- Nov 27, 2016
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If you want to rig a boxing match, you don't pay the winner to win, you pay the loser to take a fall. In the same way, Democrats are paid big money by their donors to be the weak opposition.
Even when Democrats had a Democratic president and a supermajority in congress, Republicans were still running the show. Obama couldn't even get his signature piece of legislation, Romneycare AKA Obamacare, through congress with the Public Option intact. And it was not because the Republicans obstructed him as the popular narrative says, but because he ALLOWED members of his own party to obstruct him.
Democrat Max Baucus' charade is largely responsible for killing the Public Option, and Obama never lifted a finger to twist his arm, instead saying that he wanted to "respect the process." We know, however, that Obama was enabling Baucus to kill the Public Option because Obama didn't want the Public Option despite his vocal support of it. How do we know this? Because while Obama was saying publicly that he supported the Public Option, he had his Chief of Staff, the odious Rahm Emanuel, "disrespecting" the process and twisting Democrats' arms behind the scenes to oppose it. So we know that Obama was entirely capable of twisting Democrats' arms when he wanted and in fact did so. But he did so to KILL a popular provision, not to support it, though he was able to have it both ways, lying to the public by supporting it rhetorically just as he was trying to kill it behind the scenes.
Republicans drummed up public opposition by doing town halls where they said Obamacare was going to kill your grandmother. But what did Democrats do to try to drum up public support FOR Obamacare? Did Obama use the Bully Pulpit to marginalize Republican opposition? Did Democrats do town halls to rally support among their base? Did they take the fight to Republicans? No, they simply played defense, going on TV to say that, no, Obamacare wasn't really going to kill your grandmother. Obamacare ended up being a barely-incremental, completely watered-down boondoggle for the private insurance industry (when Democrats had but squandered the opportunity for more comprehensive reform) but Democrats celebrated it as real progress even as the public that weren't Democratic partisans could clearly see otherwise.
The Republicans clearly won (were allowed to win) that PR war as the GOP's efforts bore fruit and public sentiment turned sharply against Obamacare with polling opposing Obamacare taking the clear majority before it passed (it had a majority of support to begin with), which is where it stayed up until Trump was elected and the public realized they could lose their healthcare. Polling on public support of Obamacare then went from negative to positive for the first time since it was enacted.
And the Democrats still play defense. They don't offer up any kind of agenda, like EXPANDING Obamacare, Medicare for all, shoring up Social Security and Medicare, ending the (I think) EIGHT wars we're in now, reducing the INCREDIBLY bloated defense budget (our government spends $250 MILLION - a quarter of a BILLION dollars - dollars EVERY SINGLE DAY on all of our wars and has been for a very long time) to spend that money here at home on things like extending public education through college, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, ending homelessness, demand-side stimulus, anything that would HELP people, and not just the people at the very top. Democrats just play weak defense, constantly getting pushed further and further downfield.
We ALWAYS have plenty of money to kill lots and lots of brown people in far away lands but never enough to help the people here at home. Yet Democrats recently voted to INCREASE the military budget by $80 BILLION dollars over what was requested without question.
Democrats tell us out of one side of their mouths that we can't have nice things like free college, single payer healthcare, rebuilding our infrastructure etc. because we just can't afford them but out of the other side of their mouths, they voluntarily and without hesitation vote to give the military $80 BILLION MORE to the war machine than they what was even requested so our military can go and kill brown people in far away lands on our behalf and fund terrorist groups to overthrow a leader they don't like as they're doing now in Syria, funding, training and providing intelligence to Al Nusra and Al Qaeda to help them overthrow Assad so our allies the Saudis can build a pipeline through Syria that Assad has opposed since he has been in power (it's always about the oil and therefore the money). That money could have paid for SO MANY of the things here at home that Democrats tell us we just can't afford. Thanks to the corruption of the Democratic Party, the weak opposition, there is ALWAYS money to prop up the war machine but NEVER enough to help people here at home, unless you're one of the lucky few at the very top.
The Democratic Party is ALWAYS playing defense. The whole of their ideology since as far back as I can remember seems to simply be trying to "stop" the Republicans from enacting their agenda, which they're never quite able to do and they keep losing ground to the Republicans. We have the largest income gap and level of economic inequality surpassing what it was during the Gilded Age of the Robber Barons, yet Democrats fiddle while Rome burns.
Democrats don't have an agenda of their own besides empty platitudes like "leading with our values" whatever the hell that means. They're not even leading at all but following the GOP around and "trying" - but always ultimately failing - to "stop" them.
In the age of Trump, Democrats' only impetus is "resisting Trump." They are campaigning and fundraising on it but it is, again, something they're not ever quite able to competently do. And while they say they want to get rid of Trump, they offer up nothing different to replace him with but more of the same status quo corruption.
Just because Trump is "bad" does not mean that Democrats are therefore "good," which the general public clearly understands as the Democratic Party's approval ratings are currently polling lower than Trump and the Republican Party.
When Democrats' terms are up, they then walk through the revolving door to highly lucrative jobs as lobbyists, lobbying on behalf of some of the very same corporations that corrupted them, which is how corruption works. Yet Democratic partisans still refuse to see the problem that is right in front of their faces - the complete corruption of their own party.
Unless and until Democratic partisans focus their ire where it belongs - not on Trump, not on Republicans but on the wholesale corruption of their OWN party that, despite Democrats' rhetoric, ENABLES Trump and the Republicans - demand an end to that corruption and demand that the Democratic Party start playing OFFENSE and standing FOR real policies to help working Americans (and not just empty platitudes and meaningless buzzwords like "leading with our values" but real, tangible action) instead of just standing AGAINST Trump, they are part of the problem and they will continue to enable the wholesale corruption and ultimately the demise of the Democratic Party.
Even when Democrats had a Democratic president and a supermajority in congress, Republicans were still running the show. Obama couldn't even get his signature piece of legislation, Romneycare AKA Obamacare, through congress with the Public Option intact. And it was not because the Republicans obstructed him as the popular narrative says, but because he ALLOWED members of his own party to obstruct him.
Democrat Max Baucus' charade is largely responsible for killing the Public Option, and Obama never lifted a finger to twist his arm, instead saying that he wanted to "respect the process." We know, however, that Obama was enabling Baucus to kill the Public Option because Obama didn't want the Public Option despite his vocal support of it. How do we know this? Because while Obama was saying publicly that he supported the Public Option, he had his Chief of Staff, the odious Rahm Emanuel, "disrespecting" the process and twisting Democrats' arms behind the scenes to oppose it. So we know that Obama was entirely capable of twisting Democrats' arms when he wanted and in fact did so. But he did so to KILL a popular provision, not to support it, though he was able to have it both ways, lying to the public by supporting it rhetorically just as he was trying to kill it behind the scenes.
Republicans drummed up public opposition by doing town halls where they said Obamacare was going to kill your grandmother. But what did Democrats do to try to drum up public support FOR Obamacare? Did Obama use the Bully Pulpit to marginalize Republican opposition? Did Democrats do town halls to rally support among their base? Did they take the fight to Republicans? No, they simply played defense, going on TV to say that, no, Obamacare wasn't really going to kill your grandmother. Obamacare ended up being a barely-incremental, completely watered-down boondoggle for the private insurance industry (when Democrats had but squandered the opportunity for more comprehensive reform) but Democrats celebrated it as real progress even as the public that weren't Democratic partisans could clearly see otherwise.
The Republicans clearly won (were allowed to win) that PR war as the GOP's efforts bore fruit and public sentiment turned sharply against Obamacare with polling opposing Obamacare taking the clear majority before it passed (it had a majority of support to begin with), which is where it stayed up until Trump was elected and the public realized they could lose their healthcare. Polling on public support of Obamacare then went from negative to positive for the first time since it was enacted.
And the Democrats still play defense. They don't offer up any kind of agenda, like EXPANDING Obamacare, Medicare for all, shoring up Social Security and Medicare, ending the (I think) EIGHT wars we're in now, reducing the INCREDIBLY bloated defense budget (our government spends $250 MILLION - a quarter of a BILLION dollars - dollars EVERY SINGLE DAY on all of our wars and has been for a very long time) to spend that money here at home on things like extending public education through college, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, ending homelessness, demand-side stimulus, anything that would HELP people, and not just the people at the very top. Democrats just play weak defense, constantly getting pushed further and further downfield.
We ALWAYS have plenty of money to kill lots and lots of brown people in far away lands but never enough to help the people here at home. Yet Democrats recently voted to INCREASE the military budget by $80 BILLION dollars over what was requested without question.
Democrats tell us out of one side of their mouths that we can't have nice things like free college, single payer healthcare, rebuilding our infrastructure etc. because we just can't afford them but out of the other side of their mouths, they voluntarily and without hesitation vote to give the military $80 BILLION MORE to the war machine than they what was even requested so our military can go and kill brown people in far away lands on our behalf and fund terrorist groups to overthrow a leader they don't like as they're doing now in Syria, funding, training and providing intelligence to Al Nusra and Al Qaeda to help them overthrow Assad so our allies the Saudis can build a pipeline through Syria that Assad has opposed since he has been in power (it's always about the oil and therefore the money). That money could have paid for SO MANY of the things here at home that Democrats tell us we just can't afford. Thanks to the corruption of the Democratic Party, the weak opposition, there is ALWAYS money to prop up the war machine but NEVER enough to help people here at home, unless you're one of the lucky few at the very top.
The Democratic Party is ALWAYS playing defense. The whole of their ideology since as far back as I can remember seems to simply be trying to "stop" the Republicans from enacting their agenda, which they're never quite able to do and they keep losing ground to the Republicans. We have the largest income gap and level of economic inequality surpassing what it was during the Gilded Age of the Robber Barons, yet Democrats fiddle while Rome burns.
Democrats don't have an agenda of their own besides empty platitudes like "leading with our values" whatever the hell that means. They're not even leading at all but following the GOP around and "trying" - but always ultimately failing - to "stop" them.
In the age of Trump, Democrats' only impetus is "resisting Trump." They are campaigning and fundraising on it but it is, again, something they're not ever quite able to competently do. And while they say they want to get rid of Trump, they offer up nothing different to replace him with but more of the same status quo corruption.
Just because Trump is "bad" does not mean that Democrats are therefore "good," which the general public clearly understands as the Democratic Party's approval ratings are currently polling lower than Trump and the Republican Party.
When Democrats' terms are up, they then walk through the revolving door to highly lucrative jobs as lobbyists, lobbying on behalf of some of the very same corporations that corrupted them, which is how corruption works. Yet Democratic partisans still refuse to see the problem that is right in front of their faces - the complete corruption of their own party.
Unless and until Democratic partisans focus their ire where it belongs - not on Trump, not on Republicans but on the wholesale corruption of their OWN party that, despite Democrats' rhetoric, ENABLES Trump and the Republicans - demand an end to that corruption and demand that the Democratic Party start playing OFFENSE and standing FOR real policies to help working Americans (and not just empty platitudes and meaningless buzzwords like "leading with our values" but real, tangible action) instead of just standing AGAINST Trump, they are part of the problem and they will continue to enable the wholesale corruption and ultimately the demise of the Democratic Party.
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