One thing Trump and Sanders has proven it's that it's time to stop appealing to the centre...

[Locut0s]

I am NOT making this a Hilary bashing thread that's not my point. I'm sure you can interpret it as such but that's not what I'm getting at.

What I'm getting at is that for far too long now governments have tried to appeal to the centre. Be they right wing or left wing. Indeed this has been true outside of America more than inside but you see it a lot in the US too. What ends up happening is that the parties that campaign this way not only fail to represent a large section of the population, but out of an abundance of fear of being labeled "radical" they become the mouth pieces of the big corporations. Because politics IS supposed to be partisan and that's something we have lost sight of I feel. I'm not saying there should be war in the streets, grid lock all the time in government, but these are important issues that divide all of us and it's natural that we are going to have strong reactions. Too long now the left especially has been afraid to wear their colours. They fear by appealing to their base they will be marginalized. For a while both parties in the US suffered from this. But the right wing has had a reawakening in recent decades that they don't need to pull their punches, they are not afraid to fight dirty, to appeal to their base. And Reagan, and Bush, and Trump has shown there is a huge appetite for this out there. And Sanders showed that there is on the left as well. Although there is nothing startling about Sander's beliefs, the left have allowed themselves to be so marginalized over the years that his views now seem downright radical when they are common sense. Sander's had the courage to call himself a Democratic Socialist, he used the "S" word and was proud of it. And people flocked to that message in droves, showing that there is a HUGE thirst for true progressive representation in the US.

Again I'm NOT making this a Hilary bashing thread, im sure she would have made a fine president and a different universe from the apocalypse trump will hand us. But it was clear, to me anyway, that people were yearning for something more radical. Something we honestly have not heard on the left in the US for a good 60 years or so. It's time to start taking pride in our own beliefs, to fight dirty, to wear our colours brightly and proudly.

[Hoyt]

1. Winning is important, but so is being able to govern the WHOLE country, even Deplorables.

[Locut0s]

2. Not really...

Sure I agree winning is important. But imho that doesn't mean you have to keep the deplorable in mind when you campaign and this has been the fundamental mistake of the left in the US for far too long. The right wing have realized they don't have to keep us in mind when they campaign they correctly realize that if they go out there wearing the deplorable flag as a suit that people will flock to them.

What I'm saying is that the left needs to do the same.

"If you build it they will come."

[Hoyt]

3. You gotta be able to govern everyone. Besides, why would we want to be like GOPers?

[Locut0s]

4. Of course you have to be able to govern...

And Trump can't. I'm not arguing we should be like the GOP st all. ALL I'm saying that we should borrow from them is their fearlessness to say what they believe. And Sanders did a lot of that, though I feel he is walking a lot of that back recently. Hilary did so too a bit but imho not nearly enough. We need to stop thinking about compromise.

[msongs]

5. exactly. when they come to put you in the boxcar being nice turns out to be a wasted effort nt

[putitinD]

7. +1

[putitinD]

8. +1

[LenaBaby61]

6. NO Democrat will ever be able ...

To govern some of these idiots and haters out there. It just won't happen.

You're right OP when you say that Democrats HAVE to follow their agenda and be damned, and IF those on the right who are racist, sexist, homophobic and just plain aren't intelligent enough to vote for their OWN best interests, then screw them. tRumputin WILL screw them, and he won't CARE what they think and feel. He's already signaling that if there is some sort of wall, WE here in this country will pay for it. Some actually said they'll be HAPPY to pay, just as long as those "Illegals" are kept OUT of our country

One huge problem Democrats will suffer from is that the media's STILL very much in the tank quite literally for tRumputin, and many are flat out frightened SO by him----that they're going to give him a GIANT pass for however long he's conducting business for himself/his family and the ruskies from tRumputin Tower.

The ass sure isn't interested in conducting the "people's" business here in THIS country at all.

[Maru Kitteh]

9. You don't think those white men/white folks he prioritizes over the Democratic base

are the center?

SMH.

[world wide wally]

10. Here is what I think we need to do.

Instead of trying to figure out what we think voters want to hear, just fucking say what we think and base policy on what we think is best for the country.
Then hope voters like it and will vote for us. Forget the pandering and reaching out, Let them come to us.

Sounds pretty simple to me.

[JI7]

11. the split was over race .

[pnwmom]

16. Yup. n/t

[uponit7771]

19. +1, more pissed there's little acknowledgement there

[Lil Missy]

12. Hillary won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. Sounds good to me. n/t

[Crunchy Frog]

13. Not good enough if we don't win the right states to get the ec votes.

[pnwmom]

15. Voters in swing states are often voting from the center. That's what doesn't make sense

about this whole argument. For example, Catholics. Sometimes they swing left; sometimes they swing right. Or union workers, same thing. Most of them didn't vote for DT because they were far right. They were hoping he'd do better with jobs.

[pnwmom]

14. Not really. Trump appealed to some voters who would be classified as "center."

Many of those were in the swing states, and included some union workers and some who had voted previously for Democrats.

But no union voter who had read, and absorbed, his platform would have thought he was pro-worker. They were low-information voters listening to the crap at his rallies.

[JI7]

17. but more likely they were voting over immigration, blm, refugees

[pnwmom]

18. They were a mix of people, including some from the center.

We need to find ways to reach moderates just like Ted Kennedy used to, and even Bernie Sanders. Why did he take the gun positions he did in Vermont? Because he was aiming at some voters in the center.

[nil desperandum]

20. Indeed....

a great many people simply vote their concerns about their paycheck and not much else. In any change year those voters who feel they've been failing to gain ground vote for the party out of power hoping it will help. A really "huge" mistake this time as they will no doubt discover.