The Log Cabin Libertarians?

[Eric the Green]

(04-20-2022, 12:33 PM)beechnut79 Wrote:

(04-20-2022, 08:44 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(04-20-2022, 03:12 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: The Right has thus maintained and expanded its power over the last 41 years and counting, and that is the main reason the Left has not succeeded. The Left has never been in a position to make the difference in peoples' lives that it promises. When it has power, it has to compromise with the neoliberal power, and such victories as it has achieved were only obtained by moderate candidates who adopted some neoliberal tenets and policies. 
But even so, even our moderately "Left" presidents only have power for less than one term of Congress before the people withdraw their support from even the tepid measures that it offers. And that is about to happen yet again. Since the people have been brainwashed and convinced to support the Right, they are not able or willing to support even a moderate-left president by giving them a congress beyond even one of its terms. There has not been a single case in our lifetimes of the people giving such presidents more than a single congressional term at most, and the only time that this single congressional term was enough time to accomplish anything substantial was after the "Left's most popular leader had been shot down and martyred by someone in Dallas TX who could never have been satisfied with anything our government would or could ever do.

You made my point here.  Milquetoast advocacy, especially when it's cloaked in complex policy wonkery, cannot and will not motivate anyone -- even the more predisposed.  In short, the Left has committed political suicide, and can't seem to understand how or why.  They better learn and fast!

I finally saw a politician of the left who embodies what I'm saying here: Abby Finkenauer of Iowa.  She's running for US Senate in the Iowa Democratic primary to oppose Chuck Grassley.  Wisely, she is avoiding the "woke" issues and concentrating on governance and fairness in the economy -- supporting the very people Donald Trump used as cord wood.  More important, she's a real firebrand and takes no prisoners.  Whether she can get the nod (two traditional Democrats are also running) is still TBD, but she has the mien of someone with a new message to Dems they are in dire need of hearing.

Eric Wrote:You made the good point David that the moderate Bill Clinton could have done away with the filibuster, but his moderate Democratic congress was afraid to do this because it would come back to bite them when Republicans got the majority again, as they were sure to do, and I can't blame them for that. As for the moderately-left Obama, he supposedly had a filibuster proof congress, but this was only for 7 months, and even then some of those Democrats were also moderates who would not agree to any substantially-leftist programs. After this 7 months were over, Obama's presidency was effectively over too. Republicans in the last 40 years of neoliberalism have never been willing to act for the people. Their only interest is to keep it from taking action in order to protect their clientele: the rich, and the prejudiced.

It's simple: you strike when the iron is hot!  Dithering (yes I'm talking to you Merrick Garland) will only lead to yet another loss.  People expect effort if not results, and hiding behind procedure won't get any politician more than a full-on face full of contempt.  Sorry, but no award for being earnest.

Eric Wrote:

David Wrote:Let's (s)how that by 2028 we're still enough of a democracy for a real turnabout.  Its' not coming from Biden and, God knows, it's never coming from the GOP.

It is most unlikely that an administration promoting real change can win as a first turning begins. How will we get back our democracy once the Republicans control congress again for another 2 or 3 terms? They are lined up solid against democracy already, and have already outlawed it. Biden is certainly not to blame. He has done as well as anyone else could have done. The people are to blame; they did not give their president a congress, and now they even want to take away even the lousy congress that he has. No president can govern effectively without a congress. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were as charismatic and persuasive as any candidates could ever be, and they were not given even a moderate a congress for more than 7 months, and even that just for only one time.

And as great as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are, they don't even come up to Biden's level in that department.

Biden is a Silent at a time we need anything but.  Even when he tries to be passionate, it comes across as Grandpa telling the Grandkids to behave.  Both Bernie and Elizabeth bring the fire, and that's how you get followers.  James Clyburn, another Silent of course, decided we needed a calm voice.  No, we didn't!

The oligarchy made sure that neither Bernie nor Liz could succeed at winning the nomination, did they not?

That is not correct. The voters in Democratic primaries made that choice.

The oligarchy supports the Republicans, and their politicians and their voters set up our political and judicial process so that the oligarchs benefit from it.

You didn't quite get my point, David. Granted that Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Michael Dukakis or Walter Mondale did not fill the bill of a candidate that connected with the people, and they lost to less-wonky Republican candidates. But Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were as appealing and articulate as presidential candidates as we are EVER likely to get. They were more than policy wonks; they connected with people. What has kept us subjected to neoliberalism and decline is not the politicians; it is because of the voters. No matter how non-milquetoast a president is, (s)he can do nothing without a congress, and neither could JFK, Carter, Clinton nor Obama. Because the stupid USA voters withdrew support from them in the midterms, and then also did not vote for a Democratic Party successor! We the people voted for every political problem that we now have! NOT our leaders.

And this was partly because young people who do not know civics or who can't look below the surface, and because some on the Left expected more results from their president than any president could ever deliver in such a backward country as the USA, and blamed HIM instead of themselves. And so they didn't vote in the midterms and thereby screwed us up even more.

The horoscope scores indicate that Biden, a boomer/silent cusper, is a better communicator than either Silent Bernie Sanders or Boomer Elizabeth Warren, and has a better chance to win the presidency than they. And that applies also to every other 2020 Democratic candidate.

Bernie (whom I voted for) and Liz did not have the fire to bring enough of their voters to the polls. Biden did, and he beat Trump's fire too.

I mentioned this before, but great as Elizabeth Warren is, she is also Crusader Rabbit. She's a dead-ringer. Crusaders don't win the USA presidency, except for once in 230 years (TR).

The point is not to argue over this. The point is not to find a politician or a generation to blame. The point is, how do we get liberal young people to vote in midterms?

I would say one thing we can do is share this Obama clip. https://youtu.be/7hZgg_KjvDQ?t=3246