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EffieBlack

EffieBlack's Journal
EffieBlack's Journal
October 27, 2018

Notice how many things Hillary said that she got vilified for at the time turn out to be prescient

And also have become an embedded part of the political lexicon?

1. "Vast right wing conspiracy""
2. "Deplorables"
3. "Putin's Puppet"

She called it right down the line.

October 12, 2018

A Disney heiress breaks it down

This is must viewing for every working person who still votes Republican - please share it with your Republican friends and family.
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1050592648233332736

October 10, 2018

Let's please stop with the "Democrats don't have a national message/aren't doing enough" criticisms

Here's the truth -

1. With the exception of 1994, a national message beyond broad brush strokes is not necessary and, in fact, is counterproductive in midterms. These Senate, Congressional and state races are run and won at a local level and most voters pay little attention to a "national message" when casting their votes. On the other hand, if manipulated effectively, a national message can be distracting and actually damaging to Democrats.

Candidates are properly focusing on their races and the issues that their constituents care about - healthcare, economic fairness and responsibility, human decency, social justice, government accountability, etc. - all of which are consistent with the national Democratic philosophy.

2. The concern about Democrats not bring "passionate" enough is misplaced . Most Democratic voters don't have the time or luxury to be passionate about politics - they're trying to get through each day - going to (or looking for) work, taking care of their children and/or parents, trying to figure out how to survive, etc.

They don't need to be told over and over what a trainwreck Trump is. They know that already and they're exhausted hearing about it. They don't need or have time to get all hepped up at rallies. They just want to know how the men and women running in their districts will make their lives better, or at least keep them from getting harder. They're not going to learn that with more ads or more television interviews by the House and Senate minority leaders. That required old-fashioned voter outreach, in their communities, in their churches, barbershops, community meetings, local candidate forums, on their doorsteps - one or two or ten or twenty voters at a time.

And voters need to be told and shown why their vote matters, that it's worth taking the time to cast their vote and that it will be counted. And that's still not enough. They don't need to hear this from a high-profile out-of-state politician - the most effective messenger is a friend or neighbor. And then, many of them need help in actually voting - getting to the polls, obtaining and turning in an absentee ballot, understanding how to actually fill out their ballot, etc.

And that's hard, determined work. It's not sexy or easy. It can be frustrating and exhausting. It's usually not laugh-out-loud fun - although if you're doing it right, it often is.

It takes passion to do that work. That passion comes from people who are already worked up, know the issues and know we must make a change - people like US on DU who are already blazing red-hot for change.

So stop waiting for the national Democratic God in the Sky to "inspire passion." The voters don't need to be passionate. They just need to be motivated and then helped to vote. That's not the DNC's job. That's YOUR job. The DNC is doing its part to support that work through it's support for state and local party apparati that organize and conduct this activity. But they need people to carry it out.

So, if you haven't already, call your local party, coordinated campaign, or individual candidates' campaigns. Volunteer an hour or more a week to work on vote outreach or other activity. Find a headquarters and go there to phonebank or enter names in databases or make signs or run errands or do whatever else they need.

But please, stop complaining about what "the Democrats" aren't doing. WE'RE the Democrats. It's up to all of us to get it done!

October 9, 2018

Is it just me or does Kavanaugh still sound like an unserious fratboy - totally lacking in gravitas?

Fortunately, Supreme Court justices don't speak in public frequently, so I hope I won't have to listen to that whiny, punkish voice very often.

October 9, 2018

NYTimes OpEd: "White Women, Come Get Your People"

White Women, Come Get Your People
They will defend their privilege to the death.

By Alexis Grenell

After a confirmation process where women all but slit their wrists, letting their stories of sexual trauma run like rivers of blood through the Capitol, the Senate still voted to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. With the exception of Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, all the women in the Republican conference caved, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who held out until the bitter end.

These women are gender traitors, to borrow a term from the dystopian TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale.” They’ve made standing by the patriarchy a full-time job. The women who support them show up at the Capitol wearing “Women for Kavanaugh” T-shirts, but also probably tell their daughters to put on less revealing clothes when they go out.
...
We’re talking about white women. The same 53 percent who put their racial privilege ahead of their second-class gender status in 2016 by voting to uphold a system that values only their whiteness, just as they have for decades. Since 1952, white women have broken for Democratic presidential candidates only twice: in the 1964 and 1996 elections, according to an analysis by Jane Junn, a political scientist at the University of Southern California.

Women of color, and specifically black women, make the margin of difference for Democrats. The voting patterns of white women and white men mirror each other much more closely, and they tend to cast their ballots for Republicans. The gender gap in politics is really a color line. That’s because white women benefit from patriarchy by trading on their whiteness to monopolize resources for mutual gain. In return they’re placed on a pedestal to be “cherished and revered,” as Speaker Paul D. Ryan has said about women, but all the while denied basic rights.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/opinion/lisa-murkowski-susan-collins-kavanaugh.html

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