Saturday - Rant

2020 Rant

Wow, these two got me off on a rant.........

Forget Bernie vs. Warren. Focus on Growing the Progressive Base and Defeating Biden. - Yep... if you can't beat Biden you're not going to beat Trump.

Trump Says He's Weighing Democrats' Plan for $15 Minimum Wage

While the establishment D's work to

• nominate Biden over progressive candidates
• keep the election about Trump instead of progressive policy
• not do medicare for all
• "build support" for a $15 minimum wage.

Trump and the R's are maneuvering to win the next election by trying to steal some D thunder. 

These R guys fight, not for the people really, but to win elections. Everything they do is focused on winning the next election by firing up their base, beating D's down, swaying D voters, etc. 

The establishment Ds on the other hand just can't figure it out. They waffle-around about how to look progressive while governing like business republicans. Basically just hammering the policies their donors want into something they think they can get people to vote for, beating on Trump and the R's, and offering old R-lite policies that got us in this mess in the first place. 

Trumps power comes from the groundswell of support of the people, not the party, not the donor class, but from the people. 

Build a platform on a set of policies that will help people then go out and sell the god-damned thing! 

Get the people behind you and the rest will have follow.

That's what AOC did. Bernie and Warren are doing it and it's working. Fuck Biden. Fuck the Clintons. Fuck the beltway consultants, the donors, etc. You need the people. 

In a race you can turn around and beat on you opponent to slow him down or you can just outrun the motherfucker. It shouldn't be hard to outrun these bastards.  

Good policies that put people first can win but you have to sell them to the people. 

Here are a few tnb suggestions.

• A higher minimum wage. Maybe $15 maybe $13. Something. Just do it. It's needed and it's easy. Don't let Trump steal this !?
• Legalize pot. If you don't, the R's are going to. It's the easiest way for the Rs to steal a bunch of younger D voters. The D's need to be first.
• Make Social Security better -  Again, it's needed and it's an easy way to steal a few old R voters.
• Medicare for All - There are a lot of voters out there dying for this. Healthcare was the #1 issue of 2018 for christ-sake. It shouldn't be hard. Talk about how much it will save not how much it costs. Sell it to the old people by stressing that their medicare will get better i.e. they won't need to pay for supplemental insurance. That's easy and steals R voters.
• Inexpensive college education - It doesn't have to be free but it needs to be affordable. Not easy loans or grants. 
• Talk People over Business -Put people policies first over the big corporations. It says "Government of the people",  not "Government of business". 
• Talk big ideas: Infrastructure. Nationwide broadband. Energy freedom.  
• Talk inequality.  The filthy rich vs the middle class. Get this chart out everywhere. Point out that the "good old days" that all those R voters want to return to were when the income distribution was more equal. Hammer it....

Other things.

Stop resisting voter ID cards. Make it law that everyone must have a god-damned picture ID to vote then go out and get the cards in the hands of your voters. Voter ID seems like a good idea to most people and fighting it makes you look out of touch and give the R propagandists something to harp on i.e. "You have to have a license to drive but not to vote?".

Drop opposition to guns. Out here in rural Teabagistan the R's stole the Ds white union vote by turning them into gun nuts. We like our guns out here and you're not going to win if you make it a big issue.

Change how you talk about government regulation. Don't talk about needing more regulation, we have enough already and the people hate it. Talk about making current regulations affective, getting rid of unnecessary layers, streamlining it, etc..

I've always said when there is "regulation failed" problem like the savings and loan crisis or the last housing crisis, the Rs will say that regulation was the cause and want to get rid of it. The D's will say that the it slipped through the cracks of the current regulators and want to add another layer. what need to happen is to recognize that the people in charge of oversight didn't do their job, fire everyone responsible and get a new crew in there that can do the job.

There you go D's.  Try not to fuck it up this time.