Monthly Archives: November 2016

The White Working Class of the Rust Belt

Politics, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

I should clarify an earlier post:

Why should I help try to bring back to the progressive movement the same “White Working Class” demographic who voted to fuck over their own “lazy” unions?

  • Wisconsin and Michigan voted for Trump, right after many of the same bothered to vote for Bernie in the primary.
  • Wisconsin voted for Scott Walker, Michigan voted for Rick “toxic water” Snyder, right after they both voted for Obama twice.
  • Wisconsin and Michigan voted for GOP rabidly anti-union majorities in both houses of their legislatures.
  • Wisconsin and Michigan both voted to gut collective bargaining rights, union security agreements, the right to strike, and many other union-secured benefits.

Wisconsin and Michigan are both majority White Working Class. Black people are leaving Detroit because of the many ills which have befallen that metropolis, so Michigan is becoming even more White Working Class than it has been since before the Great Migration of the early 20th century.

Both states’ GOP leaderships have made it a goal to get more on a parity with Texas and other Southern “miracles” which have ditched state income tax and are further ahead at being “at-will” in their employment security.

And yet you want to bring this demographic back in from the conservative cold.

Do they even want to be saved?

This is irrational voting behavior. This is an ungrateful, suicidal demographic which is inflicting pain upon itself. The White Working Class of today would make the likes of Wellstone and La Follette spin in their graves.

This is also a fool’s errand to try to win back with class consciousness.

I just hope that you’re only asking White people to do this work. Don’t ask Black and Brown people to do this. We are already toxic to the White Working Class in the Midwest. Milwaukee’s own Black sheriff is a bloviating, trigger-happy Uncle Tom with an armed force at his disposal, so he’ll be the last to leave.

Maybe the White Working Class will come back to the Progressive Movement and the labor unions after all the Black people leave Milwaukee and Detroit. Maybe they’ll come back when Wisconsin and Michigan are both 99.9% Euro-American and the “swart gevaar” is ancient history.

Don’t ask me to do this. I am Black, and I will not be listened to.

#WhiteWorkingClass #WhiteFolkWork #ClassConsciousness #racism #ClassWarfare #1u #p2 #FeelTheBern

We can either:

  1. (under current liberal thought aka “race consciousness”) wait until ethnic demographics change across the depopulated bastions of Middle America which provide the bulk of the Electoral College’s power, or
  2. (under Sanders-Warren’s progressive thought aka “class consciousness”) we can try to woo back the White Working Class who voted for both Trump and the gutting of their own unions in the name of prosperity.

Either way, for logistics or optics, it seems like Democrats will have to throw someone under the bus for the midterms.

Bernie folks, while you’re out here trying to make allyships with Trump voters in the Midwest, remember that these same people voted to gut their own unions’ collective bargaining rights.

You know, just to screw over their “lazy” “wealthy” teachers and government workers and welfare recipients, most of whom happen to be White.

Is this the sort of voter you want to bring back into the progressive fold, that Bernie wants to bring back? The type who feels they are too good for unions or that unions are evil?

Sub-par Campaign Websites for Sub-par Candidates

Politics, Uncategorized, , , ,

If you’re going to run for a legislative office here in GA as a Democrat, you better get your communications straight. In fact, DON’T DO YOUR OWN CAMPAIGN WEBSITE, as you’ll probably screw it up anyway. Call/txt me if you need a comms person.

Angela Pendley ran this year as a Democrat for Lynn Westmoreland’s old seat GA-3, which includes northwestern Muscogee.

Her website, http://apendley4house.com is a damn joke, likely self-created on Wix. Her “About” page proudly proclaims thus:

“Angela Pendley does not use social media such as Facebook, twitter, or instagram.
​
Angela Pendley communicate with people in person, on the phone, through email, through United States Postal service, and through text messaging.
​
Supporters of the campaign are encouraged to share Angela Pendley’s message with friends, even if they are republicans who will vote as independents in November.”

Like, what the hell is this? If you’re not where the people and their eyeballs are, you’re ruling yourself out. You’re also doing damage to other progressives and liberals who want to run for that seat after you fail so needlessly.

No wonder she was beat by Drew Ferguson 68%-32%. She had it coming. Her communications looked like absolute “trash can juice”, to quote Nick Decker.

Same with Ben Anderson. Lost 64-35 to Josh McKoon. No website, just a Facebook page Anderson for Georgia.

Democrats out here in the country areas don’t know what they’re doing. Ugh.

Don’t be Angela Pendley 2016. Don’t screw up 2018. Call/txt me. #gapol

Over the next two years, if you are a progressive or liberal elected official who needs a website, or if you are looking for a website+mailing list+social media for your progressive or liberal campaign or activist group, please hit me up.

I don’t know if I have enough life experience to run for office, but I sure enough can cook up a communications platform for you. I can also write press releases.

Progressives, liberals and democratic socialists, please. And maybe pirates.

While at #Nerdacon this weekend, I talked to a libertarian who happens to be gay. He thanked me for not advocating burning or destroying things in protest, and asked me to consider adopting the model of the Tea Party movement in advocating for progressive policies.

I also talked to a writer with whom we shared a lot of concerns, including on the direction of progressive politics in the South. He happened to vote for Jill Stein in his home state of Tennessee.

Both wished me condolences over what happened on Election Day.

I’ll have more to say after I process these two conversations.

Retracting My Last Post

Politics, Uncategorized, , ,

Last night, I wrote some posts attacking the political viability of those who will be 50 years old or more in 2020.

I wrote these posts in anger against the “Democratic establishment” which is being excoriated as “neoliberal” and “elitist” for their screw-up of this and past election cycles, the Cold War-tinged sentiments which prevent this party from fighting for single-payer healthcare, and the incumbent party elders who fail the party and refuse to change their ways.

Since Super Tuesday, I have read many posts from my Facebook friends which have consistently ripped the Democratic establishment for “neoliberal” or pro-corporation overtures in their policy, especially in their endorsement of Hillary over Bernie. Many of these included overt wishes for the older generations of Democrats, especially those who endorsed Hillary, to “die off.”

I took precisely these posts to heart in the last two posts.

In the process, I ran over all 50+ year olds by advocating for political job discrimination against them. Kimberlyn called me out for ageism in the comments, and emphasized that it is unjust to advocate discrimination against older-aged people while I advocate for civil rights for LGBT people.

I admit that my posts were ageist, unjust and wrong-headed. I’m also starting to realize that those posts wishing for the older Dems to “die off” came from a place of ignorant, deep-seated hatred, and I should have been wiser to not even read those posts. I apologize and I’ve hidden both posts from my timeline.

I remain angry against everyone else mentioned, no matter their age.

Gone Head and Free Yourself

Politics, Uncategorized, ,

Those who wish to blow up the Democratic Party, or replace it with another party, now have a chance to make good on their wish over the next two years.

Are you below 50 years of age?

Go ahead.

This party is not progressive enough for many, not liberal enough for many, is too cozy with corporations and too cold to unions, is too prone to utilizing warfare to promote this country’s interests, and many wish death to the very infrastructure of this oldest organization of its kind in the United States.

Go ahead.

If the Green Party is what you feel to be the natural successor and replacement to the Democratic Party, join it and build it up into a political machine capable of running offices across this country. Hopefully, you can make more Gayle McLaughlins and less Jill Steins.

Go ahead.

Now is your time to build something better.

You’re gonna have to build similar networks with voters as the Democrats have, but with a different message, status quo and even culture within those networks.

You’re gonna have to organize county by county by county, and kiss some ass alongside.

You’re gonna have to practice what you demand about partisan openness to independent radicals and independent moderates.

You’re gonna have to practice what you demand about enforcing term limits, clearing the most obstinate people from leadership, and bringing the younger guns into power.

Or, if the Greens aren’t your speed, you’re gonna have to lead a takeover of your local Democratic Party. And maybe rename it to, I dunno, “Freedom Democratic Party” a la #FannieLouHamer? Do that here in GA.

Look at your by-laws and take advantage of them. Show up to the central committee meetings. Make it a long-term goal to take it over. Withstand the hours of yelling. Get your similarly-aged friends to come.

But go ahead. Take it over.

But when you start, don’t stop for anything.

One of your goals is to amend the bylaws. Another is to instill specific and broad goals for governance.

Do it.

  1. Visit similar ill treatment upon the new GOP governance as was visited upon President Obama and Democrats for 8 years. Make the GOP pay. Undermine. Don’t “give them a chance.”
  2. Work to build alternatives to the current structure of government. Start with fighting for top-two primaries or ranked-choice voting at the local and state levels.
  3. Destroy “The South”. Build an entire alternative culture to replace the current one.
  4. State secession. Create blue states out of blue, competitive regions like Metro Atlanta.
  5. ?????
  6. Profit!