Trump just claimed he has the authority to take over New York City if they don't vote the way he wants them to. "We ha

[pat_k]

89. It's hard to fathom, but we are still seeing the legacy of "battered democrat syndrome"

When billions poured into building the reactionary noise machine in the 1990's, Democrats were utterly unequipped to respond effectively. Groupthink within the beltway is a powerful force. And what took hold in the beltway in the late 1990's / early 2000's was an existential fear that kept too many of them from taking a stand when it was a moral imperative to do so. Back then, when we lobbied electeds to do what principle demanded**, the "backlash" bogeyman was invoked so often we felt like we were talking to parrots. ("Can't. It would be horrible. Backlash. Backlash. Backlash! " )

The feared phenomenon of "backlash" had absolutely nothing to do with reality. It was fear of being called out and called names on Rush, or on FOX News. The thing is, they were being called names whatever they did. And each time they refused to stand on principle, some of the accusations (like, that they were unprincipled "elites" ) rang a little true. If Bush/Cheney were committing war crimes, like they said, why didn't they impeach the guy? If Alito was as much of a horror as they said, why weren't they filibustering? They had more than 60 votes against. How did "opposing" Alito in a vote on the floor mean a damn thing when you had the power to stop him and refused to do so?

Anyway, over and over, they refused to draw a line in the sand against the advance. And so the advance moved on.

And we are where we are.

Perhaps I’m deluded, but I still believe people-power can reshape our party for the better.

I don't know how accurate my diagnosis is, but I guess the point I'm trying to make is that attributing the shortcomings of the party solely to the "power of money" doesn't capture the whole story. Humans are social creatures. And beltway insider groupthink on so many things just goes unquestioned. And that is why we need citizen lobbyists getting in their faces and injecting reality from "outside." The social pressure of real people meeting with staffers (or members) and looking at them like they are crazy when they give absurd rationalizations for not standing up actually makes a difference.

Anyway, I am thankful that many of our electeds figured out they would be "beaten" whatever they did, so they might as well stand strong for the things they were passionate about. Unfortunately, for some -- and particularly those in the "old guard" -- an irrational risk-aversion instinct is too entrenched. I think the floods of calls are breaking through though. Slowly, more are recognizing that, as the minority party, although they can't wield the power of office in the ways they have throughout their time in office, they do have power. They have voices. They have comms operations. Their constituents are pushing them to get creative and wield the power they do have in ways that are completely unfamiliar. And more of them are stepping up.

I credit those who seem to be getting it. Old dogs, new tricks and all.

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** Like stand and object to the unlawfully appointed Florida electors (Breyer essentially gave them the playbook when he pointed out in his descent that SCOTUS had no place in the controversy and that the only thing Bush v. Gore accomplished was to render the FL election incomplete, and therefore unlawful under Florida law, and that now it was up to congress.) Like impeach Bush and Cheney for war crimes. Like Filibuster Alito. And on and on.