General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Are you all as stunned as I am about how the States are falling? [View all]calimary
(81,085 posts)Glad you're here. Not sure about those state legislatures not being re-elected, though. I WISH that were true but I'm not so confident. They seem to be metastasizing like a cancer, and OUR side keeps getting caught flat-footed - only seeming to wake up after the damage has been done and it's set in stone.
I think our Dems have been asleep at the switch, seemingly UNABLE to think broadly or strategically on a nationwide basis. Oh, when they wake up and hunker down, they get things done. But it feels as though they just haven't been paying attention on the state level, and look what a disaster we've got on our hands now!!!
It's so discouraging!!!
Does NO ONE in the DNC pay attention to these things? Does NO ONE in the DNC look beyond the fucking Beltway to see what's happening outside? I remember when Howard Dean was chair - We The People practically had to force him down the DNC's throat in 2005. They had some milquetoasts in mind and organized these "listening events" in various cities around the country, including Los Angeles. They were pushing Tim Roemer and a few other NON-impressives. Hundreds of us packed into Patriotic Hall downtown and there were too many of us for everyone to get their two minutes to speak to the board members on the dais. There were probably a half-a-dozen votes for one of their preferred candidates out of those hundreds of people voting. The vast, vast, vast majority of us demanded Howard Dean. That happened in city after city, and the DNC finally was forced to cave. Howard Dean came in with his "50 State Strategy" and cleaned the GOP's clocks in 2006 AND in 2008. Then he stepped down and Business-As-Usual took over again, and we all know what happened in 2010.
It makes me so angry! Do NONE of them pay attention to the elections on the "10's"? Every decade, there's a new census and reapportionment, and that's when all these districts from coast-to-coast get gerrymandered if there are republi-CONS in control, in the statehouse and state legislatures. And we are seeing the results of that, while our institutional Dems dozed.
If I had a dime for every woman my age OR otherwise - who has said "I thought this was settled!" or "WHY are we STILL fighting this?" or "forcryingoutloud, this is the TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, this is 2013 for Pete's sakes, WHY are we headed back to the Dark Ages??????" - I would be wealthy enough to outspend the koch brothers.
Glad you're here. We need you! But please DO NOT assume these assholes are all going to get the heave-ho they deserve. Look what happened when our lovely Dems snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Wisconsin a couple of years ago. We were on a fast track to recalling snot walker and sending a VERY powerful message to the teabaggers all across America, and it failed - even after the HUGE and ongoing and successful protests for workers' rights. And of the several republi-CON state senators there, only ONE was successfully removed. Not enough to take back the chamber. Just makes me go - W.T.F.!!!!?!?!?!?!?!???? These people manage to stay put. And they're rigging the elections again and I see NOTHING that tells me we're going to be able to beat that, especially with the Supreme Court NOT on our side.
It's AWFUL!!! WORST I've seen - that I can remember.