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Date: November 07, 2024 at 12:34:53
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
URL: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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can’t seem to post today if not on the hotel wifi
here is what actual democratic thinkers say about the election.
interestingly they echo much of what i have said. trump didn’t get such a
huge victory because of trump but because of major issues within the
democratic party and their failure to listen to the people on the issues. a
perfect example of democracy in action
10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now
After a crushing defeat, here are a few pathways out of the wilderness.
‘The Democratic Party should act more democratically’
‘Populism must ignite the rebuild of the Democratic Party’
‘A vision that meets Americans from across the political spectrum’
‘Demography is not destiny’
‘We have become way too reliant on polling modeling and ad testing’
Emily Rose Bennett for POLITICO; Angelina Katsanis/POLITICO
By POLITICO MAGAZINE
11/07/2024 12:00 PM EST
Stunned Democrats are still sorting through the wreckage of Donald
Trump’s victory, but the debate over what went wrong is already ramping
up.
Were inflation and an unpopular incumbent to blame? What about the
seeming radicalization of young men? Has class and education become
more important than identity? Why are Latinos bolting the party? These
are not idle questions as Democrats lurch into the wilderness: Where do
Democrats go from here?
POLITICO Magazine reached out to top Democratic strategists, activists
and thinkers to see if they had answers. Their solutions for the party
varied, but one thing that’s clear to everyone is the need for change.
Here’s what they proposed.
‘Abandon policing cultural behaviors’
BY ANDREW YANG
Andrew Yang is a former Democratic presidential candidate and founder
of the Forward Party.
First, the Democrats should apologize for sandbagging Bernie Sanders in
the 2016 primary.
After, they should name Dean Phillips the new chair of the DNC, as the
only Democrat with the character to sacrifice his own career for the good
of the country.
Next, they should apologize for not having a competitive primary this year,
which would have resulted in a vetted nominee and ticket with the buy-in
of hundreds of thousands of voters. They will agree to always hold a
primary no matter what, as it resulted in victories in 2008 and 2020, while
not holding a competitive primary resulted in losses in 2016 and
2024.They should voluntarily adopt open primaries (and ranked choice
voting) in all of their primaries, inviting independents to participate in
their candidate selection process, as this group represents a plurality of
Americans.
They should pledge never to back extremists in Republican primaries to
boost a more beatable opponent in the general election, and they should
agree never to keep minor parties or independent candidates off the ballot
in states around the country. If you believe yourself to be the better
option, you shouldn’t be scared of healthy competition.
They should back the Local Journalism Sustainability Act to provide a path
for local journalism, increasing information going to the electorate. They
should also back the Fair Representation Act as a way to fight
gerrymandering and give voice to voters in the minority party of a district.
Yes, they’ll lose some seats in Democratic gerrymandered states. What a
message it would send to voters that they’d rather build a representative
government than hold onto power at all costs.
Finally, they should adopt one central mission: improving Americans’
standard of living. They should abandon policing cultural behaviors,
especially since many of their stances aren’t even popular with Democrats
in real life. They should also create solutions for men and boys — who are
struggling — instead of engaging in identity politics that excludes at least
half of the country.
In many ways, these all boil down to one thing: The Democratic Party
should act more democratically. But they will do none of these things.
Instead, they will begin jockeying for position within the party to run in
2028. That is why more and more voters will look for options, like the
Forward Party, or declare themselves independents as Trump returns to
power. Institutions incapable of reform get replaced.
‘A deeper rethink of a consistently failed strategy’
BY MATTHEW DUSS
Matthew Duss, former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders and
executive vice president at the Center for International Policy
The first thing Democrats should do is find the consultant whose idea it
was to campaign with Liz Cheney in Michigan, and put that person on an
iceberg where they can’t do any more harm. This should then lead to a
deeper rethink of a consistently failed strategy of reaching out to an
imagined constituency of moderate Republicans at the expense of
Democrats’ own base.
It’s clear that, whatever experts might tell them about how great the
economy is doing, a huge number of Americans are not feeling it in their
own lives and communities. Joe Biden successfully adopted a unifying
economic populist message from the party’s left in 2020, and as president
took important steps to start building a more worker-centered American
economy. Democrats really need to lean into that work with a vision that
meets Americans from across the political spectrum where they are, and
helps them see how policies often labeled “progressive” actually address
the needs of workers and communities, including from purple and deep-
red areas that have been passed over by globalization and corporatization
of our entire economy. In the absence of that vision of shared American
prosperity and security, many voters will continue to respond to
demagogues who claim to feel their pain and pin the blame for it on
immigrants, minorities and foreign enemies while doing nothing to
actually make their lives better.
‘Begin by admitting that our party has been entirely directed by Donald
Trump’
BY SARADA PERI
Sarada Peri is the founder of Peri Communications and served as a senior
speechwriter to President Barack Obama.
Whatever the reasons — and we will hear all of them over the coming
months — Democrats got our asses handed to us. It’s time to start from
scratch. Maybe we begin by admitting that our party has been entirely
directed by Donald Trump since he came down that golden escalator. The
stale ideas the party has run on have been a laundry list reaction to his
agenda. The ideologies, including identity, that Democrats have publicly,
clumsily tested and adjudicated have been a response to his ideology,
including racism. The electoral coalition Democrats assembled was an
unwieldy assortment of groups barely held together by their shared
opposition to Trump. Even the way we listen and respond to voters is
refracted through Trump.
As a result, Democrats have put forward a cramped, pointillist rendering
of a worldview — squint and you can make out something semi-coherent.
But it is not a clear vision, a clear project, not just for how we will help an
electorate that is crying out for help, but for what America is and ought to
be. Fearful of some voters and dismissive of others, we persuade almost
no one.
But now, the worst has happened. There’s no point in holding on to prior
assumptions or being risk-averse. The party of Trump will undoubtedly
overplay its hand in the next two years. If Democrats are going to be ready
with an actual narrative about why Americans can trust us to lead — if
we’re going to tell a story that is authentic and persuasive and not only
speaks to people’s concerns but also to their moral and material
aspirations — then we need to put aside everything we know and ask
ourselves the most basic questions: Who are we? What do we believe?
What America is possible?
‘Recruit working-class candidates who reflect the pain and the
understanding of people who live paycheck-to-paycheck’
BY FAIZ SHAKIR
Faiz Shakir is an adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders and the founder of More
Perfect Union.
The Democratic Party must have as its first and foremost goal rebuilding
its connection to America’s working class. People of all backgrounds who
hold a job, make under $100,000 and don’t have a college degree are
increasingly leaving the party. To get them back, which I think is possible,
requires a few important reforms: 1) Recruit working-class candidates
who reflect the pain and the understanding of people who live paycheck-
to-paycheck. 2) Offer bolder economic ideas that can be implemented
quickly, and which are prepared to take on corporate power with the aim
of delivering people greater economic freedom in their daily lives. 3) As
the party that believes in government, we have to be willing to more
publicly decry corruption within government, inefficient bureaucracy and
a desire to wield power to get things done for people who don’t have
lobbyists representing them. Populism — an organic desire to connect
with emotions and conditions of grassroots working-class people — must
ignite the rebuild of the Democratic Party.
‘Yield to a new generation’
BY ROSS BARKAN
Ross Barkan is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and
writes the Substack newsletter Political Currents.
Democrats will have to turn the page on the Barack Obama and Joe Biden
years. This does not necessarily mean a policy pivot — on antitrust and
reinvigorating domestic manufacturing, the economic populists have a
future as well as GOP allies — but it does mean these two men, their allies,
their operatives and their enablers will have to yield to a new generation.
Obama could not rouse nonwhite voters for Kamala Harris, and it was
Biden that made this election possible by deciding to seek another term
when he was clearly unfit to campaign. It was Obama, too, who elevated
Hillary Clinton in the 2010s and made Trumpism possible. The Biden and
Obama acolytes have, largely, failed the current Democratic Party.
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The robust, open Democratic primary of 2028 will introduce new
candidates to the American public. This will be beneficial. Democrats have
plainly failed to stem their losses with working-class voters, white and
nonwhite alike, and they can’t merely hope suburbanites replace them.
Some of this was a function of the moment — incumbent parties across
the world are getting punished — and some of this was an utter lack of
compelling messaging from the Harris campaign. Harris had no great
rationale for running. Trump, for all his obvious faults, did. Harris was
among the worst candidates the Democrats have ever elevated. She was
not battle-tested politically and she struggled in interviews to explain why
she should be president.
Democrats don’t necessarily need a new Obama. But they’ll need far
stronger communicators. They’ll have to articulate a vision Americans can
embrace. They’ll have to speak to working-class pain. It’s a long, long
road ahead.
‘A new way forward’
BY DONNA BRAZILE
Donna Brazile is a former chair of the Democratic National Committee
As the former chairwoman, my advice is that [DNC Chair] Jaime
[Harrison] should convene the DNC’s Executive Committee next month
and begin to share a “new way forward.” Beyond those words, I just pulled
an all-nighter and I have decided to reclaim my time.
‘Fox News and the podcast brosphere tell them we are weak’
BY CHUCK ROCHA
Chuck Rocha is founder of Solidarity Strategies, former Bernie Sanders
2020 campaign adviser and expert on the Latino vote.
If the Democratic Party is going to win elections moving into the future,
we have to return to the values that made me join this party in 1990 as a
20-year-old factory worker in East Texas. I joined the Democratic Party to
fight back against the NAFTA trade deal which was going to send my tire
manufacturing job overseas. I also wanted to drain the D.C. swamp of rich
elite people who thought they were better than me even though my tax
dollars paid many of their salaries. I also want to stop wasting money,
killing people overseas and invest that into factory towns like I grew up in
where people were struggling. Who does that sound like? This may help
as we lose men at such a dramatic rate.
We have become way too reliant on polling modeling and ad testing, and
we have stopped talking to a wide swathe of people with low voter scores
who get up every day and take a shower after they are done with work not
before. This correlates a lot with the Latino performance because the
fastest growing segment of the working class are Latino voters and one in
four Latino men are tied to the construction industry. These voters aligned
with the Democratic Party. They just don’t trust the brand anymore
because Fox News and the podcast brosphere tell them we are weak.
Ruben Gallego’s Senate race showed us a path to win these groups back if
we follow his lead and his campaign strategy, which helped deliver over
60 percent of Latino male voters to him while at the same time having
historical performance with women.
‘Wrest more control of the national information environment from Trump’
BY WILL STANCIL
Will Stancil is a civil rights attorney based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In a broad sense this outcome is a lot less surprising than it looks. If I told
you an unpopular Democratic incumbent had dropped out of a presidential
race several months before the election, and many voters were
dissatisfied with the economy and current administration, I don’t think
anyone would be shocked to learn that the out-of-power GOP saw a broad
national increase in support. (In fact, you might be surprised to learn how
durable the Democratic legislative seats ended up being.) What makes
this a shock result is the particulars. Biden’s intense unpopularity is hard
to explain, given the extraordinary strength of the economy for many
months and his administration’s successful pursuit of a number of popular
policies. More disturbingly, Trump paid little penalty for his almost
bottomless list of transgressions, most notably his history of sexual
assaults, his recent felony convictions, and his effort to overturn
democracy in 2021. His campaign did nothing to repair these weaknesses,
and instead focused heavily on perpetual grievance and menacing threats.
Democrats need to understand what is broken here: not their policies, not
their ideological positioning, but the American information environment.
Much of what voters believe about politics — even about fundamental
questions like the character of their leaders, or the strength of the
national economy — is inevitably learned secondhand. With the rise of the
internet and partisan media, our traditional, staid sources of political
information have fragmented. Americans can now opt into whichever
phantasmagorical bubble of facts they find most agreeable.
What we’ve seen is that tens of millions have opted into a right-wing
information bubble, largely online, that has grown to eclipse almost the
entire traditional media infrastructure. Often, in that bubble, they’ve
become the willing consumers of lies and outrage. Trump’s real misdeeds
are whitewashed while audiences are encouraged to embrace cathartic
rage against rotating groups of enemies — many of which seem to
suspiciously mirror historically unpopular minorities. In this fractured
information environment, clownish strongmen thrive, their meme-like
public personas enrapturing otherwise disengaged voters — a trend we’ve
seen across the globe, as social media increasingly displaces traditional
media.
Democrats need to recognize that it is impossible to win votes by
improving voters’ lives, when your opponent has a national rage machine
it can toggle on or off at will. We will see the next iteration of this game
soon enough, when the right switches to praising the precise economy
they blasted for years, likely spiking economic satisfaction through the
roof. This capacity — dominating media and social media, and its power to
shape public opinion — has been the obsessive focus of the right for
years. Democrats have almost completely ignored these questions in
favor of wonky policy and kitchen-table economics. If the party continues
to ignore this problem, it courts oblivion. Democrats must find a way to
make headway in modern media, and wrest more control of the national
information environment from Trump and his band of thugs.
‘Democrats must return to being the party that a majority of voters
believes to be saner’
BY MATT BENNETT
Matt Bennett is co-founder and executive vice president of public affairs
at Third Way.
Let’s start with where Democrats should NOT go. We should not blame
Vice President Kamala Harris or her campaign. Given the underlying
challenges with the Democratic brand, Joe Biden’s unpopularity, the
compressed time frame, some hangover from the 2020 primaries, and the
need to be the “change” candidate, her task in retrospect looks like it was
impossible. Blaming her or her team is wrong and myopic, and it elides the
reckoning we must face — Democrats have lost a staggering amount of
support across almost every demographic group. We must find a way to
turn that around.
To do so, we must make sure our focus is our generational challenge:
defeating right-wing populism. A century of global history makes clear
that right-wing populists cannot be beaten with left-wing populism.
Rather, you take on the right-wing demagogues and authoritarians
through the center. That means Democrats must return to being the party
that a majority of voters believes to be saner, more reasonable, more
patriotic and more in touch with their lives.
Democrats won’t get there without letting go of some stale and spurious
conventional wisdom about our politics. Demography is not destiny — no
“rising American electorate” of people of color and young voters is
coming to save us. Mobilizing low-propensity voters is not a viable
campaign plan. You can’t build a winning coalition with college-educated
voters alone. And we must avoid what the commentator Ruy Teixeira has
dubbed the “Fox News Fallacy”: Issues like immigration and crime can be
both inflated by right-wing media and be real and rational concerns for a
lot of voters outside the MAGA base. And despite all the cruelty and
bigotry of the Trump campaign, we cannot view the whole of Trump’s
support solely through the lens of racism, misogyny and ignorance.
Voters are telling us something vital about what matters to them: We had
better listen carefully.
‘Reimagine, recommit, and revolt’
BY JEFF JOHNSON
Jeff Johnson is chair of Vote to Live and managing director of Actum LLC.
It’s time for the Black electorate, hell all of America, to launch a revolution
in how we choose and hold our leaders accountable. We must revolt
against a system that treats politics as a career ladder rather than a
platform for change. Our leaders must see power not as an end, but as a
means to transform lives by prioritizing work, wages, and wealth for all
Americans. Electing leaders with these values is not a lofty dream; it’s
essential for a prosperous, equitable future. Let us discard the old metrics
that defend concentrated wealth at the expense of opportunity. When we
choose to uplift everyone, we multiply potential, foster legacy, and create
a nation built on shared prosperity. Now is the moment to reimagine,
recommit, and revolt — together, we can forge a better future.
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[443853] [443860] [443863] [443869] [443872] [443932] [443944] [443948] [443965] [443966] [443976] [443981] [443877] [443910] |
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443853 |
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Date: November 07, 2024 at 12:43:09
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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i reiterate...rump got elected because dumbasses such as yourself voted for him...thank god for hotel wifi, non? lol...
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[443860] [443863] [443869] [443872] [443932] [443944] [443948] [443965] [443966] [443976] [443981] [443877] [443910] |
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443860 |
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Date: November 07, 2024 at 14:08:31
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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always appreciate your well thought out responses lol
perhaps you should read some of the many articles on what liberal
democrats not overcome with hatred for trump have to say about went so
wrong this election cycle. kinda dumb to blame the voters when trump
actually won the popular vote. this wasn’t a few dumbasses but an
american people frustrated with the way our nation is headed
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Responses:
[443863] [443869] [443872] [443932] [443944] [443948] [443965] [443966] [443976] [443981] [443877] [443910] |
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443863 |
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Date: November 07, 2024 at 14:15:49
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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how about this...actually go out and talk to actual
people, or do they allow you that yet?
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Responses:
[443869] [443872] [443932] [443944] [443948] [443965] [443966] [443976] [443981] [443877] [443910] |
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443869 |
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Date: November 07, 2024 at 15:18:13
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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how is it that after the election showed how out of touch you have been
you still stick to the same tacky insult? did it surprise you that in kern
county california’s kamala harris was 7 points lower than biden? why
didn’t talking to people in your own country help you see this coming?
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[443872] [443932] [443944] [443948] [443965] [443966] [443976] [443981] [443877] [443910] |
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443872 |
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Date: November 07, 2024 at 16:17:44
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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We knew that was coming because they have redistricted
this county. That's why I was phone banking for
congressional seats outside the county where they
shifted many of our blue votes. Of course you wouldn't
know that, because you are not here.
You do not sound "in touch" here with real people, only
talking heads and points fed to you by the media you
rely on. You still don't know what real people think,
only what the sites you follow say they think
interpretted for you by others. You sound owned.
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[443932] [443944] [443948] [443965] [443966] [443976] [443981] [443877] [443910] |
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443932 |
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Date: November 08, 2024 at 21:19:50
From: Vincent , [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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Exactly how do you redistrict a county such that it impacts the race for
POTUS? Wouldn’t redistricting only apply to board seats within the county
and congressional districts across county lines within the state? Most
counties across the country saw a shift towards Trump from the 2020
results.
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[443944] [443948] [443965] [443966] [443976] [443981] |
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443944 |
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Date: November 09, 2024 at 10:51:19
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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it's how they report the votes, by "district".
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[443948] [443965] [443966] [443976] [443981] |
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443948 |
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Date: November 09, 2024 at 11:39:08
From: Vincent, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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In my part of California they report county by county.
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[443965] [443966] [443976] [443981] |
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443965 |
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Date: November 10, 2024 at 08:11:26
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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they changed our district this last year, which caused
great confusion as to exactly what district we were even
in, what congressperson was running here, etc.
Some of the districts are a "county"...and they probably
didn't touch yours. Ours got changed.
Frankly, I'd be fine with all "county" districts. It
would simply things.
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443966 |
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Date: November 10, 2024 at 08:12:14
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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again talking out of your ass as if you were here.
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[443976] [443981] |
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443976 |
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Date: November 10, 2024 at 09:08:26
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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hon, I don't even know if you're a real person at this
point.
It seems to me you just want to use this to gloat or
something, or poke the "libs" or whatever it is you were
instructed to do.
I think you call that "trolling"?? lol.
Enjoy it while it lasts, soon reality will hit even you
that you really didn't understand what you just bought.
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443981 |
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Date: November 10, 2024 at 10:05:56
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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last i saw him, he was wobbling down the street with a boot firmly wedged in his rumpian bot ass...
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443877 |
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Date: November 07, 2024 at 17:06:01
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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can you explain why i’m the one out of touch after what happened
tuesday?
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[443910] |
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443910 |
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Date: November 08, 2024 at 10:58:25
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: 10 Democratic Thinkers on What the Party Needs Right Now |
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lol... yeah, I have to say that's really twisted.
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