General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A shout out to "social issues" [View all]stillwaiting
(3,795 posts)cost TPTB a red cent. It's horrible, and yes, we MUST fight back.
And, YES women's rights are SUPER important. I would never support a candidate that wasn't strong on women's rights (including reproductive rights).
It's funny though: Candidates that are more aligned with traditional "FDR Democratic" style economic positions are GREAT on women's rights and reproductive issues. Is there one politician out there that espouses "FDR Dem" values that is NOT good on women's issues (or other social issues for that matter). Alternatively, the Democratic politicians that we have the most trouble with on social issues are the conservative/DLC/3rd Way Democrats. They often tend to be bad on both economic AND social issues.
What many of us believe (and I have no idea how this is not clear to so many) is that we must begin fighting for both SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC justice at the same time. We have to begin doing that eventually or we're just fucked. Lots of us believe that, and we're not trying to destroy the Democratic Party. We're trying to return the Democratic Party to the Party that brought us the New Deal. Too many elected Democrats today would "strengthen" social safety nets by cutting them, and that will result in grief and despair for many. This is very important!
So maybe one day enough of us will begin to see candidates that value social AND economic liberalism as the only acceptable alternative. Since we're not there yet, we (the 99%) will probably continue to lose a lot of economic ground over the next decade. The income and wealth inequality in this nation will continue to grow, and more and more Americans will enter deeper and deeper levels of debt.
One day I hope that trend will begin to reverse. And there's only one way to do that. Go Left on economic issues. No Third Way sponsored candidates.