Category: Elections

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About the DNC

  By Elections, Politics

People who are new to working in US politics often assume, wrongly, that US political parties are, like, some European parties, highly centralized, top-down entities. They are the exact opposite.  First, there is no one national party organization. In addition to the DNC, the House Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (D-trip) and the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee play a role in Senate and House elections.  Second the national Democratic Party is a federation of fifty state parties that are largely independent of the national party. The members of the DNC are elected by those state parties. Those state parties are run by a committee that in most states are elected by the voters. But in a some cases—fewer than in the past—local party organizations influence those elections. In any case, local party organizations are usually independent of the state parties and vary a great deal in type, strength, and efficacy. In… Continue reading

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For Hillary Clinton Without Tears

  By 2016 Presidential race, Politics

I’m going to try, one last time, to talk without rancor to those of you are thinking of voting for Stein or not voting at all instead of voting for Hillary Clinton. And let me start by saying that every activist I know who has played a role in actually changing public policy in a progressive direction is voting for Hillary. And that includes all of us who voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary. I know an awful lot of them. I know people have fought for civil rights laws; opposed the Vietnam War; made the Clean and Water Act possible; secured increases in the minimum wage; reformed health care; raised taxes on the rich; expanded funding for education at all levels: pre-k, K-12, higher education; enacted the tax soda; brought supermarkets into food deserts; expanded housing opportunity. We are all, without exception, voting for Hillary Clinton. Some of… Continue reading

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White Male Rage and Trump’s Appeal

  By 2016 Presidential race, Feminism

The appeal of Trump is no surprise to anyone who interacts with rightwingers on Facebook. Every day I see the casual racism and sexism, the hatred of immigrants and foreigners, the endless repetition of right wing talking points that have no relationship to fact, the lack of any genuine concern for anyone who has struggled in life, the contempt for people who do have that concern, the dismissal of every government effort to make life better for those who struggle or, for that matter, for shared prosperity as a whole. Not to mention signs of Obama Derangement Syndrome and incipient cases of Hillary Derangement Syndrome. Most of this comes from rude and crude young men, who delight in unfunny insults, many of which have more than a tinge of sexual aggression. It’s not hard to see the male rage at the diminished status of young white men, and sexual frustration,… Continue reading

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Bernie Bros and Groupthink

  By 2016 Presidential race, Elections, US

I have been on the Philadelphia for Bernie Sanders 2016 page a bit in the last couple of days and I have to say that what I’m reading there is pretty horrifying. It includes the following claims: 1. Projections about how Bernie is going to win that are utterly crazy. Did you know that the polls are biased against Bernie and that, rather than being down ten points in California he is poised to beat Hillary 60%-40%? 2. Given how well Bernie is going to do in the last primaries, no candidate is going to have a majority of all delegates without super-delegates voters (which is barely conceiveable) which means that the convention is an open one and thus a majority of supervoters will turn to him. 3. That they should turn to him because he is clearly more electable nationally despite the fact that no one has actually raised all… Continue reading

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The Sanders Crusade

  By 2016 Presidential race

The Bernie Sanders campaign, which I’ve critically supported, has now over-reached in a way that makes apparent what was wrong with it all along. And it has reached a moment of truth that will determine whether it will be a long-lasting force that changes our politics for the better or a momentary explosion of energy that leaves behind far less than it should—or even damages our country. Continue reading

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On Burning Your Democratic Party ID

  By 2016 Presidential race

So Will Bunch, the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist has burned his Democratic Party registration card because, among other reason “the Democratic Party leadership is far too beholden to Wall Street and other corporate interests to do the real hard work of helping America’s middle class back on its feet.”  Leaving aside just how dubious that and his other claims are, how we should look at Bunch’s act? Maybe it’s because my deepest political aspirations are so radical—and so far from anything anyone who is running for or holding office actually says or acts on—but the notion that being a “registered Democrat” is a reflection of my principles or an expression of my ideals or a matter of conscience strikes me as completely and utterly bizarre. And thus so does quitting the party. I’m a Democrat not because the party reflects my ultimate ideals, aspirations, or principles but because in addition to… Continue reading

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How to Play the “Hillary is a Republican” Game

  By 2016 Presidential race

Here is how the “Hillary is a Republican” game is played and why it so absurd. (h/t Nick Alpers whose post got me started and from which I borrowed much of Step One.) Step one: Ignore all the ways that Hillary Clinton breaks with proposals that almost all Republicans support but that are anathema to Democrats: repealing Dodd-Frank; repealing the ACA; block granting Medicaid; turning Medicare into a voucher program; cutting food stamps by 60% and instituting a work requirement to get them; overturning Roe, banning abortion and opposing women’s rights across the board; destroying unions and all workers’ rights; freezing or even eliminating the federal minimum wage; privatizing social security; denying the reality of global warming and opposing cap and trade, a carbon tax, and President Obama’s clean energy plan, instituting Voter ID; reversing pretty much all civil rights legislation; overturning Obergefell and eliminating all protection for the the… Continue reading

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Thoughts on March 15

  By 2016 Presidential race

It’s Over With Hillary’s victories in at least four and most likely five of the primaries today, she has effectively won the Democratic nomination for president. Barring a collapse of unprecedented proportions, which could only come about because of some major unexpected event, her pledged delegate lead of 300 is insurmountable. Like Clinton did eight years ago, Sanders will win some caucuses and primaries between now and Pennsylvania. But he’s totally unlikely to win by large enough majorities to overcome or even get that close to Clinton’s pledged delegate lead. And if he can’t do that, he won’t convince many super-delegates to switch to him. It’s over. Sander’s Impact on Our Politics Sanders’s campaign has had a major impact on this race and will have a major impact on the Democratic Party in the future. He’s brought the issue of inequality to the fore in a way that is now… Continue reading

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Silver is a Big Loser Which Means Sanders Wins Bigger

  By 2016 Presidential race

The big loser is Nate Silver (and other pollsters). Silver is they guy who kept saying that Trump would collapse and gave Hillary a 99% chance of winning Michigan. That he is the big loser means that Sanders win is Michigan becomes far more important. Sanders supporters have been claiming, wrongly, that the mainstream media is biased against him. It isn’t. But the media has long believed, on the basis of the initial contests and polls, that Sanders had no chance of winning the nomination and assumed, not unreasonably, that he is too far to the left to do so. And Sanders reinforced that notion by calling for a political revolution. If you say you can only win with a political revolution, you better start showing people that you can make one. Losing the base of the Democratic Party, Blacks, by huge margins while failing to cut far into the… Continue reading

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The Trouble with Donald

  By 2016 Presidential race

The Republican establishment is still so upper-class WASP. They’ve been happy to run on racism and sexism and militarism for years. But they insisted on being polite about it, using the appropriate code words and deniable symbols like Willie Horton. Their problem with Trump is not his racism and sexism and militarism. It’s his vulgarity and bad manners. He doesn’t know which fork and knife to use when he’s skewering Black people to secure the votes of white working people for the corporate elite. Continue reading