Given the "what are you thinking thread" started to get a little heated as responses to remarks about Donald Trump's inauguration started discussing the nomination of Clinton, perhaps it'd be good to have a more specifically framed discussion in a thread of its own to address the successes and mistakes of the Democrats in 2016 and where the party should go from here. What's your view on the role of the Democratic Party in American society? Is the populism of Sanders a valid framework for policy development? Is Clinton's technocratic approach out of date and unelectable? Who should the Democratic electoral coalition be and what should its philosophy look like?
I think we all need to listen to our old buddy Ann Coulter. She's got the right mindset on the Democratic Party.
I'll start with a disclaimer that I'm a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, and I've never been a politically-minded person up until this past election (starting with the primaries). I'm also somewhat ashamed to say that prior to this election, I've always voted for Republican candidates. Part of that is because I live in extremely liberal Massachusetts and I think it's good to have a healthy mix of views in our government, but mostly I grew up with an extremely conservative father (the kind who worships Fox News) who warped my point of view. After living on my own for a while and not having everything presented through a warped filter plus caring a lot more about my own LGBT identity has caused my positions to shift greatly. Even more horrifying to me than the outcome of this election and the amount of hatred and bigotry that has helped fuel Trump's victory is the fact that the majority of voters in this country has essentially zero representation in my eyes. Since bipartisanship is now completely a thing of the past due to the way Republicans in Congress preferred to shoot themselves in the foot than support causes they believed in if it would make Obama look good, I don't see anything of any significance happening in the medium-term future that doesn't fall strictly on party lines. With the GOP controlling the Presidency, the House, and the Senate, Democrats have very little influence. This should be alarming to everyone, regardless of political affiliation. Additionally, from what I understand there is essentially no chance of the balance of power shifting during the midterm elections as most seats up for election are in Republican strongholds. Obviously a lot can change in four years, but unless another incredibly charismatic candidate shows up on the Democratic side I don't see much changing in 2020. I'm also extremely concerned about the way Republicans like to focus so much on voter suppression either by making it more difficult for people to vote or gerrymandering districts in their favor. 33 states now have Republican governors so I suspect they will further stack the deck over the next few years. The only positive I can identify is that we are (hopefully) done with political dynasties. I am not a fan of Donald Trump in the slightest, but I also don't like the concept of career politicians who care about little other than being reelected and I especially hate the idea of keeping power within a few select families. No more Bushes or Clintons -- it's time for new voices to be heard. I just realized nothing I've said really addresses any of the prompts in your original post, so I suppose I just wanted to vent a little bit. We'll see what happens, but I am not at all optimistic about the way our democracy is working these days and it's tough to see a path forward considering the animosity between both parties and the blind allegiance and/or apathy of most citizens. It's also incredibly frightening that pure facts don't even matter anymore -- it's all about who yells the loudest and can get people riled up. Truth is now irrelevant.
Burn it to the ground and start over. Kick out all the corporatist, establishment Democrats like Clinton and Wasserman-Schultz, and let guys like Sanders take over. Make it a populist party that isn't beholden to anyone's donors; make it do what the people want it to do, not what the CEOs of fucking Exxon Mobil want it to do. THAT is the direction the Democratic Party ought to go in. (Oh, wait, my mistake. The CEO of Exxon Mobil went to work for Baby Hitler. But you know what I mean.)
As it always does, the pendulum is already starting to swing back. Now that Republicans have full federal control, the President's party always loses seats in the midterm. All it takes is something politically suicidal (throwing the entire health insurance industry into chaos) and an angry electorate and we win again. This is why it's vitally important that Democrats do not cooperate with Donald Trump on anything at all. Make them ram things through, and make them own the fact that millions of people just lost their health insurance.
