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Guest Post: Occasional Words from the Resistance – The first in a series of remarks from the desk of R.E. Vanella
Unhappy the land where heroes are needed. –Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo
I am in here. Like many of you I had a painful week. I think dramatic vacillation between severe emotions has the same effect as ascending too quickly from great depths in the sea. If I accelerate from rage directly to despondency in, say, less than two seconds I experience significant waves of nausea.
I’ve concluded that the seriousness of this moment requires us to navigate through the storms of the body and the psyche and get on the same page. There’s been mention of coming together. So to that end and if you’ll permit me, I’d like to make a few remarks.
What I am going to do, and what I strongly urge you all to do, is whatever it takes to prepare yourself for the fight ahead. We’ve read polls, and spread memes, and spewed talking points, and told the jokes, and made predictions, and dismissed other people predictions, and also the videos. It seems a little surreal that there was a game in this space around Republican primary season. Has anyone else had this thought? Please know I mean no disrespect, but I’m in no mood to play now.
Ya’ll Need to Come and Get Your Boys
Bill O’Reilly famously declared back in the spring that if any Republican other than Trump won the nomination that the GOP could count on the white aggrieved voters that powered his campaign would stay home. They didn’t stay at home, of course, because Donald Trump executed a campaign of dog whistles, outright demeaning rhetoric and spectacular lying to pick at the scab that is this country’s white grievances.
Trump famously blamed trade deals and government complicity in the disappearance of the kind of good middle-class jobs at places like Bethlehem Steel or US Steel or American Motors or RCA that let you support a family right out of college. He told voters that he would bring these jobs back and that he would get rid of the trade deals, the regulations and the taxes that were holding back job creation in the US. On top of that, he blamed immigrants for taking jobs, used Obamacare as a proxy for poor people taking your stuff and impressively – for a guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth – made these people believe that he felt their pain.
I’m Back
The reason why I was gone was that I had a business trip to New Orleans planned for immediately after the election. I thought I was going celebrating. But it turns out it was good to be away from the constant newstream of Twitter and Cable News and your normal routine during what was the most shocking election result in all history, and the most heartbreaking. The only way I can describe the feeling was it was like I just lost two friends (Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton) in the same car accident. So there was actual grieving. Tears would well in my eyes for no reason, well, yes, there was a reason, but you know what I mean. But I had to force the sadness and shock away so I could concentrate on the real world business meetings. So that helped. Being away helped. I’m still devastated. I’m in the anger/acceptance stage of grieving. But I am ready to fight back now.
First thing I want to do is apologize to Jason330. His pessimistic view of the election and the electorate was, in the end, proven right. I was wrong. I was relying on polls, data, demographics, and early voting results, but they were wrong. And I am sure I argued with a number of readers, commenters and even some contributors aside from Jason330, like El Somnambulo. I am sure I was arrogant in my analysis. My apologies extends to you all as well.
Second, we have to lay down a marker for all Democrats everywhere but especially here in Delaware: we demand full, complete, and hostile obstruction and opposition to every single thing the …. god… President Trump does. The Republican playbook of 2009-16 is now yours. Use it. There shall be no bipartisan agreements to deport 11 million people. There shall be no bipartisan agreement to repeal and replace Obamacare. There shall be no bipartisan agreement to end Medicare. There shall be no bipartisan agreement to cut taxes for the rich.
Senator Carper, Senator Coons, and Representative Rochester, if you vote yes on a single Republican bill just one time, you might as well join the Republican Party that very same day.
We just elected Hitler, and your first instinct should not be to cut deals with him. Your first instinct must be resistance. No matter if your life or livelihood are in danger.
Third, I have no interest in re-litigating the 2016 primary or debating whether Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden would have done better. I have my opinions on that, and I am sure others have theirs, but really, what good does that debate do us except turn us against each other? You know what we should do? We should take the Democratic Platform as it stands now, which was agreed to by both the Clinton and Sanders campaigns, and use it as our starting point when we discuss how to move forward and what policies to change. It was the most progressive platform in party history.
Why We Need a New Democratic Party
“Bill Clinton and Obama also allowed antitrust enforcement to ossify – with the result that large corporations have grown far larger, and major industries more concentrated. The unsurprising result of this combination – more trade, declining unionization and more industry concentration – has been to shift political and economic power to big corporations and the wealthy, and to shaft the working class. This created an opening for Donald Trump’s authoritarian demagoguery, and his presidency.
Now Americans have rebelled by supporting someone who wants to fortify America against foreigners as well as foreign-made goods. The power structure understandably fears that Trump’s isolationism will stymie economic growth. But most Americans couldn’t care less about growth because for years they have received few of its benefits, while suffering most of its burdens in the forms of lost jobs and lower wages.”
It’s On – I’m Sure Trump Voters (And Anyone Who Didn’t Vote Or Voted 3rd Party) Will Be Happy
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Thursday that Medicare has “serious problems” that would need to be addressed when Congress moves to repeal and replace President Obama’s health-care reform law — a signal that he is willing to immediately enter the treacherous politics of entitlement reform and perhaps break with President-elect Donald Trump.
“When Obamacare became Obamacare, Obamacare rewrote Medicare, rewrote Medicaid, so if you’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare, you have to address those issues as well,” he said in a Fox News Channel interview. “What people don’t realize is that Medicare is going broke, that Medicare is going to have price controls. Because of Obamacare, Medicaid is in fiscal straits. So you have to deal with those issues if you’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare. Medicare has got some serious problems because of Obamacare. Those things are part of our plan to replace Obamacare.”
Oooh… basically private insurance for retirees! Which, if you had a functioning brain cell, you knew was always the Republican plan. If you voted for Trump, or voted 3rd party, or didn’t vote then you voted for this. No complaining. This was the agenda. Shame our media never discussed it, but, you know… EMAILS and Hillary is untrustworthy!
And as much as I’d like to lay the blame for all of this at the GOP’s feet, I can’t. On this very blog, for months – and even days – before the election we (WE!) were still discussing this nonsense. Hell, liberals/progressives were discussing the DNC and how rigged it is. We Gored (get it?) ourselves because *sigh* we weren’t inspired. Holy crap, aren’t we supposed to be grown ups? Obviously not.
Some thoughts on starting a political blog
Although “blogging” has been overtaken by Facebook and other social media, there is still a place for political discourse among (mostly) like-minded folks. Especially in an era in which the mass media, and “news” operations have shit the bed and divested themselves of the responsibility of being fact-finding and truthful, we still need warm campfires to gather around. A place where false objectivity does not give all claims equal standing. We need to know that we are not alone and that we are not being gaslighted. So political blogs still have a place. So if I was giving advice to someone just starting one in some place like Arizona, say, I’d say this:
The Need to Attract White Voters
Since 1976, a Democratic presidential nominee has never won the white vote. The 2016 Election continues that trend. Of course, some votes for Trump were from the termites, but many of the of those who voted for Trump are not racist at all. But most importantly we have to stop labelling all Trump supporters as the vile termites.
White Privilege And It’s Built-In “Lone Wolf” Excuse
I’m exhausted. This election season, along with other events, has beaten me down. It’s endless, and next Tuesday will not put an end to it. And now we have another lone wolf.
Here’s how the NYT described the “ambush shooter” who killed two police officers:
Investigators quickly identified a suspect in the slayings, who then surrendered — a local man described as a troubled loner who was familiar to the police in his suburban town, Urbandale. He had a string of arrests and confrontations with officers and others, but nothing in his record approached the scale of violence that erupted here.
Sgt. Paul Parizek, a spokesman for the Des Moines Police Department, “We may never actually know what motivated this act.”
A troubled loner. Oh well then, let’s move along. He couldn’t possibly be part of a culture. Why? Because white men are viewed as individuals. I’m so tired of this. There is a problem here, and why we keep ignoring – and excusing – it escapes me.
And the idea that “we may never actually know what motivated this act” strikes me as ridiculous.
Having lost the election, Gordon now tries to disqualify Meyer
You just knew he could not be a gracious loser, right? Years of authoritarian entitlement and corruption do not prepare one to accept the will of the people, so what do you do? You file suit to have the winner disqualified.
The Playing Field (Not a 62 District Project)
There are 41 State House Districts. 23 of them, or 56% of them, will be uncontested by a major party. Which means either the incumbent Representative currently holding the seat is running for reelection either completely unopposed, or opposed by minor third parties. Of those 23 Representatives, 17 are Democrats and 6 are Republicans. So already, the race for the House is pretty much over. Because to gain a majority, the state GOP would need to win 21 seats. They have 6 in the bank. So they need to pick up another 15. There are only 18 contested races. So to win the house, the GOP would have to basically run the table and win everything. Good luck. The Senate is another story….
Every Single State Legislative Race*
The asterisk means that I’m only looking at races with one D and one R on the ballot. Per usual, the real story is the paucity of those races. It’s even more pathetic than usual this year. Of the 11 Senate seats up this year, 5 are uncontested. It’s worse in the House. Of the 41 seats, 23 candidates are running unopposed. Well more than half. Just. Awful.
My thoughts On Last Night’s… Debate?
Let me start by saying, if Hillary had behaved and said the things Trump said and did last night this election would be over. There would be no spin. It would be done. Talk about double standards. Hats off to her. She did an amazing job. Yep, amazing. She kept her cool and played him like a fiddle. That was no easy task. Don’t believe me? Then you should try debating an unhinged liar who constantly interrupts and interjects like a three year old who missed their nap – one who has no qualms about saying anything. How do you even prepare for that? In every other Presidential debate the candidates prepared by knowing each others policy positions and then pointed out why their policies were better. Trump has no policies.
234
That was the number of votes that separated Mike Purzycki and Eugene Young for Wilmington Mayor by the end of the night on Tuesday. The difference between Purzycki and Kevin Kelley was 415 votes. 12,578 votes for Mayor were cast. But at the end of the day, there were 2,734 votes cast for Eugene Young who made me proud to be a small part of his campaign everyday. Everyday. A quick reminder of where we started — a year or so back, as Eugene started talking with people to gather up support, the leadership of this city (and its pundits) told him that no one knew him, then that he needed to wait his turn for Mayor, then that he couldn’t raise any money. Eugene did, of course, overcome every bit of that and ignored the wait your turn crowd. With is smart and fiercely competitive management team, he ran a citywide campaign with more than 200 volunteers (91 volunteers showed up and volunteered on Tuesday. 91!) and ended up knocking on more than 50,000 Wilmington doors. He ran an honorable and progressive campaign and completely avoided the sideshows that were being run by the more establishment candidates. Eugene Young, his vision for the city and his crackerjack campaign team caught the attention of the News Journal who endorsed a genuine progressive for Mayor. It was a real heartbreaker to come up short by 234 votes.
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