General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: we need a democratic tea part movement [View all]ehrnst
(32,640 posts)There was also gerrymandering that helped, but they weren't afraid to actually roll up their sleeves and do the boring, tedious work of actual politics.
They ran for school boards, county councils, statehouses - and they got policy changed from the ground up. They established a record of accomplishment and ran on it.
They didn't avoid soiling themselves with "politics as usual" and "establishment leadership" by staying away from the voting booth unless there was a candidate that totes made them feel "validated" with their "new blood."
They got out the vote, they did the unglamourous WORK that didn't get them attention on social media. They didn't bitch and moan that "unaffiliated" voters weren't a part of party decisionmaking, they voted in primaries, even if that meant they needed to register with a party by a certain deadline in order to do so.
It's said that Democrats have to fall in love, while Republicans fall in line.
There is something to be said for having people willing to do the grunt work of building a party infrastructure even when you aren't starry eyed in love with that party or the candidates that are running. The Tea Party on the right definitely had that going for them.
I really don't see that happening in a "tea Part" on the left.
I do see it happening with women in the Party - getting out there and running themselves, even though there are those politicians who imply that Democratic gals don't really understand what they are doing, by 'splaining them "It's not enough to vote for a candidate because she's a woman," as if that's a problem.
Indivisible is attempting to apply the effective parts of what the Tea Party did to defeating them. The vast majority of people I see working in Indivisible are women who believe that the Democratic party isn't the problem - but laziness and pointless sniping might be.
Certainly it's easier to whine and complain about Democrats and demand that they change (but def leave that infrastructure in place that makes it possible for people to run for national office) than getting in there at the actual grassroots level and working for that change.
Link to tweet