General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why Hasn't The American Left Convinced More Americans To Vote For More Progressive Candidates? [View all]treestar
(82,383 posts)Nobody can really prove they've done a lot of canvassing. California is a good start. It is a large state with a lot of votes. In a way the Senate is an unfair thing - California ends up with no more influence than Delaware.
To get the kind of change we want, with our system, we need those red states with two Senators but low populations. Somehow to find a way to get through to those people that progressive ideas are good. That is admittedly difficult, and much harder than the way they sit there and blame the President for not convincing them of that on his own. Like if his speeches were just more passionate, etc., if he just refused to compromise, then these people with disproportionate Senatorial power are just going to come over.
There are many posters here who "yawn" or get snarky about the President's "powerlessness" when we mention the reality of the Senate or the current House composition. We can have the most liberal President in the world, but we need the lower offices too. It turns out the voters don't make a hierarchy out of it. We don't have the Parliamentary system (which some days I think would be better for progressives, since most liberal programs once started are popular and people don't want to get rid of them - there is plenty of right wing angst on that - but in the US, we have a harder time getting them started).