http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025789441Oh my.
NRaleighLiberal (36,228 posts) Sat Nov 8, 2014, 09:55 PM
It's been only 4 days since the election. Let's collect the factors for the outcome
In no particular order (I just looked through GD threads since election night) - many of these were mentioned multiple times in a variety of ways
Voter suppression
Voting machine errors or computerized hacking/rigging
The map was stacked against the dems (most contested Senate seats in red states or close)
Too many Dems running away from Obama's accomplishments
Third way candidates instead of true Dems
Low voter turnout for the Dem base
Young people didn't vote, but old white guys did
Republican wave developed - polls didn't catch the gap between estimates and where things ended up
GOTV wasn't effective
Dems sit out the midterms, Repubs don't
Lots of people voting against their own interests
People are just stupid
DWS did a bad job
The game is rigged - the election results don't really matter, really
Low level of interest in the election
Corporate right wing media brainwashing of the electorate
Lack of clarity of what the Dems truly stand for (in contrast to the right)
with a sprinkling of
it's going to be OK - the sun will come out tomorrow, and this is politics - we have to expect highs and lows (in various forms)
What did I miss? I actually only looked at posts on Tues and Wed since pretty much all themes got hit upon in those two days.
To fix a problem you have to actually get at the root cause. Some of the above are effects, but not all of them can be actual root causes. Tonight's post saying that the Dems want to actually review what went wrong in 10 and 14 - this thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014939911
Where they get with this will only be of use if they can get to the actual, true causes of the issue - but even more important, if they have the courage and ability to actually do something about it.
A few primitive comments, selected at random:
Odin2005 (48,617 posts) Sun Nov 9, 2014, 12:45 AM
17. The only thing I've killed with my guns is wild game.
<<kind of worried that Minnesota allows His Imperious Aspieness to own a firearm.
Is it possible to be too fat to use a firearm effectively?
NYC_SKP (62,757 posts) Sat Nov 8, 2014, 10:21 PM
6. We bicker over guns and religion while the middle class gets shredded.
We need to quit the little stuff, the identity politics, and go for what matters to people in both parties:
Good jobs, good pay, benefits, a strong middle class.
Odin2005 (48,617 posts) Sun Nov 9, 2014, 12:44 AM
16. As a rural progressive, I think the gun issue just needs to die.
Seriously, every time some idiot says the technically meaningless word "assault rifle" we lose votes.
NYC_SKP (62,757 posts) Sat Nov 8, 2014, 10:19 PM
4. With apologies to whatshisname, "It's the Middle Class, Stupid".
Go for the core, middle class jobs and benefits, education, things that matter to everyone, left and right.
Old school FDR programs that lift us all.
It's not that hard, but I don't see many potential candidates running on that platform.
Odin2005 (48,617 posts) Sun Nov 9, 2014, 12:47 AM
18. "It's the WORKING CLASS, stupid."
Fixed that for you.
The fact that working class people think they are "middle class" is one of the right-wing coups that have destroyed proletarian class consciousness in this country.
NYC_SKP (62,757 posts) Sun Nov 9, 2014, 12:51 AM
19. Well that's more like it, but to the 1% all the other 99% are drones.
There is such a thing as a middle class and a different thing as the "middle class" used in the terms that you describe.
I'm talking about high wage good benefit jobs, even single earner families.
I'm talking about the days when a CEO might earn 40 times what their average employee earned and not 400.*
*or back when desk-sitting governmental employees fared no better than those working in private enterprises, when it came to wages, benefits, and job security.
Odin2005 (48,617 posts) Sun Nov 9, 2014, 12:33 AM
15. IMO Citizens United and the Voter ID BS are the major sources of the problem.
The Democratic Party is caught in a bind. It needs to excite the base and young voters, but at the same time not scare off big donors. What the Finance, Tech, and Entertainment Industry capitalists who generally side with the Dems want and what Millennials and the base want almost completely conflict. Mix that in with voter disenfranchisement and you get low turnout and a demoralized electorate.
Corporate media IS a problem, but it is a problem we can compensate for with grass-roots organizing and activism. The RW Noise Machine was actually much worse in the 30s than it is now.
EDIT: One more thing, we need to just DROP THE ****ING GUN ISSUE. We lost Udall because the Dem Establishment can't get over the fact that the gun debate is over and WE LOST.
Odin2005 (48,617 posts) Sun Nov 9, 2014, 01:27 AM
25. IMO it shows the elitism and arrogance of the Dem Establishment.
Thinking gun-owners are all dumb hicks, rednecks, and lunatics is NOT a good idea.
