It surely is disappointing to me: the loss of Sander's preferred chair Ellison to the one preferred by Clinton backers. After several votes failed to find a winner, there was much made by some about the desire of Ellison for Palestinian rights, and voila, a final vote made him the loser.
So I sympathize with friends who are drifting or running away from the Democratic Party. But I am not.
I will continue criticizing as I see fit, however I'm fine with even identifying as a Democrat.
Why? Well how's that Revolution thing going, anyway?
Not confusing clear headed (and fair and contextual) critique with all the meaningless, effortless genstures, why not support the lesser evil? As Chomsky says, a lesser evil is a greater good.
Further, the point is that electoral politics isn't everything. It's not even the main event. The main event is creating class solidarity. Now class solidarity has been fractured, mainly by highly successful campaigns of disinformation. THAT is what leftists mainly need to counter. They need replace misinformation with truth, and ultimately solidarity.
Electoral politics should most people be a small sideshow. There your accomplishments are highly limited, but so your effort may be as well, just a few hours a year to vote in all elections. It's not a day a week job like being the least committed leftists (I rarely qualify myself).
So, it's an easy thing to say, and it has a nice ring. I'm a democrat. And now I can work with a spectrum of other Democrats to resist and curtail the oppression of Trump.
But even there, I'm picking my fights. I'm not just pushing because this or that is "the Democrat" thing to do. I'm doing those things which also matter to me as a leftist.
So I'm ignoring all this Russia stuff, which I think is high theater, consider what the US has been doing in other countries with little mention (here) for more than half a century. It was our meddling which led to the so-called "collapse" of the Soviet Union, we directed an ill-conceived "reform" which only brought suffering, lots of suffering.
Now true, we need to get rid of Trump, but I don't see much good from combining Sessions with a drive to war with Russia.
So tell me about the sell outs at the EPA, don't bother me about Trump's friendship with Russia.
The Democratic Party is a big tent, I can be highly critical, critical as I want about the Clintons, for example.
All I don't do, is ever say, I'm not a Democrat, and Democrats aren't almost universally better than Republicans, enough to bother voting for them, and generally not making votes as personal statements, though that is sometimes (possibly when in a non-swing situation) called for.
I voted for Clinton, even though Texas turned out to be solidly behind Trump, that wasn't entirely clear at the time, there was a distant chance a surprise victory in Texas could have been decisive (it would have been--if it occurred) and many Texas cities went for Clinton also.
I think the popular vote number...in which Clinton won by millions of votes...is more reflective of popular opinion than the results of the highly slanted electoral college system, and even that number underestimates support for Democrats as Hillary had far more negatives than many, and other factors like the Comey revelations didn't help.
To be best primed for social change, it's best to try to fit in the biggest tent that at least has some value. I know fellow Democrats who are zionists, the tent is that big, but there's little I can do, pouting isn't generally the way forward, and it's not my style. Most Americans would identify broadly in zionist terms, but wouldn't be offended by Palestinian rights either, if asked.
Meanwhile, with a President having so many negatives, do you think he can get away with the really bad stuff, like privatizing Social Security? (I feared Hillary might try, and she would probably be in better position to get away with it.)
Maybe there's some value in having as blindingly awful a President. But I'm going to keep my eyes trained on things of interest to my leftist values, not my campaign button mask. There already is plenty of real stuff to really be upset about, starting with the immigrants and pipeline stuff. In both cases, we were better with Obama and would be with Clinton also.
So I sympathize with friends who are drifting or running away from the Democratic Party. But I am not.
I will continue criticizing as I see fit, however I'm fine with even identifying as a Democrat.
Why? Well how's that Revolution thing going, anyway?
Not confusing clear headed (and fair and contextual) critique with all the meaningless, effortless genstures, why not support the lesser evil? As Chomsky says, a lesser evil is a greater good.
Further, the point is that electoral politics isn't everything. It's not even the main event. The main event is creating class solidarity. Now class solidarity has been fractured, mainly by highly successful campaigns of disinformation. THAT is what leftists mainly need to counter. They need replace misinformation with truth, and ultimately solidarity.
Electoral politics should most people be a small sideshow. There your accomplishments are highly limited, but so your effort may be as well, just a few hours a year to vote in all elections. It's not a day a week job like being the least committed leftists (I rarely qualify myself).
So, it's an easy thing to say, and it has a nice ring. I'm a democrat. And now I can work with a spectrum of other Democrats to resist and curtail the oppression of Trump.
But even there, I'm picking my fights. I'm not just pushing because this or that is "the Democrat" thing to do. I'm doing those things which also matter to me as a leftist.
So I'm ignoring all this Russia stuff, which I think is high theater, consider what the US has been doing in other countries with little mention (here) for more than half a century. It was our meddling which led to the so-called "collapse" of the Soviet Union, we directed an ill-conceived "reform" which only brought suffering, lots of suffering.
Now true, we need to get rid of Trump, but I don't see much good from combining Sessions with a drive to war with Russia.
So tell me about the sell outs at the EPA, don't bother me about Trump's friendship with Russia.
The Democratic Party is a big tent, I can be highly critical, critical as I want about the Clintons, for example.
All I don't do, is ever say, I'm not a Democrat, and Democrats aren't almost universally better than Republicans, enough to bother voting for them, and generally not making votes as personal statements, though that is sometimes (possibly when in a non-swing situation) called for.
I voted for Clinton, even though Texas turned out to be solidly behind Trump, that wasn't entirely clear at the time, there was a distant chance a surprise victory in Texas could have been decisive (it would have been--if it occurred) and many Texas cities went for Clinton also.
I think the popular vote number...in which Clinton won by millions of votes...is more reflective of popular opinion than the results of the highly slanted electoral college system, and even that number underestimates support for Democrats as Hillary had far more negatives than many, and other factors like the Comey revelations didn't help.
To be best primed for social change, it's best to try to fit in the biggest tent that at least has some value. I know fellow Democrats who are zionists, the tent is that big, but there's little I can do, pouting isn't generally the way forward, and it's not my style. Most Americans would identify broadly in zionist terms, but wouldn't be offended by Palestinian rights either, if asked.
Meanwhile, with a President having so many negatives, do you think he can get away with the really bad stuff, like privatizing Social Security? (I feared Hillary might try, and she would probably be in better position to get away with it.)
Maybe there's some value in having as blindingly awful a President. But I'm going to keep my eyes trained on things of interest to my leftist values, not my campaign button mask. There already is plenty of real stuff to really be upset about, starting with the immigrants and pipeline stuff. In both cases, we were better with Obama and would be with Clinton also.
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