I wish that, in the USA, we had just four primary voting days, and the first one started on February 1, and the four primaries were all over by the end of May. And then I wish the Presidential campaign between the parties went from just June 1 to election day in November. Wouldn't that be nice?
But that's not how it is, and with more than 300 days until the November 2020 election, without even one primary happening yet, the race for the Presidency is already well underway, some of candidates I really liked have dropped out, and if you don't express your opinion NOW, if you don't donate to your candidate(s) NOW, that candidate, or those candidates, may not even be around for the first primary.
I want to make it clear that I am very likely going to vote for whomever the Democrats nominate. I hate to say that, because I know it empowers center-right candidates. But without ranked voting - something we should have in both primaries and the Presidential election - we are very likely going to end up with a candidate I feel tepid about. Yes, I want my precious, powerful vote to go for someone I believe will not just be able to be competent - I want to vote for someone who will be a GREAT President, who will be the President I think our country so desperately needs now.
But almost any of the candidates will be better than the horror show currently in the White House, and I don't have the privilege to not vote at all. I am still furious with every person who voted for President Obama and then didn't vote at all in 2016 - YOU are why this current Presidency has happened, more than anything else, more than votes for third party candidates, more than write-ins. And I will be furious at any person who does not vote at all in 2020.
For all my complaints about Hillary Clinton - her coziness with Goldman Sachs, her many fundraising events only for huge donors and closed to all media, her oh-so-late support for things like marriage equality, her praise of Nancy Reagan's AIDS work (I still can't believe she did that), and on and on - I voted for her. And she deserves an extraordinary amount of praise for winning the majority votes of the American people, and if we were a real democracy, she would President now, per getting a majority of votes - and it would be well-earned. I do not regret any of my criticisms, but I do regret not being clear that I was voting for her and that I felt, absolutely, she was probably the most qualified candidate to ever run for office.
(And my jaw drops every time one of my friends that was SO passionate about Hillary Clinton and so angry at my criticisms are now using some of those same criticisms against various Presidential candidates they don't like.)
Okay, with all that said, who am I supporting in the 2020 Democratic Primary? Elizabeth Warren.
I listened to all of the candidates - and I will continue to - and I read and read and read - and will continue to do so. She wasn't a lock from the get-go - I was staunchly, firmly undecided for most of the summer, and even when I started to lean, I had a top three, not just one. But the more I read, the more clear it has become: Elizabeth Warren has the best combination of experience and ideas and heart. Yes, heart - we need heart. We absolutely will be a better country with Elizabeth Warren as President. She is the capable, knowledgeable, visionary, experienced, compassionate leader the USA needs right now. And she's even changed my mind on a lot of things - like the US involvement in Afghanistan. The bombshell Washington Post article yesterday pretty much-confirmed everything she's said all along. I also believe she will evolve - I believe she listens, and facts sway her. We need someone in the office who will listen and who will be willing to say, "I made a mistake - and here's how I'm going to address that."
What about the other candidates? Here they are, in order of my preference:
If he's nominated, I will vote for Julián Castro. I think his track record, including as former U.S. secretary of housing and urban development and as mayor of a big USA city, San Antonio, plus his policy positions, make him an outstanding candidate. He would be my number one candidate were it not for Elizabeth Warren. I think he brings that perfect balance of understanding a range of American experiences and understanding foreign policy. I not only think he's well-qualified and has the right policies - I also would love to see a person of Latino heritage in the top office of our nation.
If she's nominated, I will vote for Amy Klobuchar. I wish she was more to the left, I disagree with her on a lot of policies, but she's capable, she's knowledgable, she's highly-experienced, and I think that, ultimately, we're on the same side. She would make me both proud and comfortable as President - even when I disagreed with her. And I fully admit it: I want a woman President, and that gives her an edge over others.
If he's nominated, I will vote for Cory Booker. I find his approach to public schools utterly distasteful and I worry that, like others, he'll cater more to people on the center-right than people like me. But I also think he might really surprise me as President - in a good way. I would be proud to see him representing the USA, domestically and abroad. He's qualified for the office and I think he would work hard to repair the damage the current President has done, both domestically and abroad. He would make me both proud and comfortable as President - even when I disagreed with him.
If he's nominated, I will vote for Joe Biden. I prefer most of the other candidates to him. Like Hillary Clinton, he's WAY too cozy with billionaires and won't do anything regarding pushing for drastically-increased taxation against billionaires. He does not at all comprehend at how much people in this country are struggling to get health care access - he just wants to cater to people who want to "keep" their doctors and offers no real solutions for others. I feel that his mindset about how to behave with women is out-of-step with modern times (but he hasn't bragged about sexual assault, the way the current President has, nor has he paid any porn stars, so, that's a plus). But, yeah, I'll vote for him - he's perfectly qualified, his support and guidance for President Obama was sincere and valuable, and his qualifications are almost overwhelming.
If he's nominated, I will vote for Bernie Sanders. I know it's a shock that he's not higher, given how I preferred him over Hillary Clinton in 2014. I stand by that 2016 support and believe people like me, in supporting Sanders, pulled Clinton to he left - something that gave her the majority of votes in the end. My problem with Bernie is his hires: staff members with very questionable past behavior online, the allegations of sexual harassment that didn't get taken as seriously as it should, etc. Plus, he needs to be so much stronger in speaking out about people - mostly men - who harass people - mostly women - online in his name. And his support for Tulsi Gabbard is really disturbing. But I also think he could do what is required as President, that he has the qualifications, and I still really like his policy ideas.
If he's nominated, I will vote for Pete Buttigieg. His lack of experience really worries me, his Hillary-like missteps, like when he smugly refused to say if he would allow the press into his fundraising events, his slights against policies like universal health care coverage as being to radical - it's all very, very troubling. I think he really, really needs to mature as a leader, not just as a candidate. I think in eight years, with some service at the state or national level, he'll be a much better candidate or leader, and I might even feel way, way more strongly about him then.
If he's nominated, I will vote for Andrew Yang. His profound lack of experience in any government office is deeply disturbing - and we see the consequences of that in the current President, among other things. Like Pete, in eight years, with some service at the state or national level, he'll be a much better candidate or leader, and I might even feel more strongly about him then.
If he's nominated, I will vote for Michael Bloomberg. Like Biden, he also won't do anything regarding pushing for drastically-increased taxation against billionaires. He also does not at all comprehend at how much people in this country are struggling to get health care access. I think he'll spend most of his time catering to people who are center-right, ignoring issues that are affecting poverty and the environment in this country. I think he'll say anything to get elected - and then do anything to please the wealthiest people in this country (people like himself). Big business is going to LOVE this guy. Anyone who criticized Kamala Harris for her background in law enforcement needs to be SCREAMING about this guy. But I do believe he can do the job as President.
I will not vote for Tulsi Gabbard - she's a Russian asset, just like the current President.
I will not vote for Tom Steyer - his stance on term limits alone (I do NOT support them) is enough to ever make me vote for him - his lack of ever holding an office is also a deal-breaker.
I am not even going to say anti-vaxxer, anti-science person's name.
If I haven't named anyone else, it's because I have no idea who in the hell they are.
And I am going to keep reading the candidates' own words, keep watching them when they speak and keep trying to be informed about their positions and not let anyone make up my mind for me. I remain committed to checking out any criticism I hear or read online, even those criticisms I agree with, before jumping on board with them. I will not post anything that I cannot verify does NOT come from an established organization I know and support (not just one with a name that sorta sounds like something I might have heard of before).
And, no, I'm not going to stop offering commentary. I'm not going to stop speaking out. I've been so beaten down since November 2016, mostly by people who vote Democrat, who aren't affected personally and professionally by what Donald Trump is doing and, therefore, would just like to pretend it's not happening. Or men who really don't want to pay attention to what state legislatures are doing regarding women and children. Or people who control a council or community group and really don't like my questions. I've withdrawn from so much. But I'm not withdrawing from this.
Please register to vote. Please make sure you are registered to vote if you haven't voted since 2016. Please register friends, family and neighbors to vote. Please vote.
Showing posts with label Democratic Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Democratic Party. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Monday, January 30, 2017
appeal to white voters - or change their minds?
It wasn't voter turnout that gave Trump more elector votes than Clinton. As has been widely reported, it was all the white people that voted for Trump. But I fear how this fact is being interpreted. I'm already seeing people saying that Democrats need to abandon emphasis on social justice issues, to have a harder line about Muslims, to back off support for gay rights, and on and on, all in a quest to court more white voters.
This New York Times article points out that, while Hispanic voters are often credited with President Obama's victories, the reality is that President Obama would have won re-election without the Hispanic vote, because President Obama won the white vote. And Hillary Clinton didn't win that white vote. By contrast, in 2016, Trump made huge gains among white voters - working-class white voters.
Mr. Trump owned Mr. Obama’s winning message to autoworkers and Mr. Romney’s message to coal country. He didn’t merely run to protect the remnants of the industrial economy; he promised to restore it and “make America great again...”
Taken together, Mr. Trump’s views on immigration, trade, China, crime, guns and Islam all had considerable appeal to white working-class Democratic voters, according to Pew Research data.
But the article misses the mark in saying that that the issues of abortion and same-sex marriage didn't play a role in Trump's, as well as his "law and order" diatribes - thinly disguised fear-based rhetoric that fuels fears of black and Latino Americans. One look at the newsfeeds of my many Facebook friends and family back in Kentucky and throughout the South and mid-West shows those positions on abortion, same-sex marriage and "law and order" were hugely important factors in decision-making regarding voting, along with those unrealistic comments about the coal industry and trade with China and policies about Muslims.
I've given up watching CNN, because during the election, CNN rarely called out Trump, or his supporters, on their lies. CNN was all about commentary by pundits, but not about journalism. But even a broken clock is right twice a day, and CNN's John Blake gets it right in this article, which notes:
Trump's triumph is now being roundly described as a revolt by white working-class voters; racism, sexism and religious bigotry had little, if anything, to do with it. People making this argument are following a script first honed by another group of Americans who made history disappear. After the Civil War, "Lost Cause" propagandists from the Confederacy argued the war wasn't fought over slavery -- it was a constitutional clash over state's rights, they said; hatred toward blacks had nothing to do with it.
It was an audacious historical cover-up -- to convince millions of Americans that what they'd just seen and heard hadn't really happened. It worked then, and some historians say it could work again with Trump.
I fear that Democratic Party leaders will encourage Democratic candidates to backtrack on social justice issues in a misguided effort to appeal to white voters... unless we get involved in our local Democratic Party committees, and pressure them to stay true to our values.
And here's news from another source: Trump lost every income bracket below $48,000 - including white people - and won every group above it.
I still don't know how to reach middle class whites who voted Trump - facts don't matter to them. BuzzFeed reported that fake news stories about the USA Presidential election this year generated more engagement on Facebook than the top election stories from 19 major news outlets COMBINED – that included major news outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and NBC News, and on and on. And then there's Pizzagate.
But if the Democratic Party abandons our values just to reach middle class white people that voted for Trump then, most certainly, millions of us will abandon that party.
Also see:
No, it wasn't about the economy
2017 & beyond
silence means approval
What does it mean to be "white" in the USA?
This New York Times article points out that, while Hispanic voters are often credited with President Obama's victories, the reality is that President Obama would have won re-election without the Hispanic vote, because President Obama won the white vote. And Hillary Clinton didn't win that white vote. By contrast, in 2016, Trump made huge gains among white voters - working-class white voters.
Mr. Trump owned Mr. Obama’s winning message to autoworkers and Mr. Romney’s message to coal country. He didn’t merely run to protect the remnants of the industrial economy; he promised to restore it and “make America great again...”
Taken together, Mr. Trump’s views on immigration, trade, China, crime, guns and Islam all had considerable appeal to white working-class Democratic voters, according to Pew Research data.
But the article misses the mark in saying that that the issues of abortion and same-sex marriage didn't play a role in Trump's, as well as his "law and order" diatribes - thinly disguised fear-based rhetoric that fuels fears of black and Latino Americans. One look at the newsfeeds of my many Facebook friends and family back in Kentucky and throughout the South and mid-West shows those positions on abortion, same-sex marriage and "law and order" were hugely important factors in decision-making regarding voting, along with those unrealistic comments about the coal industry and trade with China and policies about Muslims.
I've given up watching CNN, because during the election, CNN rarely called out Trump, or his supporters, on their lies. CNN was all about commentary by pundits, but not about journalism. But even a broken clock is right twice a day, and CNN's John Blake gets it right in this article, which notes:
Trump's triumph is now being roundly described as a revolt by white working-class voters; racism, sexism and religious bigotry had little, if anything, to do with it. People making this argument are following a script first honed by another group of Americans who made history disappear. After the Civil War, "Lost Cause" propagandists from the Confederacy argued the war wasn't fought over slavery -- it was a constitutional clash over state's rights, they said; hatred toward blacks had nothing to do with it.
It was an audacious historical cover-up -- to convince millions of Americans that what they'd just seen and heard hadn't really happened. It worked then, and some historians say it could work again with Trump.
I fear that Democratic Party leaders will encourage Democratic candidates to backtrack on social justice issues in a misguided effort to appeal to white voters... unless we get involved in our local Democratic Party committees, and pressure them to stay true to our values.
And here's news from another source: Trump lost every income bracket below $48,000 - including white people - and won every group above it.
I still don't know how to reach middle class whites who voted Trump - facts don't matter to them. BuzzFeed reported that fake news stories about the USA Presidential election this year generated more engagement on Facebook than the top election stories from 19 major news outlets COMBINED – that included major news outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and NBC News, and on and on. And then there's Pizzagate.
But if the Democratic Party abandons our values just to reach middle class white people that voted for Trump then, most certainly, millions of us will abandon that party.
Also see:
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Hillary as President
So, I'm back to saying, yes, I'm going to vote for Hillary Clinton. No, I don't feel enthusiastic about the vote. And, no, I am not going to stop criticizing her for her positions and actions that are counter to the progressive values and future of the Democratic Party - like her choice of Vice President. I'm not going to stop during the election, and if she's elected, I'm not going to stop while she's President. And don't you dare accuse me of picking on her because she's a woman. I judge people by actions far more than words, so quit sending me her campaign quotes - look at her record. The truth is always in actions.
And I stand by my belief that you do not HAVE to vote for her. You don't.
But I can't vote for any of the smaller party candidates: I'm not at all a Libertarian, Dr. Jill Stein's comments about vaccines are deeply disturbing, aand if the Socialist Party USA makes an unusable web site, they can hardly be expected to run a country.
I'm not going to say Hillary Clinton is the lesser of two evils and that's why I'm voting for her. Because it's not why I'm voting for her. I'm voting for her because, of every person running for office, including the smaller parties, she's by far the most-qualified and has the most in common with me in terms of political beliefs. She's pro-choice enough for me, I don't think she's going to flip flop on gay marriage or any LBGT issues again, and I don't think she's going to be fooled by Putin. I think she will appoint qualified people for most positions. I believe I'll agree with at least 70% of her environmental and economic policies. I believe she's got the credentials, the understanding, the temperament and the knowledge to be President. For the record, while I did NOT support him, I felt the same about Mitt Romney and the first George Bush. But not the second George Bush. And I do NOT feel this way about Donald Trump AT ALL.
But I say again: quit demanding people vote for her. If she wants people's vote, let her work for them. Respect and votes are something you earn. Emphasize the vision from the Democratic Party Convention, not just fear-mongering about Trump. LEAD.
And I stand by my belief that you do not HAVE to vote for her. You don't.
But I can't vote for any of the smaller party candidates: I'm not at all a Libertarian, Dr. Jill Stein's comments about vaccines are deeply disturbing, aand if the Socialist Party USA makes an unusable web site, they can hardly be expected to run a country.
I'm not going to say Hillary Clinton is the lesser of two evils and that's why I'm voting for her. Because it's not why I'm voting for her. I'm voting for her because, of every person running for office, including the smaller parties, she's by far the most-qualified and has the most in common with me in terms of political beliefs. She's pro-choice enough for me, I don't think she's going to flip flop on gay marriage or any LBGT issues again, and I don't think she's going to be fooled by Putin. I think she will appoint qualified people for most positions. I believe I'll agree with at least 70% of her environmental and economic policies. I believe she's got the credentials, the understanding, the temperament and the knowledge to be President. For the record, while I did NOT support him, I felt the same about Mitt Romney and the first George Bush. But not the second George Bush. And I do NOT feel this way about Donald Trump AT ALL.
But I say again: quit demanding people vote for her. If she wants people's vote, let her work for them. Respect and votes are something you earn. Emphasize the vision from the Democratic Party Convention, not just fear-mongering about Trump. LEAD.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
No argument: Hillary Clinton does not, will not listen to Sanders supporters
Hillary Clinton's pick for Vice President says to Bernie Sanders supporters and other progressives in the Democratic Party: I want your vote, but not your ideas.
The facts speak for themselves: Tim Kaine is not a progressive.
Just before being named her running mate, Kaine signed two letters on Monday urging federal regulators to go easy on banks ― one to help big banks dodge risk management rules, and another to help small banks avoid consumer protection standards. That alone is enough to make me outraged. But there's more.
As noted in Mother Jones, Kaine has supported offshore drilling in the Atlantic and supported a bill to fast-track the construction of natural gas terminals. Fossil fuel interests have taken a liking to him. "We're encouraged by the reasonable approach he's taken on oil and natural gas, that he hasn't been swayed by politics and ideology," Miles Morin, executive director of the Virginia Petroleum Council, told Politico. What is he swayed by regarding our environment?
A die-hard Catholic, he says his religion guides him in his governing, and that while he is personally opposed to abortion, he's Pro-Choice - yet, he supports abortion restrictions, like on third trimester abortions - something sought by only the most desperate of women - and legally requiring under age girls to get permission from a parent to terminate a pregnancy - but not to carry such to term. He has been all over the place regarding teen pregnancy, first saying he believes in fighting teen pregnancy “through abstinence-focused education”, which is the version of abstinence-only education where they DO mention birth control, but emphasize its failure rate, then, two years later, under a mountain of political pressure, he defunded abstinence-only education in the schools. What will he do as VP? We just don't know.
The young people of the Democrat Party - and many of us 50 and over - have said we want a new party, a progressive party. And the establishment has answered with a not-at-all progressive, very establishment, bank-loving, corporate-loving old-school Democrat.
But we're not supposed to complain! We're supposed to be good little Democrats and not question and just swallow all of our criticisms, however legitimate, and not say anything negative and vote for the Party's nominee. If we don't, we hate America and want the other party's pick to be President! Which, of course, is exactly what Trump is telling Republicans they have to do too. Remember, if you criticize Hillary Clinton, you are being sexist!
Will I vote for Hillary Clinton in the Fall? Now, at this moment, I'm not sure. I said previously I would, because I was convinced that she would appoint staunchly pro-choice people to the Supreme Court, and that the incredible success of the Bernie Sanders campaign in attracting massive numbers of supporters, far more than anyone ever dreamed, would wake her up to the progressive direction the party needs to go in. With this appointment, I am not convinced of that at all of any of that.
I had planned on getting involved with the Democratic Party in the county where I live, volunteering to help with get-out-the-vote efforts for November 2016. I'm not doing that now, even if I do end up voting for Hillary Clinton. I have absolutely nothing to say to someone to convince them to vote for Hillary Clinton, other than that she's not Donald Trump. And that's just not enough to motivate me to work for her.
But I'm not quitting the Democratic Party. Not yet. If I quit the party, I leave it to people who are determined to keep it the way people like Debbie Wasserman Schultz want it. No, I want to change the party - that's a hell of a lot easier than starting another one. We are the people that elected Barack Obama TWICE to the presidency, NOT the party establishment. It's time to use that energy again, this time to permanently change our party.
In January 2017, when the election is long over, I will start attending local Democratic Party meetings, and I hope my fellow progressives will too, all over the USA. I hope you will run to be one of your local party precinct captains. Bring your friends to join too and run for leadership positions - chair, secretary, treasurer, a committee chair, whatever. Read the web site for your local party chapter carefully, and think about what you want to do locally to start steering your party in the direction that is its future: on a progressive path. It can be surprisingly easy to do all this: in many communities, many leadership positions are empty due to lack of volunteers, and many people currently in positions are in their 60s, or older, and oh-so-ready to retire.
Look at your city's web site and look for all the citizen's committees, and find those that are interesting to you, that you want to be a part of, and volunteer for such if there is an opening. City's often have parks commissions, safety commissions, public engagement commissions (dealing with land issues), planning commissions, library commissions and more. Get on one. Get on two. Start making your progressive voice heard and your progressive vote count.
Write your elected representatives regularly - local, state and national - especially the Democrats, and let them know what you think of their voting record. Be polite but firm: you want progressive action, and you will call them out when they avoid such. You want votes for legislation that curbs the power of banks, that promotes paid family leave, that promotes a living wage and worker protections, that protects our environment, that protects women's reproductive choices and medical services, that protects LBGT people, and that restores tax levels on corporations to at least what they were under Ronald Reagan (the 1950s rates would be better, of course). Reward them with a donation, however small, when they do what's right. We're not asking for ideological purity, we're not asking for absolute uniformity in every belief, but we are asking for a foundation of progressive beliefs in every candidate. I'm a lot more forgiving of a policy or stand I don't at all agree with if the candidate espousing such has dozens more that I do agree with (such as Bernie Sanders' lackluster record regarding gun control versus his stands on most everything else).
Do all of that and think about running for office yourself!
Ignore the people who say that you aren't being a team player, that the party needs to "unify", that you are helping the opposition win, that you aren't willing to compromise, and on and on and on. They do not have the future of this party, nor of this country, at heart. They'll say yes in the future to the progressives as they take power, because they've shown they'll say yes to whatever the Democrats do.
And you vote for whomever YOU want to in November 2016. Please, please vote for someone - you aren't seen unless you vote. If you vote Green or Socialist or whatever, and Hillary loses, it's not because you didn't "get on board" - it's because she didn't.
If, come the Spring or Summer, Hillary Clinton proves me wrong by appointing staunchly pro-Choice Supreme Court justices and an ethnically-diverse, progressive cabinet and by not sending our troops to Syria and escalating other conflicts, then, hurrah, I'll issue a hearty mea culpa. And I hope I'm wrong. But nothing she's done in the last 10 years gives me any hope at all that I'm wrong.
The facts speak for themselves: Tim Kaine is not a progressive.
Just before being named her running mate, Kaine signed two letters on Monday urging federal regulators to go easy on banks ― one to help big banks dodge risk management rules, and another to help small banks avoid consumer protection standards. That alone is enough to make me outraged. But there's more.
As noted in Mother Jones, Kaine has supported offshore drilling in the Atlantic and supported a bill to fast-track the construction of natural gas terminals. Fossil fuel interests have taken a liking to him. "We're encouraged by the reasonable approach he's taken on oil and natural gas, that he hasn't been swayed by politics and ideology," Miles Morin, executive director of the Virginia Petroleum Council, told Politico. What is he swayed by regarding our environment?
A die-hard Catholic, he says his religion guides him in his governing, and that while he is personally opposed to abortion, he's Pro-Choice - yet, he supports abortion restrictions, like on third trimester abortions - something sought by only the most desperate of women - and legally requiring under age girls to get permission from a parent to terminate a pregnancy - but not to carry such to term. He has been all over the place regarding teen pregnancy, first saying he believes in fighting teen pregnancy “through abstinence-focused education”, which is the version of abstinence-only education where they DO mention birth control, but emphasize its failure rate, then, two years later, under a mountain of political pressure, he defunded abstinence-only education in the schools. What will he do as VP? We just don't know.
The young people of the Democrat Party - and many of us 50 and over - have said we want a new party, a progressive party. And the establishment has answered with a not-at-all progressive, very establishment, bank-loving, corporate-loving old-school Democrat.
But we're not supposed to complain! We're supposed to be good little Democrats and not question and just swallow all of our criticisms, however legitimate, and not say anything negative and vote for the Party's nominee. If we don't, we hate America and want the other party's pick to be President! Which, of course, is exactly what Trump is telling Republicans they have to do too. Remember, if you criticize Hillary Clinton, you are being sexist!
Will I vote for Hillary Clinton in the Fall? Now, at this moment, I'm not sure. I said previously I would, because I was convinced that she would appoint staunchly pro-choice people to the Supreme Court, and that the incredible success of the Bernie Sanders campaign in attracting massive numbers of supporters, far more than anyone ever dreamed, would wake her up to the progressive direction the party needs to go in. With this appointment, I am not convinced of that at all of any of that.
I had planned on getting involved with the Democratic Party in the county where I live, volunteering to help with get-out-the-vote efforts for November 2016. I'm not doing that now, even if I do end up voting for Hillary Clinton. I have absolutely nothing to say to someone to convince them to vote for Hillary Clinton, other than that she's not Donald Trump. And that's just not enough to motivate me to work for her.
But I'm not quitting the Democratic Party. Not yet. If I quit the party, I leave it to people who are determined to keep it the way people like Debbie Wasserman Schultz want it. No, I want to change the party - that's a hell of a lot easier than starting another one. We are the people that elected Barack Obama TWICE to the presidency, NOT the party establishment. It's time to use that energy again, this time to permanently change our party.
In January 2017, when the election is long over, I will start attending local Democratic Party meetings, and I hope my fellow progressives will too, all over the USA. I hope you will run to be one of your local party precinct captains. Bring your friends to join too and run for leadership positions - chair, secretary, treasurer, a committee chair, whatever. Read the web site for your local party chapter carefully, and think about what you want to do locally to start steering your party in the direction that is its future: on a progressive path. It can be surprisingly easy to do all this: in many communities, many leadership positions are empty due to lack of volunteers, and many people currently in positions are in their 60s, or older, and oh-so-ready to retire.
Look at your city's web site and look for all the citizen's committees, and find those that are interesting to you, that you want to be a part of, and volunteer for such if there is an opening. City's often have parks commissions, safety commissions, public engagement commissions (dealing with land issues), planning commissions, library commissions and more. Get on one. Get on two. Start making your progressive voice heard and your progressive vote count.
Write your elected representatives regularly - local, state and national - especially the Democrats, and let them know what you think of their voting record. Be polite but firm: you want progressive action, and you will call them out when they avoid such. You want votes for legislation that curbs the power of banks, that promotes paid family leave, that promotes a living wage and worker protections, that protects our environment, that protects women's reproductive choices and medical services, that protects LBGT people, and that restores tax levels on corporations to at least what they were under Ronald Reagan (the 1950s rates would be better, of course). Reward them with a donation, however small, when they do what's right. We're not asking for ideological purity, we're not asking for absolute uniformity in every belief, but we are asking for a foundation of progressive beliefs in every candidate. I'm a lot more forgiving of a policy or stand I don't at all agree with if the candidate espousing such has dozens more that I do agree with (such as Bernie Sanders' lackluster record regarding gun control versus his stands on most everything else).
Do all of that and think about running for office yourself!
Ignore the people who say that you aren't being a team player, that the party needs to "unify", that you are helping the opposition win, that you aren't willing to compromise, and on and on and on. They do not have the future of this party, nor of this country, at heart. They'll say yes in the future to the progressives as they take power, because they've shown they'll say yes to whatever the Democrats do.
And you vote for whomever YOU want to in November 2016. Please, please vote for someone - you aren't seen unless you vote. If you vote Green or Socialist or whatever, and Hillary loses, it's not because you didn't "get on board" - it's because she didn't.
If, come the Spring or Summer, Hillary Clinton proves me wrong by appointing staunchly pro-Choice Supreme Court justices and an ethnically-diverse, progressive cabinet and by not sending our troops to Syria and escalating other conflicts, then, hurrah, I'll issue a hearty mea culpa. And I hope I'm wrong. But nothing she's done in the last 10 years gives me any hope at all that I'm wrong.
Thursday, June 9, 2016
My submission to the Democratic Party platform
The Democratic Party has requested that Democratic Party members submit testimony for the Democratic Party platform. Members can submit it in writing or in a video.
I went with text.
Here's what I submitted:
I want the Democratic Party to commit to:
— creating legislation that completely, utterly undoes the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and prevents unregulated super PACS from ever happening again. Citizens should always know who is funding any advertising
— creating legislation that requires more transparent reporting for ALL campaign contributions, including to all 501 c 4 entities
— supporting EVERY provision of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and NOT repeal any of it
— asking all Presidential candidates to release the text of ALL speeches they have ever been paid to do, particularly in the last 10 years
— never voting for legislation that favors lending agencies over the rights and needs of consumers
— working to increase taxes on those in the top 1% income bracket, restoring the tax rates for that group that existed under Ronald Reagan
— working on legislation to apply the same payroll tax already paid by more than 9 out of 10 Americans to those with incomes over $250,000 a year, thereby making social security sustainable
— closing the loophole in President Obama’s ban on lobbyists that is still allowing people to leave the government and immediately become high-paid lobbyists, and allows former industry lobbyists to write legislation meant to regulate their industries
— continuously educating local Democratic Party offices on how to better welcome and involve people under 50, low-income people, and people who are not of mostly European ancestry, and asking these local party offices to regularly collect and report demographic information of their meeting attendees
— continuously educating Democratic Party members on the local level on how to run for local offices
— dumping Super Delegates, as it could be used for the Party to defy the will of Party members
— get rid of caucuses and replacing them with voting. Caucuses are poisonous for participation, rewarding people with lots of time on their hands and rewarding intensity, and excluding people without such
— get rid of the Electoral College and making the election of the President direct democracy
— actively supporting automatic voter registration for everyone starting at age 18.
— making election day a federal holiday OR require early voting on weekends in all states
— outlawing gerrymandering
— restore the voting rights act and take aggressive action against laws meant to prevent citizens from voting
— pushing hard on the state level for a far shorter primary, one that starts later in an election year (April would be good)
— creating and regularly updating a 50-state strategy for the Party. As Bernie Sanders said, “We need to plant the flag of progressive politics in every state of this country.”
— reforming or getting rid of the law that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund its benefit obligations, as this is bankrupting the Post Office and forcing them into financial obligations that no corporation is required to do
— supporting the US Postal Service and not supporting privatization of the US Postal Service
— recognizing that volunteer engagement by government programs, nonprofits, schools and others is a way to demonstrate community support and transparency in work, that volunteers, while unpaid, are not free, per the resources needed to support volunteers during their service, that the value of volunteers is best expressed in terms of their impact, not in terms of a dollar value for their hours of service, and that volunteer engagement should never be used primarily, chiefly, to replace paid workers
— making an ambitious plan to take care of the crumbling infrastructure of the USA. Be as ambitious as FDR was regarding the work of the CCC, and Eisenhower was regarding the interstate roadways.
— supporting two years of fully-government-funded public university or public community college for every graduating high school senior
— supporting job training for people that have had careers in what are now dying industries: coal mining, coal processing, car manufacturing, etc., and supporting economic development in areas affected by this
— eschewing any welfare legislation that prevents parents from choosing to be full time, stay-at-home parents with children under 18, and that does not provide quality, affordable child care to any parents with children under 18
— helping Detroit and Flint Michigan, specifically, regarding their water, government corruption, their ongoing economic crisis, etc., and using your success there as a model for helping other severely-economically-depressed and marginalized communities throughout the USA
— beginning an aggressive program to give all American Indians the rights to water on their own lands
— beginning an aggressive program for job training, university education and other economic activities for American Indians, particularly those that spend at least 30% of their childhood on reservation lands
— fully funding and staff the IRS to do its work
— fully funding and staff ATF to do its work
— fully funding national parks, national forests, and facilities and programs in all national public lands, and eschew any corporate sponsorship/funding programs that take away ownership from people, that take away long-used names of such, etc.
— fully funding the National Endowment for the Arts
— addressing climate change from a scientific perspective
— supporting scientific research and education about science
— eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels, nuclear power, and biofuels
— building an efficient, comprehensive public transportation system for the top 100 metropolitan areas of the USA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_of_the_United_States
— supporting public schools and eschewing any public funding for private schools
— supporting public school teachers and involving them in all conversations about education policies
— never, ever compromising whatsoever on the issue of a woman’s right to abortion services, and access to those services, here or abroad
— creating a strategy to expand health care insurance and health care services so that every citizen of the USA anywhere has affordable healthcare coverage and access to quality health care services, and create legislation so that only doctors make medical decisions for patients (not accountants and other non-medical staff) and legislation so that NO person will go bankrupt because of medical bills
— increasing funding for mental health services and affordable housing back up to the percentages of the Reagan administration
— fully funding the CDC to study, and talk about, injuries and deaths associated with guns
— using language that includes people who are NOT a part of any religion, who do NOT identify as “people of faith”
— creating strong regulation of guns, with licensing laws for guns and gun owners at least as strict as licensing laws for cars and car drivers, and with limits on how many guns can be in one household
— working to abolish the death penalty, because we cannot guarantee that innocent people have not died as a result of this
— mandating that all federal properties that were built or maintained by enslaved people, that housed enslaved people, must note such on prominent information boards and in all presentations about the history of such properties
— reforming the federal student loan program. It would be best to get rid of it entirely and work to create a way with nonprofit credit unions for people wanting loans to go to university to be able to receive such, with greatly-reduced interest rates. It would also be best to put a cap on how much money above the amount of a student loan that any institution could charge.
— support public colleges and public universities, but absolutely prevent government funding for for-profit colleges and universities
— create much more strict regulations on for-profit pay-day loan companies, rent-to-own companies, and big banks that engage in predatory lending
— committing to working with elected representatives of all political parties in local, state and national governing bodies, to seek areas of common ground and always pursuing what is best for the people of the USA
— listening to military leaders regarding the closure of military bases and weapons and training needed, rather than military contractors and lobbyists
— reducing the vast amount of financial waste in military spending
— increasing funding for mental health services for military members and their families, including after military service, and never in association with the type of discharge a military member has experienced (in other words, do not prevent someone who is dishonorably discharged from receiving government-funded mental health services)
— offering a list of reforms and timelines for the Veteran’s Administration’s health care services, and offering updates every six months on progress towards those improvements
— supporting family leave laws in line with those of other developed countries
— banning prisons run by private companies, thereby removing any financial incentive to keep people incarcerated
— banning governments from relying on fines as a primary way to fund local government services (as happened in Ferguson)
— supporting the Dream Act
— supporting a path to legal residency for people in the USA that are in the USA illegally but could meet several strict guidelines (regarding academics, police records, etc.) as well as creating a way for people outside the USA to apply for temporary work visas in the USA for work such as agricultural produce harvests and construction
— creating an aggressive plan to create affordable housing and reduce the number of homeless people in the USA, and through policy and action, recognizing there are multiple, related and individualized causes of homelessness
That’s a start… and in addition to the many other activities done on behalf of the party for women specifically, for various minority communities specifically, for the environment, for children, for immigrants, for people with disabilities, and more.
I went with text.
Here's what I submitted:
I want the Democratic Party to commit to:
— creating legislation that completely, utterly undoes the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and prevents unregulated super PACS from ever happening again. Citizens should always know who is funding any advertising
— creating legislation that requires more transparent reporting for ALL campaign contributions, including to all 501 c 4 entities
— supporting EVERY provision of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and NOT repeal any of it
— asking all Presidential candidates to release the text of ALL speeches they have ever been paid to do, particularly in the last 10 years
— never voting for legislation that favors lending agencies over the rights and needs of consumers
— working to increase taxes on those in the top 1% income bracket, restoring the tax rates for that group that existed under Ronald Reagan
— working on legislation to apply the same payroll tax already paid by more than 9 out of 10 Americans to those with incomes over $250,000 a year, thereby making social security sustainable
— closing the loophole in President Obama’s ban on lobbyists that is still allowing people to leave the government and immediately become high-paid lobbyists, and allows former industry lobbyists to write legislation meant to regulate their industries
— continuously educating local Democratic Party offices on how to better welcome and involve people under 50, low-income people, and people who are not of mostly European ancestry, and asking these local party offices to regularly collect and report demographic information of their meeting attendees
— continuously educating Democratic Party members on the local level on how to run for local offices
— dumping Super Delegates, as it could be used for the Party to defy the will of Party members
— get rid of caucuses and replacing them with voting. Caucuses are poisonous for participation, rewarding people with lots of time on their hands and rewarding intensity, and excluding people without such
— get rid of the Electoral College and making the election of the President direct democracy
— actively supporting automatic voter registration for everyone starting at age 18.
— making election day a federal holiday OR require early voting on weekends in all states
— outlawing gerrymandering
— restore the voting rights act and take aggressive action against laws meant to prevent citizens from voting
— pushing hard on the state level for a far shorter primary, one that starts later in an election year (April would be good)
— creating and regularly updating a 50-state strategy for the Party. As Bernie Sanders said, “We need to plant the flag of progressive politics in every state of this country.”
— reforming or getting rid of the law that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund its benefit obligations, as this is bankrupting the Post Office and forcing them into financial obligations that no corporation is required to do
— supporting the US Postal Service and not supporting privatization of the US Postal Service
— recognizing that volunteer engagement by government programs, nonprofits, schools and others is a way to demonstrate community support and transparency in work, that volunteers, while unpaid, are not free, per the resources needed to support volunteers during their service, that the value of volunteers is best expressed in terms of their impact, not in terms of a dollar value for their hours of service, and that volunteer engagement should never be used primarily, chiefly, to replace paid workers
— making an ambitious plan to take care of the crumbling infrastructure of the USA. Be as ambitious as FDR was regarding the work of the CCC, and Eisenhower was regarding the interstate roadways.
— supporting two years of fully-government-funded public university or public community college for every graduating high school senior
— supporting job training for people that have had careers in what are now dying industries: coal mining, coal processing, car manufacturing, etc., and supporting economic development in areas affected by this
— eschewing any welfare legislation that prevents parents from choosing to be full time, stay-at-home parents with children under 18, and that does not provide quality, affordable child care to any parents with children under 18
— helping Detroit and Flint Michigan, specifically, regarding their water, government corruption, their ongoing economic crisis, etc., and using your success there as a model for helping other severely-economically-depressed and marginalized communities throughout the USA
— beginning an aggressive program to give all American Indians the rights to water on their own lands
— beginning an aggressive program for job training, university education and other economic activities for American Indians, particularly those that spend at least 30% of their childhood on reservation lands
— fully funding and staff the IRS to do its work
— fully funding and staff ATF to do its work
— fully funding national parks, national forests, and facilities and programs in all national public lands, and eschew any corporate sponsorship/funding programs that take away ownership from people, that take away long-used names of such, etc.
— fully funding the National Endowment for the Arts
— addressing climate change from a scientific perspective
— supporting scientific research and education about science
— eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels, nuclear power, and biofuels
— building an efficient, comprehensive public transportation system for the top 100 metropolitan areas of the USA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_of_the_United_States
— supporting public schools and eschewing any public funding for private schools
— supporting public school teachers and involving them in all conversations about education policies
— never, ever compromising whatsoever on the issue of a woman’s right to abortion services, and access to those services, here or abroad
— creating a strategy to expand health care insurance and health care services so that every citizen of the USA anywhere has affordable healthcare coverage and access to quality health care services, and create legislation so that only doctors make medical decisions for patients (not accountants and other non-medical staff) and legislation so that NO person will go bankrupt because of medical bills
— increasing funding for mental health services and affordable housing back up to the percentages of the Reagan administration
— fully funding the CDC to study, and talk about, injuries and deaths associated with guns
— using language that includes people who are NOT a part of any religion, who do NOT identify as “people of faith”
— creating strong regulation of guns, with licensing laws for guns and gun owners at least as strict as licensing laws for cars and car drivers, and with limits on how many guns can be in one household
— working to abolish the death penalty, because we cannot guarantee that innocent people have not died as a result of this
— mandating that all federal properties that were built or maintained by enslaved people, that housed enslaved people, must note such on prominent information boards and in all presentations about the history of such properties
— reforming the federal student loan program. It would be best to get rid of it entirely and work to create a way with nonprofit credit unions for people wanting loans to go to university to be able to receive such, with greatly-reduced interest rates. It would also be best to put a cap on how much money above the amount of a student loan that any institution could charge.
— support public colleges and public universities, but absolutely prevent government funding for for-profit colleges and universities
— create much more strict regulations on for-profit pay-day loan companies, rent-to-own companies, and big banks that engage in predatory lending
— committing to working with elected representatives of all political parties in local, state and national governing bodies, to seek areas of common ground and always pursuing what is best for the people of the USA
— listening to military leaders regarding the closure of military bases and weapons and training needed, rather than military contractors and lobbyists
— reducing the vast amount of financial waste in military spending
— increasing funding for mental health services for military members and their families, including after military service, and never in association with the type of discharge a military member has experienced (in other words, do not prevent someone who is dishonorably discharged from receiving government-funded mental health services)
— offering a list of reforms and timelines for the Veteran’s Administration’s health care services, and offering updates every six months on progress towards those improvements
— supporting family leave laws in line with those of other developed countries
— banning prisons run by private companies, thereby removing any financial incentive to keep people incarcerated
— banning governments from relying on fines as a primary way to fund local government services (as happened in Ferguson)
— supporting the Dream Act
— supporting a path to legal residency for people in the USA that are in the USA illegally but could meet several strict guidelines (regarding academics, police records, etc.) as well as creating a way for people outside the USA to apply for temporary work visas in the USA for work such as agricultural produce harvests and construction
— creating an aggressive plan to create affordable housing and reduce the number of homeless people in the USA, and through policy and action, recognizing there are multiple, related and individualized causes of homelessness
That’s a start… and in addition to the many other activities done on behalf of the party for women specifically, for various minority communities specifically, for the environment, for children, for immigrants, for people with disabilities, and more.
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