General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We need a new Democratic Party, that much is clear [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)those folks who used to work in factories or teach in schools, those young folks starting families while repaying student debt, elderly people who rely on Social Security and all the others who aren't millionaires (I call us the working class; some might say middle class) out to vote.
That is an enormous failure.
The problem therefore is that the Third Way, Blue Dog Democrats cannot bring out the core Democratic Party voters in mid-term elections.
Happened in 2010. Happened now in 2014.
We who want a Party that represents the people working minimum wage, struggling to teach in our underfunded schools, trying to educate their children on limited budgets, working two jobs because neither job is full-time, trying to pay their bills, struggling to keep house and home and family together, exhausted every night but facing a full day's worth of housework, laundry, paying bills after they get the kids to bed, etc.
Is that too much to ask?
Because if it is then those we are asking are in the wrong business. We want a Party that really works for ordinary people, for those of us on Social Security and Medicare as well as for those who drive trucks, mop floors, answer phones, etc.
The results of this election prove that Third Way candidates cannot bring out the voters I am describing. They can't do it because they don't represent the interests of those voters.
What we are advocating is extending the Democratic tent to include all these excluded people.
And one of the major things we need to do is to challenge current working conditions not just minimum wage but fairness for working people in the workplace and in life.