Sometimes it is difficult to be devoted to a party that purports to share your values. But then you remember it is not about you nor those who corrupt said party but everyday people. And there are more of them who believe in our Democratic values.
The stars are aligned for a gargantuan Democratic win in 2020. It requires a unified message that promotes achievable policies that make lives better. The current crop of Progressive candidates are doing an excellent job of communicating that message and that is why they are the ones getting the most traction. These candidates and their policies are polling very well.
DailyKos’ Kerry Eleveld wrote a must-read piece excerpted below. Read the entire piece and then fight like hell for that Progressive candidate you want who represents the values of most of us and who realizes that our political and economic system is rigged from the center to the adjacent rails, right and left. We must get beyond the bounding rails to reach the people and make them full participants in our Democracy.
Rich Democratic donors, party establishment fret about decreased control over the primary
Few things were more galling to me this week than reading a New York Times piece in which uppity Democratic donors and establishment types survey the 2020 field and wonder, “Is there anybody else?”
What they really mean is: Is there a surer bet than Joe Biden to whom they can funnel money with assurances of getting a solidly pro-Wall Street, pro-Washington Democratic nominee?
“Since the last debate, just anecdotally, I’ve had five or six people ask me: ‘Is there anybody else?’” Leah Daughtry, who has run two of the party’s recent conventions, told the Times. For context, Daughtry is a reverend who doesn’t exactly have the most progressive background. She played a central role in Howard Dean’s mid-aughts plan to inject more “faith” into the Democratic party back when some Democrats believed peeling off a small slice of evangelicals from Republicans was the holy grail of electoral politics. In a 2008-era deposition, Daughtry also defined marriage as being between “one man and one woman.” So she’s a party insider who generally leans conservative unless she’s gone through some radical transformation.
So-called establishment Democrats—high-dollar donors and party insiders—reportedly have issues with basically all the top candidates. Vice President Joe Biden, who would surely be their top choice, isn’t performing well enough in either the debates or fundraising. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is too lefty, they say, to win the general election (not to mention the fact that the animating feature of her campaign is crushing the corrupting influence of money in politics). South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s base of support is simply too white (that’s actually true) and they worry he won’t be able to appeal more broadly to Democrats’ all-important base of voters of color. They apparently didn’t bother skewering Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; perhaps the idea of nominating a democratic socialist was just too unthinkable.
But the fact of the matter is, these are the candidates that have either risen to the top or maintained a level of front-runner status at this stage of the campaign. It’s not like there haven’t been an array of options—women, men, people of color and differing sexual orientation, East Coasters, Left Coasters, folks from the heartland. It’s all been there. But the special establishment snowflakes still aren’t satisfied. Who, you ask, might excite them? Maybe beloved Michelle Obama or staunchly pro-union Midwesterner Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. How about another billionaire, Michael Bloomberg? Or, I kid you not, the very person who was leading the polls the last time the Democratic establishment fretted over the field in 2016: Hillary Clinton. Nothing against Clinton, but consider the logic here: Last go round she was a source of concern but suddenly this time she’s a savior? Seriously, who are these jokers? [More]
Many are attempting to instill fear in an attempt to coerce support for less-than-optimum or effective centrist policies. They want to will bad policies that continue the empowerment and enrichment of a few. We must not allow this again. Just remember insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.