The year 2016 proved that the Democratic Party has lost its way. Their actions proved that their #1 priority was what was in the best interests of the Clintons, not what was in the best interests our country. Thus they strangled Sander's campaign and stuck us with a candidate who was so unexciting and so out of touch with the mood of the country that she lost to Donald Trump, of all people. Meanwhile they gave the down-ticket so little love that Trump has the gift of a Republican Senate, so nothing really stands in the way of his fucking everything. The DNC has proved itself to be lacking in imagination, lacking in vigor, and out of touch. Cynically I think that there are elements of the DNC that thought that 2016 went just great!!! because OMG look at how much MONEY they raised!!! Hillary Clinton was a champion fundraiser (probably still is) and losing to insane scary idiots is also great for DNC fundraising.
I really don't like how the Democratic Party has been run. I've been seeing these dynamics personally for about the past 21 years.
Thus I wish I had a real say in electing who is running the Democratic Party. I've been a steadfast supporter, a large donor, and a tireless volunteer, for decades, and never have been offered any clue in how to obtain a voice in the decisions regarding who is running things in the party. I get mail from the Democrats, and it's all about my membership at some bullshit minion level, and asking me for more money. I guess there were some town meetings I should've been going to all along to be involved in the Democratic party in some role other than "sucker", but I didn't know that.
Now the DNC is electing a new Chair. I haven't done extensive research but what little I know sounds like "new visionary" vs. "same-old same-old". There's this guy named Keith Ellison, one of the Sanders crowd. He specializes in organizing; he understands that Climate Disruption is an issue of compelling moral clarity; he has a Youth Plan; he has a Rural Plan.
Here's an editorial in the Boston Globe making the case in favor of Ellison. On the other hand, the old hands support someone named Thomas Perez, "a perfectly good man but from the ruling wing, not the organizing wing, of the party". (Why the fuck does the Democratic party have a "ruling" wing?) I imagine that Perez is probably from the Clinton-esque school of thought: great at producing detailed policy proposals and fundraising, not imaginative when it comes to winning elections. IT'S THE ELECTIONS, PEOPLE. WIN THE ELECTIONS OR DIE.
I've signed an on-line petition in favor of Ellison's candidacy, but I understand that that has all the weight of a small down feather.
Whom do we talk to if we want to make our opinions on this felt?
![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
