Is it possible for Democrats to coalesce and defeat the radical right?

[Cary]

Is it possible for Democrats to coalesce and defeat the radical right?

Or are we forever doomed to wedging ourselves out and allowing the likes of Steve Bannon and #fakepresident to run amok?

19 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes
	14 (74%)
	No
	5 (26%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[wasupaloopa]

1. Yes but first we have to want to coalesce

[Cary]

2. Interesting answer.

Are you saying we don't want to coalesce? Please share your theory.

[wasupaloopa]

14. I think that there are those who like 2010 and 2014 will not vote unless the Dems run on everything

on their list.

Before the 2014 midterms just about everyone here said they were going to vote Dem.

Then after the election some folks here said they stayed home because there was nothing to vote for.

I think we should at least vote against the right as a reason to vote if we can't vote for Dems, but that doesn't get those folks to the polls.

[Cary]

15. How do you know that people didn't vote because they didn't have it all?

[wasupaloopa]

16. They said so

[wasupaloopa]

17. I don't know if you can go back and read posts from Nov 2014 but that's what I am talking about.

Every time before an election everyone says they will vote but then we have a low turnout and that's when excuses are made.

[Cary]

20. Our demographics tend to not vote in mid terms

I have never seen a good explanation. Of course that doesn't mean there isn't a good explanation, it just means I haven't seen it.

[FarPoint]

29. We need a plan with a Leader...

We only have our feeling of outrage at the moment.....

[Azathoth]

3. Depends. Economic populism has broad appeal

But, as the Communists discovered over and over, there is simply no way you are going to build a stable coalition that includes white working class voters and BLM activists. Just ain't gonna happen. Economic populism and identity politics: pick one.

[AntiFascist]

19. Most white working class are not Nazis...

and I doubt that most BLM activists are Communist leaning. There is such a thing as a common middle ground and too many people on the internet seem to forget where that is.

[Azathoth]

22. You're missing the point

The Communists had a Utopian dream of uniting the working classes, of using a fundamental economic message that would bind everyone from the radical black activist to the ultra-conservative white farmer in a common struggle. It didn't work, no matter how hard they tried.

You can't mix opposing identity politics in a coalition. It doesn't work. White working class voters (including cops, by the way) and BLM activists (I'm just using them as a handy example, but there are countless others) are not going to coexist in a coalition, no matter how rational and compelling the argument to unite is.

[AntiFascist]

37. I agree that the radical and ultra-conservative extremes are not likely to get along..

but my point is: not all BLM activists are radical and not all of the white working class are ultra-conservative. Trump and his ilk would like nothing more than to push Republicans and Democrats into these extreme categories as much as possible but, as we can see, this strategy is just not working out for him.

Communism appealed to the extreme Left much more than to conservative farmers. Fascism came about to simultaneously oppose Communism while appealing to the need for an alternative to Capitalism, and allowed white land and farm owners to retain ownership of their properties.

[NurseJackie]

4. Define "Democrats" ... are you talking about real Democrats?

Or are you referring to those voters who claim to be "liberal" but refuse to join or support the party (ie: Sarandon types). Personally, I believe the divisions between those two camps are too deep. The distrust too great. The resentment too strong. The scars too tender. After all the attacks and smears and insults and betrayals, this "coalesce" thing won't happen in my lifetime.

Hashtag sad.

[melanctha]

5. Real democrats can. Stop rat fuckers.

We do need to purge bots and subversives. There are people within the party who are determined to dismantle and destroy the party.We have to call them out by name . Stop coddleling haters and anti dems. Interesting article about Putinesque propaganda on site. "Attack the hegemony". We have allowed this destructive blather for eight years. Time to get rid of useful idiots.

[NurseJackie]

6. It will be more difficult to fight a two-front war... but there's no reconciliation on the horizon.

We have to prepare for that highly probable possibility. I see them for what they are... you described it perfectly. As a party, the Democrats will have two enemies to destroy: the GOP and all others who try to sabotage and weaken the Democratic party from within with their lies and smears and disinformation. (To eliminate any confusion, I should probably add that of course I'm referring to the Sarandon-types... who else could it be?)




PS: Welcome to DU!

[Cary]

8. I have confidence in us.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

[NurseJackie]

12. Knowing the identity of the enemy is important. Understanding what their goal is...

... and remembering what they've done in the past, and what they're capable of is equally important. Their goals and ambitions have not changed. If the Democrats do not engage in a two-pronged war against our enemies, then we'll lose. All optimism in the world won't change the reality that some things simply cannot be salvaged. I plan to learn from previous mistakes. Give an inch, they'll take a mile. Accommodation and reconciliation shows weakness that the enemy will exploit to their own advantage.

[Cary]

13. Everything will change

It will either get better or it will get worse, but it will change.

[MaryLouisaWillis]

34. Yes, people who demand the majority give them

the minority everything they want or they will not vote for the candidate who won can take their marbles and go home. That includes their leader who doesn't even belong to the party. If he and they can agree to majority rule, understand that they get most of what they want in the process, then welcome.

[Cary]

7. I don't know

I'm trying to figure it all out.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. "Sarandon"!

[Weekend Warrior]

9. I think you are making a conflicting argument.

If they were simply running amok the ACA would be repealed, we would have a Muslim ban, and Mexico would be building a wall.

[Cary]

10. That things could be worse is not that much consolation.

And shhhh. Don't jinx it.

[Weekend Warrior]

11. It really isn't much consolation.

It really should be but it isn't. One never knows what horrors these people will bring about tomorrow.

[Cary]

21. I voted yes because I want it to be

[MaryLouisaWillis]

35. Me too

[VOX]

23. Yes, but only if the vote-purity-thing is sublimated...

There will NEVER be a perfect Democratic candidate. They don't exist. They never have existed.

As long as it's a reasonable, experienced candidate who possesses the ability to connect with SANE people, and they're down with most major Democratic planks and ideals, that should be good enough.

The rest is up to Democratic Party members to stay on beam.

[Cary]

24. All true.

[ck4829]

25. Anything is possible.

Vote but do more.

Deflate their tropes and cliches, defund their organizations, and discredit their leaders.

Anyone who wants to do these things, has an interest in doing so, has groups that already do this; then let's get in touch.

[IndieRick]

26. Anything is possible after all

I do not see this as a issue of defeating the radical right, not at all. Yes, the publicity over the emergence of White Supremacists, haters of all stripes, all due to the election of a fellow hater and bigot to the highest office in the land, makes it seem as if these disparate groups are larger than they truly are, and are the key to wresting control of our governance from those who encourage these sheet wearing pathetic little folks.

But the key to an election is, and has been, the 93 million people who chose not to exercise their privilege and refrained from voting. That rather large number is a symptom of what ails this nation, alienation from a process that increasingly is seen as directed at the wealthiest and not at the majority.

As my sobriquet indicates I am not a democrat, instead I choose to work for the addition of third party entities into our legislative process, party or parties pledged to avoid corporate funding, thus avoiding corporate control.
But, if asked about my opinion of the democrats I would be forced to see them as in disarray, the few progressives among them besmirched and silenced by the DNC, with no clear leader , no charisma and little chance to make the changes necessary to return them to power.

I apologize for my harsh opinion, and would only add that the best chance for the democrats to gain in the midterms lies with Trump, McConnell, Ryan and company actually. These clowns are doing the work the democrats seem unable to, alienating the electorate and turning the tide against extremism from the right.

[Cary]

30. The radical right and Republicans are a criminal enterprise

They are corrupt. They are liars. They are evil.

There is only one line about this in Josh Green's book, "The Devil's Bargain." That book is the best source I know of, currently, on Bannon and the strategy of the radical right. Specifically it speaks to "Clinton Cash" and how Bannon craftily got the smears and lies into the New York Times.

I have seen those smears and lies perpetuated right here at Democratic Underground. That too was part of Steve Bannon's strategy, to get Democrats to perpetuate his lies and smears. This goes back before Bannon of course. Lee Atwater even apologized on his death bead for lying and smearing.

The only cure for that lying and smearing disease is to not reward it, as many people here insist on doing and get righteously indignant as they defend the fact that they proliferated Bannon's "Clinton Cash" lies. That has to stop. Period.

[Cary]

39. Actually I haven't seen any evidence of that

But do try to make it about me, personally.

[Eliot Rosewater]

40. There is none, at all. But the hatred of the Clintons counters actual facts.

[Cary]

41. I call it irrational loathing

I don't claim authorship of the term but don't recall where I picked it up from.

[leftstreet]

33. +1

But the key to an election is, and has been, the 93 million people who chose not to exercise their privilege and refrained from voting. That rather large number is a symptom of what ails this nation, alienation from a process that increasingly is seen as directed at the wealthiest and not at the majority.

Nicely stated

[MaryLouisaWillis]

36. Here is where your analysis makes no sense

Hillary got the overwhelming number of popular votes and we picked up seats in both houses. There are always lots of people who don't vote and remember they had not interest in voting for third party candidate.
In our winner takes all system third parties are a total waste of time. You are just wasting your time it is never going to happen and until the democratic party has a President and big majorities in both houses (and a majority on SCOTUS) nothing will be done about corporate money in elections. Don't tell me they won't because they have before. It is the conservative courts that said corporations are people.

[beachbum bob]

27. all you have to do is understand that evil exists and

using "lesser" evil as an excuse not to support a democrat is evil

[LostOne4Ever]

28. It's possible, but so long as their are those still holding grudges and those demanding perfection

It won't happen.

[Blue_Tires]

32. Not only is it 100% possible, it's goddamn necessary

We don't have a choice -- It's do or die

[alarimer]

38. Only if they drop weak bullshit like a "better deal"

And, instead of proposing more "job training" corporate welfare, propose things that will actually help people, like taxing the shit out of the rich, cutting corporate welfare and improving access to education for all.

People should have a RIGHT to: health care, a job that pays enough to live on, affordable housing, and clean air and water. Minimum.

So tops on the agenda need to be some kind of living wage act, some kind of legislation to reduce the cost of education (it should be free through a bachelor's degree if your family makes less than $50,000 and a sliding scale up to $200,000, after which you pay full freight), some kind of tax increase on the wealthy (top marginal rate needs to be more like the 1950s - 90%), some public option for the ACA.

Most importantly, a desire to divorce the party from corporate money. Because when they pay their bills, the corporations win and we lose. Every single fucking time. You can see patterns of voting for "our" legislators based on the money they get from corporations. It's disgusting.