If the Democratic Party went Populist would Centrists Flee?

[GaryCnf]

119. We actually agree there, too.

I believe, however, that the number of such cretins is far less than what some believe.

At the risk of revealing more personal information that I would prefer, I am not a "political person."

I am an attorney who practices primarily in the area of capital defense/habeas corpus. Through this, I see a different set of black people than are seen even by most other people of color. I am not talking just about the black population on death row. I am talking about their families. I am talking about the families around them, the families of the kids they grew up with, the families who every day are getting beat down and shot and left behind in ways it is hard for most people to imagine.

What I do, however, also exposes me to white death row inmates, to their families, and to their friends. Their lives are remarkably similar. They are getting beat down at every turn, they are brutalized by cops, they are nothing but fodder for a system which gives no more of a shit about them than it does my black clients or the people around them.

DU is, and this is not meant as criticism, a haven for people who have lives where they actually get to stop and think about long-term political consequences, to sit at computers and click links to platforms, and to read transcripts of speeches. The people I see every day don't. They don't have the luxury of sitting down and considering the consequences of not voting. At best, they think about whether X or Y has offered something that will help them get by, to keep their kid from being killed, or even just keep their kid from constantly being hassled by the cops, or just to put more food on the table. They're just looking for someone to walk over to them, look them in the eye and say "Yea, I give a fuck about you."

Those are the people I am trying to defend here and there are 100 times more of them than elitist assholes who say, "I'm sorry, I am just too good and pure to vote for Hillary." Yes, I do get pissed when those families whose lives are being crushed (and whose children and children's friends live in prisons and on death rows) get blamed for not being as informed or as discerning as the folks we get to talk with every day here on DU. I get pissed when they get lumped in with people who have good lives and good jobs and voted for that fucking monstrosity out of pure selfishness. I do get pissed when they are attacked for not knowing what we all know and getting their asses out to vote. And I guess if I were honest, I'd have to admit that I am more than over those people who have the luxury of being politically well-informed acting like they "know something" about me as a black man or the people, both black and white, that I see every day (not talking about you ).

As for that "ride across the river," there too we agree, heck, if it were me I would open the floodgates and let them be swept away as they stand on the shore pontificating.

Take care. God Bless.