General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The "extreme left" didn't give us Trump. The path to hell was paved by [View all]pat_k
(9,313 posts)... would have gone to Clinton if Stein had not been in the race, the level of responsibility for Democratic losses that could be laid at the feet of the "far left" is minuscule compared to the damage done by the failures of leadership i cite.
The adulation of Reagan would not exist if he had faced the impeachment his actions demanded.
Bush Jr would never have been in the running at all if Bush Sr. had been prosecuted.
Those failures alone didn't bring us here. The leadership had another chance to fight for us -- to fight for our right to have our votes counted -- by standing and objecting to the unlawfully appointed Florida electors.
And, even failing that, they had yet another chance to turn the tide by drawing a line in the sand and fighting to impeach Bush to defend perhaps the most basic human right there is -- the right not to be tortured.
When the leadership went all out to stop the momentum that was building for impeachment, the message they sent was crystal clear: "This is not important enough to us. Torturing in the name of the American people isn't really so bad." And that message gave power to the worst of humanity. Their failure to draw lines in the sand at critical junctures allowed lines that should be held inviolable to be crossed with impunity.
And when it comes to driving policy debates, what the Democratic leadership has yet to understand is that it is not just about what 'they" can "give us" or get done "for us" in the current legislative session. It MUST also be about building a vision of what the American people are capable accomplishing; it's about instilling confidence in our power to make those visions a reality. That is what engages.
The leadership has been so obsessed with their fears of being beaten up by the Republican noise machine if they do anything that anybody might call "extreme" that they have been completely blind to the upside of 'fighting the good fights." Namely, that a substantial number of the people who have either given up, or never felt inspired by either party, would BE inspired.
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On Edit: As I have pointed out repeatedly, this is NOT about "bashing" them. This is not just about "the past." It is about THE FUTURE. All I am attempting to do is encourage a recognition of how wrong and destructive the rationalizations for inaction have been. I think it is vital to expose how counter-productive "can't win, so don't fight" is; to point out the extent to which fear of 'backlash' blinds them to the benefits of demonstrating the courage of their convictions; to put up a mirror to help them see how absurd notions like "I opposed Alito by casting a losing No vote on the floor (even though I refused to join the filibuster that would have actually stopped him)" are. If we can put a "stake in the heart" of the rationalizations that keep them from fighting the good fights, we will either see a whole lot more movement in the right direction TODAY and TOMORROW, or a new set of irrational rationalizations for inaction will crop up (and need to be torn down).