Snap out of it. How do we fix this?

[lumberjack_jeff]

Nationwide, we lost 52:47.



http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/04/us/politics/2014-exit-polls.html?_r=1
42% of men (-2% since 2010) and 52% of women (-6% since 2010) voted for us.
54% of 18-29 year olds, and 42% of 65 year olds voted for us.
38% of whites and 89% of blacks voted for us.
41% of married people and 56% of single people voted for us.

The gender gap got bigger, and we hold the losing end.

I'm a fix-it kind of guy. We have 24 months to unfuck ourselves.

The below both illustrates the problem and suggests a solution.

The White House has an Office of Women and Girls, and the affordable care act created an Office of Women's Health Care.

By every measure, men's health is worse than women's and by most metrics of social health, men are suffering.

The White House (since that's all we have left) should issue an executive order creating an office of Men and Boys, with emphasis on understanding their problems in education, incarceration and suicide.

Democrats in congress should be on TV at every opportunity demanding an expansion of the ACA to include an Office of Men's Health Care that would include free prostate exams and PSA tests as routine health care. I'd suggest that this would have the most impact if it came from people like Senator Murray and Senator Feinstein.

To an extent, the problem with perceptions among men is one of reality.

[bowens43]

1. you can't fix stupid....

[upaloopa]

2. It seems to me that we talk about White male privilage

a lot here. If correct then women and people of color are at a disadvantage.
So if women and people of color voted in greater numbers we would do better because more of them vote for Dems.
I think the key to winning in the future is to get more women and minorities to vote. If they do things will also get better for White male Dems. So the key is not to make men's issues the engine but women and minorities' issues should be the engine. Throw in young people's issues for good measure.

[librechik]

4. it's not who votes. that is a distraction.

it's who counts the votes.

[marions ghost]

18. a part of the picture

that no post mortem analysis ever wants to factor in.

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. Getting out the vote should not happen at the expense of people who *do* vote.

True or not, "privilege" is bad framing.

[librechik]

3. It's not broken. This is entirely intentional and arranged

They like it, and they aren't going to fix it.

Get used to it, that's our real problem, not how do we fix it. How to get rid of these assholes who won't let us fix it.

And no, I'm not advocating violence. Though that is the only thing they have ever paid any attention to, historically.

I'm stumped.

[el_bryanto]

11. The only way that works is violence, but i'm not advocating that.

Actually Violence tends to bring a new crop of assholes to the top, in many cases worse than the assholes they replaced.

Bryant

[librechik]

12. exactly, that's why I'm not into advocating for it. We need another solution

I'm stumped.

[lumberjack_jeff]

24. I reject the idea of an insoluble problem.

I may or may not like the solution, but one exists.

The first step is simplifying the problem statement: "How do we get more voters to vote for us than the GOP?"

Everything else is tactics.

[librechik]

28. we already vote more than the GOP by over a million at last count.

That doesn't matter because gerrymandering.

[lumberjack_jeff]

30. "Last count" was yesterday. We lost 52:47.

gerrymandering magnifies the consequences of that deficit but doesn't explain it away.

We're whistling through the graveyard.

[librechik]

32. really? I no longer believe our voting habits have anything to do with our elections

"they" get the results they want, one way or another, whether it's gerrymandering, voter obstruction or any one of dozens of other techniques the Dems have never stopped them from doing.

Why? because most Americans reject the very idea that our elections are rigged, and so it never gets looked at before or after the elections.

We live in a dream world and are still asleep.

[J_J_]

5. Demand the 'leaders' start answering to the will of the people

Stop getting angry at millennials for not voting, take a look in the mirror, and start demanding the party behave like democrats.

[marions ghost]

13. I think they know what our demands are

but they are not able to achieve most of them for a variety of reasons. I don't think they feel particularly good about it.

The Dem party is at odds with progressives now. They don't know what to do about it. The resistance is too strong.

Corporatocracy.

[J_J_]

19. Apparently Democrats do not now what we want or what we stand for, so how can the 'leaders'?

Who is articulating what we want?

Tried to start a discussion and no one knows or cares...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025775529

[marions ghost]

20. same old same old

Progressives know what we stand for--ie. many of the points in your link thread.

But the means of getting there....?

Only a few who articulate our platform and make promises to answer to our demands ever get into power --and then they are knocked as hard as the opposition can knock them. There are few Ted Kennedy warriors in congress any more--those who agree to be a visible punching bag for liberal values and concerns.

Even if you come up with all your well reasoned progressive demands, nobody is prepared to take them up. Dems are beholden to corporate interests to even get into office.

Repuglicons lie and cheat to win. How can you expect those types of people to fight corruption and
sleeze in government?

The problem is not in articulating what we stand for, the problem is that we have no real voice in the governing of the country. We are successfully marginalized at this point.

Because...again...corporatocracy.

[Zorra]

6. "Whoever controls the media controls the mind".

Jim Morrison.

[marions ghost]

9. Right

people in this complex world need filters to understand it. Unfortunately the right wing filter has total control of the brains of so many who don't have the time or energy or skills to do all this in-depth political research.

We have no commonly accepted media anymore. The country is divided into factions whose beliefs are so different that we might as well be from different planets.

[Zorra]

17. Exactly. "the right wing filter has total control of the brains of so many". nt

[hfojvt]

7. nice data

but it would be nice to see 2002.

Maybe 2006 was a fluke.

[jwirr]

8. One of the things I would like to know: The war on women is a lot about birth control. Do men want

more children than they can support? Why are they not voting on this issue?

[lumberjack_jeff]

25. Then how about we call it that?

"access to birth control" doesn't draw a line in the sand implicitly creating an enemy army on the other side of it.

[jwirr]

35. Exactly. I was not trying to make enemies. I wanted to stress that birth control is as important to

men as it is to women. My family has men who are pro-choice as much as the ladies.

[lumberjack_jeff]

36. Thanks, I agree.

[adirondacker]

10. It's way too early for me to leave the anger stage. I like to obsess and take things in for a while.

It usually prevents me from making the same mistake twice.
http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/000617

[ismnotwasm]

14. What a facinating post.

[theHandpuppet]

21. Um... yeah

So fascinating I'm not quite sure how to respond.

[lumberjack_jeff]

22. We took the box labeled institutional sexism...

Last edited Thu Nov 6, 2014, 03:42 PM - Edit history (1)

... hastily and sloppily relabeled it "social justice" and climbed in. I suggest we climb out before the GOP nails it shut and peels off our poor relabeling attempt.

90% of the takeaway of this election should be a cautionary tale against wedge politics, to wit: before hammering it home, make sure the people who vote are on your side of the wedge.

Dumping the "war on women" rhetorical framing and it's implicit relegation of men to an opposing army stops digging the hole deeper, but it doesn't repair the damage. We have to show that we consider everyone worthy of support and respect.

[taught_me_patience]

16. Wait for old people to die off

It looks like people get pretty tired of the president by the 6th year of presidency.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

26. Run candidates who are more than just "Not as bad".

[seaglass]

27. Do it Mr. Fix-it. I'm skeptical that creating an office of Men's Health Care would move even 1% of

the electorate, but you obviously feel passionate about this so go for it.

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. It might slow the hemorrhaging of men's votes... and their wives...

...in a way that "ending the patriarchal oppression by men and their war on women" hasn't.

[seaglass]

31. I must have missed someone campaining on "ending the patriarchal oppression by men and

their war on women."

[lumberjack_jeff]

33. See: "Marcotte, Amanda" and "Davis, Wendy"

Note: the below link is to the federalist, which is a right wing source. I understand the issues with using opposition links, but I think that understanding how the results of this election are being framed by the opposing party should be seen and understood.

http://thefederalist.com/2014/11/04/wendy-davis-was-the-face-of-war-on-women-politics-howd-that-go/

[seaglass]

34. What does that have to do with Martha Coakley losing to Charlie Baker?

This is a "fun" game and all but I'd like a little more in depth analysis of what voters were embracing/rejecting than - we talk too much about Republicans limiting women's reproductive health choices and not enough about men getting free prostate exams.

I don't think you've done ANY analysis, I think you're just sticking with your agenda.

I truly don't have a problem with a Men's Health Care office and think if you feel strongly about it you should direct your energies there. Not just because it might gain some voters but because it would be the right thing to do.

[mstinamotorcity2]

37. the only way to fix it is to hit their pockets.

They have hit everybody else's pocket. the Average American and those billionaires they get their loot from. They have made the whole Country look really ridiculous. we must start taking our money back out the system. we must spend it directly on us. We are in a country where children can die by just going to school. Peaceful protesters are fired upon with guns and tear gas. Young men are gunned down like animals. tolerance of individualism is a thing of the past. It's really sad. Me I just try and figure out what would piss them off. they need a strong message. from the President on down. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/reduce-senate-and-house-salaries-725-hour-minimum-wage/gqRklX6C