Even this analysis doesn't capture the real problem.
Asserting that the DNC "fails to learn" implies that they have some goal they're not meeting.
They don't.
Their goal is to rake in as much corporate soft money as possible, and by that standard, this past election was a resounding success. And nothing else, including winning elections, matters to them.
So they're not really "failing" at anything. In fact they're succeeding nicely. It's just that they're succeeding at being corrupt, self-serving and deceitful.
The goal of leftists is to complain and by that standard, this past election was a resounding success. And nothing else, including winning elections, matters to them.
"Unfortunately," Geevarghese lamented, "Democratic leadership is failing disastrously to meet this urgent mandate. Ahead of tonight's forum, the DNC is actively working to silence rank-and-file Democratic activists and base voters calling for a ban on dark money in primaries and the rejection of corporate funding. In a last-minute move, they shut the event off from the public and even deliberately shared the wrong address for where grassroots supporters are allowed to gather."
This would have been valid 3 months ago, but now elections are over. THIS is the time to complain and look for an alternative, so that we don't get caught pants down in 2 years
A resounding failure by the DNC with two years before the next election (if those even matter anymore) is literally the best time to be critical.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results all that. DNC keeps failing to beat Republicans, time to try something else.
When people are struggling economically, they’re looking for a change candidate. Running on everyone being better off than their actual bank statements and credit card bills say was always a shit strategy. Cozying up to Liz Cheney and her lot was secondary to that.
This is exactly it. It's white Trump wins. Why people are willing to overlook all of his craziness- because his platform is one of radical change. He may be crazy and he may be full of shit but at least he is talking about change. And when you're hurting and you see the entire country hurting and you see nobody in charge giving a fuck, or worse telling you this is how it's supposed to be, you want radical change.
Okay but then what was the alternate winning strategy? The whole world was undergoing massive inflation, the US actually did better than basically every other country. There's no way to turn around a global pandemic followed by unprecedentrd global inflation in short order. Egg prices went up because of avian flu and culling but no one wants to hear that. What could democrats have run on instead?
I'm biased because I wish what she advocated for was closer to what I want, but I think she needed to be bold. She had some good policies, but we need more than some good policies right now. We need to rethink how we live because our institutions are failing us. I don't know for sure if she would have won, but I think Medicare for all, free school lunch, even more antitrust action (Lina Khan was one of Biden's best picks), etc, probably would have helped.
The democrats are very good at fighting a change inside their own party. They're very bad at fighting republicans on the national stage. Case in point, voter suppression in the last election, the stolen election of Gore v. Bush in 2000 (Gore had majority in Florida in the end, did you hear CNN reporting about it?)
The Dem base has been fully bought out by corporate interests. They are "controlled opposition" in every sense. A vestigial remnant of their 1940s peak that mostly exists to rein in the excesses of the prior conservative leadership (although, one could argue even FDR ultimately filled that role).
(Gore had majority in Florida in the end, did you hear CNN reporting about it?)
The degree to which Florida has been fumbled by Dems for the last 30 years cannot be overstated.
The degree to which Florida has been fumbled by Dems for the last 30 years cannot be overstated.
As much as they messed up there, I have to point out that a significant percentage of the voters went for Nader (although would have preferred Gore to Bush). That stupid idiotic moronic idealism cost them and the world two pointless wars in the Middle East, whose ripple effects can still be felt. Nevertheless R's just stole the election and the D's rolled over I suppose in order not to cause instability and keep the corporate overlords happy. Can you imagine how angry the R machinery would have gotten if the roles were reversed (possibly some of the D base as well, but just because they're not similar scum as R voters)?
Dems do not care to "learn". They do not want to help you. They do not want to undermine the capitalist empire. They aren't hapless, they just don't work for you.
You know how ACAB? Because a good cop will quickly get checked to doing bad cop things out of fear, or they leave (willingly or in a body bag).
I'm starting to think that with politics. You go in with the dreams of change. Then you see the bloat and bullshit. You try to pass a bill to make sure that all kids have the right to free food, and some fuck face screams at you and doxxes your family on Rogan and now you got death threats.
Biden won the previous election (barely) because Trump's incompetence was on full display and people were angry about it. It'll happen again, but unfortunately, elections are pretty much done in the USA. Between fuckery and intimidation, we're unlikely to see a 'fair' election until a major revolution occurs in the USA.
The party is dead until they figure out a way to even the media landscape. Harris was a very good candidate with a good campaign relative to the binary alternative option.
But it doesn't matter because Republicans control the narrative on everything and it doesn't help that Democrats blow at messaging and recognizing the all-out war we're in.
People knew what Harris was selling, at least the people who could be persuading to vote Democrat. The DNC's absolute failure at communication is definitely a problem, but the catastrophic loss they suffered this election can't be explained by that alone. Many people, with full knowledge of what a Trump administration would mean, sat out of this election. People who would volunteer in democrat campaigns either sat out or voted for Harris quietly. The DNC's biggest "failure" (they didn't fail at enriching their corporate donors, so to them it's a success) is relying too much on being the less shitty shit sandwich.
I'd actually argue people didn't know what Harris was selling. There was a very well written and well thought out policy platform written up on their campaign's website, but none of that reached all the Americans who refuse to read anything. The campaign trail was very focused on how Donald Trump was a threat to democracy, but they refused to really draw attention to the Nazi iconography and truly terrifying promises Trump was making. In fact, an awful lot of the campaign trail was backing Israel, promising a more secure boarder, lying about how great the economy was, and promising to reach across the isle to work with the mythical "good Republican."
And, to give the average American the benefit of the doubt, I don't think many of them knew the potential dangers of a Trump re-election. I think a lot of people saw the weakly worded Democrat warnings as typical political mud-slinging. Both sides were calling each other the devil incarnate, and both sides refused to back up their claims, so it's hard to be surprised that Americans just saw it as noise. I think most of them are just scared they won't make it through the year, like my friends and I are, and got suckered in by the orange man telling them that everything sucks and he'll make it better.
I think the DNC sucks and messaging could've been better.
But I frankly also believe that for anyone who supposedly what Harris and Trump were selling and found the choice difficult then you're kind of a moron. Ethically; logically... Zero sense. Yes, Stagnation is infinitely better than fascism intentionally sabotaging the system.
So I choose to hope people actually didn't know how good Harris was relative to how bad Trump was because mostly rich white men control the vast majority of what people see.
People need to remember.. The demographics of Lemmy let's just say aren't even remotely reflective of the American electorate. You're lucky if people watch more than the Fox News in their physician's waiting room or work breakroom, supplemented by their social media feed and YouTube algorithm peddling Red-pilled incel bullshit and trash like Joe Rogan.
Like, do you think people are actually tuning into AP or NPR or BBC or ProPublica investigations? You think they're reading long form written journalist pieces or PBS Frontline documents ties? Fuuuuck no. It's closer to work-drink-sports-talk shows-church-work-bar-sports-social media, rinse repeat.
In order to split the party we need a strong group to gather around in opposition to the established liberal party. And unfortunately the trademarked Progressive Party™ is owned by insane people that no one wants to have anything to do with. So another name needs to be thought up.
According to that guy I follow on Facebook the air in American cities has higher concentrations of the poisonous chemicals O2 and H2O, and that's why they refuse to accept the Truth brought to us by Trump and supply-side Jesus.
Wait, are you trying to say the Democrats are out of touch with what the American public wants and needs, and as a consequence, may not perform as well in the upcoming elections? Gee, if only they had any warning signs.
It should be seen as extra sad that as the GOP fails in any number of areas while having a fairly strong hold on the government, that the DNC can barely do anything. Years of corruption and cronyism have taken their toll and as an institution, they have forgotten what it even takes to get elected. Just being "not Trump" is no longer enough to get voted in. They better do some pretty rapid self-improvement if they even want to remain a viable party much longer.
If Democrats are a failure then form your own party and show Democrats how it’s done.
I mean, there is the Green Party, for example. Not one I'm a fan of.
But the problem with third parties is the fact that the system is engineered to only allow two parties to exist.
We could do a repeat of what they did in Nevada, and just wipe the entire incumbent Dem Committee seats, and started over with a new set of folks, all leftists. And then, the Dems did nothing but tear them down, until they got those seats back.
3 wasted years of Dems fighting leftists, just to obtain power. Not to enact changes, not after learning any lessons. Nevada is back to just another rubber stamp for oligarchs. A controlled oppo team.
I'm not a fan of the Green Party, either. Among other things, they gave us Senator Sinema.
But if leftists want to demonstrate that they are better than establishment Dems at winning elections, then leftists will have to win elections. Starting with primaries.
And yes, others will try to "tear them down" from all sides. Intraparty fighting never ends, even after winning an election. Just ask Joe Biden. That's the nature of politics, which leftists often don't want to face.
Dems are captured. The only way around that is voting in as many independent members to congress as we can possibly get. Even AOC has traded fighting for us for securing her position as a mouthpiece for the party. Such as lying to voters pretending that Biden and Harris were working tirelessly on a ceasefire.