Analysis, Commentary, Opinion
07.28.2018
All Politics is Local
The
next general election is about one hundred days away.
Already
the cracks are appearing between so-called traditional democrats and the
so-called progressive wing.
Remember,
all politics is local. What sells in the Bronx, may not sell in Branson. What
passive for common sense in Minnesota, is different than Idaho, Colorado,
Arizona.
All
politics is local, Tip O’Niel said, former speaker of the house, local races
will be won or lost on the ground.
Political
activists and part time enthusiasts must be mindful of the stakes. It is vital
that we take control of congress this year.
We
must, we absolutely must put the brakes on the Trump agenda, investigate him,
and take control of government through the power of the purse.
We
must, we absolutely must hold on to this power through 2020, and expand it,
because that is when redistricting occurs.
And
we must win the white house at the same time.
In
the modern era, in the twenty-four hour news cycle, we have a tendency to
nationalize everything, we have to resist this temptation.
The
liberal idealism of the progressive wing cannot become the standard by which we
measure good politics. Neither can resistance to it become. We cannot afford to
be isolated from one another, alienated from one another.
The
future of the Democratic party is Urban, Intellectual, and Muti-racial, we
cannot lose sight of that, but we need more than that, right now we need a
super majority, in congress and in state houses across the country. We need to
win those seats and we need to hold them, for more than a cycle or two.
We
need to cooperate with one another to do that, because this bird ain’t gonna’
fly with broken wings.
I
am not suggesting that we return to the mistakes of the past, where we pander
to white working class men; un-educated, anti-intellectual, rural poor. That
demographic is lost to the Democratic Party, and we do not want them back.
We
want a super-majority in congress, to get that we must be respectful of one
another, and be ready to compromise.
We
have to be willing to argue for our ideals, without insisting on them. In the democratic
caucus we have to practice the art of persuasion, not coercion, and we cannot
be derisive of those who do not mark each and every box on the ideological
checklist as we do.
