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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI got to say I resent being painted as some kind of backwards rube...
I got to say I resent being painted as some kind of backwards rube...over and over since Amy K came out standing in the snow....they keep saying Progressives are too radical for the MidWest..they most certainly are NOT. Granted we are not NY or CA...but it is 2019 not 1950..all the DEMS I know are in love with AOC and all the progressive policies...(I am 67 years of age, and an old Berkeley hippie)..and Trump didn't win WI...they cheated...
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marylandblue
(12,344 posts)Trump is not a traditional conservative and traditional progressivism will not defeat him. Rather it will be a new caolition of social progressives, economic progressives and disgusted moderates The Midwest will be part of the new coalition if the candidate speaks to their issues, regardless of whether the media dubs that person "too radical" or not.
LongtimeAZDem
(4,494 posts)
zentrum
(9,865 posts)...will dub them as "too radical". The MSM is there to drum up corporate dollars and progressives threaten that by advocating progressive taxes, social justice, etc. etc etc.
yardwork
(61,588 posts)Neither traditional progressivism nor traditional conservatism resonate any longer.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,173 posts)Yes, I think the country is ready for ideas and candidates that are of this new coalition you described. I just hope Nancy and Chuck and others in comfortable positions realize this too. Pelosi has already publicly scoffed at the "Green New Deal". And she and Chuck are hedging their bets on impeachment as well. Because I think long established politicians , of either party, are wary of change, they convince themselves that the populace isn't ready because they deep down know they will have to also change and work different and maybe lose some corporate support to join this new bold army.
But I also think the pubic IS ready for new ideas. Look at Trump! Sure there was a lot of cheating to win, but there were reasons that he even got to such a level of popularity. Part of that was that they saw someone that didn't give a fuck about the "norm". Or rules, or decorum. To many, he at least sounded like he was going to change something. Leap frog over Washington bureaucracy and red tape and even if it sounded impossible, many were convinced by his sheer confidence (psychotic confidence though). Leadership needs to see the light and start embracing instead of marginalizing the new progressives, and that includes Bernie Sanders. Because that wing of the party is only growing. And its not going away. Climate change will make sure of that. So get on board or reduce the party into a squabbling mess.
JudyM
(29,225 posts)on as a party. There are differences among us, but we need to blare repeatedly that we are anti-government corruption and pro-social. We have to let go of conflicts of interests in order to clearly distinguish our party and move forward.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)They destroyed old assumptions and brought their parties along with them. Each of them had been preceded by a President from the other party who tried to deal with the major issues of the day, but were unequal to the task.
I think we are on the brink of a new political era now, but we have trouble seeing it because we are so used to the assumptions of the Reagan era.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)
loyalsister
(13,390 posts)We have known about climate change for decades and Boomers and Gen Xers failed to address it with policy and needed cultural shift. It's time for us to move over and let the millennials take over. Climate change is here. They have their eyes on figuring out how to live through it and beyond, as we continuously repeat the same arguments and make the same mistakes over and over again. How many of our legislators were in government as we dealt with the fall out from 80s trickle down economics? So many are still there and haven't figured out how to stop compromising and fully abandon the ideology that priritizes profits over people.
AOC and the younger presidential candidates are ready to take charge and I think it's time we move over and let them lead with the support, wisdom, and advice from party elders.
CrispyQ
(36,457 posts)What part of this do you disagree with?
A Day in the Life of Joe Conservative
And they never respond. Never. 
on edit: The right/republicans have control of the narrative & the left/dems have let them.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,321 posts)Hadn't read that before.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,106 posts)Thom Hartmann has been reading this on his radio show for years. It is more true today than ever.
calimary
(81,209 posts)Glad it’s making a comeback.
certainot
(9,090 posts)example of that - walker's first emails showed close regular coordination with RW talk radio stations and con blowhards like charlie sykes(maybe the second batch too - does anyone know if there was a one source compiled searchable version?)
and in madison WIBA was flying the badgers banners to attract advertisers to pay for their constant attacks and lying on dems, liberals.....see post below....
the same pattern has repeated all over the country, with 88 major universities supporting 260 limbaugh stations, for 30 years
ananda
(28,858 posts)nt
Greybnk48
(10,167 posts)they cheated. I love to hear it because it's absolutely true.
We need to abolish the gerrymander that's in place (broken record), and you will see WI rise up! We need fair elections to change the State legislators.
llmart
(15,536 posts)I will go to my grave saying that. This state was gerrymandered too. We just passed a proposal in the midterms to end gerrymandering.
yardwork
(61,588 posts)
scarytomcat
(1,706 posts)he flat did not win
Greybnk48
(10,167 posts)Greybnk48
(10,167 posts)but I'm worried it's not going to happen without an intervention.
Good for Michigan!
BN1914
(39 posts)"Free and fair elections", am I right? 
calimary
(81,209 posts)He cheated with help from a Hostile Foreign Power. A Hostile Foreign Power that is NOT our friend and does NOT want to be our friend.
W must NEVER forget that!
And he also didn’t win Oregon. OR Washington State either.
riversedge
(70,186 posts)
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)The waters have been muddied by "concerned, DLC-types" who still believe Republican-lite is the way to win elections. 
shanny
(6,709 posts)we have to choose someone who has electability. Seems to me we did that, in 2004 and 2016, over others who were further to the left (and more exciting, at least to me) and look where it got us.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)...but neither excited the base, because BOTH were wishy-washy on reversing the economic trajectory put in place after 1981.
shanny
(6,709 posts)
radius777
(3,635 posts)with moderate messaging.. it has more to do w/charisma and political skills .. Kerry/Gore/Hillary lacked such 'rockstar' traits.
Note that 'the base' of the modern Dem party are not limited to leftists or populists (most of whom are white), but are heavily PoC, women, immigrants etc and metro area voters (cities and suburbs) - many of whom are ideologically centrist.
JohnnyRingo
(18,624 posts)But the further left or right one is, the less company they have.
Fla Dem
(23,649 posts)you think we (DU) think you're a rube.
jodymarie aimee
(3,975 posts)the TV set....not you guys....
Joe Nation
(962 posts)He is just as dumb as any other puppet they've elected but without the restraints of the strings that normally hold back the worst impulses of these inhuman psychopaths. His only motivations are the narcissistic voices in his head and the nescient class of rubes and knuckle-draggers that support him.
geardaddy
(24,926 posts)I mean we elected the first Muslim in Congress and the first Somali in Congress.
Granted, Minnesota has had some real right wing creeps, but what about our great legacy of liberal stalwarts like Humphrey, Gene McCarthy, Paul Wellstone
? Hell, we even had Gus Hall.
dflprincess
(28,075 posts)(or Franken, Floyd B. Olson, and Elmer Benson, to add a few to your list).
She would never take the kind of chances Humphrey did at the 1946 Democratic National Convention, or the one McCarthy did when he challenged the incumbant president of his own party - whose vice president was Humphrey.
She will avoid taking any position that might be controversial or rock the boat.
geardaddy
(24,926 posts)She does not belong in the same class. They were true progressives.
BN1914
(39 posts)Conversely, I've met many, many working-class people who DESPISE Trump - men and women, urban and rural, college-educated and not college-educated, old and young, white and PoC.
The stereotypes may have some basis in fact, but they're BY NO MEANS universal.
Thanks for this thread.
yardwork
(61,588 posts)Lonestarblue
(9,971 posts)The excesses of the wealthy and rampant speculation helped to bring about the Great Depression. Over three+ terms, FDR was able to ward off the power and influence of the wealthy plutocrats of his day to enact legislation that benefitted the poor and the average person rather than the rich. What followed, helped along by post-war demand, was an era of prosperity that served us well for decades. We still had much poverty, but social safety net programs helped.
Pushed by the wealthy once more, Republicans have succeeded in dismantling many of the protections put into place to prevent financial meltdowns, leading to the Great Recession, as well as gutting the very tax policies that helped the country reduce poverty and invest in technology and infrastructure. Republicans have once again enacted policies that transfwr the lion’s share of the country’s wealth to the ultra rich, thus ensuring that there is no money left to invest in our own country.
Democrats need to remind people of the reasons for that past success and bring forward ideas for doing just that. I think progressives like AOC and her cohorts are helping to do just that by shaking up complacency and insisting that making changes incrementally at a snail’s pace is not working for far too many people. Not all their ideas will be feasible, but at least they have ideas.
the_sly_pig
(741 posts)Consistently votes democratic in important elections , more apart of Canada than the “Midwest”. I am sick and tired of our State being lumped in with the likes of Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and the Dakotas.
This Minnesotan looks at what’s happening in surrounding states and has been wondering WTF for the last 15 years.
We’re not the breadbasket of the U.S., we’re your friggen water supply and we voted for Hillary.
PatSeg
(47,397 posts)are the issues that affect the average person today. Healthcare, education, declining wages, etc. are important no matter where you live. These aren't necessarily "progressive" issues, they are vital human issues that concern people regardless of party or location. There is a reason that FDR appealed to people all over the country.
jodymarie aimee
(3,975 posts)when a party cheers for taking away health ins you see how nuts they have become..there is nothing radical about the New Deal..I just heard Cory Booker on TV from a rally and the pundit said he was playing the middle...he WAS...he said he doesn't know if he is for unicorns and rainbows...when our guys talk like this they are giving in to the R narrative...We are not promoting crazy pie in the sky ideas, we are progressive..we'd like to stick to the New Deal and bring it into the century we are in.
In WI we have progressives and nutjobs...it is as easy as that...I know no Independents...in the last decade anyone saying they are an Independent here is just embarrassed to admit they are Rs.
PatSeg
(47,397 posts)when they started allowing republicans to control the narrative. They need to study the Franklin Roosevelt administration and put republicans on the defense. We end up putting so much energy into being defensive, our message gets lost. Also Democratic politicians over explain and apologize excessively. To many voters, this is perceived as weakness and possible dishonesty.
Democrats have great policies, we just need to learn how to communicate them without coming across as confusing or condescending.
jodymarie aimee
(3,975 posts)so years ago all the counties came to our HQ for tips...we educated them...one guy, I will never forget this...suggested a series of signs...remember in the 40s when they advertised something maybe 4 or 5 signs in a row that continued a message..we said we got MORE words than we need now...nobody is gonna stop a car in the countryside and read tons of words... we laughed him out of the office !!
The Rs always come up with the winning short slogans...pro life...like we are pro death.....
PatSeg
(47,397 posts)I remember the Burma Shave road signs. A brilliant idea at the time.
Republicans have used masterful spin doctors to come up with words and slogans that caught on, but were terribly dishonest - "Right to work state", "death tax", "pro abortion" rather than pro choice, "Clear Skies Initiative", etc. They made the word "liberal" diabolical and Nancy Pelosi an evil demon from San Francisco, a city that was obviously a communist hell on earth. They threw around "special interests" as if conservation groups were akin to Exxon or Monsanto.
As Frank Luntz says, "Its not what you say, it is what they hear".
We not only need better messaging, we need better communicators. Bill Clinton was extraordinary, as is Joe Biden. They both connect with people from all walks of life.
jodymarie aimee
(3,975 posts)she is a straight shooter...the beer deal and DNA were blips and the Rs are making her out to be a mass murderer for them.
and of course both Obamas..when Michelle said she had been ashamed of our country she was spot on.... they don't play the media PR games...and Teddy Kennedy and Michael Eric Dysen...but I fear he is too brilliant for all the people all the time !!
PatSeg
(47,397 posts)and try and turn into some kind of scandal, which is hilarious being there are so many real scandals in their party. If they can't find something, they'll just make one up. By the time the lie is revealed, it will have already been implanted in the minds of many voters.
jodymarie aimee
(3,975 posts)bright folks are mocking her beer spot...people who know better..
PatSeg
(47,397 posts)It drives me nuts, because that means that CNN and MSNBC are treating Fox as a legitimate news organization. Every time a non-story or a lie is repeated, even if in the context of criticism, it becomes more real.
CNN and MSNBC are both guilty of giving too much time to the Warren Native American story at a time when there were some very real and relevant stories out there. Trump, republicans, and Fox News got the story going and legitimate news programs picked it up and successfully blew it up out of proportion. We saw far too much of this during the 2016 campaign.
certainot
(9,090 posts)wisconsin is a talk radio state and a prime eg of the absurdity of the left's ignorance of a major medium because it hurts intelligent people's heads when they listen to it.
scott walker's first email dump had at least 10 references to he and his staff coordinating with/using major wisconsin talk radio hacks like charlie sykes yet he can go on MSNBC regularly and i doubt anyone has ever asked him about that.
republicans didn't have to heed protests at the capitol - WIBA, right in madison was yelling over the protestors. a few jerks on that and all the other rw stations in wisconsin attacked the protestors and lied about their motives all day long. and WIBA was flying the badgers banner while it was doing it! national blowhards like limbaugh also supported walkers like that
progressives in wisconsin even let the university of wisconsin broadcast sports on 5 limbaugh stations and 2 or 3 hannity stations without comnplaint - a simple discussion of the stupidity of letting UW endorse those stations while they deny global warming and try to defund public education would send poli talk radio advertisers scurrying and cause many of those stations to look for alt programming - a major win for dems
jodymarie aimee
(3,975 posts)every single word..FOX TV is sophisticated compared to our Darkside Radio...and that is all we have in Central WI...if you listened to any of the callers you would vomit...
certainot
(9,090 posts)they can't get through the call screeners there (the few calls they let through are from think tanks here and probably in russia too) for years of trying so they take it out by calling into the local shows where they make sure everyone's on the saame page. even if the local blowhard disagrees or knows the facts he knows he has to at least hold his tongue. most of the local blowhards who disagree with or challenge the national blowhards don't last very long.
while it was limbaugh and sons who sold the 'political correctness' labeling of people who criticized racists, misogynists, etc, that talk radio monopoly is actually the biggest political correctness cop in every state
bobbieinok
(12,858 posts)In Germany in the 1st half of the 19th century there was an ever-growing movement for greater political freedom and openness in the various German states. These various movements culminated in the revolutions of 1848-49.
The governments fought back harshly,and many of the revolutionaries escaped to the US, settling in midwestern states that already had many German settlers.
Carl Schurz was one of the immigrants. He joined the new Republican party and fought in the American Civil War. He became a Senator from MO and later Secretary of the Interior in the administration of Rutherford B Hayes.
Claritie Pixie
(2,199 posts)They win when we allow their name-calling to get under our skin. We win when we laugh at them and keep going.
jodymarie aimee
(3,975 posts)But the media put Trump where he is...
Claritie Pixie
(2,199 posts)
lovemydogs
(575 posts)I live in a working class small city, Rockford.
There are rubes here. And there are red hats here.
And Centrists
But, there are many progressive democrats and I am 62
doompatrol39
(428 posts)...to me, it's the Very Sensible™ types who are the most guilty of this every time they justify every shitty move by every shitty Democratic "centrist" by saying "Oh, that's the best we can hope for in that town/state/county/region/etc.". It's dismissive as hell, and insults Democrats from that area.
Of course the Very Sensible™ types have a distinct agenda in pushing that notion, but that's another story altogether.
Response to jodymarie aimee (Original post)
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Tink41
(537 posts)Those are the ages of relatives who phoned me about AOC. The 81 yr old has gotten more progressive as he ages!!! My Local Union page "everyone but Trump supporters" are onboard the train.
jodymarie aimee
(3,975 posts)this is wonderful...as we age we get more impatient...things are taking WAY too long..no more of this pendulum shit...we make progress and keep it, period.
It pains me when a state passes a higher min wage and then say it will be in effect in 5 years...WTF? We need it now..
Lefta Dissenter
(6,622 posts)Let’s have Bob LaFollette and Russ Feingold set them straight.
It’s ok. WE know our value and our values. 
Stonepounder
(4,033 posts)I live in KY. Yeah, we have the GOP in charge of our legislature. You can thank gerrymandering for that. Up until the last election, KY normally had a (D) next to the Gov, Lt. Gov, and AG.
I'm 70 and also consider myself an old hippie. And the Dems I know are also progressives. We may not win the state for whoever the Dem nominee is, but every single Dem vote is a step in the right direction. We also have a good potential candidate to run against the Turtle in 2020.
KY is typical, in that (R)'s control the rural areas and (D) are in the urban areas. But, we are getting bigger and bigger populations in the Urban areas here, so somewhere down the road we will manage to turn KY Blue!
flying_wahini
(6,589 posts)
Oneironaut
(5,492 posts)Minneapolis is an extremely Liberal city.
