This is a thing I’ve been saying about the Democrats for eight years now, though from a somewhat different angle.
They’re not only okay with losing elections - in ways they actually prefer it.
The worst case scenario for Democrats, and if you were paying attention, you saw it when it happened, is controlling both the presidency and a congessional majority. Then they have to go to ludicrous extremes to fail to accomplish anything, including still claiming to be obstructed by the Republican minority, even after spending the last however many years claiming that they couldn’t do anything to stop the Republicsns bevause they were the minority.
Somehow, the Republicans can stop the Demicrats no matter who has the majority, while the Democrats cannot stop the Republicans, again no matter who has the majority.
But the key, in my opinion, and not really addressed in this otherwise excellent essay, is that the one and only thing that the Democratic party hierarchy really cares about is keeping the soft money flowing. That’s it - nothing else matters to them.
And the way they keep the soft money flowing is to provide the appearance of opposition - to play the role of faces against the Republicsn heels - but to never quite manage to stop them, and certainly to never actually accomplish anything even vaguely leftist.
That provides a dual benefit for them - they keep their corporate sponsors happy by never doing anything that might actually lead to smaller executive pay packages or having to actually pay taxes and they can fundraise among the rank and file with their standard “Look at the horrible things the Republicans are doing and that’s why we need your support!”
And it all hinges on not successfully opposing the Republicans, and far and away the easiest way to not successfully oppose the Republicans is to lose key elections.
This is a thing I’ve been saying about the Democrats for eight years now, though from a somewhat different angle.
They’re not only okay with losing elections - in ways they actually prefer it.
The worst case scenario for Democrats, and if you were paying attention, you saw it when it happened, is controlling both the presidency and a congessional majority. Then they have to go to ludicrous extremes to fail to accomplish anything, including still claiming to be obstructed by the Republican minority, even after spending the last however many years claiming that they couldn’t do anything to stop the Republicsns bevause they were the minority.
Somehow, the Republicans can stop the Demicrats no matter who has the majority, while the Democrats cannot stop the Republicans, again no matter who has the majority.
But the key, in my opinion, and not really addressed in this otherwise excellent essay, is that the one and only thing that the Democratic party hierarchy really cares about is keeping the soft money flowing. That’s it - nothing else matters to them.
And the way they keep the soft money flowing is to provide the appearance of opposition - to play the role of faces against the Republicsn heels - but to never quite manage to stop them, and certainly to never actually accomplish anything even vaguely leftist.
That provides a dual benefit for them - they keep their corporate sponsors happy by never doing anything that might actually lead to smaller executive pay packages or having to actually pay taxes and they can fundraise among the rank and file with their standard “Look at the horrible things the Republicans are doing and that’s why we need your support!”
And it all hinges on not successfully opposing the Republicans, and far and away the easiest way to not successfully oppose the Republicans is to lose key elections.
Well it would be way harder for them to lose elections on purpose if you voted for them!
And clearly that’s the best use of your time and attention.