Okay I know it’s a Democratic Republic, but here’s the deal. In order to get the government to work for us, we all have to participate. And because Democracy plays a part in this Democratic Republic, and we live in a Winner-Takes-The-Spoils political system, the biggest voter blocks get the lion’s share of the attention via their candidates.
Sometimes, that means that groups with ideas that we don’t care for get to call the shots for a while. Sometimes even when your party wins, you still get to be unhappy, because you don’t care for how things are implemented or the turn that an administration takes on big issues.
Every vote counts, it really does, but there is a caveat there. You can only do what you can do. And because your vote counts with a “block” of voters, you are limited in what you can achieve on a national scale or even a state scale as a singular voter-constituent.
That doesn’t mean your vote doesn’t count, it really does. You don’t want the opposition winning with a minority, because most of your fellow party members refused to show up. But you are working in a team—as a team.
What I see going on at the Daily Kos looks too vitriolic to be team-work.
You see, you can be okay, and participate, and be in disagreement with good people who simply have different ideas. Seriously, it is not the end of the world. Sometimes disagreements can become a sparking point for really great ideas, for creative problem solving. It can get people motivated to compete on issues that might normally escape our notice.
I think that what bothers me in this society in general, is the desire to see people who think differently—fail. Sometimes when what they are doing is bad and violates civil rights of other citizens—sure failure is a positive. But if it’s simply a policy difference, between people in the same party, then I have to ask—WTF?
If Hillary wins, I don’t want her administration to fail. If Bernie wins, I wouldn’t want his administration to fail. I think that sometimes we forget, that if our presidential administrations go down in flames, we go down with them—all of us, the whole country. Is that really what you want?
I am not saying protect felons from the law or anything like that. I am saying that whomever gets put in charge, that we should do what we can to support our own country, not to make them look better, but to strengthen our social-infrastructure, and to re-assert our place as citizens that they are supposed to serve.
Going home and pouting doesn’t do that. It simply divides our society more and makes us more vulnerable to big corporate powers that wish to usurp our government and it’s powers as their own. We already deal with that, but we don’t have to keep making it so easy for them. The more we show up and flex our collective muscles, the more we get listened to, the more we create a voice for the people.
The United States is a big country. That means none of us can be in total agreement with all the members of our political parties, much less our own family members or the whole entire nation. It simply isn’t possible. So what that means is that our participation requires a certain level of acceptance that getting our personal preferences met in all things is highly unlikely even if our candidate wins the nomination and the office of President.
With all this ugliness I see going back and forth, on the positive side I see passion. And I hope that passion equates to active voters. On the negative side, I see a lot of unnecessary hate and name calling.
I remember when—several times actually, when simply finding another Liberal, or Democrat, or Progressive, was like finding a 20 dollar bill blowing in the wind. An unexpected treasure, because this country had gone so far to the right, that our politics looked dark and ominous to the extreme. Now we have had 2 terms with a Democratic president and I see a lot of people fighting amongst themselves as if we are so free and clear of a possible return to that, that they can just throw their fellow party members away like trash.
Word to the Wise—it’s never that good. Shit can turn on a dime at any time in this country. So put your ego aside, pick what is important to you, and ally yourself with that wing of your party or movement, and be proactive, and positive.
The president isn’t a monarch. They don’t write laws or interpret them. If you don’t like how campaigns are hosted and financed, look to the legislature and the courts. If you don’t like revolving door politics, do the same. There are three branches of government and 50 states you need to keep an eye on, and not just ONE presidential candidate. The president is important, but citizens in this country often ignore their local races as if they don’t matter in the greater scheme of things. A lot is riding on each presidential election, that is true, but it is also true, that the president is but one piece of a government puzzle.
Look at all the roadblocks that President Obama faced with a recalcitrant legislature, and a right leaning Supreme Court, and right leaning state legislatures and governors—what that tells us, that voting for the president is only one part of this mess. Even though he was and is the president, there were many right-wing laws passed because the other two branches of our government didn’t align with his party. The same could be said for many state governments.
Even if we get another Democratic nominee in the oval office, we still have a lot of work to do. We as a nation will always have a lot of work to do. The United States is a complicated place to live in and run. Burning bridges amongst ourselves isn’t going to make that work disappear and those behaviors will not make the work easier. It’s going to leave us sitting ducks to the powers that run the other branches of government and the financial interests that fund them.
Remember that old saying, Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line. I know from personal experience, that the GOP membership is militant about voting in as many races as possible. We should do the same. And we should pick our battles wisely.
So grow up already. Vote your conscience, and learn to be civil to each other. It’s good practice for those times when you go to holiday dinners with your teabagger relatives.