Where Are the Democrats? - Special Election Edition

I've been wondering, as I often do these days, when the Democratic National Committee is going to get their act together and start helping out in the struggle to save democracy.  Actually, we really should be wondering when they are going to take charge, not just help out.

Look at the republicans.  They had a new chair weeks ago.  When there was a race for a Senate seat in December, both Pence and Trump showed up.  The Democratic Party was nowhere to be found.

They are still fighting among themselves to determine who should chair the damn party.  Progressives are squabbling over who is the more progressive.  They are even fighting over who failed the team by supporting Hillary.  Somewhere in the back of their minds, they must be aware that Trump is attacking the Constitution from one side while congressional republicans are ripping out the throat of our individual rights on the other.

Apparently, the battle for party chair is coming down to two contenders.  Keith Ellison has been in the US House of Representatives since 2007, and is backed by John Lewis, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.  He truly is progressive, on the side of minorities, farmers, women, unions... need I go on?  On the other hand, and I really believe this is the elephant in the room (there is always an elephant in the room, striking fear into the hearts of Democrats and causing them to crawl back to the center), Ellison is not just African American but a Muslim.  Oh my gods.

On the other hand, Tom Perez, while also progressive, could be considered a safer minority.  He is also a safer Democrat, having come from the beloved Barack Obama's cabinet as Secretary of Labor.  He, too, checks off all the right boxes when it comes to his stand on issues.  But, again, this is my opinion, he might be less scary, being a Catholic and all.

Part of my frustration, besides Democrats who are afraid to be exposed for supporting a democratic agenda, is that Ellison threw his hat into the ring months before Perez.  We actually may have had a strong consensus candidate. Then, in mid-December, along comes Perez.  Because we couldn't just go with a strong national figure, get the election over with, and then proceed to fight the real war.

This election, that nobody but the Democratic Party gives a damn about, will be happening in two weeks.  But there is another, more important election coming up on April 18.

When Tom Price became the Trump cabinet deplorable running the HHS, he left vacant his seat in the House of Representatives for District 6, an Atlanta suburb.  This district, conservative and traditionally republican, voted for Romney in 2012 with a 24% margin.  But in 2016, the anti-Trump vote brought the lead to one percent:  48-47.

The strategically placed republican running for this seat is African American Trump surrogate Bruce LeVell.

That's right, the republican party chose LeVell hoping that black voters wouldn't notice that he is a Trump-man.  Well, that is the Trump campaign, isn't it?  Assuming African Americans would vote the color and ignore the racist policies behind the candidate.

But on the Democratic side is Jon Ossoff.  Jon has been fighting for justice and civil liberties throughout his professional life.  He has investigated and uncovered corruption and crime, and worked in national security as a senior staffer.  Jon has been protesting the unAmerican policies of the Trump administration...



...and he has the endorsement of Civil Rights leader John Lewis:

“Jon is committed to progress and justice and he knows how to fight the good fight. We should unite behind Jon and send a clear message that Donald Trump doesn’t represent our values.”

– Congressman John Lewis

I know those of us reading this blog care passionately about the travesties that the Trump administration is committing and the republicans in Congress who are aiding and abetting his crimes.  We understand that this election in Atlanta is critical, and not just in moving Congress closer to representing our values.  The turnout in this election will send a message to the rest of the country -- that we are here and we are fighting for them.  It will tell the republicans who are trammeling our democracy with abandon that they are, as Trump likes to put it, "on notice."

The Trump cabal knows this election is important.  I guarantee they will be throwing buckets of money into ads, and they will be showing up.

Our Democratic Party needs to be there.  We need their commitment, their money, their bodies, their voices.

Here in SC, we need US Representative Jim Clyburn to get out and shout with John Lewis.  And we need Jamie Harrison and our state Democratic Party to extend a hand to our partners and friends in Georgia.  This is not a time to be self-absorbed, to be concerned with the party.  America is watching.

And Democrats are marching, are writing, are going to town halls, are shouting.  This is truly the time for the party to stand up and lead, without fear.  Put a good Muslim progressive at the helm on February 23, and send out a real message of fearlessness and belief in our values to the rest of the country.  And then get out and fight like you mean it for Jon Ossoff on April 18.

Challenge to Democratic Party: Why Should I Care?

In its typical tone-deaf fashion, days after "Giving Tuesday," when we were all exhausted from being hammered by requests for donations by hundreds of worthy causes, I got an email from the South Carolina Democratic Party asking for -- not $3, not $5 -- a $25 donation.

The accompanying message, which I scanned rather than read, included the words "whites only."  It contained the terrifying idea that Henry McMaster would be our new governor soon, as though he might be worse than Nikki Haley.  Basically, the message was, "Scary things are happening, so give us money."

Meanwhile, on another absurd front, SCDP Chair Jamie Harrison, who kept popping up on MSNBC before the SC primaries and then disappeared during the general election, has resurfaced in order to seek the position of -- and I can't believe I am saying this -- Chair of the Democratic National Committee.  When asked why he feels he is qualified, we hear all about how he came up in politics.  Nothing about anything important that is going on right now.  Not to mention, why he should be considered given the sad state of Democratic politics in South Carolina under his watch.

This is what the SCDP is missing:

Voters can't possibly understand the complexities of the dirty games being played in politics (and I try, I really do).  We don't have the time to follow bills being introduced on a state or national level, much less sort out the meaning behind the bills.  Or where they come from.  They don't know the candidates or office holders, really.

What people know about politics is in the headlines.  And if it is too dense, they dismiss it.  Which pretty much describes the success of the republican party.  They, and their current leader, have been able to reframe issues and point voters in any direction they choose, just by using simple and stark phrases.  Remember the threatened "death panels" from Obamacare?  How about "death taxes," leading us all to believe that after we die, the government would take all our hard-earned money from our children?  Trump turned it into an obscene art form, boiling down the essence of his opponents to easy-to-remember memes like "lying Ted" and "crooked Hillary."

If the SCDP, or the DNC for that matter, want to get voters involved, they need to do two things:  educate themselves about the bills that are being written, and then educate the voters in a way that is meaningful to us.

For weeks, we have been hearing about the "emoluments clause" of the constitution.  Don't feel bad if you don't know what it means, even though you've heard it in the news a zillion times.  It has no meaning to us.  The first thing the republicans would do if they wanted voters to pay attention to the emoluments clause is:  rename it.  Turn it into a catchy, solid, simple phrase that is full of emotional meaning.  "Gifts for favors" conveys the idea more simply, but it doesn't have the emotional punch.  So I posted the idea on Facebook and Twitter, in the hope that others more clever than I will come up with the phrase that will let everybody know that the Trump family is planning on wheeling and dealing with corporate and world leaders while he is president so that he can increase his power and fortune.  In other words, reaping emoluments.

And let's take a look at Congress.  Just this week, to great fanfare about the new bipartisanship, the grandiose "21st Century Cures Act" passed the House, 392-26.  I heard it was to honor Joe Biden and his work to fund cancer research in the name of his son.  Even so, this was highly suspicious.  It took a little research, but not too much, to find that Elizabeth Warren in the Senate, had spoken in opposition to this bill.  Apparently, the pharmaceutical industry is going to make out like bandits from its passage.  Listen to Senator Warren:

You may be wondering a few years from now why we haven't cured cancer.  This is a clue.

And on the subject of Elizabeth Warren, Congress has set its sights on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she designed in order to curb overpricing and fraud in financial services, like in those credit cards we all carry.  Along with that, they plan on deregulating the banking industry further by cutting back if not eliminating the Dodd-Frank Act and the Volcker Rule, which were intended to prevent the financial chaos and destruction of the 2008 Recession, you know, where people lost their houses because big banks were allowed to gamble them away.  And this bill is called -- are you ready for it? -- the Financial Choice Act.

Feeling the need to further mask their true intent, the House this week passed a bill that moved forward tsunami research AND tweak -- deregulate -- Dodd-Frank:

H.Res.934 - Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 34) to authorize and strengthen the tsunami detection, forecast, warning, research, and mitigation program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes, and providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 6392) to amend the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to specify when bank holding companies may be subject to certain enhanced supervision, and for other purposes.

Now this is something we might pay attention to.

If the Democratic Party, both state and national, were to send out alerts whenever an explosive bill comes to the floor and tell us 1) what it means and 2) why it matters, and in actual easy to understand English, we all might become more invested in seeing our interests served.

And yet.  All we get are scary images of Henry McMaster taking over for Nikki Haley.  Or vague threats of what a Trump presidency will do to our country.

Y'all got to do better, Democratic Party.  Because nobody is hearing you.  And sending out a fund raising email three days after Giving Tuesday trying to get us to cough up another $25 without giving us a solid reason is proof that you aren't hearing us.

Democratic Insecurity

As our Democratic presidential candidates continue to try to fight a good and honorable campaign, some passionate supporters can be counted on to flare up over the opposite campaign's occasional missteps.  I've heard from Bernie supporters about Hillary's emails, and Hillary supporters who claim Bernie is the NRA's best buddy.

This week it's about Bernie.  And it is not so much those of us on the ground who are doing the squealing, but those puffed up party officials.  This is how it all began:

A few weeks ago, during a taping of Larry Wilmore's The Nightly Show, Sanders responded to a question about whether the primary process was rigged by saying that "having so many southern states go first kind of distorts reality."  Oh. My. God.  What is he saying, exactly, about us southerners???

Of course, Bernie being a very white man from a very white state, he has been walking a tightrope regarding racial issues.  And racial issues, for good reason, have been very, very hot this election season.  Not surprisingly, this became a comment about black southern voters being too conservative for Bernie.

Our own Democratic Party chairman, Jaime Harrison, took it upon himself, along with other thin-skinned Democratic party officials from South Carolina as well as other southern states, to very publicly condemn Sanders for his comments.  In a letter to Sanders' campaign headquarters, rationalizations were piled on top of a history lesson about the democratic process and diversity, followed by a statement of support for Hillary.  Yes, really.

Fact is, South Carolina's Democratic party is a very conservative bunch.  They are unlikely to give up a lot of support to anyone who might make waves.  It is not surprising that many good people are discouraged from running for office because of exorbitant filing fees followed by little public or financial support from the party.  You kind of already have to be a winner to expect our guys to get behind you.

To be fair, this is the party that continues to try to live down the Alvin Greene fiasco.  But as overcompensation for being asleep at the wheel in 2010, the party has refused to even acknowledge potentially controversial potential candidates like Jay Stamper in 2014, and pretty much ignored the dynamic Joyce Dickerson in her run against Tim Scott in 2014, despite the fact that she beat out two male primary challengers.

Let me just add that Dickerson's message was just what would have fired up Democrats in South Carolina.  Instead, come election day few had even heard of her.

This year, we have two amazing candidates running for president.  We also have too many republicans running unopposed in all levels of government, with a few brave souls stepping up to bring the Democratic message to South Carolina.  

Slick pols like Tim Scott rub elbows at Hilton Head with the good ole boys with money, while our candidates aren't allowed to stand at the tournament shuttle bus stop to talk about issues.  Most South Carolinians don't ever hear about actual issues; what they get is red meat thrown onto the fire by right wingnuts.  They don't have to even learn names; they just vote that "R" just like their daddy did.

It will take fearlessness to ever, EVER turn blue.  It will take making running more affordable for candidates and it will take the party using some clout to put those names in front of the people.  Republican candidates have learned to make it sound like they are one of us, but they are not.  Voters need to understand that what republicans say is different than how they run our government, and they need to know just how that affects us all.

Democrats need a platform, and yes, Democratic Party, that is going to cost you money.  I know you run lots of programs to try to get people to join the party, but I think you have it backwards.  You need to get the candidates in front of the people so that they will understand what you can do for them if they support you.

And you know what?  There is nothing like controversy to get the cameras rolling.  How about candidates that aren't afraid to be David to the republican Goliath?  How about taking a chance on someone who isn't afraid to speak her mind?  How about not being afraid to support a presidential candidate that fights for socialist programs like Medicare and public schools?

Jaime Harrison is probably a nice guy; I wouldn't know because he never seems to stop selling himself.  He certainly doesn't stop long enough to listen to anybody.  He maybe ought to take a couple of steps back and get some perspective on what is going on.  Our Democratic contests are NOT about race.  They are about different perspectives on how to get the equality we all deserve.  And if he stopped being so thin-skinned, he might actually understand what Senator Sanders was trying to say when he talked about southern voters.

More than once, before the presidential primary, I heard people declare that they liked Bernie, but they were going to vote for Hillary because Bernie couldn't win.  And that wasn't about race, it was about insecurity.

That could be what he was trying to tell us.