friday afternoon (the last one of this wretched year, thank ceiling cat), and the “social justice” bar is open. all participants welcome, but please no pie. our objective is to keep abreast of the destruction that the gop plans, and to plan ways to stop it. we also have been known to go way off topic and talk about sports, food, cats/dogs, etc. iow, this is a group of like minded people who get along. we welcome all newcomers (to the new faces we’ve been seeing, welcome aboard!), the more we have in this fight against taking us back to the 1600’s, the better.
and so the year ends... at last. i entered with such high hopes and motivation, and am now leaving angry and while still motivated, somewhat discouraged.
but a new year is just around the corner, and the issues we face today aren’t going away just because 2016 is over. we can sit around and mope, we can blame, we can do all kinds of unproductive things. none of that will help us. if anything, it hurts us. it is a waste of time and emotional energy.
so what do we do now? we remember how to play politics, that’s what we do.
already (as predicted by many), the “kill the aca” dream of the gop is basically dead on arrival. their financial backers in EVERY segment of the healthcare industry are against getting rid of it, and surprise, now that they are catching on that it is THEM who are going to lose their insurance, their constituents aren’t gonna be real happy. we just need to keep a moderate amount of pressure on, and let them block themselves.
we know how to fight the various medicare/medicaid/ss proposals they’d like to sneak through. the fact that the AARP reduced their membership age awhile ago will help even more. we can “harry & louise” them to death on this one.
we need to take actual action on the rest. rugbymom has been on this for weeks now. call your senators. call your reps. show them that they have our support (and expectations) to fight tooth and nail over appointments. i know that schumer isn’t liked by many at dkos, but he is making it clear that the fight is on. show them we have their backs. every one of his picks have at least one issue that we can suck a few gop votes away on. and chuck knows how to do it.
we need to assure the base of the democratic party that we will not abandon them. reese has posted many times about this. we ARE the party of social justice, and moving even one iota from that position will destroy us.
we need to figure out a way to get at least a small percentage of the people who don’t vote at all to vote for us. i’m fresh out of ideas here, but we need to reach those people. they are key to winning.
we need to realize that capitalism isn’t going away in the united states, but there are ways that we can make it work for us. look at how much money/business the state of NC has lost. that didn’t happen because of socialism, that happened because of the forces of social justice.
we need to not be “doom and gloom, all is lost”. while we lost the presidency, a look at the outcomes of other races and ballot initiatives show that we actually won quite a bit. and we have also cut into their numbers in states that are currently red.
we need an all-out offensive on getting people the proper id’s, etc. to vote. this is our number one tool against voter suppression. we can raise the money to do it. then it is up to us to provide enough feet on the ground to use that money to get the job done.
we need to get into red areas and get them to elect blue dogs. i know many don’t like blue dogs, but people have to understand that in order to get elected, you have to have the support of your constituency. to say “i have a choice between a blue dog and a freedom caucus member” and to not choose to support that blue dog is counterproductive.
we need (you fill in the blank in the comments). there are many bright political minds in the village, lets put them to work. if we stay realistic, we can still accomplish many things.
but most of all, we need to remember that WE WON’T STAY THROWED! we got throwed. but we sure as hell ain’t staying throwed.
it’s a friday of a holiday weekend, so feel free to pop one open or light up even earlier than usual. ideas and fun today. :) and play nice.
two editor’s notes:
- thanks to all who read and rec my diaries. you don’t know how much being part of a community means to me. i would have retreated into “chris’ little world” long ago if it weren’t for you.
- the tsarina and i will be breaking out the champagne glasses we hoped to use on election night on new year’s eve. and we will make many a toast to not just hrc, but to all democrats.