Tag Archives: democrats

Democrats Need Focus

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Not interested in the present White House contest

I’m not interested in the present bullshit.

Remain focused on the state legislatures, governors and attorneys general. They are the true sources of power in this country. The Supreme Court is 6-3, and Congress is incredibly hamstrung, thanks to the votes and laws of multiple state governments over decades. The balloons which they trial often make it into law or increase in popularity with like-minded counterparts across the country, and then sometimes flow upward into federal policy.

You may fear SCOTUS and what more they may allow, or what Trump will bring if he is elected again, but so many of you live under decades-long dark-red state rule with no option but to wait for demographics to shift in your direction just a little bit more each year, or each decade.

And what has that brought you? Learned helplessness, stuck in the suburbs of some red state, stuck being disappointed by the latest flow of bullshit from your state legislature.

And you pontificate on switching out the incumbent president for another nominee from whatever state while the sand continues to shift under your (and their) very feet.

Learn your history. Get some perspective. Relocate strategically. Plan accordingly.

Why liberals and socialists are reacting with hair on fire

I don’t think it’s a “circle jerk”, as a friend described it, at least not a total circle jerk. I have several thoughts about it.

They’re turning inward and insular because they’re being starkly reminded of the fragility of their appearance-dependent relationship with the nationalized centrist-Esque media and their donors, and they have no seeming refuge atm beyond, what, MeidasTouch? Lincoln Project? YouTubers?

Too many liberals want to be loved by nationalized media, and to keep their current relationship with that same media. Just as they’ve been with the judicial and executive branches of government, they may want to turn against nationalized media for now because things are going bad, but they always come back and never build out their own comparable counterpart to the conservative parallel economy. And their donors, small dollar and large all, are flighty as hell.

And the nationalization of the media apparently happened during the same period as the growth of the local news(paper) desert and the growth of Republican capture of state legislative majorities.

And the center-left are also lacking yet again for a strong bench of unifying personalities from outside the nationalized media to countervail the prevailing narrative, or to even fill a portion of the power vacuum which will be left if Biden withdraws or (worse) 25th-Amendments his remaining (first) term.

We may not have a Macron at the helm, but we also definitely don’t have a (less-problematic) Melenchon to offer an alternative, polarizing populist vision or personality. In leadership, We have a bunch of institutionalists and up-and-comers with the personality or relatability of a wet paper bag outside of their constituencies, none of whom are helping to build the parallel polis to protect their interests and narratives.

So we now see a circle jerk for those who only have (or seek) some distance from the nationalized centrist media and its blowback, not a full-blown parallel polis to buffer them ideologically from centrist blowback in a multitude of ways like what Trump has at his disposal.

Not even pro-Bernie people, as resentful as they may continue to be about 2016 or 2020 DNC, or people further left have built out much of their own parallel polis, unfortunately.

Free advice to Biden’s campaign

In France this week, Macron’s own prime minister, Gabriel Attal, got him to stop talking publicly about the election for the rest of this last week, because Macron, in his 40s, kept firing his mouth off at the political left (especially rival Jean-Luc Melenchon) at a time when that is absolutely not needed.

Macron may have looked at the numbers and decided that it would be better for the RN to grab a majority, appoint a far-right prime minister and try their hand at governing in such a way that the French public would be turned off afterwards.

Attal, OTOH, is actually fighting against this apathy, this resignation to an RN majority, and is not fighting those to his left. He’s actually committing to this “Republican front” strategy, and actually hates the far right more than he disagrees with the far-left. He knows ball.

This “Republican front” may have helped reduce the likelihood of a majority for the far-right National Rally in the runoff tomorrow, as per polls from yesterday. (UPDATE: It did, and Attal announced his resignation effective Monday. UPDATE: Macron rejected his resignation, wants him to stay until after the Olympics.).

If this is what’s needed to keep Biden in the election and keep Dems viable, then do it. Have him talk with a voice assistant at all public events like Jennifer Wexton. Have his surrogates campaign for him instead where necessary.

His actual voice is a worthy sacrifice if he’s that serious about running.

But if you’re going to side with anyone:

  • it must be Harris
  • you must support Harris completely, with no reservations.

We don’t need primaries

Hot take: French and British political parties do not use publicly-funded, state-ran primaries to nominate their parliamentary candidates, nor do they perceive their nomination contests to be public, mass affairs or extensions of the general election season which should be open to all party members or even non-party members.

Maybe we in the U.S. should reconsider using primaries (closed or open) to nominate our candidates or inviting participation from independents. Primaries add unnecessary expenses and time to campaigns and are incredibly inflexible to quality control concerns.

We really don’t need primaries, let alone open primaries.

Legalize proxy voting

Hot take: Legalize proxy same-day in-person voting.

It may violate the secret ballot, but if you want high turnout without relying upon early voting, drop boxes or the postal service, you’d allow voters to waive their right to a secret ballot and formally, temporarily give their power of attorney to another registered voter.

If you’re the type who wants to know the results on the night of and would rather that people show up on the day of, then proxy voting is the way to go.

France shows that it can work.

Good news from the states so far this year

  • Delaware’s legislature passed a repeal of their *statutory* death penalty, which awaits signature. 
  • Delaware Supreme Court legalized no excuse permanent absentee voting and early voting, overruling a lower court.
  • California will have a total ban on slavery on the ballot in November.
  • Wisconsin’s Supreme Court voted on party lines to legalize ballot drop boxes for upcoming elections. 
  • Ohio’s Citizens Not Politicians dropped off 730k signatures from the majority of Ohio counties for their amendment to institute a nonpartisan redistricting commission, which now awaits vetting by the Review Board.
  • Arkansas voters dropped off 100k signatures for an abortion legalization amendment, which now awaits vetting by the Review Board
  • Nevada will have an abortion amendment on the ballot in November
  • Michigan and Minnesota passed bans on gay/trans panic defense
  • California, Colorado will vote on marriage equality amendments, while Hawaii will vote on repealing language allowing the legislature to restrict marriage to opposite sex couples.
  • Maryland and New York will vote on inclusive equal rights amendments. 
  • Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New York, Nevada and South Dakota will vote on abortion legalization amendments. 
  • Nevada and Oregon will vote on adopting ranked choice voting in blanket primaries. Campaigns in Washington D.C. and Idaho have submitted ballot signatures for pro-RCV measures, and a campaign in Colorado have until August to submit 125k signatures. 
  • Florida and South Dakota will vote on cannabis legalization amendments.  
  • Minnesota passed a State Voting Rights Act and banned prison gerrymandering.

Georgia Democrats Qualify for a Variety of Seats in a Presidential Year

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Qualifying for the May 21 Democratic primary and nonpartisan election ended last Friday at noon.

House seats being competed for by Democrats in November 2024. Districts in yellow are Biden-voting or slightly-Trump-favoring districts according to 2020 data.
Senate seats being competed for by Democrats in November 2024.

Statewide:

  • John Barrow is running for Andrew Pinson’s seat on the Supreme Court. This is the first likely-substantial contest against an incumbent justice in years. This “nonpartisan” election is on May 21.
  • There will be a “nonpartisan” contest for an open seat on the State Court of Appeals. Attorney Jeff Davis will face off against Cobb County Magistrate Judge Tabitha Ponder. This “nonpartisan” election is on May 21.
  • The Public Service Commission elections have been cancelled again, and the current commissioners will remain on the ballot for the next two years. It’s likely that we will be voting on all five commissioners in 2026.
  • We are now running for 38 seats (2/3rds) in the Senate and 135 seats (3/4) in the House. To compare, since 1992, we’ve ran for at least 75% of the House in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2020. 
  • We are running for District Attorney positions in 14 circuits. There will be Republican challengers in three circuits: Atlanta, Chattahoochee and Eastern.
  • Democrats are running for all 14 congressional districts. There will be Republican challengers in all but GA13.
  • At the end of qualifying, we left HD104, a Biden district in Gwinnett County, HD151, a slightly-Trump voting district in Southwest GA, and SD4, a Biden district near Savannah, on the table. 

And now for local elections around Columbus:

  • We will have a Democrat, Carl Sprayberry, for HD139 (open).
  • We will have a Democrat, Ellen Wright, for SD29. 
  • Debbie Buckner in HD137 will have a primary challenge from Carlton Mahone Jr and a Republican challenger. 
  • Teddy Reese in HD140 will have a Democratic challenger in Alyssa Nia Williams. 
  • There will be a Democratic primary for the open seat in deep-red GA03. Val Almonord, who was the Democratic nominee in 2020 and 2022, will have a challenge
  • There will be a Republican challenger for GA02. 
  • We now have a Democrat running for District Attorney in Chattahoochee Circuit: criminal defense attorney Anthony L. Johnson. He has no primary opposition, and will be on the ballot in November against Republican and acting DA Don Kelly. We are also challenging a Republican for DA in Eastern Circuit as well. 
  • Our incumbent Sheriff Greg Countryman is running for re-election as a Democrat. He will be opposed in November by Republican Mark LaJoye.
  • Our incumbent state court solicitor Suzanne Goddard, who previously held office as a Democrat, is running for re-election as a Republican. We have a Democratic challenger in Shevon Sutcliffe Thomas. 
  • Buddy Bryan is running for re-election as Coroner as a Democrat. He will be opposed in the May primary by Royal Anderson. No Republican is running in November. 
  • Lula Lunsford Huff is not running for re-election as Tax Commissioner. David Britt is running as a Democrat for the position and is unopposed in May and November. 
  • We will likely not have a challenger to Gary Allen for Council District 6. A potential candidate fell through. I am sad about this as well since I live here.
  • Toyia Tucker will have a challenge in Council District 4. This “nonpartisan” election is on May 21.
  • There will be a four-way race for Council At-Large 10. This “nonpartisan” election is on May 21.
  • There will be a contest for Board of Education District 7, with Lakeitha Ashe challenging incumbent Pat Frey. This “nonpartisan” election is on May 21.
  • Incumbents unopposed in May and November: Danielle Forte (D) for Superior Court Clerk, Reginald Thompson (D) for Clerk of Municipal Court, Marc D’Antonio (D) for Judge of Probate Court. 
  • No contests for HD138 (Vance Smith (R)), HD141 (Carolyn Hugley (D)), City Council Districts 2, 6 or 8, Board of Education District 1, 3, 5, or At-Large 9, nor State Court Judge (Temesgen). 
  • In addition, there may be some party primary advisory ballot questions. 

Retirements:

  • Both Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler (SD55) and House Minority Leader James Beverly (HD142) are not running for re-election to either house.
  • Other Senate Democratic retirements: Valencia Seay (SD34) and Horacena Tate (SD38).
  • Other House Democratic retirements: Doug Stoner (HD42), Roger Bruce (HD61), Mandisha Thomas (HD65), Pedro Marin (HD96), Gregg Kennard (HD107), Gloria Frazier (HD126), Patty Bentley (HD150).

Links of interest 2/26/24

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Progress on Blue Trifecta Sodomy Repeal (End of April 2023)

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As of 28 April 2023:

  • Maryland: HB0131, decriminalizing oral sex, is still waiting for governor’s signature
  • Massachusetts: H1640/S913 have been reconciled and are sitting in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary
  • Michigan: two House bills (HB4431 and HB4432), both introduced 4/19/23. Twitter user @LGBTmarriage notes that neither bill repeals “the ‘gross indecency’ laws that also ban consensual private gay and straight sex (750.338, 338a and 338b).” Hope to see this fixed.
  • Minnesota: HF91 making the rounds in committees. Companion SF70 is in second reading.

ONCE AGAIN, it really shouldn’t be taking this long to remove some archaic swords of Damocles from over the heads of LGBT people in blue trifecta states.

Somewhat honorable mention goes to Texas where a bill to repeal the state’s highly-discriminatory ban on gay sex has received majority sponsorship for potential passage. This is somewhat honorable because the bill (drafted by a Democrat) contains a “compromise” proviso preserving existing legislation stating that “homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public” (Christian bullshit as usual).

Alabama Democrats’ Deep Divide on Affirmative Action

Politics, ,

After a 4-hour meeting on 10/12/19, the Alabama Democratic Party’s SDEC has voted to replace the bylaws approved by 78 members last Saturday with an amended version of the old one which the DNC has not approved, also defied the DNC by holding elections for new SDEC members, and finally “cancelled” the ADP meeting called by members for Nov. 2 in favor of Nov. 16.

Takeaways:

  • This was a shitshow.
  • The votes on the bylaws were close: out of 167 members attending, the split was usually 80-73. It was said to be on largely-racial lines, even though the House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels and his fellow legislators Chris England and Vivian Figures supported the Oct. 5 meeting and agitatedly strongly against the Worley-Reed faction throughout this meeting.
  • This is a big middle finger to the DNC and Doug Jones. Say bye-bye to Milwaukee, to DNC party-building money ($10k a month withheld since September 2018) and perhaps to Doug Jones’ re-election bid.
  • Lawyer Barry Ragsdale has threatened a lawsuit against the ADP after the Monday holiday.
  • Dissenting members have stated they will attend the Nov. 2 meeting and hold leadership elections for a new executive board. Could be the start of a new (DNC-affiliated?) party for Alabama.
  • Worley regularly overrode points of order, parliamentary inquiries, suggested amendments and points of personal privilege from the opposition. She repeatedly refused to recognize minutes, procedures and bylaws from last Saturday’s meeting, but somehow managed to recognize the called meeting for Nov 2 and vote to kill the call.
  • DNC lawyer Harold Ickes noted to reporters in the back that Worley was violating the OLD BYLAWS, let alone the new ones. More fodder for the lawsuit.
  • Meeting ended in massive screaming.
  • This feels less like a racial split and more of a power play between the Alabama Democratic Conference and the Alabama Democratic Reform Caucus ADRC/ Alabama New South Coalition over how much/far affirmative action should be considered in SDEC representation.

Another thing I noticed is how so much of the drama which unfolded at the ADP’s SDEC meeting today is not as reflected in social media. Not much social media engagement from the Worley-Reed faction beyond a few individuals and the Alabama Democratic Conference.

You would expect something this consequential to have a social media campaign being waged on behalf of the status quo. But the tweets are barely there. The Facebook posts are overwhelmingly pro-reform.

Instead, the status quo pushback has largely happened through quotes to journalists from al.com (namely Kyle Whitmire) and Montgomery Advertiser (namely Brian Lyman).

This says a few things about media and statewide party politics in the South:

  • Most of the Worley-Reed faction don’t use social media, or at least don’t use it to amplify their opinions. I’m currently assuming that their age group is above 50 on average.
  • Local journalists and columnists have been as essential to coverage of in-party politics as much as members of the SDEC and Democratic activists.
  • As the majority of those who voted against the DNC’s recommendations are Black, I see a startling lack of coverage of why they voted for the status quo, which is not a good look for a state with such a large Black Democratic presence. At most, the three biggest reasons offered by the few posting made online by anti-reform members are the following:
    • Doug Jones voting more for Trump appointees than other Senate Democrats;
    • The DNC’s perceived lack of diversity;
    • The perceived watering-down of African-American voting strength in the SDEC in the new bylaws compared to the African-American voting strength within the Alabama Democratic base in general elections.

Only one anti-reform voice has actually defended Nancy Worley’s leadership. But there is a distrust for the pro-reform side’s motives, deep-seated anger against Worley and Reed’s defenders for dragging the party into such a weakened state, and perhaps a lack of information to/from/about the anti-reform side’s proponents.

You know what I saw a lack of last year?

1-on-1 video debates/discussions between the most hardcore of both Hillary supporters and Bernie supporters.

We continue to litigate last year in remote textual debates, but not in person, not in real time.

We’re talking about impeachment when we don’t even have fully-acceptable candidates to lead Dems to a majority in Congress.

Get your shit together, progressives and liberals. talk to each other! Reach out!

YDG Minority Caucus(es) Questions

Politics, Uncategorized,

Here’s my feelings and questions about breaking up the YDG Minority Caucus. If this steps on toes, I apologize in advance.

First off, I think it’s not the best name. Like, who’s idea was it to name it the “Minority” Caucus? Should have rolled w/ POC Caucus or something like.

Second, breaking up this caucus into AA/Black, AAPI and Latinx caucuses would mean that we’ll have more narrowly-purposed caucuses with their own leadership. What will be the purpose of these caucuses relative to YDG? How will the YDG’s mission and target demographic – engaging progressive-minded youth into electoral politics – be better served with more narrow ethnic caucuses over a “Minority”/POC Caucus?

Will these caucuses, like the GALBC, be structured in a way that will address the range of issues which face Black, AAPI and Latinx people (i.e., committees)? Will these caucuses provide vital resources for not only the caucuses or YDG, but for the DPG as a whole?

Also, I’m assuming that Afro-Latinx would find a home in both Black and Latinx caucuses?

I can see narrow YDA caucuses existing since there is also a wider demographic distribution of each of these demographics in the U.S. population and among Democrats across the country. But Georgia?

So that’s it.

#YDG

Good article on the alphabet soup of Democratic Party organizations

Politics, Uncategorized,

It’s not unusual to see confusion about the roles that various Democratic Party campaign committees play, though it seems to have peaked recently following Democrat James Thompson’s unexpectedly close loss in the special House election in Kansas’ dark-red 4th Congressional District, based around Wichita. What I’m talking about, more than anything, is cries of “WHY DIDN’T THE DNC DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS RACE?!?”

That’s kind of like coming across the scene of a bus accident, and asking “WHY ISN’T THE COAST GUARD COMING TO THE RESCUE?!?” There are certainly valid reasons to critique the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the ways it does business, but the committee’s non-involvement in a House race isn’t one of them. It isn’t their jurisdiction—that’s simply something they don’t, by definition, do.

If you’re interested in having your comments about dysfunction by Democratic organizations taken seriously, it helps to at least have some knowledge of where to correctly point your finger. With that in mind, let’s take a few minutes to review the alphabet soup of organizations in Washington that raise money for, and spend money on, Democratic candidates.

via DNC, DCCC, DSCC: How to decipher the alphabet soup of Democratic Party organizations

Georgia Democrats Are Useless Right Now

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At the rate we’re going, Democrats will always be in the minority in GA.

  • We will always be fighting the predominant party from an inferior position.
  • We will never win the majority of either house of the General Assembly.
  • We will be eternally held hostage by right-wing bigot legislators.
  • We’ll never field competent competition in “deep red districts”.
  • We’ll never reform the State Constitution.
  • We’ll never get public accommodations-related civil rights passed.
  • We’ll forever stay a red welfare state.
  • We’ll let “religious” business owners turn away all possible demographics as customers, employees, associates because of things they can’t change.
  • We’ll recriminalize abortion.
  • We’ll erase separation of religion and state.
  • We’ll further erase separation of corporation and state.

But stay in your “safe seats”, Georgia Democrats, and ignore rural seats at your peril.

Know your place, Georgia Democrats. Be useless.