So what. The Republicans won. So what.

[Yavin4]

I've lived through two terms of Reagan, one term of Bush I, VP Dan Quayle, Gingrich and the Republican contract on America, Bush II stealing Florida, Bush II invading Iraq, Bush II crashing the economy, the spectre of Sarah Palin, and the Tea Party. Lived through all of it, and I'm still standing.

You know what else is still standing strong, progressive values. Through that cloud of utter bullshit that I just listed, I saw the GBLT community go from being devastated by the AIDs crisis to being used as scapegoats for Bush II's 2004 election to now living in a time when they can legally marry. Progress happens when people are committed to it.

I've seen Jesse Jackson's 1984 campaign be pilloried by the mainstream to media, to riots in the streets after the Rodney King verdict, to a country torn apart over the OJ trial, to seeing an African American being elected to the presidency in 2008. Progress happens when people are committed to it.

I've participated in demonstrations outside of the South African embassy in 1985 protesting Apartheid and calling for the release of Nelson Mandela to seeing him become the leader of that nation and witnessing an entire nation weep at his passing.

The Republicans won big last night primarily relying on gerrymandering, racial tribalism, and crappy Democratic candidates abandoning progressive values left and right. Grimes was always going to lose to McConnell, so why not lay out a vision for a future of KY without coal. Run hard as a progressive and let your ideas take hold instead of trying to mince words in a futile attempt to win a piece of McConnell's voters. Democrats like Grimes should be working towards create their own voter blocs based on their vision of the future instead of pandering to a past that can never return no matter how many EPA regulations you abolish.

Listen, the Republicans will fail over the long term because they cannot deliver on what they promise. They cannot bring America back to some fictional 1950s paradise. They're on the wrong side of history no matter what happened last night. Cutting Donald Trump's taxes is not going to bring back factories to Akron, OH where someone with an 8th grade education can make a middle class living and his wife can stay home and take care of the children. That's a fantasy that's never going to happen. Nor will eliminating EPA regulations mean that dude working in a cubicle some where is going to become the next Mark Cuban. More likely cubicle dude will lose his job to outsourcing.

In the end, I say, "So what". Like Friday the 13th, I've seen this movie before and it's no longer scary.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. I'm hoping nothing gets done

I'm serious. I just want nothing to come out of Washington for the next two years.

What will uplift me? If President Obama takes an approach of - Go fuck yourselves without coming right out and saying it.

He's got to get in that press conference today and just tell them what they cannot put through to him. I.E. Repealing ACA without their Replace. Ending Social Security. Ending Medicare. Over Turning the Civil Rights act - things/ideas that Republicans mastubate to.

[BillZBubb]

4. It would be wonderful to see the president do this and mean it.

But, that's just not in his nature. It might be in his nature to say he'll veto those things, but in the end he probably wouldn't.

[JustAnotherGen]

16. I think if FSogol is right - and I believe so regarding Ted Cruz

The number one thing he's going to push is the over turn of key equality laws -

Voting Rights Act, Civil Rights Act, etc. etc.

Obama will veto those.

And we all need to put tremendous pressure on our REPUBLICAN representatives if these things come up for a vote -

To vote FOR their end.

I want Leonard Lance on the record - showing his TRUE face - just for my own peace of mind.

I think there super RADICAL RIGHT ideas on the horizon.

Don't forget Ernst won. She put up legislation in Iowa to make treating a woman's ectopic pregnancy (a life threating situation I've personally been in) illegal. It's certain death if you are untreated for that.

They are going to go that extreme - because the message from the media is 'that's okay to be that way'.

[FSogol]

9. They won't even try to get anything done.

Cruz will block everything in an attempt to prove he is more of a hardass than the saner heads in his party. He didn't care about shutting down the govt before or risking the US's bond rating, nothing has changed except he will be even more emboldened.

The next two years will be pointless Benghazi and IRS hearings with failed de-fund ACA votes and a vague notion that impeachment is around the corner.

We need to point out at every opportunity that their act harms the country.

[JustAnotherGen]

17. I want worse than Benghazi hearings

I want 'true color' legislation - Ernst and Cruz can get that done.

[femmocrat]

2. Jon Stewart said last night...

"It's not like the Senate was a functioning body!" True.... We have all seen worse. But it still confounds the crap out of us.

[Yavin4]

5. A significant portion of the American people are regressive.

They falsely believe that life was better at some point in the past. They're not the majority. However, they are more motivated to vote.

[BillZBubb]

3. The problem, however, is that we are seeing this movie more and more...

and the picture keeps moving to right every time.

[Yavin4]

7. I disagree. We're progressing.

Minimum wage laws are rising even though Dem candidates are losing.

[BillZBubb]

11. And environmental protection is declining.

Necessary business regulation is disappearing. And unions are dying. And the 1% keep raking in all the money...

We aren't progressing much. Maybe we get small victories here and there but meanwhile the plutocratic, corporate, national security state monster continues to grow.

[Orsino]

6. Progressive values aren't widely valued anymore.

By those not rendered inaudible by nearly limitless corporate campaign money, I mean. Yes, we have seen all these tricks before, but here in the twenty-teens there are almost no checks left on Big Money's rule.

I'd still like to believe in the possibility of peaceful reform, but nothing I've heard from anyone is convincing.

[Yavin4]

8. 13 states raising pay for minimum-wage workers

We tend to get wrapped up in the personality campaigns of the politicians and ignore the underlying issues. Americans voted to raise the min. wage last night. I take solace from that more than a loss by inept politicians.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/12/29/states-raising-minimum-wage/4221773/

[Orsino]

12. Right direction there, I agree.

Do we not expect the Supreme Court to declare minimum wage unconstitutional, though?

A lot of good people worked hard for the new MW, but undoing that work is now a trivial act, alas.

[JaneQPublic]

10. It still takes 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate, right?

Even if the GOP wins the run-off in Louisiana, they would still have only -- what -- 53 seats in the Senate? That means as long as seven Dems don't cave in, the GOPers will be no more successful getting bills through than were the Dems all those times they came up one or two votes short of 60.

[Orsino]

14. Until the GOP's agenda items are attached to must-pass things, yes.

Our Democratic hearts in The Senate are going to face tougher tests. It will be made so easy for them to go along to get along.

[BillZBubb]

15. Not so.

Many budget related issues cannot be filibustered, so just 51 votes gets them through. They can tack all sorts of non budget riders onto those bills.

Historically, the Democrats have been much more reluctant to filibuster than the republicans. They fear voter backlash, although it has NEVER hurt the republicans.

There is also a chance the republicans use the "nuclear option" and do away with the filibuster. That is unlikely unless they feel confident they can hold the Senate majority for a long time, but it is possible to do with 51 votes.

The president can, however, veto any bill. That would require 67 votes to override.

[maced666]

13. Worst Democratic state since pre-depression

not business as usual off year.

[ellie]

18. I agree

I would like to see someone run a very progressive campaign in a red state, just to see if this theory holds true. What do they have to lose if they are going to lose anyway?

[hfojvt]

19. "Progress happens when people are committed to it"

Okay.

Some kinds of progress maybe.

What were your examples?

GLBT marriage.
Obama's election
Nelson mandela

Well, the 2nd was a rather hollow "victory" seems to me. And Nelson Mandela did NOT happen in THIS country.

What I have been seeing, does not look like progress.

I have seen supposed Democrats like Clinton and Obama embrace tax cuts for the rich, welfare reform, and free trade.

I have seen income inequality rise from a country where the bottom 20% made more income in 1986 than the top 1%, but now make much less.

I've seen the real value of the minimum wage from an average of $9 in the 1970s to $7.25 an hour today.

Regress happens when Republicans win.

[Yavin4]

20. Stop looking at the politicians. Look at the people for progress.

"Voters say Yes to paid sick days": http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/05/news/paid-sick-days-vote/index.html?iid=Lead

[belzabubba333]

21. he ought to sign everything the cons hand him and tell the american people

"you wanted republican rule? ok i heard you so i am signing their bill to elimate aca. you wanted it here it is"

they gave me a bill eliminating social security. you wanted republican rule here it is. they just took social security away

they just gave me a bill to turn over the money for medicade to haliburton- you asked for republican rule here it is