MY vision of America? I, somehow, am responsible for the polarization of the parties, which has occurred over the last 30 years?
What’s really happened is that we’re reverting back to the political makeup of the country that existed before the Great Depression, when Republicans controlled the Northeast and West, and Democrats the South and the rural areas. Only the party names have switched.
It’s not EXACTLY the same, but very similar.
Isn’'t that the same political division that existed in 1860? Not identical, but similar.
Of course the fact that progressives turned out in record numbers for the 2010 midterms won’t be able to interrupt this fantasy narrative. It was centrist Democrats who failed to show up. The ones who call themselves independents. More self-described liberals voted in 2010 than in 2006, the Democratic wave year. The problem was the squishy center, which as a political block is filled with morons. So drop the crap about progressives being to blame for 2010. And if you want to stick to your magical fantasy, please try to show even one piece of evidence (polling preferred) that shows it was progressives that failed to show up. I wish you luck with that.
You’re right, I guess we should all adopt conservative policies. Time to gut Social Security! Let’s take away everyone’s health care! I mean, we wouldn’t want to be too divisive by standing on actual positions. That would be irresponsible. Let’s all hug.
No, we just shouldn’t abandon red states. There are lots and lots of Democrats who feel abandoned in red states. The Republicans have never abandoned blue states.
As an individual matter, yes, it is stupid for someone to sit out an election because they are not entirely happy about the performance of the party that, however pathetically, more or less backs positions they hold. But, looking at larger groups of people, it’s hardly surprising that progressives wouldn’t be all that excited by today’s (or 2010’s) Democratic Party. The party itself bears some responsibility for making the case to these voters.
That said, is it really true that the best way to characterize the group that “didn’t show up” in 2010 is by ideology? It’s much clearer that minorities and the young did not show up, though it would be fair to say that both of these groups skew to the left. I’m looking for the evidence to support your contention, but what I find is
Swing-voting independents who, as usual, made the difference, favored Republicans for House by a thumping 16 points, 55-39 percent. Compare that to Obama’s 8-point win among independents in 2008.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2010-midterms-political-price-economic-pain/story?id=12041739&singlePage=true
I also fail to see how sneering at progressives really advances the cause. Another thing that conservatives understand and liberals are too stupid to understand is that their outer flank can be useful if you don’t actively alienate them.
Pretty much. The electoral map of the election of 1860 looks very similar to the electoral map of the election of 2008. The boundary between North and South in both cases was the Ohio river.
Tell me about it. I’m in Texas. But let me ask you: do you really think I feel less abandoned when the D’s run a candidate for governor that runs a campaign about blocking ObamaCare and supporting a 20-week abortion ban? Running a Republican as a Democrat does not make me feel less abandoned. If you are going to lose anyway, run true progressives to start pushing liberal ideas in these areas. Get the Texas progressives fired up and start changing minds. “When faced with a choice between a Democrat acting like a Republican and a Republican, the public will choose the genuine article every time.” - Harry Trueman.
Late Edit: No one is advocating giving up the red states. We are advocating giving up on appealing to racist white trash in the red states. Start appealing to people who might actually vote Democratic for a change.
Hear Hear!
I am in Missouri. What I see is a party that has gone out of business every where but the city cores. That means they don’t encourage people to run for city government positions or otherwise participate at the grassroot level. For years the Republicans have been working hard to capture the suburbs. They have promoted small town candidates and now control the state legislature as well as most city governments. The Democrats are no where to be seen.
Looking at the demographics Texas could turn at least purple if the Democratic party started working at the street level any place other than Austin. They don’t so the Republicans roll.
Memo to Sahil Kapur: Closing tax loopholes is not “soaking the rich”
Well, I guess we will see, won’t we. The repubs have 1 year to get their nasty done. (Then it will be 2016 election mode full tilt.) They sure hit the ground running with attacks on Social Security, Wall Street reform laws, and making abortion illegal in the whole country to name a few of what they have passed and/or put out there. If the progressive Dems can get media attention then it might be a good thing. If they don’t get their views out it will be the same old same old.
I’m in Michigan and I’ve seen the same thing. Republicans have taken over the rural areas, that’s why they control the legislature, even in a blue state like Michigan.
But back when Democrats were competitive in the rural areas, the voters they were relying on were white conservative Democrats. Those voters, over time, have either died off or moved to the Republicans. That’s what happened to Democrats in those areas–their voters disappeared.
Democrats will need new approaches to try to appeal to white voters in the rural areas and in the South. It can’t be the same old thing were they just relied on old voters to vote like they always voted, that is, for Democrats, just because their daddies voted for Democrats. That’s just not going to happen any more.
One way this may change is if the Republicans finally kill off farm subsidies. Then you may see the old progressive movement rise again in the Midwest.
The problem is, it is one thing to talk about going to street level in a place like Ohio, or New York. It is entirely a different thing when you start talking about places like Texas and Alaska. Our ‘rural’ residents are not living 20 miles outside towns of a thousand people, where they can be reached by a candidate. They are living outside of towns with a population of 50 that is made up entirely of a single gas station and a VFW. There aren’t McDonald’s or Walmarts in these towns. So how do you efficiently cover a state bigger than New England that has a population density for most of it reminiscent of Montana or Wyoming?
The key is actually running candidates. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to vote for the libertarian candidate as a protest vote since there are no Democratic candidates in the race. And I am not just talking about local races either. I am talking about federal races! US House races! And when they do pick a candidate, they aren’t supported. Steve Stockman’s opponent (a retired commercial pilot) in 2012 raised $27 for the whole race! A federal race! The state party couldn’t even be bothered to give him enough money for yard signs. In 2012, the party’s recruited pick for the Senate spot to run against Ted Cruz was the monster in charge of running Abu Gharib during the torture days (Ricardo Sanchez)! Fortunately what little base we have in Texas rebelled and he backed out, but the alternative was only marginally better. So if that is what the Democrats in Texas are doing in federal races, imagine what they are doing in local races. That is right nothing. Can’t go door to door if you don’t have local candidates who could serve that purpose. The party should run someone in every race every year and at least give them marginal support. Instead it appears to be run by morons.
That being said, Dallas county is actually the bluest county in the state (by registration). I saw somewhere that more registered Dallas voters sat out 2014 than voted in the Governor’s race total. I don’t know if that is true, but I wouldn’t be surprised. That means if they could have just gotten out the urban vote in Dallas alone, Texas would be blue today.
I don’t have much to add to the comments by Blueberry Tomatosoup and turdburgler, except that, as far as Obama goes, I think a far more important dynamic than progressives pouting because Obama hasn’t been farting rainbows on demand is the impact the Republicans unrelenting (and in my opinion immoral) campaign they have waged for the last six years to instill fear of and hatred for Obama amongst conservatives, and used that fear and hatred to increase turnout for Republicans.
The other issue is how to get young voters out. Voting is habitual, and young voters should be a priority for the Democrats. This article has some pretty interesting thoughts:
http://www.kplu.org/post/young-voters-explain-how-get-their-peers-cast-ballots-midterm-elections
The link to the GWU’s Young Voter Strategies looks especially interesting:
There are rural areas and there are suburban areas. Rural areas might be tougher, but there is no reason for Dems to surrender suburbs anywhere. The party does so because the national politicians running the party have decided they need to use money that should be available for party building to buy commercials for their national friends.
So reaching out at the street level is hard. So what? Republicans do it. Why can’t Democrats?
Suburban areas are mixtures of rural and urban areas. In fact many of these places were originally mixtures of farms areas and small towns, before the freeways brought in the unrestrained development that created the suburban sprawl we all know and presumably hate.
And in the past, while rural areas were usually Democratic, small towns were Republican. So what we’ve ended up with are areas where the rural Democratic tradition has collapsed while the small town Republican tradition is still carried on. All of this adds up to Republican victories and control of the legislatures in states like Michigan.
The state Democratic parties are generally focused on and run by the labor vote, urban voters, minority groups and some activist groups, like environmentalists, feminists and so on. All of these are pretty ill suited for reaching out to potential suburban and rural voters. That’s why there’s not a lot of outreach there.
It’s…it’s like watching an invertebrate evolve to have a spine. I almost can’t believe it…*weeps tears of joy
Great explanation, now what do we do about it?