Dems voting to roll back Dodd-Frank shows how centrists tie Democrats hands in MAJORITY

[JCanete]

141. That may be a politician's most important job, but it isn't the only way one can be influential.

Those who don't get elected can still shape the views of the nation. They can still bring issues to the forefront that the mainstream candidates adopt because public sentiment has slowly, or sometimes quickly, turned.

that said, yeah, out of office you can't write or vote on legislation, and those are certainly the most direct ways to influence policy. Also, damn straight, losing control can be a huge set-back, especially if the party which as taken control has no moral compass and has a voter base that is fine with it.

As to whether or not we are going to agree with a candidate 100% of the time, well of course we aren't. It would be nice if we could be confident that the candidate held the views he or she did on principle though, and not because money is a factor. You have to admit that some of the positions politicians like Manchin hold have nothing to do with what their voters want in their districts. They aren't running to the center because of their voters, they are running to the center or even to the right because corporations who see these politicians resist their influence are likely to go scorched earth on them.

Seriously though, would you vet a pilot that way? "8 times out of 10 he'll land the plane." It isn't that we are going to agree with everything a politician does, its that some things are just that egregious. They have long term or permanent consequences and we as a nation continue to get terminally sicker.

What I was trying to say in my other post(admittedly poorly) is that your certainty that politicians who have more progressive platforms than the ones we put forward would be doomed to lose, is far from actually assured. You are presenting a foregone conclusion to justify your position that we can't have nice things. I strongly disagree that the reason we have the Manchin's of the world is because of the voters own ideals. Its because of the fucking money. If we as a party decided no more of that shit(but we won't), I fully accept that it very well may turn into a blood bath for Democrats, because the rich industries and individuals would certainly make that their Stalingrad...but if we survived, we would clean the republican's clocks indefinitely.

But if we don't do something drastic like this, I assure you, it is all a matter of time before we yearn for the good ole "sane days" of Trump, because Trump himself is not an aberration. He is the current culmination of a natural regression that has been trending for 30, 40 years now, admittedly with some glimmers of hope scattered in here and there.