On Progressive Politics: Its the Strategy, Stupid

[JHan]

On the eve of the Electoral College Vote when, for all my criticisms of the Electoral College , I hope the Electors remember their duty and responsibilities as *originally* conceived, I thought about how the Conservative agenda continues to survive in spite of most Americans preferring and depending upon policies that have been the hallmark of the Democratic agenda over the last 60 years.

So why hasn't conservatism been dumped into the bin of History as it should be?

Let's admit that on the left we have always "made perfect the enemy of good", shunning our allies who don't past the "political purity" test, and losing ground as a result. We cannibalized ourselves in 2000. We cannibalized ourselves again this year where the stakes were higher. The GOP must be laughing at just how easy it is to get the Left to turn on itself. Some have bought hook, line and sinker the canard that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are both the same - well now they'll see what "being the same" looks like with a GOP controlled congress and President.

This doesn't mean I can't criticize Hillary or the Democratic Party, I can do so easily, but the stakes were high this time around. So I don't blame Hillary - Hillary's agenda was the most progressive of any Democratic President ever. However purposefully crapping on a supposedly imperfect candidate had its effect. The false equivocation with her and Donald Trump had its effect. Congrats Progressives who made this happen, pat yourselves on the back. So many got distracted with #JillNotHill ( How did that work out ??) Undermining the eventual nominee , hitting at an incumbent establishment - well let's all enjoy the new establishment and all the pain it will wrought..because it was all worth it! After all the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are BOTH THE SAME/ sarcasm

We fail because our strategy fails over and over again and we should feel bad. That should be the lesson this year. But it won't be , because already the DNC Chair fight is shaping up to be - once again - all about purity politics, another opportunity to name-call and cast doubt on those who have worked hard for our causes instead of insisting that the two men in the running lay out their plan for us to retake congress. But by all means, let's keep learning all the wrong lessons by tearing each other down!

So I'll leave it to this writer to put in words all the rage I feel, what I see as some bitter truths we need to confront:

"The second CNN and FOX News called the election for Donald Trump, the engines that power the cottage industry of political second-guessing were fired up. Within minutes, a steady stream of simplistic hot takes began flying off the assembly line. This was especially true in the progressive areas of politics and punditry. Headlines like, “What The Democrats Got Wrong,” and “Progressives Need To Completely Reevaluate” were put together like a game of Mad Libs. Not wanting to be left out of the buzz of the twenty-four-hour news cycle, many elected Democratic officials jumped in and manned a station hoping to be promoted to pundit manager when the dust settled from the inevitable finger pointing and layoffs. The most common response from these opportunistic progressives has been, “Democrats need to learn how to talk to and attract working white class voters.” Senator Bernie Sanders has been one of the most adamant proponents of this strategy. He and every single progressive taking this tack are pushing a defective product. Don’t buy it! The problem is not the product or the message. The problem is too many progressives are complete idiots when it comes to politics and political strategy."

"If you win enough, then, and only then, can you begin to change the system and rules. To whine about the system not being fair when you don’t have the base and ability to change it will get you nowhere fast and keeps conservatives in power. This isn’t smart. In fact, it is outright stupid".

"“Progressives have no one to blame but themselves for the lack of a progressive government and policies. No one. They bitch and moan about not having FDR-like progress but refuse to give Democratic Presidents FDR-like majorities in Congress. They bitch and moan about the government failing them but they don’t do anything about making sure the party that hates and wants the government to fail from getting and wielding power. They pursue idealistic policy ideas without building the political infrastructure necessary to implement them. [bToo many have a fucked up political and moral calculus where they think a candidate who supports their causes 75% of the time is the same as one who supports them 0% of the time. Most of all, too damn many progressives refuse to acknowledge their role in all of this and make any changes. If you claim to be a progressive and your top priority isn’t keeping conservatives out of government, then you are as much the problem as conservatives for the government we have.”]

The point is to keep Conservatives out of Government. (Repeat 100x)