This diary could have been written on any day here. Take a look-
- We have a Republican running for Governor that is also counting the votes.
- In Texas a campaign worker delivering a letter to a court house goes to jail after he says he is a Democrat.
- A Republican candidate says something pretty offensive about women.
And to go with all that, a curious strategy by an elected Democrat.
The point that some variation of these things happen every day show that the macro and the micro point to the same thing:
The GOP base is afraid of us. Republicans have no fear of us.
It’s about as bad a combination as you could have.
What exists of the GOP base at this point has become further estranged from reality, being led by Trump. They have always believed distortions and flat-out lies, but now they’re not even trying to be bound by logic or gravity. And from that point, we see a base incredibly afraid of the Obama Coalition.
Whichever way you slice it….whether it’s stuff we’re never going to do (take your pick- forced into gay marriage, no borders, reverse racism)...or the stuff that we do want to do (single payer health care, fighting climate change, stronger rights for minorities and women)...the GOP is afraid of the Democrats in power.
Hell, one conservative likened preventing Hillary Clinton from getting into the White House to being a passenger on United flight 93, which crashed before reaching Washington D.C. on 9/11.
And you know he wasn’t the only one.
Whatever the reason, our fellow citizens in the GOP base have continually agreed to a procession of rule-breaking, cheating, and anti-democratic (big and small “d”) behavior in order to keep the Democrats out of power. Come on, you know what I mean.
But it’s not just that they are “allowing” Republicans to do it. I don’t think any elected Republican really had to check with their voters if they would mind.
Republicans have no fear of doing any of it.
Shutting down the federal government because they wouldn’t compromise on a budget? Shutting down the Senate with filibusters on anything and everything? Preventing Obama’s Supreme Court pick from even having a hearing, let alone a vote? Putting kids in cages and separating families willy nilly at the border? Berating Dr. Ford specifically and all assault survivors generally?
Show me the elected Republican that cares about any of that, and I’ll show you a Republican that is not running for re-election.
(Why elected Democrats can’t play this game will be the subject of another diary. Suffice to say, whatever you think of Mitch McConnell vs Charles Schumer, it’s like the GOP can make 5 outs every inning while the Democrats only get 2.)
The ones that are facing voters aren’t concerned in the least about any of it. Because they don’t fear us. They don’t fear that we will out-spend them, or out-vote them. Or convince enough voters in their district to not vote for them and vote for a Democrat. Are you kidding? What could be scarier than having a Democrat win?
And there you are. A segment of the public is so sacred of Democrats that they will never vote for us, and their dread makes them the most reliable voters around. At the same, elected Republicans act with impunity against us, since they’ve let us know there’s no way we can hurt them.
Sucks, huh?
There are many reasons, and many diaries, that could point to WHY this exists at this point in time. But this time out I’ll settle for highlighting one of the biggest.
We all know the GOP base is a combination of all the majority groups (by race, religion, and gender) while Democrats are a hodgepodge of everyone else. In that fashion, a shrinking Republican party can have an out-sized hold on power. It can cheat and break the rules and get away with it. It’s always had the money, the power, and the numbers. Having the first one allows you to still have the second while you don’t have the third.
Having a media network of your own keeps your base fearful and angry while giving them a bogus story for whatever is happening. Obama is a Muslim! He’s a Communist! He’s acting like a king while Trump is just acting like a boss! Dr. Ford has no evidence!
And both the MSM and the political establishment will fear getting on the wrong side of Republicans. But not Democrats. In part because of that media machine.
But also...because Democrats are not the people that can dish out punishment. The people who are Democrats- women, non-whites, the poor- are too busy trying to make things fair and equal for themselves. You think they’re able to “punish” a bunch of rich white guys in any manner?
Not to mention the lopsided notion that merely having to listen to elected Democrats, candidates (Clinton), or aggrieved members of our base (BLM, MeToo) is now considered “punishment” by Republicans and the GOP base.
Not to mention that only white guys get to be angry and emotional.
So...WHAT can we do about it?
I don’t have a simple answer. No one does. A single action does not exist that can “fix” this.
It should be obvious what NOT to do- to fall into despair and hopelessness, to become bitter and apathetic, to have anger without action, to go third party (not at this point), to give up and run away, or to pretend that “both sides are the same” and ‘nothing makes a difference.”
All of us have to go forward while the game is rigged. A major part of the right’s plan is that we all just get so tired and frustrated that we give up. We can’t make it that easy.
The thing is….no rigged game can last forever. Especially when you look at the hard math facing the guys doing the rigging.
I’d suggest that we use the thing that is really driving the fear of the GOP base- imagination.
See, the members of the GOP base have never seen an America that was not run by them in some fashion. Not just their whole lives, but in the whole history of the nation. Obviously.
They can imagine a Congress that has a majority of non-whites, or women. They can imagine a world where the power structure does not look like them, and does not think like them. And it frightens them so much that they will do anything, including vote in every election and primary, to keep it from happening.
It’s the Democratic base that needs to imagine the very same thing. Clearly, it would be in a different light. In fact, it’s such a different take on the same situation that it seems like a fantasy. Because all they’ve ever known is being OUT of power. It’s a Catch-22: it seems impossible because they’ve never seen it, and because they can’t believe it they don’t vote as regularly to make it come closer to happening.
I say you’ve got to believe it before you achieve it, and we’ve got to help the base see that they are closer to it than they think. Rigged game or not.