Found your via the fine podcast Election Profit Makers, and been enjoying the columns. Disappointed, though, to read you blaming the Democrat's "left flank" for their losses--as you've pointed out previously, the driving force for the resistance is Bernie and AOC. AOC, even if she's lost her DSA endorsement, is a lefty by any measure. Don't conflate left principals -- working class solidarity, universalism, internationalism -- with speech policing and "representation" in boardrooms and elite universities. Get thee to the Jacobin, and keep up the good work.
I love your columns, Thomas, and read every one, But you tend to see everything only through the lens of party politics. You said nothing about the citizen driven Hands Off rallies that will be occurring nationwide this weekend on Saturday April 5th. Readers of PoliticsNC should be able to find a Hands Off protest near where you live in North Carolina. Google: Hands Off mobilize + a city near you. I found Hands Off rallies in both Wilmington and Greenville, as but two examples. The Hands Off rallies will be non violent and we are told NOT to engage with any counter protesters.
The link above should take you to the nearest rallies, but if you are looking for something different (e.g., sending your friends info on the rallies closest to THEM), you can click on the filters icon and then scroll down to the field labeled "Near" and enter a Zipcode or a city+state combination.
Thanks Cheryl for this additional information. Hope you get a good turnout in Charlotte. I was going to attend Hands Off in Durham where I live but a friend persuaded me to take the charter bus with him to DC. Exciting!
Now if only NC can finally kick Griffin to the curb once and for all and get rid of the GOP who’s engineered NC to be the most gerrymandered in the nation, we can finally get democracy back here!
What are the Dems going to do for "we the people." Are they going to fight for single payer health care, to nationalize the electric distribution system, free education - anything? Anything at all? Maybe stop all the murdering of children and women? Anything?
We need party leaders that know how to "read the room" of the nation's voters. Jimmy Carter read the room in Georgia to get elected to the Governors office, then, in his inaugural address, came out openly against racism and inequality in his home state, shocking the white electorate that supported him. That's politics, folks.
Your post is a brilliant analysis and bravo call to action. It's your best post I've ever read. Still, I'm applying for a British passport to which I'm entitled.
The problem Democrats face isn’t that they’re “defined by the left flank”. It’s that they’re defined by what the GOP SAYS is their left flank, and the so called “moderates” (which are no such thing) immediately respond with “No! We’re not leftist!” And they tack to the right — because they’re already right of center — to try and assuage the fears of the mythical “swing voter”.
It’s time to stop running from the “leftist” label, and lean into it. What they call “woke” I call “not being a dick”. What they call ”socialist” I call a society where the things we were told about America when I was growing up — that if you worked hard, and played by the rules you could get ahead, no matter who you were — are true. Kay Hagan should have crushed Thom Tillis’s political ambition in the egg but she tried to play both sides, marketing herself as “the most moderate member of the Senate”. And what people saw was Susan Collins with a “D” behind her name.
If you’ve seen “The American President” with Michael Douglas, you may remember the scene where he’s finally had enough, and responses to Richard Dreyfus calling him “a card carrying member of the ACLU” with the righteous kind of anger I want to see: “Yes, I’m a member of the ACLU, the question is WHY AREN’T YOU?”
And if the Wisconsin special election is any indication, theres never been a better time for it.
Far from moribund, Thomas. Absolute disdain, scorn, and disrespect for blatant political corruption, incessant lying, and cheating energizes. We feel it; PoliticsNC expresses this and is one sure place giving voice to utter repulsion. Far from dead. So fucking alive and well and as articulate as ever. Go Fetzer Sr. and Penny's son, one of three of the four, more than kicking ass. As I'm certain F.Jr., and S'son are doing as well.
Found your via the fine podcast Election Profit Makers, and been enjoying the columns. Disappointed, though, to read you blaming the Democrat's "left flank" for their losses--as you've pointed out previously, the driving force for the resistance is Bernie and AOC. AOC, even if she's lost her DSA endorsement, is a lefty by any measure. Don't conflate left principals -- working class solidarity, universalism, internationalism -- with speech policing and "representation" in boardrooms and elite universities. Get thee to the Jacobin, and keep up the good work.
I love your columns, Thomas, and read every one, But you tend to see everything only through the lens of party politics. You said nothing about the citizen driven Hands Off rallies that will be occurring nationwide this weekend on Saturday April 5th. Readers of PoliticsNC should be able to find a Hands Off protest near where you live in North Carolina. Google: Hands Off mobilize + a city near you. I found Hands Off rallies in both Wilmington and Greenville, as but two examples. The Hands Off rallies will be non violent and we are told NOT to engage with any counter protesters.
https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/
The link above should take you to the nearest rallies, but if you are looking for something different (e.g., sending your friends info on the rallies closest to THEM), you can click on the filters icon and then scroll down to the field labeled "Near" and enter a Zipcode or a city+state combination.
If you want to get a little more background you can watch a recording of Tuesdays organizing call here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_vRxlYjpQs
I have been participating in the Thursday afternoon (3 pm ET) calls for Indivisible. Sign up here: https://indivisible.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SOHxz_KkTY2uCdy30TeitA#/registration
To see recordings of previous Thursday afternoon zoom calls go here:
https://www.youtube.com/@indivisibleteam/videos
P.S. I will be atending the rally in Charlotte, sponsored by the Charlotte chapter of Indivisible.
Thanks Cheryl for this additional information. Hope you get a good turnout in Charlotte. I was going to attend Hands Off in Durham where I live but a friend persuaded me to take the charter bus with him to DC. Exciting!
And in Asheville
Thanks, Tom. You remind us to not give up or give in.
I suggest Dems won the Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin not in spite of Elon, but because of him.
So well said. All of it!
Now if only NC can finally kick Griffin to the curb once and for all and get rid of the GOP who’s engineered NC to be the most gerrymandered in the nation, we can finally get democracy back here!
Call your representatives and ask them what is being done to repeal Citizens United.
But Tom, shouldn't you have said something about Corey Booker's performance yesterday? Could be the start of something big.
Mills has not gotten to that yet. He will.
Great perspective..Thomas. TY.
Yours is a clear and needed voice in this time and place, Thomas. Please don’t cheapen it by resorting to crude epithets
What are the Dems going to do for "we the people." Are they going to fight for single payer health care, to nationalize the electric distribution system, free education - anything? Anything at all? Maybe stop all the murdering of children and women? Anything?
We need party leaders that know how to "read the room" of the nation's voters. Jimmy Carter read the room in Georgia to get elected to the Governors office, then, in his inaugural address, came out openly against racism and inequality in his home state, shocking the white electorate that supported him. That's politics, folks.
Great article, Thomas. Interesting long-range view.
Your post is a brilliant analysis and bravo call to action. It's your best post I've ever read. Still, I'm applying for a British passport to which I'm entitled.
The problem Democrats face isn’t that they’re “defined by the left flank”. It’s that they’re defined by what the GOP SAYS is their left flank, and the so called “moderates” (which are no such thing) immediately respond with “No! We’re not leftist!” And they tack to the right — because they’re already right of center — to try and assuage the fears of the mythical “swing voter”.
It’s time to stop running from the “leftist” label, and lean into it. What they call “woke” I call “not being a dick”. What they call ”socialist” I call a society where the things we were told about America when I was growing up — that if you worked hard, and played by the rules you could get ahead, no matter who you were — are true. Kay Hagan should have crushed Thom Tillis’s political ambition in the egg but she tried to play both sides, marketing herself as “the most moderate member of the Senate”. And what people saw was Susan Collins with a “D” behind her name.
If you’ve seen “The American President” with Michael Douglas, you may remember the scene where he’s finally had enough, and responses to Richard Dreyfus calling him “a card carrying member of the ACLU” with the righteous kind of anger I want to see: “Yes, I’m a member of the ACLU, the question is WHY AREN’T YOU?”
And if the Wisconsin special election is any indication, theres never been a better time for it.
Far from moribund, Thomas. Absolute disdain, scorn, and disrespect for blatant political corruption, incessant lying, and cheating energizes. We feel it; PoliticsNC expresses this and is one sure place giving voice to utter repulsion. Far from dead. So fucking alive and well and as articulate as ever. Go Fetzer Sr. and Penny's son, one of three of the four, more than kicking ass. As I'm certain F.Jr., and S'son are doing as well.
Great piece Tom! We have seen many of those changes and we’re more mad than skeert. Ready to fight!