Great explainer as usual! The problem is obvious to anyone willing to pay attention. My focus is turning to how we can influence the Democratic Party to wake up. Prior to 2016, I was a registered independent until I joined the party so I could caucus for Bernie. But since then I "fell in line" to support Dems no matter what to try to prevent Trump and MAGA from gaining power again. No more of that for me. I've canceled my small monthly donations to the DNC and DLCC and have shifted those donations (and added more) to Berine's Our Revolution, AOC, and the Working Families Party. But all of this doesn't come close to feeling like it is enough. I would love to hear other ideas from this community on how we can voice our concerns and influence the Dems to come to their senses. How can we combine our voices and multiply our influence?
The only answer is to create independent structures that pressure Democrats while creating infrastructure to forward an alternative if that pressure isn’t met with reform.
In a way that is what I'm trying to do with where my donations are going now, with Bernie's organizations and AOC kinda in the role of pressuring Dems and then supporting the Working Family Party as more of an alternative infrastructure. I guess for me, simply donating to these folks doesn't feel like it is enough but I'm not sure how else I can get involved.
To this community, if you aren't aware of the Working Families Party (https://workingfamilies.org/) I believe their work and for lack of a better word, ideology is in line with much of what Jared talks about. I urge other folks to check them out and support them if you feel inclined.
About the WFP:
We believe that no matter where we come from or what our color, most of us want the same things. We want to earn enough to thrive, not just survive, and leave a better future for our kids. We want healthy food and clean water, safe neighborhoods and a safe world. We want to be free.
But the richest people on Earth — and the political insiders who serve them — have rigged the rules of our economy and our democracy to grab up wealth and power for themselves. They have defunded our schools, undermined community services, and stripped working people of the right to organize into unions. And then they blame poor people or people of different races or different places — aiming to divide us and distract us from what we have in common.
The Working Families Party is regular people coming together across our differences to make a better future for us all. We’re a multiracial party that fights for workers over bosses and people over the powerful. We want an America which realizes the promise – unrealized in our history – of freedom and equality for all.
The amount of resources available is completely off kilter. The "big money boys" are going to shut down any group that figures out how to effectively message what is really going on. The time for civil disobedience is long past.
There are so many similarities in this article to the Australian Labor party. Here we are watching them lose the next election to a right wing fanatic in real time.
If you look at some of the more socially progressive countries like Denmark or Finland, you can immediately tell that is not what the DNC was selling. It was more of a GOP 'lite'. It really is a shame because she had an audience.
Has the Democratic Party moved to the right since 1980? According to this post (https://musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/a-graveyard-of-bad-election-narratives) the Democratic Party platform shifted aggressively to the left after 2008. The post includes a great image that illustrates what happened in recent cycles.
Great explainer as usual! The problem is obvious to anyone willing to pay attention. My focus is turning to how we can influence the Democratic Party to wake up. Prior to 2016, I was a registered independent until I joined the party so I could caucus for Bernie. But since then I "fell in line" to support Dems no matter what to try to prevent Trump and MAGA from gaining power again. No more of that for me. I've canceled my small monthly donations to the DNC and DLCC and have shifted those donations (and added more) to Berine's Our Revolution, AOC, and the Working Families Party. But all of this doesn't come close to feeling like it is enough. I would love to hear other ideas from this community on how we can voice our concerns and influence the Dems to come to their senses. How can we combine our voices and multiply our influence?
The only answer is to create independent structures that pressure Democrats while creating infrastructure to forward an alternative if that pressure isn’t met with reform.
In a way that is what I'm trying to do with where my donations are going now, with Bernie's organizations and AOC kinda in the role of pressuring Dems and then supporting the Working Family Party as more of an alternative infrastructure. I guess for me, simply donating to these folks doesn't feel like it is enough but I'm not sure how else I can get involved.
To this community, if you aren't aware of the Working Families Party (https://workingfamilies.org/) I believe their work and for lack of a better word, ideology is in line with much of what Jared talks about. I urge other folks to check them out and support them if you feel inclined.
About the WFP:
We believe that no matter where we come from or what our color, most of us want the same things. We want to earn enough to thrive, not just survive, and leave a better future for our kids. We want healthy food and clean water, safe neighborhoods and a safe world. We want to be free.
But the richest people on Earth — and the political insiders who serve them — have rigged the rules of our economy and our democracy to grab up wealth and power for themselves. They have defunded our schools, undermined community services, and stripped working people of the right to organize into unions. And then they blame poor people or people of different races or different places — aiming to divide us and distract us from what we have in common.
The Working Families Party is regular people coming together across our differences to make a better future for us all. We’re a multiracial party that fights for workers over bosses and people over the powerful. We want an America which realizes the promise – unrealized in our history – of freedom and equality for all.
I agree, let’s get down to economic basics and people know about their collective screwing at the hands of the big money boys.
The amount of resources available is completely off kilter. The "big money boys" are going to shut down any group that figures out how to effectively message what is really going on. The time for civil disobedience is long past.
There are so many similarities in this article to the Australian Labor party. Here we are watching them lose the next election to a right wing fanatic in real time.
PSA: don’t watch the Pod Save America episode on a full stomach.
If you look at some of the more socially progressive countries like Denmark or Finland, you can immediately tell that is not what the DNC was selling. It was more of a GOP 'lite'. It really is a shame because she had an audience.
Has the Democratic Party moved to the right since 1980? According to this post (https://musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/a-graveyard-of-bad-election-narratives) the Democratic Party platform shifted aggressively to the left after 2008. The post includes a great image that illustrates what happened in recent cycles.
Mediocrity versus evil is a win for evil every time.