And I blame it all on the privately funded two party system and the rise of corporate personhood. The GOP is a cult, but the DNC ain't so great either. Combine their skewed incentives with today's surgical propaganda tools and the defunding of public education, and I feel like representative liberal democracy is fucked. Hello authoritarian kleptocracy.
I usually stop myself saying this stuff because I sound like a crackpot. But when my dad emails me saying civil asset forfeiture is totally cool and that trumps doing a fine job and that he's optimistic this congress is going to get some great things done ... well I think I'm seeing things quite clearly.
edit: typos.
And this kind of attitude is why Trump one. Yes, we have uneducated within the GOP who blindly follow Trump and the GOP leadership who will say anything to stay in power even if means giving power to Trump and Russia but we also have people who are saying that the dems are almost as bad which is not even close to reality. I doubt any person saying that has ever worked with the DNC. I have and have found willingness to teach a want for grassroot input. What I have also seen is people who have no idea how politics works (or hell, how our government works) who want to walk in and solve the problem without compromise or baby steps and expect it to work. They also expect to be taken seriously without any knowledge base or willingness to learn. These are people who would never do this within their own field and would be insulted in anyone tried it with them. This attitude of, I spent 2hrs on the internet so I know as much as an expert in field is a problem. And just a side note, who is trying to defund public education and who is trying to fund it, that is a great way to figure out a major difference between the two parties.
I disagree - this attitude of mine is not why Trump won. Believe me, I voted for HRC and rallied as many people as I could to vote for her. I agree that there's a massive difference between the two parties and that's why I've voted dem recently.
From my perspective, the DNC/HRC failed at many turns, and Trump capitalized on the Republican Noise Machine that's been in development for 3+ decades, not to mention pivotal help from Cambridge Analytica in the final months that pushed his numbers up in targeted states like Wisconsin and PA. The DNC lost, not because people like me recognize that private funding of elections is bad, but because of tone-deaf mistakes in their campaign, and they lost because the GOP machine is organized and efficient.
The saying that dems need to fall in love with their candidate, while GOPs fall in line behind any yahoo who bubbles up for the nomination is truer now than ever. And THAT's what the DNC is working against. And they're failing. And part of the problem is that they are trying to appease both their big $ donors and their progressive base. If there were no big $ donors, they'd be progressive. Instead, they've been pulled right (for many reasons that could be a whole other topic thread) and have split their constituents. HRC was a terrible candidate to put forward. I personally have nothing against her. But I'm all too aware of the anti HRC campaign that's played out numerous times in my parents home and in all their friends homes and among the regular GOP base for decades. But, incredibly, GOP-sters like my sister and her boyfriend would have voted for Bernie Sanders. But not HRC.
I'm agreeing that the DNC is way better than the GOP from a policy and human perspective. And your experience working with democrats sounds about what I'd imagine it to be. In fact they are so disorganized that only 12% of registered voters in LA county voted in the latest special election. 12. And they were voting for city council members, mayors, etc. I would think that post-Trump, any and every registered democrat would vow to vote in every election. Nope. From my FB feed - where my college crew mostly lives in LA - people didn't even know there was an election. Shame on the DNC for not getting that message out. Don't they know about ALEC and Grover Norquist and the incredible coordinating activities of the GOP? The GOP holds 32 state legislatures. They need just ONE more and they can pass whatever constitutional amendments they want. I'm terrified of that. The only thing I REALLY care about is global warming / pollution. They could pass an amendment saying that he government is not allowed to regulate emissions from any business activity. Seriously.
I'm an 'unaffiliated' voter now, but it seems to me that the DNC attracts people who believe in science informed policy making. They want competent governance. And they want government to step in and help people with difficult problems. So, I de-registered as a republican last year, and spent 50 euros making sure my primary ballot arrived on time to get Bernie Sanders elected. Then I spent another 50 euros making sure my Nov ballot arrived on time to vote for HRC.
HRC failed to campaign in regions where Rush Limbaugh has been playing for decades. She said something like lots of coal jobs were going to be lost and gave the haters more fuel to burn her with. She was an awful candidate, even if the most qualified person to run for office last year.
My point is that all of this bullshit is the result of our privately funded two party system. Recognizing the systemic problem didn't put Trump in power. Brainwashed GOP cult members voted for him, and democrats who weren't in love with HRC and were bummed their guy got the shaft stayed home. Simple as that. This was the DNC's election to lose and it's all on them. So they're disorganized. They'd better get organized. I'm doing all I can. I send info to friends in Kansas, Virginia, Ohio and West Virginia nudging them to vote when it's time. I write articles. And I try to point out the big picture once in a while. Which is that a privately funded two party system will lead us to ever worse governance.
Sorry, this turned into another rant. This is why I usually stop myself from posting. Once I start it's difficult to stop short.