2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumRepublicans now care about the poor and disenfranchised.
But, just like your unborn children they care so much about, once the election is over, they won't give a shit.
Thinking that electing a Republican president is going to boost the middle class is insane. Yet, watch what a few billion dollars in campaign funding will do. In 2016, most Republicans will believe it and will vote for it thinking it is in their own best interest.
Imagine how bad life will be if Jeb Bush wins. In what world do we live in that our country would elect another Bush?
jaxind
(1,074 posts)The same country that would put Sara Palin so close to being a heart-beat away from the presidency!
groundloop
(11,519 posts)It's from the exact same playbook, and if Democrats don't start getting all over media refuting these lies people will start to believe it. No matter who the GOPers nominate, the campaign for 2016 has already started and this nonsense is their main talking point.
icarusxat
(403 posts)instead of the long winded wonkish reply, all that is need is five words...they don't care about you
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)It will pass, the preferred treatment is an "election." If they have an election that last more than 4 hours, they will whine and scream and try to reduce it.
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)As long as campaign contributions, Super PACs, and the Revolving Door are allowed the Plutocrats will CONTROL OUR GOVERNMENT! They use their oligarchic media to misinform and displace the anger caused by the looting of our government onto the poor, disenfranchised, elderly, and the infirm. No amount of electing Democrats will fix these root problems, they buy Democrats too!
When will enough be enough? Publicly Funded Elections are what we need, along with someone like Senator Bernie Sanders who refuses to be bought off! Wake up America!
mountain grammy
(26,630 posts)it's a self perpetuating system. But, we have to try.
bread_and_roses
(6,335 posts)There's a near absolute vacuum in the D vocab when it comes to poverty. And all the blather about the "Middle Class" rings hollow to many people because wages are still flat/shrinking, food prices keep rising, and too many with a job feel poor and/or are terrified that they are on the edge of poor.
The Ds can't offend their corporate paymasters, so nothing real happens.
The Rs will step into that vacuum and the inaction/pusillanimity of the Ds will cede it to them. And people will believe them. That's why R-money was floating his anti-poverty rhetoric. The only reason he stepped down is because the real money is going to Jeb this time around - and watch, Jeb will get all concerned too.
My own House of Labor is just as bad ... but we're talking about Ds here, and the headline below should say "what the AFL-CIO and Elizabeth Warren did not say about raising wages"
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-labor-movement-and-low-wages-in-america-what-the-afl-cio-did-not-say-about-raising-wages/5426743
Worse yet, Warren failed to suggest any number that would constitute an appropriate raise. This failure was not accidental. The Democrats will have nothing to do with a $15 minimum wage because their handlers, the 1%, as a rule firmly reject it. Raises, after all, come out of their profit margins. Consequently, President Obama has proposed a pathetic federal minimum wage of $10.10. Democratic Governor Jerry Brown of California recently signed legislation that will raise the state minimum wage to $10 by 2016. Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York just recently proposed a $10.50 minimum wage for New York State by 2016 and $11.50 for New York City. None of these proposals has excited mass movements.
Warrens failure to raise any demands, which is the first indispensable step to creating a movement, of course, invokes Frederick Douglass famous comment, Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. But as a former Harvard Professor, Warren was probably aware of this.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)you have cast Elizabeth Warren in the less than favorable, a part of the system, light. This is not likely to be a popular opinion.
Having studied the works, writings and speeches of Frederick Douglass for close to 4 decades ... I think EW's application of the quote is far more consistent with how Douglass would have applied it; than, in/for the promotion of a "mass movement", as you suggest.
bread_and_roses
(6,335 posts)Just like my own beloved House of Labor is the best of what's out there in terms of institutional action - but that's not saying much either.
Occupy and "fight for $15" are the best we've seen in a long while in terms of challenges to the Oligarchy. Occupy was the real deal, targeting the real problem - and it was crushed. "Fight for $15" is a much tamer challenge - but there's no support for it from our "progressive" polls either. Labor is nominally (and in the case of a few specific unions, materially) supporting $15, but it's a watery support for an inadequate response to the collapse of democracy and promotion of the "general Welfare" that we are experiencing.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)but people will read right passed that and only see "EW criticized as a part of the system!"
bread_and_roses
(6,335 posts)Proud Liberal Dem
(24,416 posts)Last edited Sun Feb 1, 2015, 03:23 PM - Edit history (1)
but the question is, what are they going to DO about it? The poor and disenfranchised can't survive on words (or Bibles). Now, there is a whole lot they *can* do if they are so inclined and here are just ten (10) immediate ideas:
1.) Expand, not retract, opportunities for voting. Restore voting rights for all persons not currently incarcerated.
2.) Support efforts to increase the minimum wage/support a "living wage"
3.) Assist with childcare expenses so that more people don't have to choose between work and childcare
4.) Promote comprehensive sex education (which will have positive side effects on teen pregnancy/abortion/STD rates)
5.) STOP trying to repeal PPACA and find ways to genuinely improve it so that its benefits reach more people (i.e. Stop blocking Medicaid expansions and filing lawsuits to try to undermine it)
6.) Support paid sick/maternity time for workers and their families. Why do businesses insist on making sick people come to work everyday? How does this benefit them or their customers? What about just for good public health sensibilities? Why make parents try to send their sick, germy kids to school? If, heaven forbid, we were to experience some nasty disease that could become a widespread, making people come into work with it is going to guarantee that more people are going to be exposed to it, become sick with it, and maybe even die from it. For all of the "pro-lifers" out there, why not give women (and, for good measure, both parents) some good quality time following childbirth to be to bond with their babies?
7.) Stop trying to tie public assistance benefits to the status of an applicant's bodily fluids. Most poor people don't use illegal substances and already feel humiliated enough trying to apply for benefits. Stop humiliating them further by asking for their pee.
8.) Stop messing around with Social Security, esp. for the disabled. It's not THAT easy to get anyway.
9.) Stop obsessing over the 1% in this country. Most of them are rich enough that they could stop working tomorrow (to the extent that they work at all) and be covered for the rest of their life and giving more to the lower- and middle- class isn't going to destroy them. Forcing the wealthy to give up a Yacht or a new mansion simply ain't gonna kill them but it just might help somebody less fortunate than them.
10.) Stop trying to bust up unions. Let workers freely decide whether or not to form/join a union. Stop pushing so-called "right-to-work" laws (unless, of course, they really ARE interested in able-bodied adults actually having the right to a job).
These are just a few ideas off the top of my head. Let's see them walk the walk...........
Sincerely,
PLD
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)ZX86
(1,428 posts)for not calling out this BS. GOP solutions for the poor and disenfranchised is the same as their solutions for every other problem. Tax breaks for the rich and loose regulations for corporations.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)then I'm Elvis Prestley.
a kennedy
(29,680 posts)get their message across. The repubs are masters at this and know how to convey their message, of course with the help of the "talking chambers". I can see this being their 2016 battle cry, they'll win the White House on this message because the Democrats don't know how to get their message across.
SmittynMo
(3,544 posts)Everyone knows the GOP could care less about the middle and lower class. It's undeniable. For them to come out now and say the want a thriving middle class, is just another lie. They're good about lying and have proven it over and over. And to allow Citizens United to take place, just confirms how crooked the SC is. The flood gates are now open. The oligarchs are making every effort to buy this country.
My biggest fear is losing the next presidency. If that happens, God help us all. Imagine where we'd be today if they were in control now. No ACA for 10 million people(I'm one of those 10m people), privatized Social Security, removal of Medicare, no equal righst marriage, we'd most likely be in at least 2 more wars, etc..... I could go on and on.
In the meantime, they are pushing for income inequality(in their favor) and spending our money for unsubstantiated wars. They love it that we all suffer as they bask in their glory.
It's quite sickening.