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Old 01-16-2018, 09:31 AM
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whell whell is offline
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Dems - Here's Your Answer

I've often posted here that I no longer know what Dems stand for. I used to vote Dem, but in the last 20 years have come to regard the Dems as out of touch, too beholden to special interests while accusing their political opponents of the same, and no longer the "party of the working man".

Instead of constantly playing Trump's game and losing, the Dems might do well to listen to a bit of "wisdom from the Heartland".

https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...indiana-216273

“The number of Democrats holding office across the nation is at its lowest point since the 1920s and the decline has been especially severe in rural America,” Bustos writes in the report. In 2009, the report notes, Democrats held 57 percent of the heartland’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Now: 39 percent. In 2008, Barack Obama won seven of the eight heartland states. In 2012, he won six. In 2016? Trump won six. There are 737 counties in the Midwest—Trump won all but 63 of them. “We can’t keep bombing in the rural parts of these states,” Bustos told me.

Why?

In the report, he says the Democratic Party is “lazy,” “out of touch with mainstream America,” relying on “too much identity politics” where “winners and losers are picked by their labels.” The Democrats in his district, he laments, “feel abandoned.” Some of those folks who feel abandoned used to consistently vote Democrat, and now they are "independent" or don't identify with a political party.

In theory, it seems obvious the party would do what it must to secure the loyalty of additional voters; in practice, though, this sort of overture means peace-making with people like Burns, through the face-to-face pragmatism of people like Goodin, some of whose views bump up inconveniently against the agendas of interest groups and the platform and mores of the party as a whole. Is Burns worth wooing back? And is Goodin a walking relic—or a key cog in the future of the party?

That last question is critical, in my opinion. When the ideas or actions of Dems who don't align with current party dogma are discussed here, these folks are attacked and maligned. Their ideas are summarily dismissed.

The article, to me, is fascinating. If your ever want to really understand what folks mean when they say "we want to take our country back", it's this:

Intentional or not, what’s clear from the report is that many of these 72 rural Democratic lawmakers feel the national party is indifferent to the trouble it has caused them locally. And they’re angry about it. Their assessments are blunt, searing—and directed straight at Democrats on the coasts, in cities, in Washington.

There's also, within the ranks of the Republican party, plenty of this anger directed at the Repubs.
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Old 01-16-2018, 09:59 AM
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finnbow finnbow is offline
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Trump is doing all he can to breathe life back into the Democratic Party.
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Old 01-16-2018, 10:11 AM
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Dondilion Dondilion is offline
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I hope the Dems do not take this article seriously.

The last election was lost early. Hillary as a candidate inhibited other potential candidates. The Dems ended up with the "Independent" Sanders as her rival.

Hillary with her huge, well known baggage put a big handicap on rural Dems.
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Old 01-16-2018, 10:19 AM
Chicks Chicks is offline
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The correct answer, of course, is to do away with the Electoral College, which is the real reason Donny is sitting in the White House. Next would be to get redistricting out of the hands of state legislators, with independent panels doing the drawing of lines. Finally, the courts must prevent Donny from underfunding the 2020 census, and keep partisan politics out of this essential process.

Archie Bunker won’t give up power easily, but one of these days, he’ll finally realize that he’s the past, not the future of our democracy.
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Last edited by Chicks; 01-16-2018 at 10:22 AM.
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Old 01-17-2018, 07:02 AM
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whell whell is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dondilion View Post
I hope the Dems do not take this article seriously.
If the reaction to this thread on this forum is any indication, I suspect your hopes will become reality.
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Old 01-17-2018, 07:44 AM
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donquixote99 donquixote99 is offline
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It might be an interesting article, and I'd be willing to read it and discuss my reactions--if someone I respected as an observer with an honest open mind brought it up....
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Old 01-17-2018, 07:48 AM
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donquixote99 donquixote99 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dondilion View Post
I hope the Dems do not take this article seriously.

The last election was lost early. Hillary as a candidate inhibited other potential candidates. The Dems ended up with the "Independent" Sanders as her rival.

Hillary with her huge, well known baggage put a big handicap on rural Dems.
Am I correct is reading your post as an indication of basic hostility to the Democratic Party? That is, you hope they learn nothing, make more mistakes, and so lose elections to Republicans, including Trumpists?

I predict you will not reply. You generally are too wary to engage in dialog with people you feel may be critical.
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Old 01-17-2018, 07:51 AM
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whell whell is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by donquixote99 View Post
It might be an interesting article, and I'd be willing to read it and discuss my reactions--if someone I respected as an observer with an honest open mind brought it up....
LOL! You're hilarious, especially when you act like a snowflake.
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Old 01-17-2018, 07:52 AM
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finnbow finnbow is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by whell View Post
If the reaction to this thread on this forum is any indication, I suspect your hopes will become reality.
A Democrat’s victory in a special election to fill a vacant seat in Wisconsin’s state legislature is a “a wake up call for Republicans in Wisconsin,” Gov. Scott Walker wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Patty Schachtner, a Democrat, was victorious in Tuesday’s special election for Wisconsin’s 10th Senate district, a Republican-learning district in the Northwest part of the state along the Minnesota border. The seat had previously been filled by Sheila Harsdorf, who resigned last November after 17 years in office to join Walker’s administration as Wisconsin’s secretary of agriculture.

Walker, who had tweeted earlier Tuesday urging residents of the 10th Senate district to get to the polls and vote for Republican Adam Jarchow, wrote online after the race had been decided that “Senate District 10 special election win by a Democrat is a wake up call for Republicans in Wisconsin” who must do a better job touting their record to voters.


https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...ner-win-343237

As I said earlier, Trump will be the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats. We now have evidence of that from New Jersey, Virginia, Alabama and Wisconsin. Moreover, we have the courts tossing out GOP gerrymandering efforts.
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Old 01-17-2018, 07:59 AM
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finnbow finnbow is offline
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And then there's this:

A young Republican activist from Northern Virginia who was seen as a potential rising star quit the party Tuesday, citing President Trump’s “appalling comments” about Haitian immigrants and what he called a nativist streak in his home state.

Kyle McDaniel, 28, served on the party’s state central committee for two years and has worked as a top aide for Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield), who said he had hoped McDaniel would eventually run for public office.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...4fb_story.html

Trump keeps thinning the ranks of Republicans.
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