Common Dreams: "Maybe we should sit this election out."

[Savannahmann]

84. The entire article is very interesting.

Imagine it as the verbal version of the Ferguson protests. There the public was tired of being taken advantage of. Tired of unarmed blacks being killed by police. The death of Michael Brown was one too many, and the public erupted in anger and frustration. Their message was no more.

The article you've linked to describes a long litany of broken promises. One of the things I and others have said before is you have to act upon your promises. Imagine you are married. You keep promising to fix a broken door lock on the house. You never actually get around to fixing it though. Your spouse hires a locksmith to fix the lock after weeks and months of delays. You are furious, how dare they do that. They are furious, you never did what you said you would. Who is wrong? Perhaps both, but the one who broke the promise is most wrong wouldn't you agree?

Lie to me once, shame on you. Lie to me five times, what do you expect us to do? Obama and the Democrats who supported and encouraged him have little credibility among Latino voters. Obama may have done more to suppress the Latino vote through broken promises than any hostile action taken by the Republicans.

Now you're angry that the community is upset, and unwilling to march to the polls and vote just because you've put out another series of ads saying Si Si Puede.

Governing is a job. You are asking the voters to hire you for the job. You are asking them to support you. In order to get that support, you must serve them. If you promise to vote for any gun control legislation, and then you vote against it, that is a broken promise. Enough broken promises, and you lose that support.

If anything, this is an indictment against the Democrats who have long taken many groups for granted. In St. Louis, a group of Black democrats endorsed the Republican. Who's fault is that? Is it the black community for failing to support the Democratic party? Or is it the Democratic party taking the black community for granted?

I've said before, and I'll say it again. We can not take a single group for granted. We must earn those votes. We must govern by principle. We must live up to our promises, and we have to let every single voter know we care about them, and are working hard to serve them.

I argue this is not progressives asking people to sit out the election. This is a revolt by those who have been lied to and ignored. This is the political equivalent of a street protest. They are saying no more lies, no more abuse, no more excuses. President Obama could live up to his most recent promise tomorrow. But he won't. Because the Democrats are hoping to get the racist vote as well as promising the minority groups that they'll be protected from the racists.

Imagine that the Civil war has ended. Now, we can free the slaves. Yet we tell the Slaves that this is going to take a while, be patient. How would the public respond? How would the slaves respond? There would be outrage. The northern states would wonder what they had fought for. The southern states would wonder why the war happened in the first place.

Read the article again. It's a decade long recitation of broken promises. The community feels abused, even betrayed. Tell them how much worse it would be if Republicans were in charge. For them, the situation would be exactly as it is now. For them, there would be no gain for electing anyone. The Republicans don't like them, and the leader of the Democratic party has lied to them for ten years running.

Back to the marriage analogy. Let's say that you catch your spouse cheating on you. This isn't the first time they've had an affair. This isn't the second time, nor the third. This time it will be different they promise, this time I'm going to be totally faithful to you. Would you believe them? For ten years, they've never followed through with that promise, and if you choose to stay, it's secure in the knowledge that they will cheat again. Do you roll your eyes and say whatever, just make sure you use protection and don't bring a disease home. Do you go get a lawyer and end the marriage? How many times before you stand up and say no more?

This isn't a wide spread movement yet. This is two small microcosms that show how dangerous the business of politics is. It is a shot across the bow, warning Democrats that they had better pay more attention to their voters, than they have been. It's a shot across the bow because Illinois will go for Durbin, without a doubt. Missouri doesn't have a Senate seat in play this year, so the anger expressed in St. Louis will be local, and won't really affect much and probably won't affect the race for City Executive.

As has been said many times, give them something to vote for. For ten years the hispanic community has supported Obama, and for ten years they have gotten nothing but more promises during each election season. This time I swear it will be different. This time I swear we'll get it done. This article isn't proving your point, it's an indictment against the Democratic Party and especially President Obama for broken promises. It's a spouse shouting that they are tired of being cheated on.