General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Jill Stein's latest victory lap demonstrates she was in favor of Trump the entire time. [View all]PatrickforO
(14,516 posts)my state. He left the Greens because he came to see how futile supporting them actually is.
Now, I'm not saying that some of the Green positions aren't very attractive to me. I am an economist, and social Democrat in the Bernie sense (for hair splitters, this means that I see a wide swath of things out there like good roads, strong infrastructure, clean water, clean air, prisons, police, firefighters, K-12, postsecondary colleges and universities, health care and Social Security as being within the realm of 'public good,' which can be defined as those things the private sector cannot or will not do for the good of all of us. These things need to be funded using public monies). In addition, I am a big respecter of reasonable regulations that keep us safe. For instance, in my state, a young couple bought their dream home and settled in, only to have the home explode because of a methane pocket caused by gas leakage from an uncapped underground pipe.
The next day, the Dems in our state legislature wrote a bill that would have required big oil companies to map these underground pipes. Republicans, citing 'job killin' reglashuns,' promptly killed it.
So, when I addressed a group of young Dems aspiring to public office, I told them they had to learn to talk about kitchen table issues in a compelling way, because our party has sucked at that since FDR's Fireside Chats went by the wayside. And please don't tell me our candidates have these good positions - on their websites - because we all know how effective THAT has been. What this means, I said, is to tell it like it is. Anytime a Republican brings up 'job killin' reglashuns,' respond by saying that these are lifesaving guidelines that actually create jobs, and enhance the quality of life for us all.
Another national example is Sen. Warren is now calling for 'single payer.' WTF??? Don't the Dems read national polls? Poll after poll after poll says Americans WANT 'Medicare for all Americans' because they understand Medicare and aren't afraid of it. 'Single payer' doesn't poll nearly as high. We have to learn to talk about kitchen table issues in appealing ways Americans understand.
The Greens are irrelevant, and if you're socialism is SO pure that the Dems aren't good enough, you're shooting yourself in the foot because Greens and Socialists really aren't electable.
So the Dems have to quit being wuuses and fight back harder. Don't just put it on the website and then say it was there all along. That doesn't win elections. Coin some good terms. Have some fun with rhetoric. Words really DO matter. So, hey, let's reinstate all those life saving guidelines Trump killed when he gutted the EPA.