Sunday, November 8, 2020

Sadly, Republicans are much better organized

Republicans are much better organized, and Democrats and like minded people are often foolish.  That's why Republicans are successful, despite being a minority and their success is really the success of an even tinier minority of oligarchs, who manage to pull the wool over the eyes of their base with religions and lifestyles they invented and steer for that purpose.  It's the old way, goes back to dawn of civilization.  Democratic Party surrounds a more liberal set of oligarchs, somewhat to the better.  The Republican Party had started as such reformers, but over time evolved backwards.  We still live in the sad era of Reagan, whose new movement conservatism vowed to end unions and the new deal, much to the public loss.  Even Democratic Presidents have existed within that envelope, only Bernie could have started a new era, if he had punched all the way through fear and conservatism.

Republicans and pseudo lefty intellectuals (like Glen Greenwald and Matt Taibbi) believe that the Trumpian Republican party represents the "working class,"  the people who work harder, and the Democratic Party represents the relatively elitist "middle class."

Except that the middle class also represents working people (not so much capitalists) and also Republicans represent a majority of richer people, and a minority of poorer people.

You can just look at the Republican policies.  They want to destroy unions (which created better paying jobs with benefits) and cut taxes primarily on wealthy people.  All around their policies emphasize making the rich richer, and somehow this is supposed to benefit us all, which it never does.

I believe when Biden uses the term middle class he does not use it in distinction from working class.  He follows the textbook path and refers to middle in the context of low, middle, and high.  Certainly we should enlarge the middle class and make the lower class smaller.   All jobs should be decent paying jobs, aka middle class jobs, pushing everyone up to the middle class, and it should be easier to make unions.  Biden has called for that sort of change, with some specifics (like $15/hr minimum wage).  We need to hold him accountable to these promises.

Greenwald and Taibbi partly follow the infamous example of David Brooks in judging people by their cargo and dividing working people into two groups to hate one of them.  In the other part, their observations are anecdotes, not unbiased surveys.  The actually poor people don't go to political rallies at all.  

Leading up to the election Biden was keeping everyone safe with only small fundraising events, not money-draining super-spreader rallies.  That doesn't mean the attendees at the small fundraising events are representative of those who identify with or vote for Democrats.  Biden managed to win in spite of such a plan that required little organization.  There were lots of independent progressive organizations pushing for Biden, not funded by Biden donors, and the independents were probably more effective.

The better organization of the Republican Party and their allies also should put rest to any fear that shady Democrat (sic) Operatives could have interfered with the vote.  Regardless of their percentage in the local population, Republicans turn out like robots, spurred by their religious or cultural organizations, to every place votes are counted, to win every way possible.  The insist on examining everything, and look for the tiniest excuse to throw out Democratic  ballots.  I'm sad to say I let one Republican vote counting goon overwhelm me for a few votes until I discovered I could call the elcction judge, who could call another election judge, until it all got sorted out.  In my opinion, the intent of the voter should be recorded if at all unambiguous, but different states have different standards, and it may also depend on the technologies involved.  Nowadays, nearly everything is processed by machine.

I have to believe that vote counting operations in battleground states were very serious operations.  They knew how important their job was, how much it would be scrutinized, etc.  They did everything to the T.  No doubt, Republicans where there en masse, complaining about everything as they always do, if majority Democratic votes are being counted.  But the job got done to a high degree of conformity to prevailing standards.  Jerrymandering and otherwise rigging vote suppression are primarily things Republican state government officials do.  Democrats want to see every vote counted.

Still, I see lots of speculation about the possible success of Trumpian legal challenges.  We must pay attention to all of this in real time.  The much better organized Republican Party also has more judges, and of course Supreme Court Justices as well.  If there is a case, they are certain to exploit it, and the possibility exists they may do so unjustly to favor Republicans.

I remain sure that part of the solution, long term (the only way it can be solved without enormous luck) is to build the left secular social institutions serving the central social function that churches do for Christians, and comparable religious institutions for other religions.  There has to be a track where kids could grow up and meet like minded partners and friends, and likewise older people.  Fragmentary expriences such as those offered by bars, restaurants, and typical activist organizations are insufficient to build the social trust that a high degree of organization requires.

A much better society is achieved if all people are automatically part of a sectoral labor union, as in Germany.

Labor organizations are among the best mass organizations.  I'd also like to see coffee houses where you can smoke marijuana but not tobacco, and just hang out.








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