(Note: I have been informed that the VOTE option is not working. I don't know what I done wrong when I initially published but I have not found a way to edit this portion of my diary. I have reached out to DailyKos Support for help. I apologize for the inconvenience....this is my very first diary.)
Let me repeat this:
When Democrats vote, Democrats WIN!!
I could repeat this Ad nauseam but I think we all get the point. And yet after last nights Republican ROUT (and it was a rout, we have to accept that) I am sure we are all feeling:
Disappointed - well sure we are. Why not when so many of us try so hard to get our fellow Democrats to realize how important all election years are and commit to vote?
Bitter - bitter at the GOP and their last minute voter ID laws which purposely target Democrat and minority voters (who typically vote Democrat). Bitter at the GOP for their gerrymandering and false advertisements of LIES and propaganda. Bitter at the GOP for false mailers trying to trick voters into believing they can't vote or that their vote could be considered FRAUD. (yes remember McConnell and his mailer intended to trick voters into not voting for Alison?)
Anger - yes along with bitterness that the GOP sides with their Tea Party puppet Masters like the Koch's and Karl Rove to attempt to BUY OUR country of America. Anger that they think if they spend enough money they should have a right to control our very lives and force us under a dictatorship! Anger at how they want to force their religious views of morality on the rest of us by denying women their right to choose, deny same sex couples their right to marry and the list goes on and on and on.
And yet with all this the GOP has going for them, what they do NOT have is majority support for their policies and their desire to control our very lives!
Let's face it, they win largely because Democrats are too complacent. Far too many Democrats just don't bother voting during mid-term election years because they've been led to believe over the years and decades that only Presidential election years are important enough to bother.
But this is as wrong as it can be. ALL election years are critically important. Mid-term election years sets the stage for the primary Presidential election years. Lost mid-terms often result (just like NOW) in the GOP taking control of one or both houses of Congress and when you have a Democratic President like we do know, the GOP will pretty much demand that the President cower to their every demand or they will bring Government to a screeching halt (AGAIN).
The President needs to compromise but we cannot allow him to cower to the GOP's every demand. We cannot afford to back down on things like:
* Civil Rights Equality which include women's right to choose, marriage equality, etc.
* Refusing to cut Social Security, but rather instead to expand it.
* Obama Care
* Minimum wage increase - workers deserve to earn a living wage.
* Implementing true Net Neutrality
* Go after a Const. Amendment to overturn disastrous Supreme Court rulings like Citizens United.
* Pursuing environment friendly changes for energy production
These are but some. There are some things we just cannot back down on.
See below the fold for more.
We have got to turn this around and get Democrats engaged during EVERY election year. Some ideas are:
* Expand the GOTV effort. I happen to still believe in this despite this years election results. In the end I don't think Democrats are going to ever achieve our best without getting the majority of Democrats engaged....every....single...time. But we have to go after GOTV every single month, every single year. Education to convince Democrats just how important this is must be an on-going activity and I think we should continue to support the National Democratic organizations in this effort.
But we can all do our part in other ways too. Every single Democratic voter you can convince to get truly engaged brings us that much closer to our goal. They ALL add up.
* Democrats must be a lot tougher on calling out the underhanded schemes which the GOP employ to steal the election. We should not hesitate to call them out and do it PUBLICALLY and OFTEN. Make sure the world knows how they:
* Pass onerous voter ID laws to disenfranchise minority or Democratic voters.
* Gerrymander to keep control
* Spend hundreds of millions to BUY the election
* Drop countless voters from the voter rolls through things like the Cross Check program.
* Or anything else they do to disenfranchise voters, limit or take away Civil Rights, etc.
Let's all do this together and work toward a brighter future for America.
Also consider signing on to the petition and let President Obama know that you have his back and ask him to stand strong against outrageous GOP demands:
Petition to President Obama
We the PEOPLE have the power and if we stand together we CAN and WILL do this!