Democrats, do you think the DNC should move further Left or to the Center? (conspiracy, Sanders)

[TristramShandy]

Originally Posted by texan2yankee

The NYTimes wrote in an opinion piece yesterday that the Democrats should abandon the white, working class voters of the Midwest and concentrate on recapturing the "uninspired" voters who abandoned the Democrats in the 2016 presidential election and voted third party by forging a more Progressive Democrat Party. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/o...democrats.html This was an interesting assertion and why I started this thread, actually.

Seeing as how my family's history (grandparents' generation) is steelworking Pennsylvanians, I would hate that. I'm Democratic for a lot of reasons, but working class and unions are a strong plank of that identity.

[Elliott_CA]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

The Democrats steamrolled elections from 1932 until 1980 or so by focusing on issues that directly impacted the working/middle class. This is precisely why trump and Sanders resonated with people.

Correct. Sanders packed stadiums with energized young people who were motivated not by Sanders' charisma but his policies. Democrats need to be more progressive economically and offer a clear alternative to what the Republicans offer.

The way forward for Democrats is clear, simply borrow from Sanders what worked so well for him:

• Medicare For All (single payer)
• Debt-free public college for all who are admitted
• Living wage $15/hr
• Get rid of the culture of corruption in Washington DC
• Tax incentives and penalties to encourage jobs at home instead of overseas

If Democrats rally around these points, a lot more of them will get elected.

[Fiyero]

Originally Posted by texan2yankee

The NYTimes wrote in an opinion piece yesterday that the Democrats should abandon the white, working class voters of the Midwest and concentrate on recapturing the "uninspired" voters who abandoned the Democrats in the 2016 presidential election and voted third party by forging a more Progressive Democrat Party. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/o...democrats.html This was an interesting assertion and why I started this thread, actually.

That argument is largely based on the fact that the progressive left wing and millenials will be one of the largest voting blocs, while the white working class is going to get smaller and smaller. Coal jobs are not coming back. So they're either going to need to learn new skills/pursue other avenues or continue to let Republicans kill them off.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by desertdetroiter

No way should the Democratic Party be centrist. That's been a major fail so far. We are a left wing liberal party, and we should remain one.

Corporate Democrats have CRUSHED this party. These bozos like Joe Manchin and Mary Landrieu may as well leave the party. Democrats should be a pro-worker, pro-union, pro-poor to middle class party and stop trying to satisfy the working class and rich alike. Doing that will cause you to lose both groups. Let the rich have the Republican Party.

The Republicans should be given credit for not even pretending that they care about the poor or working class. They are a party that is pro-wealthy and that's worked for them.

Of course, some people are fooled and believe that the Republican Party cares about the poor and working class, but look at their legislation....there's no evidence of it.

I think the two senators should leave the party, too. Like in, right now. Maybe the rest of Trump's cabinet and his judge will get in faster.

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

Originally Posted by slo1318

Keep thinking that! Your party is in the midst of exploding and you don't even see it....

The majority of House and Senate Democrats cater to Wall Street and Corporations. That's the right, not the left. Bernie Sanders is what the Democrats used to be (minus the South of course, different breed of Democrat down there). Basically, FDR was the model Democrat. I think that Chester Cheetah is in the center, but is very crass and rude. Then you have the House and Senate Republicans who are either Koch wh@res or cater to the Evangelicals.

[workingclasshero]

Originally Posted by Elliott_CA

Correct. Sanders packed stadiums with energized young people who were motivated not by Sanders' charisma but his policies. Democrats need to be more progressive economically and offer a clear alternative to what the Republicans offer.

The way forward for Democrats is clear, simply borrow from Sanders what worked so well for him:

• Medicare For All (single payer)
• Debt-free public college for all who are admitted
• Living wage $15/hr
• Get rid of the culture of corruption in Washington DC
• Tax incentives and penalties to encourage jobs at home instead of overseas

If Democrats rally around these points, a lot more of them will get elected.

and once the PEOPLE of the USA see what those disastrous policies would COST, they would NEVER vote liberal again

singlepayer--- would cost 3-6 trillion per year..... our revenue is less than 3 trillion right now

who would pay for 'free college'???

living wage of 15/hr?? again what small business can afford that...who will be able to afford it

tax incentives to bring jobs home... no lower the business tax, and increase the cost of shipping products into the usa...the only way to bring jobs and manufacturing back to the usa... eliminate all these globalist 'freetrade' agreements (over 25 of them) that liberals pushed

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by NxtGen

The problem with communism is not the idea itself (ie the desire for everyone to be equal), it is what is required in its application (the forcing of people to obtain equality). So, a little bit of communism (aka socialism) is no different than a little bit of rape. Both force an individual to comply to a given requirement and regardless of how much occurs, the violation has occurred.




There is no discussion, you are wrong and abusing those clauses. You were right about one thing though, our country has changed and it was attacked by progressives over a 100 years ago by eroding the understanding of our form of government. So you can parrot off your communistic rhetoric, but you are wrong and the founders show you to be wrong at the basis of their arguments during the ratification debates, the federalist and the anti-federalist papers. Why do you think case precedence law was put into place? It is so they can fast track a ruling and then ignore the original intent, there by allowing the changing of our system over time.




any form of communism is incompatible with a liberty based government as ANY element of its application requires the FORCING of the individual to compliance. As I said, it doesn't matter if you rape a person just a "little", it is still against their will.

There is certainly a discussion to be had because you keep ignoring the reality of the history of our country. There is over 100 years of political leaders, court cases, and federal law that disagree with your "literal" interpretation of the Constitution (there is no single interpretation because the document was written to be intentionally vague in many places ).


This has nothing to do me personally. You should learn to accept that this is where the country is, and has been for a long time. And also that there is no "true" or "plain" interpretation of the Constitution. Or that this thinking goes against what the "founders" wanted (Unless you think that some of the people involved with the construction of the Constitution don't count). You seem to keep ignoring these pretty important pieces of information.


Don't like it? Go run for office and try to change it. Or go buy an island and make your own country (NxtGen-ia?).

[juppiter]

Originally Posted by desertdetroiter

No way should the Democratic Party be centrist. That's been a major fail so far. We are a left wing liberal party, and we should remain one.

Corporate Democrats have CRUSHED this party. These bozos like Joe Manchin and Mary Landrieu may as well leave the party. Democrats should be a pro-worker, pro-union, pro-poor to middle class party and stop trying to satisfy the working class and rich alike. Doing that will cause you to lose both groups. Let the rich have the Republican Party.

The Republicans should be given credit for not even pretending that they care about the poor or working class. They are a party that is pro-wealthy and that's worked for them.

Of course, some people are fooled and believe that the Republican Party cares about the poor and working class, but look at their legislation....there's no evidence of it.

I think it is the social issues where the Dems need to move to the center. Realize that you don't need to be the protector of every single fringe group. All it does it alienate the majority who are not in those fringe groups.

[slo1318]

Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220

The majority of House and Senate Democrats cater to Wall Street and Corporations. That's the right, not the left. Bernie Sanders is what the Democrats used to be (minus the South of course, different breed of Democrat down there). Basically, FDR was the model Democrat. I think that Chester Cheetah is in the center, but is very crass and rude. Then you have the House and Senate Republicans who are either Koch wh@res or cater to the Evangelicals.

If the democrats move to Bernie policies (socialist) they will continue to get pummeled.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by juppiter

I think it is the social issues where the Dems need to move to the center. Realize that you don't need to be the protector of every single fringe group. All it does it alienate the majority who are not in those fringe groups.

I'd agree - I think they need to move to the center on these kind of things. Or be a bit more libertarian on them.

It's the economic policies, particularly in taking care of our working and middle classes, that the Democrats need to pay attention to more. And I think they could do very well by moving more to the left on many of those issues.