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I think Dems should immediately start campaigning on Universal Healthcare/Medicare-for-All as a runup to 2026.
It should be central to all their campaigning.
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I believe we have to tack to the left. Fifty years ago, what is now considered left, was center right.
If this isn't the time to right the ship, I don't know when is.....
erronis
(20,676 posts)From the smouldering timbers great things can arise.
wordstroken
(1,251 posts)Shout it from the rooftops.
🦋 wordstroken
Silent Type
(10,525 posts)erronis
(20,676 posts)of how the Democrats can get things done.
TomSlick
(12,609 posts)Democrats are not known for falling in line. As Will Rogers said, “I belong to no organized party; I am a Democrat.” Unlike the GOP, Democrats are not lemmings. We make up our own mind and in our own sweet time.
Americans have no experience with a shadow cabinet. A shadow cabinet requires a shadow prime minister or, in our case, a shadow president. While there are Democratic leaders (plural), there will be no established singular leader of the Democratic Party until we nominate a presidential candidate.
We Democrats have our strengths, e.g. supporting non-billionaires, but we aren't known for unified views.
erronis
(20,676 posts)Somehow, the Allies in WW-II coalesced around leadership and fought and won that battle. After a couple of decades of relative calm, we've lost the ability to agree on common goals.
Wonder if there aren't some external forces trying to keep us from finding the common ground.
TomSlick
(12,609 posts)We can agree on common goals (for the most part) but we will not accept someone appointing them self as our leader. We will choose our own leader.
Even after choosing a leader, we will not submit to discipline. We're Democrats, not sheep. We have the courage of our own convictions.
Demsrule86
(71,210 posts)Democratic majority.
Jirel
(2,351 posts)That attitude is why the Dems can’t seem to get any useful wins.
“Vote for us - we’re not the other guy!” This wins no votes. You have to excite people, not advertise yourself as harm reduction.
You will NEVER have enough votes unless the Dem candidates pick a strong populist message like universal health care or a living wage, and stick aggressively to it. “First we have to…” is an automatic fail because nobody is going to lift a finger to support that level of surrender-monkey thinking.
Some Dems are too blind to see facts when their noses are rubbed in them. MAGA won by picking bold, INSANE, STUPID big ideas, and SELLING THEM and RUNNING ON THEM. It took a handful of election cycles, but that “impracticality” worked 100%. If we can’t understand that lesson, our party (and America) is lost. People want bold leadership, even if the idea is as bad as bad can be. We can give them bold leadership on good ideas.
But we have to get our heads out of the sand and actually do it. This is not business as usual. It never has been, really, but Dems expanding the party further and further to a weak sauce version of Rethuglucanism has been slowly murdering the party. Remember Shrub mealy-mouthing about “a kinder, gentler” form of Rethuglicanism? Remember how we all laughed at that stupidity? Too bad half the Democratic establishment has now embraced that formula rather than the aggressiveness that wins Rethuglicans elections.
HelpImSurrounded
(534 posts)That is ALL they need to keep saying-along with exposing the huge salaries and profits these insurance companies make. Make sure people know every dollar they take out is not spent on health care.
et tu
(2,366 posts)extreme rw's, oligarchs, brotechligarchs, extreme rw news(?)
our own supreme court, and now even msm. it's an uphill
battle for sure but if we don't fight now-well you might as
well pack your bags while you still have a choice as to where
you want to expatriate.
GiqueCee
(2,577 posts)... to the fact that WE pay for their gold-plated healthcare, which they refuse to share with us. So fuck 'em all.
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,343 posts)H2O Man
(77,391 posts)I agree 100%
Joinfortmill
(18,615 posts)
...we had been offered a real progressive candidate, oh say...eight and a half years ago that embraced an idea like that.
Gosh, imagine if someone had thought of that before you did!
comradebillyboy
(10,801 posts)Wasn't the 2016 situation divisive enough for you?
Mountainguy
(2,145 posts)And couldn't even win a Democratic primary, in multiple tries.
Why keep trying the same thing?
Autumn
(48,177 posts)Blue Full Moon
(2,474 posts)Autumn
(48,177 posts)Blue Full Moon
(2,474 posts)Well I did mention it when she was running. Immediately told I was a socialist here on DU.
Karasu
(1,657 posts)Hell, it should have been decades ago. We need to offer actual meaningful alternatives to fascism. A simple return to the pre-fascist status quo isn't going to cut it for anyone.
I'm all in
BlueTsunami2018
(4,501 posts)Labor should be everything. The workers vs the ruling class. That should be the message. All workers. Enough of the culture war nonsense. Enough of the purity tests. Workers vs. ruling class.
Healthcare for all.
Education for all.
Housing for all.
A union job for everyone.
These people are supposed to represent US not the moneyed interests. I’m sick of this bullshit where we pretend it’s ok to take money from these parasites because they’re ostensibly on “our” side.
There’s so much wealth and so many resources in this country, it’s time to let these money addicts know who really has the power. They’re way too comfortable fucking everyone over with no consequences and that has to stop. They need to be afraid of us. We need to stand together.
Obviously, I’m NOT a happy camper right now.
ancianita
(41,106 posts)to their constituents! "
We Democrats say, "We're the richest country in the world & can afford who/what we want to afford, so
"Everybody in, nobody out!"
Lead with that ! 
Ol Janx Spirit
(345 posts)...people that actually vote. And despite how horrible this presidency, Congress and SCOTUS have been for the country, there are a lot of people that will vote R again in a heartbeat if they think Democrats are going to kick them off their employer-provided healthcare and into a government run program. The One Big Beautiful Bill is structured to not inflict real pain on most Americans until after the mid-terms, so we cannot count on the results of this bill to sway votes.
I would propose something more targeted difficult to attack: universal healthcare for children from birth until the age of eighteen. This has the emotional connection of helping parents care for their children--something much harder to campaign against. And, it would serve as an interim step to universal care for all--especially once kids that had universal care grew into voters.
Looking around at the political landscape we find ourselves in, I do not see a country ready to go too far to the left at the moment. We need to continue bending the arc--but not hand the opposition easy talking points.
Jirel
(2,351 posts)Your fear is what nerfs the Democratic Party.
The game isn’t “people who vote.” It’s “people who vote correctly” plus “new voters who’ve never seen a reason to give a flying F until now.” That was how MAGA won - electrifying racists, incels, religious bigots, homophobes, and other scum that NEVER voted until he appealed to their worst loser nature. We need to appeal like that to people with good hearts who have given up on America and its nasty illusions. You know who I’m talking about - progressives.
Ol Janx Spirit
(345 posts)...effort by conservatives to erode Americans' trust in the government and other institutions through right-wing radio, electing local politicians at all levels, and a coordinated effort--plus a little luck--to stack the Supreme Court. And this effort appears to have been effective, as only roughly 20% of Americans trust the government to "do what is right." ( https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/06/24/public-trust-in-government-1958-2024/ )
I feel like running in and saying, "it's all good now, you can trust the government to take over your healthcare" isn't the right message. We have to have our own decades-long effort to reinvigorate that trust. It isn't going to happen just because Republicans are terrible.
It's going to take the hard work of electing more local and state politicians and proving that we can pass and implement popular programs along the way. This is why I say a more targeted approach is necessary. My only hope is we ever get the chance to test either one of these two theories.
Hornedfrog2000
(382 posts)Unless you stop the brainwashing it wont matter. The fact our side cannot seem to grasp this is really sad
democrank
(11,664 posts)No more cowering over this issue. Somehow most other industrialized nations managed to make it work.
nm
Tribetime
(6,732 posts)To counter act that somehow
Never a better time to try the message IMO to counteract the damage the Repuke bill would do.
usonian
(19,212 posts)From a Bernie Sanders email:
People attending rallies in huge numbers are saying
YES to raising the minimum wage,
YES to expanding Social Security,
YES to guaranteeing health care as a human right,
YES to cutting the cost of prescription drugs,
YES to paid family and medical leave,
YES to equal pay for equal work,
YES to more affordable housing,
YES to making childcare and higher education affordable to all,
YES to taking on the existential threat of climate change.
And most importantly they are saying
YES to a government and an economy that works for all of us and not just the billionaire class and the Oligarchs.
Volaris
(10,947 posts)If the gop is going to HAND US political control of the budget, the same way they did NatSec after Iraq, we need to tackle it with a left-CENTRIST approach (meaning yes, tax and spend, BUT TAX THE RIGHT PEOPLE).
Just me, but I'd like a legal distinction between wages and income, where wages to say, 150k/year, are NONTAXABLE, no matter how u got it, and anything above that is income, and taxable on a progressive curve that goes all the way up to God.
Also, add a 2% national sales tax that goes directly to pay down the national debt, and LET Republicans scream about unbalanced budgets and unpaid bills and see how far that gets them.
As I said, if they're going to cede ground, we have to be able to take it, let's get started
One of two things will happen in 2026:
1) elections will be cancelled or indefinitely postponed (FL just set the precedent, a stalking horse), or:
2) the election will be digitally stolen (as I believe it was in 2024).
Therefore, I believe to plan on winning power in 2026 by elections only is at best naive, and more likely foolhardy.
Don’t get me wrong-it’s not that I don’t think we should not try to win elections. It’s just that I believe an increasingly active mass movement, including demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, political education campaigns, and any other kind of mass resistance we can come up with should be our principle strategy. Elections, if we have them or have fair ones will take care of themselves.
As always, YMMV.
Passages
(3,305 posts)Long overdue.
