2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Does anybody else feel something like a tectonic shift occurring in the political world right now? [View all]Chan790
(20,176 posts)the message from the left-base of the Democratic party has been clear...there is no quarter here for those disaffected conservatives or those here that would extend an olive branch to them. They are not welcome, they will never be welcome as they currently are, and those that court them will be driven away. The party is the party of the Democratic base, not the Democratic establishment; likewise the Democratic tent is not a political refugee camp for those fleeing the insanity of the Republican party.
I'm okay with this, honestly. It might be that my mother's side of the family is culturally-middle-eastern (Syrian Catholics of Phoenecian, not Arabic, descent.) and there is a quote of the region regarding negotiations with refugees..."You will become us or you will be slaughtered upon the sands and driven into the sea." (The other part of that side of the family is Cree and if the Native Americans thought more like my Syrian ancestors, we'd all be browner and speaking Algonquian.) It sums up my feelings about DLCers and disaffected Republicans perfectly...sign on the dotted-line for the entirely of the progressive cause without conditions, exceptions or incrementalism; get out; or get driven the fuck out.
If I've ever thought there was a weakness of the left, it was the resistance to taking up metaphorical swords against the pretenders and quislings inside the Democratic tent...that seems to be at an end. It's our party--pain and misery to those that would try to take it from us.