Hey, Democrats! The route to winning elections again is no mystery. Barry Lynn says it’s as simple as reclaiming our Bryan–Wilson–FDR–Truman heritage and reminding Trump voters that the cause of most of their real problems is monopoly:
These include the declining fortunes of rural America as farmers struggle against Big Ag. It includes the fading of heartland cities like Memphis and Minneapolis as corporate giants in coastal cities buy out local banks and businesses. It includes plunging rates of entrepreneurship and innovation as concentrated markets choke off independent businesses and new start-ups. It includes falling real wages, as decades of merger mania have reduced the need for employers to compete to attract and retain workers.
Monopoly is a main driver of inequality, as super-fat profits concentrate more wealth in the hands of the few. The effects of monopoly enrage voters in their day-to-day lives, as they face the sky-high prices set by drug company cartels and the abuses of cable providers, health insurers, and airlines. Monopoly provides much of the funds the wealthy use to distort American politics [Barry Lynn, “Democrats Must Become the Party of Freedom,” Washington Monthly, Jan/Feb 2017].
Donald Trump isn’t talking about today’s problem of concentration of power. He’s stuck reading yesterday’s script:
The vision that Donald Trump pedaled [sic] was strikingly anachronistic. The offshoring of jobs peaked a decade ago, and since the crash of 2008 America has registered zero net illegal immigration. Monopoly, by contrast, is today’s problem. Thanks to the rise of immense platform monopolists like Amazon and Google, the fight against monopolization will continue to drive politics for years to come. Indeed, a focus on anti-monopolism will provide Democrats with a constant flow of opportunities to educate and rally voters, and to attract new classes of funders, as new takeover deals are announced [Lynn, Jan/Feb 2017].
Lynn says post-1980 Dems got their heads stuck in the Wall Street grate, costing them this key distinction from the GOP. Time to get back to playing the monopoly card, Dems!
I’m not a big fan of returning to the past in this modern era, but monopolies, duopolies and triopolies are certainly holding back the redevelopment of our middle class (after GWB nearly put the nail in the coffin on it).
Whatever works in battleground states is what we need. Places like South Dakota are where the crazy’s live. You can’t build a Dem Party worth a crap out in isolationist crazy land, but detailing and statistically defining in order to properly display our crazy demographics – as a fear factor for non-voters in battle ground states to properly digest the reality of who our voters actually are – will thus naturally inspire a thoughtful non-voter to vote – in order to help offset all the Trumptardlican leverage in politics.
Non-voters with more than 1 or perhaps 2 years of college experience are surely more capable of understanding things like global warming than radical (mostly rural and country club suburbanite) anti-liberals.
Conservatives stopped understanding reality decade(s) ago. Once Dems inspire just 10% more people to vote for this reason: “Republicans are so stupid and crazy that they actually prevent the rest of us from acting upon global warming, Russian threats, etc. and they are so incapable of using their brains that it is actually terrifying in terms of the challenges our human race faces,” – only then will we break the ideological stalemate in U.S. politics. Changing conservatives minds is no longer an option [in my view].
Cory, what do ya think?
I claim Ideological Stalemate has occurred in America, and when one party tips the balance, just one little bit, it ends up appearing as if a Big Shift, has occurred even when it has very much NOT.
I, also, firmly assert that, "Obama winning 2 terms (after the Armageddon Class: GWB Admin) was ‘no REAL big shift,’ and nor was this Trump victory. "
Distilling it all down, I really just insist that conservatives have been unmovable, of late, because stubborn ideocracy is the name of their game. So, we need to either inspire 10% more (additional) people to vote – in this country – (because crazy stupid people are really super f.ing crazy, stupid and aweful) or settle for this 2 party ideological stalemate which creates only the illusion of pendulum shifts.
The first party to significantly increase their numbers wins. Too many Americans are still looking for answers, and neither head of the two headed snake has enough of them – yet.
What do you say? [you know I love ya]
Adam, I agree with the idea that priority #1 is to increase registration, turnout, and votes. We will get more bang each buck spent on that practical organizing than we will on ideological debate. Win and hold office, make changes, and win the long-term argument by implementing good policies.