


This is why your inbox is flooded.