Given last Tuesday’s disastrous election results, what would you like to see the Democrats do next?
How do you feel about the Florida Democratic Party and other outside entities that support Democratic candidates?
Was Hillary Clinton the best possible nominee for the party?
How does the party solve the problem of medium sized counties and cities that have turned decisively against the Democrats recently?
Anything else you want to sound off, feel free to leave it below.
The Florida Squeeze 
Clean house.
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The party is useless and more concerned about rewarding perceived loyalty than anything else.
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An autopsy of the Democratic Party
This morning I read an article by Eugene Robinson spoke of an autopsy of the Democratic Party who are at a modern era low, with Republicans controlling all branches of the federal government, most governorships and most state legislatures regardless of the popular vote in the presidential contest. He then said “The Democrats need new blood and new ideas– and they need to figure out how the GOP somehow became the party of the working class, which used to be the Democratic Party’s core identity”.
It has been almost forty years since the Democrats could honestly claim that identity. The cold war, the loss of Martin Luther King Jr., the impotence of union leadership, the New Left and Identity Politics with no room for the white poor and working class made fraudulent any claims for concern for the un-credentialed, unsophisticated people of all races, genders, ethnicities and sexual orientations. The proof is in the pro-professional, pro-business, anti-poor, union ignoring policies of Democrat politicians. The Democrats are the party of professional class women, middle class minorities, politicians, political operatives and the socially liberal rich who pay the bills. They are neither inclusive nor democratic. Democracy after all cannot be true without inclusiveness.
It is ok if they want to represent that group as a party, but, if so, they should find a new name and let people interested in strengthening democracy use it.
Many liberal progressive spokespersons are focused on opposition, fighting against Trumpism. In effect taking a page from the Republican playbook. Others talk about campaign failures and the need to do better at what has always been done. However, Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, Bernie Sanders’ pick for DNC chair, said recently that the Democrats need to focus on relationship building at the local level. He talked of on the ground organizing during the off years. This is not a new idea, but one that should get intense attention if the Democrats want to be a party of the people.
One thing I have not heard yet from any Democratic Party spokesperson is the word Listen. Even Ellison talks about taking the platform to every door, not learning what people at the town and neighborhood level might want to see in the platform. People in a party who have seen themselves as the righteous group will have trouble with the idea that democracy means grappling with the full range of ideas held by all the people. To be effective, as one black woman academic and community organizer said, you have to get under the politically incorrect speech to find what we hold in common. She was talking about working in black communities. The same would apply elsewhere.
Polling has shown that, a majority of people asked, don’t believe that Democrats have principles. I doubt that, they simply have not identified shared principles and especially those shared by a large sector of the electorate. You see competition among the groups in the coalition and unreliable voting patterns when group specific issues are not addressed to their satisfaction. Democrats lack solidarity. To get it they would have to do some real bottom up organizational development work. This is crucial. If only tactics are addressed, again, no growth or strengthening will occur.
It is essential that the Democrats denounce political bossism, even what they may see as benign bossism. Top down leadership has probably done as much damage as the various elite ideologies infecting the party. Anointment and appointment must be replaced by election as the method of selection from the bottom up. The Party charter speaks of involving all Democrats in the affairs of the Party. That statement has absolutely no relevance to the behavior of Party Officials at this time. As Keith Ellison says, most Democrats don’t even know where the building is.
I am rooting for a real, inclusive, assertive Democratic Party, of, by and for the broadest possible range of people who agree with the idea of a government ruled by the consent of the people, all the people, regardless of characteristics and free of the control of wealth and income. I hope we can work on that.
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Good points Patrick. Can you get that on a bumper sticker?
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The most important thing right now is to understand if we don’t engage outside the big cities we will not win in Florida. Obama somehow pulled it off but Crist and Clinton prove that now.
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Maybe candidate recruitment should be better?
ANYBODY OUT THERE LISTENING?
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More Community outreach. Some Democratic Women’s Clubs help provide books to low income students or provide meals to the homeless. This gets them known in the community and sometimes increases memberships.
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No autotopsy can be complete without recognizing that the Chair of the Florida Democract party sat in silence when Corry Westbrook who was a legal resident of Washington, D. C. made the false claim that she was a Florida resident.
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I’ve known so goes Disney so goes Orlando. But they control Tallahassee as well. Who wants to go to Floriduh? It used to be mostly blue states.Now PHTH. Our Southern roots are showing. Plus. They ruined the reputation of American companies by feeding rethugs and starving Dems.The race to the bottom in rethug primaries resulted in worse bottom feeder of them all. If the sleeping giant of Disney wakes up then simple equality in funding means all our people can actually get stuff done. Without that huge boulder of money blocking our path.
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