Discussion for article #232544
You know, maybe the Dems should ask Soros to step up to the plate. I donât like idiots throwing money around like drunken monkeys, but sometimes you gotta fight fire with fire.
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All the more reason to nominate someone for POTUS with huge coattails.
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On another note,GOPs know they are swimming against the demographic tide and the only chance they have is to pour huge dollars into state and local races and control the redistricting process. Dems must win the WH in 2016 and hold it in 2020 or they are truly f*cked for the next 15 years at a minimum.
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Now that people can donate anonymously can someone go talk to Warren Buffet? He famously cut his political donation 22 years ago, because he was worried about the effect it would have on his business interest. Well now he can hide them.
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âIn many ways, they have superseded the party.â
Important point and well worth exploring and exploiting.
GOTV and viral issues marketing on social media can negate much of the impact of Koch dollars.
My kids and their friends all fall within the 19-35 demographic and what they seem to want is what Don Hewitt of â60 Minutesâ called the essential element of their success-âTell me a storyâ
These kids have already created the framework in their social world that embraces the Democratic ideals of equality and, above all, the morality of fairness.
I refuse to believe that we canât present the right narrative that will resonate and inspire them
and their peer groups to vote.
We have that story.
We just need to tell it.
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Thatâs a lot of money. One has to wonder what they want for it in return.
Maybe Clarence Thomas can tell usâŚ
Speak up ClarenceâŚwe cannot hear you.
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Have the âAll Hope is Lostâ emails gone out yet?
https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/screen-shot-2014-05-30-at-10-15-42-am.png?w=300&h=178
The bottom line for democrats is this: We show up. They lose.
GOTV. No excuses.
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SO what. There is no evidence that the NRA etc. have had any success in on year elections other than pouring lots of cash onto a losing cause.
Start beating the minimum wage drum, the college relief, the infrastructure abandonment by the Kochs, and their Congress henchmen. Do to the Kochs what the GOP did successfully to Ms. Pelosi, demonize early and often, relentlessly.
Start NOW.
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If they control the states, they control redistricting. If they control redistricting, they control the House for another decade.
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I might have some spare change in my pockets âŚ
We are seriously effed if the Dems donât get their act together. In all seriousness, I donate $20, $50, even $100 when I feel called and the candidate is worth it, but how do people like me counter this?
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Time to take a page out of the Karl Rove play book â turn their strength into a liability.
Make their money THE issue in the campaign, and how it is being used to supercede the public interest and drown out the publicâs voice.
Yes, we should cultivate donors, but we need to put our money and efforts into voter registration, GOTV, and grass roots organizing.
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Why donât the Dems stop playing the weâre broke card, seems weak and overplayed. Plenty of rich Hedge Fund Democrats and others out there.
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Hasnât worked the last few times
Iâm sorry, but I find it hard to have any sympathy for Democratic politicians on the campaign finance issue. In 2006, 19 Democratic Senators broke party lines to end the filibuster of Samuel Alitoâs SCOTUS nomination to replace Sandra Day OâConnor, which swung the court to the extreme right, enabling 5-4 decisions such as Citizens United. Then in 2009, Democrats briefly held a Congressional supermajority, giving them an historic opportunity to enact campaign finance reform. Instead of bringing the Blue Dogs into line, they like guys like Max Baucus call the shots for the party, and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to reform Washington was squandered.
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Someone commented that the GOP knows it is swimming against the demographic tide, meaning the next generation of voters will reject their agenda. This may be so on some issues, but I continue to worry about the failure of younger voters to understand, for instance, the importance of union representation and public education. They canât all have highly compensated tech jobs, and the general ignorance among many demographics about history, science, economics, etc., is appalling. And the Democratic Party as a whole is at best unreliable on these issues.
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By the way, the New York Times article on this subject that appeared today 1/17/2015 implausibly described the Koch-affiliated organization Americans for Prosperity as a grass-roots group. It is not; it is a prime example of top-down, astro-turf manipulation of public opinion. I couldnât take the time to read through the more than 1000 comments at the Timesâ site to see if someone had made that point and demanded an apology.
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The Republicans are already pretty darn good at selling the snake oil. Unless we can somehow change campaign finance laws we are doomed. They will simply drown out the opposition. Itâs like they will have a non-compete agreement. It would be hard to convince any Republicans that this excess spending is bad for the country when they are winning handily. We are already barely a democracy any longer and this is just the frosting on the cake for the right wing. They will simply railroad anything they want because not many Democrats will be elected.
âThey can essentially define an agenda for someone like a Scott Walker or a Chris Christie,â Rathod said.
âFundersâ like the Koch brothers not only define the agenda through outright spending. Perhaps more insidious, the Kochs exert influence through the threat of spending. This non too subtle threat is especially corrosive to representation in government.
Consider this scenario. Assume a politician like John McCain wants to get big money out of elections. His constituents agreeâthey tell him to run against big money and crony politics. Despite this, he may not be willing to make this a part of his platform. Why not, if he has the support of his voters?
Because of the threat of a âmoney bombâ. The Kochâsâor any organized large funderâneed only signal to McCain that they may create an opposition campaign. And thus elections, the fundamental mechanism for representation in our government, is corrupted. No longer governed by the people, for the people.
There is a movement growing to make this fight against corrupt elections the first issue in the next presidential election. I learned this through walking with the New Hampshire Rebellion and the book âRepublic Lostâ by Lawrence Lessig. Lessig has made the book available ccfree; he says so on his blog in this post âREPUBLIC, LOST IS NOW CCFREEâ on his blog. Follow the link to download the book.
On the Road to Democracy, Big Money Takes Its Toll.
I think youâre right about your kids and their friends. And here is a teenager who has a story to tell. Watch this YouTube footage of her amazing speech in her native New Hampshire.
Here is Ella McGrail speaking at the #NHRebellion rally on the Capitol Plaza in Concord this Jan. 21st.