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Gerrymandering is a problem, a very old one, and both parties have been guilty of it.
I also have some issues with the EC, because it does give more weight to the votes of people living in lightly populated states and much, much less to those of people who live in densely populated ones with lots of big cities. That seems wrong to me, regardless of the outcome.
However, there are lots of threads on here already that address that, and I'm not eager for this one to join their number. For one thing, it's not likely to change anytime soon. For another, I am hoping we can stick to the original question: how can the Democratic party more effectively serve the people?
FWIW, I do agree that there is a lot of contempt from some of my fellow liberals for people in "flyover country." When I see everyone who lives in a red state written off as a stupid, knuckle-dragging hick or a snake-handling religious fanatic, it offends me just as much as when I see a conservative accuse all Democrats of being effete snobs, whiny kids with degrees in basket-weaving, limousine liberals, or welfare queens. The truth is more complicated than that. Truth usually is.
A few people have asked why the Democrats have a better agenda. One of the biggest reasons, in my opinion, is health care. It's time we make sure everyone is covered, one way or another. Not only is this the right thing to do, from a humanitarian perspective, it just plain smart. Right now, you either pay for it yourself (very expensive), get it through your job, if your job provides decent insurance, or are covered by Medicare or Medicaid. I think there are a lot of people who believe all poor people are covered by Medicaid. THEY ARE NOT, so let's get that little myth out of the way right off the bat.
Universal health care would accomplish a lot of things, aside from a healthier population. As things stand now, people who would like to leave a job they hate, but which has good benefits, may be itching to start their own business or even work as an independent contractor, yet forego that dream because the loss of their health insurance would make an already risky move downright impossible. It seems to me that the security of universal health care would unleash a tremendous amount of human potential.
Another argument in favor is the plight of many elderly. Medicare does not pay for long term care in a nursing or assisted living facility, and an awful lot of older people end up relying on Medicaid. Problem is, they have to almost completely bankrupt themselves to qualify, and God help them if they have given money to their kids during the dreaded "look-back" period. They will be accused of trying to cheat the system, even if that was the furthest thing from their minds. People hate estate taxes? This is the harshest "death tax" in existence, and with an aging population it is only going to get worse. Not only is it bankrupting too many elderly, it can be devastating to their children, who often give up their own jobs and financial security to become caregivers.
I know this would not be free, but I think people are forgetting one thing. Whatever tax increase would be necessary to fund UHC would be offset by the fact that individuals and businesses would no longer be paying insurance premiums. The cost would not be "in addition to," it would be "instead of." I don't pretend to know exactly what the details would be, but I know that if we can put men on the moon, we figure out how to do this.
I know that health care is only one issue, and I'll get to others later, but this is one thing I am especially passionate about, because I have experienced some of it firsthand. I hope others will post their suggestions, too.
I definitely agree with the health care issue, but I do feel that Clinton offered a few points in that regard. Universal would be ideal, but will be really difficult to pass. Clinton offered the public option, allowing those over 50 or 55 to buy into Medicare, as a compromise. That is a possibility and a good idea. She was also very strong on lowering the price of prescription drugs and that there should be price controls--that is a must. Obama wanted universal health care but could not get it passed, so we ended up with the ACA compromise, which wasn't really implemented properly and now has issues.
College tuition is another issue that needs to be addressed. People should be able to go to college without massive debt. Apprentice programs need to be implemented and that will not be easy. Either the state pays or companies pay or both do, and I'm not sure companies will agree to contribute.
Infrastructure needs to be addressed--we are very behind the rest of the world when it comes to both public transportation and high speed rails. These are all issues that the Dems have been addressing, but having an oppositional GOP House that blocked Obama at every turn prevented a lot of this from being accomplished. They would not even work with him on infrastructure. Working on the infrastructure could have put a lot of people (in flyover country) back to work, but it was their own representatives preventing it.
The contempt you refer to is on both sides, but I do believe that rural areas with high unemployment need to modernize and realize that technology is the future, and there is a need to learn new skills in order to be employed (which there should be programs for), not to drag the country backwards to accommodate those without skills who are not willing to learn new ones.
Okay, sure. It certainly wasn't because he understood where the middle-class was coming from with relation to jobs and the feeling of supporting both the upper and lower economic classes with their taxes.
To this bolded part: this is why I formally switched parties. You can blame it squarely on Andrew Cuomo's SAFE act, and that SOB Dean Skelos (R) who went along with it. Since that party change in 2013 (so not super-recent, but not that long ago), and since the election of Trump, I've become completely disgusted with the way so many Democrats can't breathe without finding some fault with Trump - to the point of lying, fabricating, twisting and otherwise manipulating every single thing he does, and I don't even like Trump. (Nor did I vote for him, as I've said before.)
It's heartening that I've seen a small handful of Democrats who have started to question this nonsense. I'd be equally happy to see Republicans stop with the war-mongering and LBGT bashing, and get on board with legalizing marijuana. It'll be a real contest to see who wins me over at this point.
I would like to point out that if this vendetta against Trump continues.......he is going to get the sympathy vote for being the underdog........Americans have a tendency to stick up for someone who is constantly being beaten.........
I would like to point out that if this vendetta against Trump continues.......he is going to get the sympathy vote for being the underdog........Americans have a tendency to stick up for someone who is constantly being beaten.........
From these answers, your 'fellow Dems' appear to include a number of alt-right Trump fans. It would be great if they just went back to their liberal-bashing threads.
Anyhoo, Trump is a con artist salesman huckster. That's who he is and who he has always been. He talked a lot of suckers into believing he is someone he is not in order to get their vote. He's a phony through and through.
Hillary would have been a much better president than Trump. She's much much more intelligent, more experienced, respected around the world, and knows foreign and domestic policy and the law like the back of her hand. She is not a good politician. I am sick of listening to those that hate her and a bunch of misogynists spinning a hateful mythology that is total BS.
And, by the way, she received 3 million more votes than the current bozo in the oval office. It's time to get rid of gerrymandering and the electoral college and stop letting a a minority of the country tell the majority of the country what to do. It's a bully system befitting our bully president. That is where all the anger from the far left is coming from.
Let's see if the GOP can win fairly--no fixed districts. No giving rural areas more weight than they deserve. We are no longer an agrarian society, who recently freed a slave population, and we have now given the vote to everyone. The electoral college has got to go. The GOP has lost the popular vote in 6 out of the last 7 elections. There is something rotten in the US.
As for the future, the Dems have plenty of good candidates who we have not even heard from yet.The names tossed around the forum are not the candidates who will be running, just the ones the conservatives want to be the Dem candidates, as they probably cannot win. It will not be Liz Warren, Keith Ellison, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders. I think people will be very surprised at who will emerge as leaders and candidates. And after a couple of years of the current joker, people will be very receptive to smart sane people with real ideas and policies.
I do think Pelosi and Schumer need to step aside and let some of the younger and fresher candidates lead the party. But I believe all this hand wringing over the future of the Dems is not what will come to pass. The election was less than one year ago. It's way too early to predict anything, and with the downhill slide Trump is on, I am not worried at all. The electorate is becoming more diverse every year. They are not going to be into old white men pushing their return-to-the-50s fairy tale in the next election.
We have real problems that need real answers--not tweets from an ignorant self-important, inexperienced and immature child who does not want the job, or his inexperienced unqualified daughter and son-in-law. This is becoming more apparent with every domestic crisis we encounter. Nor do we really a need a bunch of generals and Wall Street vets running the country, which is what we have. We've been that route already, it failed, and it is the country that got screwed.
Domestic crisis? Which one..........which bathroom a "transgender" should use........or which 100 year old statue needs to be torn down...........
To the person who repped me anonymously and stated:
"...You haven't learned a thing from ANY of this. You are still preaching your same elitist smack talk. You are still in denial that people don't agree with you so you paint a picture of something being wrong with THEM. No, you haven't learned a thing...
Please post publicly so that your comments can be replied to and you are identified, not anonymously with a fake rep.
What is it exactly that you believe I am supposed to be "learning?" I was under the impression this is a discussion forum, not a classroom.
What 'picture' is it you to which you are referring that I am painting? What does "elitist smack talk" even mean? I don't deny that others disagree with me--that is their right, just as it is my right to have an opinion without being personally attacked. Can you please reply publicly and explain what you are referring to?
If you don't agree with me, can you at least explain what it is you are disagreeing with?
I love those idiots who give me a rep & then insult me with a comment. Whatever idiot, you're just adding to my rep count so keep it coming. They're so stupid they don't even understand that. Lol.
I know, but I really do hate reporting people, and I don't mind defending my opinions if I know what it is that the person is disagreeing with.
I don't understand why anyone would give rep just to leave a nasty message. I mean, come on, our real names are already concealed on here. How cowardly can a person get?
We should have never crowned Hillary. It was going to be tough regardless because 3rd terms for the same party rarely happen. However, Hillary was the perfect candidate for Trump to beat due to the hate folks have for her.
Oh. and is it really that hard to find a Dem who doesn't look 85?
This is an honest question .... Do you know anyone at all who actually voted for Donald Trump?
IF you do - do you think of them as Racists & Nazis? IF you do - do you call them that to their face?
I listen to the media - CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CBS and the pundits and anchors and they actually say these things about Trump voters. I actually have a problem with this sort of nonsense and am positive that I'm not alone. The "Core problem" is not just poor messaging and no plan ... It's the Demonization of US Citizens because they did not vote for Hillary Clinton.
This Demonization is getting set in concrete - and the backlash to it will also be set in concrete.
I listen to it too and what I get out of it is that it is the same as Bernie Sanders was, marginalized. The outlets like CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN all are mainstream outlets. It isn't that they are anti-Trump, they are against any outside force to the traditional center right to center left politicians.
I do also remember Trump getting so many interviews as Candidate Trump based on who he was with these outlets as well. I honestly rolled my eyes at this because it wasn't equal time to the other candidates. Cruz, Paul, Rubio, Kaisch, Christie, etc. all never got the media time and access Trump did. Which to be fair besides Sanders, no other Democratic candidate got. We got mostly sick puppets.
To tie back into the original topic, we can't see this again. I bored Democrat for the first time in a Presidential race in 2016 bevause know Trump was a two-faced lying hypocritical fraud. I don't like I had to vote Clinton to truly vote against him, but she was the best option available. In 2020, we can't have say a Warren or a Booker with five or socl-puppet candidates, we need a field of multiple credible candidates. I even say the republicans need that too inn case Trump gets any worse.
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It would be great if they just went back to their liberal-bashing threads.
