Quo Vadis, Democrats?

[Valmy]

Though their attempts to stifle Russian agents gets portrayed as anti-Free Speech. Should they just stop doing that and let Russian propaganda run wild?

Maybe.

[Duque de Bragança]

It's a plural so it's Quo Vadistis, Democrats?
  

That, or Quo Vadis, Democrat Party? To keep the original reference.

[Sheilbh]

I think the lesson that the Democrats should learn from this is: run full primaries and just let the voters decide who they think should run. Even if it seems like a terrible idea. The Republicans were freaking out about Trump but clearly their voters knew the sort of candidate they should have.

Trying to anoint people doesn't work so great. And I understand the anxiety because Democratic voters are scary with their wacky opinions and all, but it may work out.

But then that was my opinion all along, so not too surprising I think the lesson is something I already think.

Yes - 100% this. Don't be afraid of your voters.

I think there's something to the line of spending less time talk about MAGA voters and more talking to them. I'm not saying bring back Howard Dean but I'd definitely speak to him about the 50 state strategy when he was at the DNC which I think was a big part of their subsequent victories - and they need a party builder like that in and of every state and community.

Maybe semi-seriously...maybe fire all the Clinton era consultants and legacy jobs and start again And no-one cares about celebrity endorsements anymore - any time spent talking about that is not being spent talking about what people care about. So, no more concerts.

As Johnathan Martin has pointed out, fire anyone who uses "center" as a verb, or talks about "uplift" or about not being "burdened by the past" etc. Get out of the language of academia and therapy and prioritise people who say, bluntly and simply, what you mean.

I missed his name but I think the guy on Rest is Politics who's been touring Trump rallies for the last years speaking to people as part of a project on how progressives can beat populism was right. There is a swamp and it needs draining: the last twenty years have had a financial crisis which hurt ordinary people (banks were saved), pointless wars, falling state capacity and increasingly failing infrastructure and public services. Becoming the conservative voice of not disrupting the political order that produced those series of failures is a really bad idea. So think about how to disrupt. Similarly he mentioned, which is currently academic thinking, work on "belonging while not othering" and I think that will be really important. People want to belong.

This isn't something the party can do but is key for their future candidate is work out what their analysis and strategy is as everything else flows from that (I know Yi thinks all slogans are just surface froth, but I think they reflect this thinking and if they're not clear, it's because the thinking isn't). Any candidate needs a story: where we are, how we got here and where we're going. If they don't have an answer to that but offer a pot-pourri of policy ideas instead, then dump them and move on.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

And no-one cares about celebrity endorsements anymore - any time spent talking about that is not being spent talking about what people care about. So, no more concerts.

that reminds me of that Ricky Gervais speech at the whatever awards it was where he basically told all those celebs that they don't have the moral capital to wag their finger at the normal people.

[The Brain]

Any Democrat states considering leaving the Union?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Any Democrat states considering leaving the Union?

too early, and it's not like many individuals left last time either

[Valmy]

Any Democrat states considering leaving the Union?

I haven't heard anything like this right now.

But remember on DC is really a single party space. Even the most partisan states still have about a 1/4th of their population supporting the other party. So for California, or whomever, to try to secede would be a shitshow.

[Norgy]

From faraway Norway, I think the Democratic Party needs to decide if they are liberals, leftist, semi-conservative or even deserve to be a party. The political distance from the leftist(er) wing of the Dems to those who, well, manage to get elected seems like a whole spectrum of European politics. Big tent politics are great when when compromises are made. I see very few compromises being made in US politics the next few years. So, the Democratic party should maybe start to listen to working people, the disenchanted and re-invent that American Dream so many of "the poor, huddled masses" came to seek.

I want zombie Eugene Debs to run against Vance in 2028. Debs at least didn't fuck sofas. Well. He may have. While in prison.

In any case, what I think is sort of moot. I do not understand the Dems. It used to be a party of visions for a "better world", and so was the GOP. At least we know that the movie "No Country For Old Men" is a misnomer.

[crazy canuck]

the party needs to do what the donor base wants it to do anyways.

Pretty sure the party already does that 

But seriously, what did you mean by this?

Yeah, that is actually the main problem with the Dems.  Their donor base now is not primarily related to labour organizations or causes.

[Razgovory]

From faraway Norway, I think the Democratic Party needs to decide if they are liberals, leftist, semi-conservative or even deserve to be a party. The political distance from the leftist(er) wing of the Dems to those who, well, manage to get elected seems like a whole spectrum of European politics. Big tent politics are great when when compromises are made. I see very few compromises being made in US politics the next few years. So, the Democratic party should maybe start to listen to working people, the disenchanted and re-invent that American Dream so many of "the poor, huddled masses" came to seek.

I want zombie Eugene Debs to run against Vance in 2028. Debs at least didn't fuck sofas. Well. He may have. While in prison.

In any case, what I think is sort of moot. I do not understand the Dems. It used to be a party of visions for a "better world", and so was the GOP. At least we know that the movie "No Country For Old Men" is a misnomer.

What do you think the "working people" are going to say?

[Josquius]

They need to frame progressive causes a lot more in terms of self interest.

Yes yes the world is on fire and the everyone is screwed if we don't de carbonise... But what has that got to do with Dwayne In Cousinlove, Georgia?
What does he care about dead kids in eastern Europe?
He's busy working 2 awful jobs to just barely keep his kids fed.

Highlight at the forefront of everything how policies will help working people - that they Incidentally also help the country and world at large is a nice footnote.

So back in 2012 the GOP was convinced that Mitt Romney was going to win.  Fun fact - he didn't.

So they responded with the "Growth and Opportunity Project" (aka the RNC Autopsy) to study what the GOP should do differently.

It largely looked at the growth of minority, in particular Latino, voters, and called on the party to moderate it's language and positions with respect to immigration.

Trump famously went in the opposite direction and won 4 years later.

Trump did in the end wind up doing what the 2012 autopsy said Republicans should do - attract more Latino voters - but in an entirely different way than was suggested.

So when it comes to the Democrats, the basic answer is fairly obvious - they need to win back votes from non-college educated whites.  In particular males.  The question is how to do it.

Bernie (of course) says the Dems just need to double and triple down on his brand of socialism.  That to me feels like it's the equivalent to the GOP 2012 report - the party needs to do what the donor base wants it to do anyways.

... Huh?
Democrat donors want socialism?
Pretty sure that's the last thing they want.
Theyre key to keeping the dems a conservative party and why the super delegates so strongly came out for Clinton.

Sanders is way too old. And then America the term socialism has ridiculous baggage. But Sandersesque policies from the mouth of someone who resonates with working people and has enough of an edge to smack down culture war crap... That could do well.

[Admiral Yi]

Dwayne is a black name so that's racist.

[Josquius]

Dwayne is a black name so that's racist.

Seriously?
To me its associations are very much counter to that. Very white bread, white as white can be, bordering on hillbilly- which makes The Rock's existence pretty funny.

[Sheilbh]

I've no view on the race itself, but saw that House Democrats elected Gerry Connolly over AOC as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. Again, no view on the election, but struck by a a comment from one of Connolly's strong supporters: "Gerry's a young 74, cancer notwithstanding"

As I say no view on this particular race at all, but "young 74, cancer notwithstanding" does feel very much like the logic of getting behind Biden, "nothing to see here" approach despite concerns about his age.

[garbon]

I've no view on the race itself, but saw that House Democrats elected Gerry Connolly over AOC as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. Again, no view on the election, but struck by a a comment from one of Connolly's strong supporters: "Gerry's a young 74, cancer notwithstanding"

As I say no view on this particular race at all, but "young 74, cancer notwithstanding" does feel very much like the logic of getting behind Biden, "nothing to see here" approach despite concerns about his age.

The man who said that is 74 himself.