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eniwetok

(1,629 posts)
29. I beg to differ, a bit...
Thu Feb 23, 2017, 06:30 PM
Feb 2017

"But we have to WIN under these rules so we can change them."

That's not what the Right did when it set out in the 70's to turn America into Amerika... they created Orwellian Right think tanks like Cato and Heritage to reframe political debates. They created the Federalist Society to politicize the judiciary. They created ALEC. They developed the Two Santa/Starve the Beast strategy to buy votes with irresponsible tax cuts then use debt to undermine the safety net. They sought to defund the Dems by going after unions and trial lawyers. They wanted to make the media less informative by getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine. True they could only enact some of these plans once in power... but the strategy was there.

Dems also need to think long term... and central to that is to finally have a long term vision of where they want to take the nation in 20-50 years. But Dems tend not to think past the next presidential election. If we want to move to a more democratic, multiparty system like most advanced industrial democracies... the ground work has to be laid.

I think that under our antidemocratic system... which is protected by a dysfunctional electoral system and a civic religion that not even most liberal Dems can break free of... making the US perhaps the most reformproof system on earth... there also has to be a long term strategy to lay the ground work for reform. A couple thoughts... there should be movements in states with citizen referenda to turn at least one branch of their state legislatures to proportional representation... so parties more liberal that the Dems can get seats not only to break the braindead duopoly of the two parties, but to model what democratic government can look like. Since the federal system is essentially reform proof where states with 4% of the US population can block any reforms, there should be a movement to change the amendment formula so it's population based. There also should be a movement not just for a affirmative constitutional right to vote, but for for civic equality in the vote as a basic civil right... by that I mean all votes weigh the same in terms of representation. This value SHOULD be so basic to anyone who calls themselves a Dem... and yet even most liberal Dems buy into our federal system where that right is destroyed by the concept of state suffrage.


Pop leftism is a form of disaster capitalism. [View all] forjusticethunders Feb 2017 OP
I agree. AJT Feb 2017 #1
I understand that the Social Democrats also opposed the Communists. David__77 Feb 2017 #2
"Welcome to the Machine" ymetca Feb 2017 #3
You're right, Bob Shrum. Stay the course! DefenseLawyer Feb 2017 #4
:D TransitJohn Feb 2017 #5
Green Party Derangement Disorder... eniwetok Feb 2017 #11
Aren't you doing the very same thing? kcr Feb 2017 #15
Are you saying that if Greens run... they are blaming Dems instead of system? eniwetok Feb 2017 #17
You work with the political system you have. forjusticethunders Feb 2017 #21
I beg to differ, a bit... eniwetok Feb 2017 #29
... and gerrymandering and voter suppression don't exist dammit!!! :rolleyes@DemsSuckCrew uponit7771 Feb 2017 #16
agreed.. JHan Feb 2017 #6
16 years of incrementalism zipplewrath Feb 2017 #7
TRANSLATION: Corporate Dems are OK... but not Progressives... eniwetok Feb 2017 #8
Seems a rather inaccurate translation predicated more on your own bias LanternWaste Feb 2017 #23
Republican voters are disciplined, angry and sometime hateful Blue_true Feb 2017 #9
the names you've mentioned don't really have much in common with one another. fishwax Feb 2017 #10
Gave you ur 5th rec. good op. Very thoughtful. boston bean Feb 2017 #12
Thank you, forjusticethunders.. Avoid them like the plague. Cha Feb 2017 #13
K&R Starry Messenger Feb 2017 #14
I see no lies. MrScorpio Feb 2017 #18
You forgot Tavis Smiley and Cornel West BumRushDaShow Feb 2017 #19
ahh Cornel West... JHan Feb 2017 #27
The question that needs to be ask is "is this person's income or wealth" forjusticethunders Feb 2017 #20
this is brilliant. sorry i missed it. La Lioness Priyanka Feb 2017 #22
K and R. It's time to wake up and smell the coffee. oasis Feb 2017 #24
KnR sheshe2 Feb 2017 #25
kick Blue_Tires Feb 2017 #26
If Bernie had won the presidency, they would be tearing his administration apart Yavin4 Feb 2017 #28
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