So uh I’ve never done this before, but I’ve been around it enough that I’ll give it a shot. A few things that have been coming up lately is the importance of primaries, and how they impact the general push of a Party going forward. This was noted in 2010 when the Tea Party wave took over, which eventually resulted in the right becoming intertwined with the Tea Party (their political differences are negligible at best at this point, given how hollow their ideas are in reality). So dismissing the right for now because I don’t have a single shred of respect or like in any of them, I just wanted to focus on a couple of ones going on right now…
The most obvious one is Cynthia Nixon’s primary shot at Andrew Cuomo. Obviously she faces a massive uphill battle, with Cuomo’s entrenched crony politics hoarding over the state and general corruption seeped everywhere. But one impact she has had is that Cuomo is trying to gain respect or love or what have you by basically just copying Cynthia Nixon’s ways. He gave parolees the right to vote (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/cuomo-restores-voting-rights-all-35-000-parolees-new-york-n867156), he shat on the IDC he formed which kept Republicans in power within local politics around the state, he’s backing marijuana legalization in some form, he is looking to ban plastic bags, he is saying his agenda is lock-step with Bernie Sanders (which Bernie Sanders’ social media guy shat on)…all of this is almost completely because of the high social profile campaign Cynthia Nixon is running. And yet, these people exist
A guest on Hardball tonight said Nixon will win. I hope not. Her campaign—and other divisive primaries— are costly diversions from winning back the House and protecting democracy. https://t.co/7rbcmUu4hh
— Jonathan Alter (@jonathanalter) April 24, 2018
Not saying it’s the norm, but there’s a pretty fair contingent within the democratic party that doesn’t want established people in power to be challenged or facing a tough primary. The problem is that it’s completely needed to push the party left where it needs to go right the hell now, and it’s completely evident with what Cuomo is doing. It still doesn’t mean anyone should support Cuomo because he’s still an asshole who sucks, it’s just one effect of primary season.
As for other primaries…please find candidates within your districts or regions that you feel support what you’re looking for. Whether it be Paula Jean Swearengin in West Virginia, challenging Joe Manchin and his utterly toothless politics while being generally a corrupt pro-life asshole. Or it’s just open primaries like for governor of Michigan where I’m at, since I staunchly support Abdul El-Sayed (website here: https://abdulformichigan.com/ ), where I think the guy is literally the future of where the Democratic party should be. Obviously I’m just touching the surface, I just wanted to single it out. Support progressive challengers, stop fucking worrying about entrenched assholes that will be fine.
In a few other news…the Dems are pushing harder now on marijuana at least. Cory Booker (still not much of a fan but he’s good on this) has had an entire act planned out for a long time, with it being fully legal, releasing prisoners convicted on marijuana charges and giving them tax breaks to start businesses rather than rich assholes taking advantage of the market (hi John Boehner). Of course, there’s the Chuck Schumer types coming around JUST on decriminalization, which isn’t nearly enough and feels very watered down in comparison. Basically, push Booker’s bill harder and step away if you’re Chuck Schumer, and use this as a frame of reference to become the marijuana legalization party. Will motivate a lot of voters at least.
Other note is that the Democratic party is introducing a job guarantee bill, with Harris/Merkley/Booker/Gillibrand backing it (ie people who want to run in 2020). From what I know, Bernie introduced one before that is a bit more progressive, so I’d probably be quicker to back that. Still would greatly prefer Universal Basic Income, which Finland pulled back on recently but won’t release data points on it until next year. Nonetheless, still something to shoot for.
Final domestic thing…DACA removals got shut down by a federal judge again, so that’s good. But ICE is a full on gestapo tactic force at this point, and anyone that runs on an Abolish ICE platform 100% has my support. Wish more people would run on that since they’re awful and didn’t even exist until the W administration. Also, DACA/the Dream Act is still a super compromise that isn’t nearly enough to protect undocumented immigrants and that should not be ignored at all. All undocumented immigrants deserve the right to live here without bullshit work or college requirements attached.
That’s all the domestic stuff I have for now, everyone else has better to say below probably. For foreign policy stuff…dropping drones anywhere is bad, talks with North Korea are good (I don’t care if it’s Trump or not, it’s a good thing), please stop trying to push for wars in Syria, Iran or even Russia on some forms, etc. I rambled on enough so foreign policy in depth for another day.
Anyways, enjoy discussing things below!