Or, How to Forget 2008.
What would it be like if, for the next five years, Democrats, liberals, lefties, and progressives gave up all hope and attempts at winning the White House, and focused on just two things:
(1) Winning the US Senate back to Democratic (and, as much as possible, progressive) control; and
(2) Building the real, grassroots, cross-issues progressive coalition that is the sine qua non of political livability in this country, around (a) universal access to quality health care, (b) a living wage, (c) meaningful retirement / pension security, and (d) a new civil rights revolution?
And what would it be like if, after such ground-work, the 2012 ticket for the White House read "Obama-Villaraigosa 2012"?
What would it be like, indeed.
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1 comment:
It's difficult but possible to win Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, but virtually impossible to get it in "progessive" hands. Democrats can win the Senate if they focus on a Clinton-style economic agenda and play down or abandon gay rights.
Similarly, it's impossible to build the kind of cross-issues "progessive" coalition that you're talking about, at least not a coalition that has any hope of actually influencing the U.S. government. You can get Southerners, Midwesterners, and non-coastal Westerners on universal health insurance, minimum wage increases, and pensions, but not on any "civil rights revolution" that includes gay rights.
You'll get a lot more done by taking your focus off of the U.S. government entirely, and focusing your energies on the coastal states. Those states also happen to contain the major financial, business, media, and higher educational institutions for the entire United States. Once you enact your agenda in those states, which you can easily do without much or any federal government cooperation, you can use those powerful non-governmental institutions to indoctrinate the rest of the country with your beliefs.
Your earliest opportunity for a viable presidential ticket with the combination of qualities that you want is probably closer to 2032 than 2012. I don't actually think that it's possible even then, because the conservatives who have so much power now can predict your best moves as well as I can and will be able to use their current dominance to fight back, but I would call what I've described your best, most realistic hope.
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