2020 Presidential Election

[dark_crystal]

Originally Posted by Martina

A lot of us on the left have a broader critique of mainstream Democrats than just our hatred of Clintons. Working people have been betrayed by corporatist Democrats, who contributed to our headlong rush into a society of extreme economic inequality. Without the challenge from the left, Democrats would still be singing their same old song.

There has not been any over correction. I was hearing that BS on NPR today. Today's left are espousing FDR brand policies. The world canted way to the right starting with Reagan. Sensible folk are pointing that out in order to create a more humane system.

I do care about defeating Trump, but I also care about the truth. The idea that the Democratic Party is too far to the left is a joke.

After Trump, these divisions will still be with us, and I am not going to pretend that the Dems have not massively betrayed this country for any single election, even 2020.

I don't think the Democratic party is too far to the left, my post was narrowly focused on why certain media and librarian progressives dismiss the Russian meddling.

There are a lot of things on the table for 2020 that would not even be in the air if Clinton had won.

We would be looking at Obamacare-with-lipstick-on for health care, rather than having a primary field where you have to support some form of single-payer. We would not even be talking about 70% tax rates on the wealthy. We would not be talking about redistribution at all.

I think all critiques of the yuppie wing of the Democratic party are valid.

I think those critiques are weakened when people are so invested in them that they ignore crimes just because the existence of those crimes challenges the critique narrative. That is what i see happening on Chapo Traphouse.

It's like the "tankie" (Tankie = member of a communist group or a "fellow traveller" (sympathiser) who believes fully in the political system of the Soviet Union and defends/defended the actions of the Soviet Union) phenomenon: tankies are so committed to communism that they ignore or defend atrocities because the existence of Soviet history puts a question mark on communism's virtues.

Anyway i was listening to Chapo Traphouse again this morning and they were having a lot of fun with the arrest of Roger Stone, so maybe their position is more nuanced that it seemed when i first heard them discuss it.

Also i do not know if i can promise to write in short declarative sentences. Brevity has never been a strength of mine.

[C0LLETTE]

The word "short" was never mine. I asked for "simple" declarative and fewer double negatives which bog me down. lol.

There's the line that Einstein probably never really uttered: " If you can't explain it simply, you probably don't understand it ".

On the other hand, one Nobel winner probably did say" "If it was simple to explain, I wouldn't have won a Nobel prize for it ".

[homoe]

Howard Schultz, Please Don’t Run for President...........




Really, what qualifications do you have besides being a decent businessman???????

[Martina]

Seriously, wasn't that out of left field? I wish he'd run in the Republican primary.

[CherylNYC]

Originally Posted by Martina

Seriously, wasn't that out of left field? I wish he'd run in the Republican primary.

My thoughts, exactly. Besides that he's a criminal and a traitor, Trump has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that a political neophyte has no place occupying the most powerful office in the world. A person needs to have some ideas about how our political system does and doesn't work. There's no room to learn as you go.

[dark_crystal]

I thought this was an excellent article. I wish that last sentence could be shouted from every rooftop.

Bernie’s Likely 2020 Bid Could Transform the Political Landscape, by Norman Solomon, Truthout

The likely Bernie Sanders campaign for president offers a boost and a challenge to progressives. From the outset, the campaign’s strength would largely depend on how much synergy develops with social movements on the ground. Much more than the presidency is at stake. A powerful mix of grassroots activism and electoral work could transform the country’s political landscape.

<snip>

While conflicts between election-focused campaigns and issue-focused activism may be inevitable, there’s great potential to make such tensions creative rather than destructive. During this decade, the trajectories of progressive election campaigns and progressive organizing have become more intertwined.

<snip>

But relations between electoral campaigns and social movements are frequently difficult, and tensions are bound to develop. “Bringing the vibrancy and democracy of activist movement culture to a political campaign is necessary but complicated,” Tori Osborn, a longtime progressive organizer who eventually ran for political office, told me. “Activist protest culture is spontaneous, often angry and wildly uncontrollable. Campaigns have to be rigorously disciplined and controllable.”

<snip>

Routine media coverage about “a blue wave” has obscured the deeper opportunities for “a progressive wave” that could drastically extend the boundaries of public discussion and political power. The default position for mass media is to define electoral conflicts in partisan Democrat-vs.-Republican terms, but a key task for grassroots progressive leadership in election battles is to develop community-based power to replace corporate power.

Overall, a Sanders 2020 campaign could be a powerful catalyst for creating a new political culture that nurtures activism as a year-long, every-year way of life for millions of people across boundaries of race, class and region. For a future of democracy instead of oligarchy, that political culture has got to include and transcend electoral work.

<snip>

As progressives weigh involvement in the Sanders campaign and many other 2020 races, the Democratic Party should be approached much like we approach the government itself — an entity capable of inflicting great harm on a systemic basis, while also capable of mitigating systemic harm and doing profound good in response to social movements.

[C0LLETTE]

Any opinions on Marianne Williamson running?

[homoe]

Originally Posted by homoe

Howard Schultz, Please Don’t Run for President...........




Really, what qualifications do you have besides being a decent businessman???????

Schultz was faced by protesters here in his home town of Seattle, with signs that said "Grande Ego" & "Venti Mistake" in regards to his possible run for president,while promoting his new book.