Why the Democratic leadership contest is urgent: It will shape the opposition to Trump

[DonViejo]

Keith Ellison and Tom Perez are both decent and progressive guys — but this is a crucial fight to save the party

PAUL ROSENBERG

For some, the race for Democratic National Committee chair is a huge distraction from the all-hands-on-deck situation facing liberals and the left. After all, Donald Trump is about to be sworn in as president, with a GOP-controlled Congress eager to work with him. In one sense such critics are right, as shown by how House Republicans swiftly backtracked from gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics in response to intense public outrage.

But there’s no escaping the fact that there is a race for the leadership of the Democratic Party, and it’s bound to have profound repercussions. Democrats were in a deep hole long before Trump came along. First in 1994 and then in 2010, Democrats suffered epic losses in Congress and state governments, after controlling the White House and Congress for two short years.

Those sweeping defeats betrayed a loss of historical identity: People no longer knew, with any certainty, just what the Democratic Party stood for. Successful leaders who defined themselves as “different” from past Democrats, other Democrats, or people’s preconceptions about Democrats — Bill Clinton being the paradigmatic example — only made this problem worse for those running down-ballot.

America’s in a deep hole too, with decades of income stagnation eroding its middle class, as donor-chasing Democrats increasingly fled from bedrock economic issues. Four decades of that gave us Donald Trump: He filled a vacuum, but he didn’t create it. So fighting him alone is a fool’s errand. The vacuum will still be there, even if Trump can be stopped. Who dares imagine what it will bring forth next?

more
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/06/why-the-democratic-leadership-contest-is-urgent-it-will-shape-the-opposition-to-trump/

[leanforward]

1. I like your last paragraph.

I agree with what you've written. What can be done with Jason Kander and the gentleman from Indiana? Back to the basics. I hope somehow, someone can illuminate on the issue of what little money the poor and middle Americans have goes right to the top 1-5%. Any box store or chain must either pay a living wage or cash back to the community for the cost of government.

The offshore revenue has to come on shore.

Let's equate corporate profits to excessive taxes. In government, taxes are revenue. Capitalism and the free market tax us a heck of a lot. Looking at the current imbalance of wealth, lets go back to our more progressive rates. You make the money, you pay for the privilege. You move a job offshore, for corporate efficiency, you pay that community of people a living wage in perpetuity.