It would be nice if the far left, for once, did some introspection.

[bekkilyn]

266. Okay, but then you need to give them reasons to be allies

You need to hear what their concerns are. For example, money in politics, because that's where a lot of the "both sides are the same" are coming from. Then rather than immediately scoff and get defensive, i.e. "No, we don't do that." or go the other direction with excuses like, "We need to take dirty money or we won't win," and instead find out if there is any common ground on that issue and go from there. We need to be both honest with them and with ourselves rather than just getting defensive or trying to pull the GOP into it. (We already *know* they're terrible.)

Note, I have no idea if "money in politics" is an issue with Greens because I really don't pay that party much mind, so it's just an example that is a huge dealbreaker issue for a lot of progressives in general.

I agree with you very much about working with outsiders. (After all, the Democratic party is only about 25% of the voting population. 25% Republican. And 40% Independent/Unaffiliated.) There are a great number of left-leaning Independents that do not associate with political parties that may prove to be easier allies than Greens. Many on TYT fit this description as well as many people here on this site. I don't think most people who voted Green in the 2016 election are actually Green even though they may have voted Green this one time. I'm not familiar with the other media groups you mentioned other than TYT so I can't speak for them specifically.

Yes, you could argue that they should be giving us reasons, but then it has the appearance of the majority group being the bully. I think this is where the Democratic party has failed in general. We have tried to bully people into supporting the party and our candidates and then dismissing them when they say no. Instead, we need to find out what issues are important to them and decide whether or not its enough common ground to work with.

However, if the Greens are so "far left" that their main motivation is anarchy or something so completely foreign to our goals, then there would be too much compromise to ally with them in the same way it is too much compromise to ally with the tea party on most issues. We can't be everything to everyone. We need to decide our issues and policies and then unapologetically and vocally support them in both word and deed, and then let the cards fall where they may.

And yes, we will lose some people, but could gain even more than we lose. A lot of people right now are just frustrated and are really hungry for candidates who will truly be on their side. If the Democratic party can back these types of candidates and gain people's trust, then it could even sway a few "moderate" Greens by default without force or bullying.

It's really going to be up to the majority party to lead by example on this, and also to remember that the real enemy is the GOP establishment and the wealthy 1% that controls everything on the backs of the rest of us, including a lot of duped Republicans.