Willie Pep
Willie Pep's JournalTrying to convince Republicans that Medicare and Social Security are in danger
I have mentioned this in a few threads but I have been trying to convince the Republicans I know that Medicare and Social Security are in serious danger of being cut or "reformed" into oblivion. Republican tax cuts will increase the deficit and the GOP will then bring entitlement reform to the table using the exploding deficit as the rationale. They will scare people with claims that the government will go bankrupt and that we need to make "tough choices" or we will go broke.
The responses I have received so far are:
1. The Republicans will never touch Medicare and Social Security because these programs are too popular. Entitlement reforms will target programs for the poor and these people deserve to have their programs cut because they encourage laziness, fraud, etc.
2. The Republican tax cuts will produce so much economic growth that they will pay for themselves so there will be no need to cut Medicare and Social Security.
I am surprised by how much pushback I am getting. Honestly, none of the Republicans I know believe that Medicare or Social Security will be cut. Have any of you encountered similar opinions? How do you deal with them?
A journey through a land of extreme poverty: welcome to America
Pretty depressing but important article from The Guardian on extreme poverty in the United States.
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/15/america-extreme-poverty-un-special-rapporteur
Alabama proves that turnout is everything
I saw this tidbit on a blog post regarding the special election in Alabama. The piece is entitled "10 Thoughts After the Alabama Senate Election."
Full article: https://www.insideelections.com/news/article/10-thoughts-after-the-alabama-senate-election
35 percent is still pretty abysmal but I think this shows that even somewhat higher turnout can really improve our chances of winning. Nonvoters are more likely to be poorer and non-white, the demographics that are likely to vote for Democrats if they vote. We can even win in red states if we put a lot of effort into voter registration and GOTV campaigns. The Republicans know this hence their constant attempts to suppress voting rights.
Doug Jones's Victory Shows Why Democrats Must Compete Everywhere
I thought this was a good article on Doug Jones's victory over Moore and the lessons that the Democratic Party should learn. Here is a good excerpt:
Full article: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/joness-victory-shows-why-democrats-must-compete-everywhere.html
This is why we need a 50-state strategy. We have to contest every race even if it is for seemingly minor local offices because that is how you build up a presence in a community and develop relationships with voters.
Was Franken thinking about running in 2020?
Was Franken thinking about running in 2020? I ask this because I thought he was one of the strongest possible opponents for Trump in 2020. Franken is from the Midwest, a crucial region filled with swing states that Clinton narrowly lost and a Democrat could win again. Franken also had the verbal chops to go toe-to-toe with Trump since like Trump he was an entertainer and used to talking in front of cameras. I could see Franken coming up with funny jabs at Trump during the debates.
I think we just lost one of our strongest possible candidates for 2020.
"Both parties are the same" and Franken
This will be another meme that comes from this tragedy. It is totally false as Trump supporters proudly wore shirts with his "pussy grab" quote while even Franken's supporters at least called for an ethics investigation and did not treat the accusations as a total joke like Republicans did with Trump.
But will the media make this important distinction? No. Much of the population already hates both parties and thinks they are the same and this will just help to further this idea in the minds of Americans. I am worried that we will have lower turnout for 2018 because of this which will hurt us and help the Republicans.
What the Republicans will learn from the Franken debacle.
Franken's resignation means the following to Republicans and Republican operatives:
1. That accusations of sexual harassment can end the career of a Democratic politician but not a Republican politician, meaning that the Democrats have a major weak spot that Republicans don't have.
2. That Democrats will cave in and throw other Democrats under the bus without even demanding an ethics investigation first so that trial by media is enough to produce a resignation.
3. That the intense media coverage of sex scandals will distract the media and much of the public from bad GOP policy such as the tax bill given that sex issues are more exciting and juicy than dry policy debates like tax cuts.
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Member since: Sun Oct 16, 2016, 06:41 PMNumber of posts: 841
