why is it always harder for us to win? politics is bigotry writ large
on an individual level, it's always harder being in a discriminated class. sometimes it's obvious, sometimes not. but other people seem to get a head start. other people don't seem to have the obstacles you have. all the rules apply to you all the time, but other people seem to get exceptions. anytime there's a borderline call, you seem to lose the toss.
the democratic party is being treated like a discriminated class as the republican party has become more overtly the party of self-important privilege. consider this
- they hurl insults at us on a daily basis.
at our members, at our representatives, at our candidates. anything to remind us that we're second-class citizens. if we're even citizens at all.
- the throw the book at us.
hillary's sysadmin didn't update to the latest security patch? nine investigations! lock her up! for twenty-five years they've investigated the crap out of her over things that amount to maybe forgetting to dot the "i".
- it's never good enough.
obama gave us the longest expansion in history. nearly tripled the stock market. saved millions of lives through landmark health insurance legislation. are people treating him anything remotely like reagan? hardly. few people realize we had one of the best eight year runs our economy ever had. most people think obama wasn't great, or certainly wasn't good enough. and hillary, of course, the recriminations over the campaign! she was the most experienced candidate perhaps ever, and ahead in the polls nearly ever single day of the campaign. she had the better convention and won all the debates. but people still find ways to complain that she didn't run a good enough campaign.
- the put obstacles in our path.
gerrymandering, disenfranchisement, registration purges, fewer polling places in democratic precincts, unlimited corporate money, restrictions on unions, heavily right-wing biased media.
come november we will likely be polling 10% or better over republicans, but we will perhaps barely eek out a victory in the house. republicans might well keep the senate. if we win the senate it will be by only one seat.
got that? we win by 10% and that will translate into the tiniest of maybe victories. meanwhile, donnie came in second place by 3 million votes and became president.
it seems the democratic party faces much of what a woman or a member of a minority faces routinely. constant reminders that the system considers us second-class citizens. everybody's a stickler for rules against us. however hard we work, it's never good enough. and there always seems to be something stopping us or slowing us down when others just sail on by.
november is setting up to be epic for us. with a level playing field we'd be running the table. but that's not the system we have.
so before we get into a circular firing squad, before we set ourselves up for the usual complaining about who wasn't perfect enough, let's start directing our anger toward the system that doesn't treat us fairly in the first place.
we all need to stick together and support each other. the problem is republicans. the problem is the media. the problem is the rules of how campaigns are run. the problem is the way districts are gerrymandered. that's what we need to fight.
the system needs to change. we are democrats. we are an equal voice. we reject the notion of superiority based on gender or skin color or religion or ethnicity or sexual orientation. and we reject the insanity that has taken over the white house and washington.
we are americans.
we are taking back our country.
and we are winning in november.
