Has the regeneracy arrived?

[David Horn]

(02-14-2020, 05:06 PM)Marypoza Wrote: What l am asking if the Dems can even continue as a viable party if they don't adapt 2 Bernie's ideas, which are basically old school Dem. l have noticed a pattern of parties coming during Awakenings & going during Crises. Or in the case of the Dems, reinventing- u don't stick around some 220 years w/out doing some reinventing.  The Dems got their start in the very late 18th century as an answer to the Federalist Party, @ 1st they were simply known as anti-Federalists, but then Thomas Jefferson renamed them Democratic Republicans. We'll just stick with Dems. Anyhow, this was during a High, but it was as the Govt was just getting started, so maybe that's why these 2 factions started when they did. Anyhow, the Federalists went as soon as they came, & the Dems dominated the political scene 4 the rest of the High, known as the era of Good Feelings. When the Awakening came along so did the Whigs as a party viable enough 2 compete w/the Dems. But that was not 2 last. During the Unraveling, the Whigs went off the off the rails with xenophobia, in fact their last Prez, Millard Fillmore, was actually a Know Nothing which was a very xenophobic 3rd party that infiltrated the Whigs. The Dems, in contrast, welcomed immigrants in2 their party- this was during the Potato Famine- but they also adhered 2 slavery, afterall their founders, Jefferson, Monroe, Jackson etc.. were all slaveholders. Abolitionist Whigs & Dems started forming new parties such as the Free Soil party, & of course the repugs. After the Civil War Crisis, the Whigs & most of the 3rd parties were gone, only the Dems & repugs were left standing, & the Dems were weakened so the repugs dominated the ensuing High. During the 1890s Awakening the Populists came along. The Dems absorbed them. The Labor Movement started when the Civil War ended & peaked during the Depression Crisis, when the Dems absorbed them. Which is why we don't have an official Labor Party like other countries do. Finally during the last Awakening, the Dems enacted Medicare, championed Civil Rights, Women's Rights, & 2 a lesser extent Gay Rights, becoming the Big Tent Party. During the Unraveling, they rolled back on some of this bcoming 3rd Way . Meanwhile the repugs starting going off the rails. They were infiltrated by the Tea Party, but instead of moderate repugs forming their own party, they have been infiltrating the Dems, turning it into a blue dog party & alienating long time old school Dems. Bernie, despite calling himself a democratic socialist, is actually an old school Dem, who is trying to return the party to the old school platform of the Big Tent Era, which is why he's so popular with these ppl.

now if Bernie is screwed over again, or even if he isn't, will his ppl vote 4 the Democratic nominee. Remember alot of Berniecrats aren't Dems -including Bernie 4 that matter- & are just with the party 4 Bernie. If he's not the nominee, they will move on, probably 2 the Green Party, whose platform is very similar 2 what Bernie advocates. If they vote as a block, they could very well tip the Greens over the 5% threshold, which would enable them 2 build a viable progressive party. l have also heard stories that the Unions might bolt from the party as well, since the party has been abandoning the working class 4 the past several decades Normally l would say these r just stories & the bosses r corrupt, but this is a 4T- a Crisis- so it's possible the Unions may decide 2 spend their $ running their own candidates if the Dems don't start running labor friendly candidates. if not this election, then maybe in 2024, when we'll be deeper in2 the Crisis.

so my question is, if the Dems don't adapt 2 Bernie's agenda, will they survive as a party?

All great questions, and ones with no answers for now.  The sad part: the more progressive Dems made a bargain with the devil in the 1930s to get things done that needed doing.  It's been a taint ever since.  Yes, most of the trash tripped across the street under Nixon's Southern Strategy, but it left a mark that's still in effect: the Dems can't even agree on what to have for lunch.  

For some, being contrary is a badge of honor.  But squaring off against an adversary that is both unified, especially under the current scum-dog, and unscrupulous to its core, makes winning nearly impossible unless the Dems can find a way to unite.  

I think some of the angst that is all too evident, is a basic realization that every faction within the party sees support of every other faction as totally optional.  The pros are scared, and they should be.  None of the campaigns really believes the rhetoric all the other campaigns are spewing about unifying behind the eventual winner.  They may not even believe their own.

The only thing that will change that view is a campaign that actually shows unity.  The upside: it happened in 2018.  Candidates as different as Abigail Spanberger and AOC were able to run and not trip over one another.  But that was the House.  Let's see that work across the board.  I'm hopeful, but the odds aren't great. Democrats have a knack of pulling defeat from the jaws of victory. The Greens may gain at Dem expense, but Trump will get 4 more years to tear the country apart. Everyone loses.