2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumI'm all in on Hillary, I will donate for her and phone bank.
My goal now is to make the democratic party more progressive. By working to get more progressives in office.
Progressives have to push for better policies from her.
TwilightZone
(25,342 posts)more amenable to one. The president can't do it alone, as President Obama could attest.
k8conant
(3,030 posts)PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)Cha
(295,926 posts)fundraising to Donate to that cause.. $13 Million of last month's donations.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Maru Kitteh
(28,303 posts)Always a good thing to keep pushing left too.
Thanks for you work, your time, and your treasure.
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)involved.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)more progressive Democrats to down ticket spots, city councils, mayors, school boards, maybe we can reach and hope for a state legislator or 2 - but alas one the last truly progressive Senators died 14 years ago in a small plane crash, leaving Sanders as the seeming loner , but as we're told we've got to 'start' small, who knows maybe in another 20 or 40 years..........
moriah
(8,311 posts)Willing to work across the aisle for important things like campaign finance reform, etc?
I'm hesitant to take even one potential Senator for VP, but I think he would be good at advancing campaign finance reform and building coalitions among Rs and Ds on issues that (should) matter to both parties -- like veterans benefits (including better VA wait times and treatment of PTSD).
I'd love Sherrod Brown, but Ohio's governor could end up Trump's VP and certainly would not appoint a Dem for the recess appointment.
Sadly, the only governor to remain neutral, besides the governor of Hawaii, was Steven Bullock, and while he has a great fighting spirit for campaign finance reform, going after corporations and monopolies, etc.... he's young, inexperienced, has no Senate background, and doesn't help Hillary's need address criminal justice reforms (he was an AG before becoming governor).
VulgarPoet
(2,872 posts)I'll vote downticket, but my home of record will still be Texas when election day rolls around. I could feasibly send my vote anywhere, the electors for my state will yet again vote red.
democrattotheend
(11,605 posts)Maybe not now, but in 10 years I think Texas will be a swing state due to the growing Latino population.
auntpurl
(4,311 posts)The problem with Texas is that there's no culture of voting or general governmental involvement within the Latino population - for very good reasons! If Dems can do a massive GOTV effort in Texas, convincing Latino folks that their lives really could be better on a daily basis with some representation, Texas could turn blue any election cycle now.
If Hillary puts a Latino on the ticket, it will be very interesting to see what happens with states with heavy Latino populations.
If we can get Texas, the Repubs will be out of the executive branch for the foreseeable future.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Women voters- mobilizing them and encouraging them to find nominees. You can have so much more of an impact by working on the local level, but POTUS matters too. It will never turn blue electorally if everyone uses your flawed reasoning.
VulgarPoet
(2,872 posts)I'm stationed in Southeast Virginia, remember? As of right now, the most I'm good for is a singular vote.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)democrattotheend
(11,605 posts)I plan to do what I can to help Hillary and progressive down-ballot candidates.
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)to do nothing but complain.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Aka: Hold their feet to the fire.
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)is that they wrap progressivism around neoliberalism. They sound progressive but their actions are neoliberal.
riversedge
(69,727 posts)wildeyed
(11,240 posts)That is how I do it too. I live in NC. Some of the activist groups I volunteer with got fantastic legislation passed with very conservative Democrats in power. We knew what their levers were, and we could pressure them to get some of the stuff we wanted like same-day voter registration and publically funded judicial campaigns.
The GOPs are in the statehouse now. They are 1000 times worse than the Dems. They don't give a single shit what progressives want. They straight-up hate poor people, LGBT, blacks, and immigrants. They are gutting public schools, making our children's futures less bright. They caused several rural hospitals to close, and people are dying from want of basic healthcare services. They raised taxes on poor and middle class to pay for the tax cuts for the uber-wealthy. We have a new version of poll tax called voter ID. It goes on and on, the shit they are shoving down our throats. I hate them. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Trump is my enemy ergo both Sanders and Clinton are my friends. It is that simple sometimes.
Do you have a particular issue or policy you plan to organize around?
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)Unfortunately Hillary only wants to get rid of superpacs and not all of the money.
wildeyed
(11,240 posts)She is a politician and they want votes, mainly. If they play on your side of the divide and you bring votes, you can pressure them.
It's the Supremes, really, who have stood in the way the most. We (meaning activists) get good legislation that limits money in politics passed and the Supremes overturn it because according to them, money is speech. Scalia is dead and any Dem POTUS will appoint someone who is not going to stand in the way next time a case comes up. The only thing she will do that is really important in campaign finance will be the Supreme Court appointment.
What do you think is the one thing, locally, you could accomplish that would make the biggest difference? Changing the primary system? Recruiting and supporting better local candidates? Publically funded local campaigns? Because once the Supreme Court balance is changed, the door will open for some real change. We should be prepared to walk through that door with some decent ideas and candidates.
tallahasseedem
(6,716 posts)a very reasonable approach among a ton of unreasonable responses.
We will never get anything done if we don't get back the House or Senate.
CorkySt.Clair
(1,507 posts)auntpurl
(4,311 posts)and good for you. I'm a moderate myself, but if the party has the groundswell support to move left, well, I'm certainly not going to abandon it. I'll vote Dem til I die.
If Bernie had won, I would have voted for him.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)and we are looking at specific senate and house races so we we can rid our congress of the conservative do-nothings once and for all