2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: We done fucked up. [View all]Blaukraut
(5,693 posts)I'm not a minority, I'm a woman of an age where I don't need to be concerned about my reproductive rights anymore. We are in an earnings bracket and the type of profession where a Republican president and/or Legislature might even be advantageous. I can list many more examples where I am not going to benefit directly from my vote.
But both my husband (middle aged white) an I can think beyond our own little world and realize which choice is the correct one for the greater good. So we vote. In every damn election, no matter what we get out of it personally.
As to progressive candidates: You listed Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Both of them come from arguably two of the most progressive states. Even my own state of Massachusetts has elected Charlie Baker, a Republican, for governor. Had the Millennials turned out, we might have instead been celebrating Martha Coakley. But no, she wasn't interesting enough, progressive enough, she - OMG - was a loosah! So here we are.
You are only going to have the choice of a progressive candidate in a state whose voter makeup will allow for one to actually have a chance at winning.
Kay Hagan in North Carolina is a perfect example. She was not a progressive, but she was just about the best you could hope for in a purple state. Yet she lost. Because those who complain the most couldn't be bothered to make sure that North Carolina sends a message: We are turning blue.
Until Democrats can be certain that they will not be abandoned in midterms, as it always happens, they cannot run their most progressive candidates in anywhere other than true progressive states. They will always have to cater to the perennial older, more conservative voter, who ALWAYS shows up at the polls, and run candidates that can triangulate.
Once the younger generation can wrap their heads around the fact that a President is not a King, and can't act in a vacuum, that he needs a supporting cast that gets elected from the bottom up every two years, things will stay the same.