Don't get me wrong, it's great that that age group and women voted in historic numbers. Without those votes these races would have been disasterous.
Having said that, I cringe when people flood the internet with messages that the rest of the voting population should somehow be bowing to them. They did their job. In a democracy voting is one of the most important requirements for its citizens. Do these voters arrive at work and demand a round of applause because they opted not to run over any bicyclists or pedestrians along the way?
The other side to this story is that only 27% of young people voted. How approx. 70% of that group chose to sit out out when their reproductive freedoms, the climate they'll live with for longer than anyone, and the freedoms we have in this country were on the line is a compete travesty. Seven of our ten!.
So, yes, great job and keep the momentum. Get out the vote in even higher numbers in the runoff and in 2024. Democracy needs it! But let's keep the demands for appreciation and chest thumping to a minimum.
On election day I turned 78, a little older than the "Boomers" with whom I identify. I fairly resent being pigeonholed by a demografic of which I don't fit. I vote for the Democrat because it is the only choice in a 2-party system, tho I am registered independent and more Lib than most Dems. My political involvement started in the 1980s, but before that I was in the Hippie Demografic (dope smoking, acid dropping, agnostic, nudist, free-luv fornicator with men & women of all races). I have championed abortion rights & used those rights in the '80s (with one illegal one in the '60s).
Now my politics are "I'm too old for this shit." Watching all our civil right wins being destroyed by the Repugnant Party, with fascism pushed by the cult masses & the reality that I may not be around for the 2024 elections, it is time for the young ppl to take control or suffer the consequences. It's not my problem any more, it is theirs. I end these rants with "I fear for my grandsons and great grandsons."
I am 76. First Year Boomer. We were the ones who broke the mold in the 60s, and then too many of us reverted to Me FIrst in the 80s. OR, the ones who kept yelling at us to Love it Or Leave It were always here, and they made their voices hears, along with the Religious Right. But those of us who were progressive left in the 1960s most likely still are in the 2020s — I know I am! And I know the world isn’t mine to shape any longer — it belongs to the young people coming up. As long as I’m here, I’ll vote for what I think will help them, based on my having had some experience on this twirling rock in space.
— And then, I’l be gone, an it will be up to them. Peace and reason to them!!!
Pat, I'm with you. I will continue to do what I can to help the young people I encounter to work toward a vision of the world that will demand ways to make life possible, kindness essential, and joy a regular experience for every human being. I think that is what age demands of us.
Pat, I agree. All of my friends in college were very liberal and we all still are. There’s no way in hell I could imagine change my life view to any conservative position EVER! The parts of the population that are MAGAs including..Millenials, GenZ, Boomers etc. Across the board they all have a racist bent and propensity to believe in religion, conspiracy theories, fairytales.
It’s not that one generation makes the vote or takes it down. It is sanity vs insanity, selfishness vs lifting more people up.
"We were the ones who broke the mold in the 60s, and then too many of us reverted to Me FIrst in the 80s." We became the people we warned our parents about. Tragic.
Pat Goudey OBrien ; As long as you vote for the common good, you are helping to 'shape the world'! I know a man who is 101 years old who lives alone, is an Independent,('unenrolled' in MA), cooks for himself and votes for the good of all and sustainability. He remembers the McCarthy era, Hitler: a lot. His son and daughter take him out for dinner three times a week, and he wants them to have a good quality of life and see their children live well, too. He still affects the world by supporting the common good with his vote. He counts.
Laurie, I love stories like the one you shared about the centenarian. I am not sure why people prefer the stories of older people who can only vote the way they voted decades ago when they could easily learn about the candidates and vote for the ones who would serve the greater good. It seems so many have "given up" and decided to do what is easy instead of what they know is best for them and other people too. How do we encourage people in their 50s and up to stay connected and to pay attention to what a political party is actually doing rather than what they or the other party says they are doing. Maybe we need to be specifically reaching out to those folks as well as younger voters. You can "teach old dogs new tricks." We usually don't and claim it's because they can't learn new things. Hogwash!
Laurie Blair — for sure. I said I will continue to vote for what I believe will be positive options for future generations. But if it comes down to a discussion of what kind of world they will wind up creating for themselves, it is not for me to dictate that. It is for me to talk. It is for me to present a point of view. It is for me to be a voice of experience and testimony from history. But I cannot prescribe the world that young people will make for themselves [I hope they have the chance to make it, anyway, and not have it foisted on them].
As for whether older generations can or should continue to speak up and vote — for sure. My mother is two years younger than the man you know, and she thinks, and speaks, and votes. Her experience and perspective are still relevant, and she cares about her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and children the world over she will never meet.
But the world that will be is still not mine to make. I hope those who are coming up will do well by themselves and generations to come.
Pat Goudey OBrien : I agree that we cannot dictate, but we can participate in the world where we presently live and vote. The world of the future we cannot see or know: not even in our dreams, can we live in the house of tomorrow, our childrens' world. Maybe we can show by example, at best, with ethics, good intent and humility if we can learn as we go.
I am a boomer being born in 1950 just in time to get in on being drafted and sent to Vietnam. By the time I got out of the Army things were devolving away from 60's optimism towards recession and inflation and then Ronald Raygun. It is really up to younger folks to remold this world.
I agree, sir. Sorry you got swept up in all that, but I think we owe people that our government — in our name! — sent off to that awful war a great deal of care and decency for answering the call, even though it was in the end a bogus call, and so many people were done so much damage, both our own and theirs. Be well.
And, yes, the country went off in another direction, in large part in opposition to the anti-war activism and the Make Love Not War crowd. Sad.
We are much the same, you and I - our attitudes, as well. I remember back when the youth were upset because they could be forced to fight and die in a foreign conflict without being able to even vote, and protested loudly. The voting age was lowered to 18 just as I became the previous minimum voting age of 21. Now, I hear some Republi-wanker, believing the youngsters were responsible for their failure to achieve the success they'd fantasized for this election, wants to disenfranchise those potentially draft-aged youngsters by rolling back to the original 21 year old minimum. How could >anyone< of our age countenance that dick-move ‽ (Ghosts of Kent State haunt me thinking about it!)
DZK, Yes, Republicans are constantly trying to come up with ways to disenfranchise people so the only ones left will be those who would swear allegiance to anything and anyone those Republicans propose. We older folks need to stand up to them and show young people how to get started taking their stand against autocracy or any other system that lets a small group dictate what We the People can do. Empowering and trusting young people is essential for creating a better future. OK young people, it's time for you to shine!
Yep, they want an army who will make the gun manufacturers rich, and their obscenely wealthy friends (who buy politicians and 'Judges') more wealthy and powerful. They hope the youth don't know better than to be dogs on a chain hearing their whistles.
DZK; I am your age, because I turned 21 just as the 18 year olds were allowed to vote. Why would a generation like ours want to take voting rights away from 18 year olds?from anyone who is eligible? Oh yea! they are the same people who would take away women's autonomy and block the ERA, and don't have any empathy ; the ones who had no problem with Vietnam and later, no trouble with 'Shock and awe'. and a host of other ills. They would sell our country.
Laurie, Yep, Republicans have not changed much after they absorbed the former Southern Democrats, and they took on all the backward beliefs and practices of that group. A lot of "moderate" or "liberal" Republicans have drifted to either Democrats or Independents. Once the shift was made in the late 1970s and 1980s, their program of power for its own sake, doing nothing to help anyone but themselves and those like them, general racism and misogyny,and more. Their religious underpinnings have turned into Christian Nationalism, but those beliefs were there all along, just couched in issues like anti-abortion, conservative Supreme Court justices who also just happened to be conservative Catholics, and more. Now they don't even want to hide it. They also don't want to live as Christians because that would call them to stop lying, cheating, insulting, and passing legislation that would lead to deeper poverty and higher death rates, while they claim to be for the working people (or anyone else). It's crazy!
Yes, Ruth, it is crazy. They want the high ground, but shoot themselves in the foot with their greed and need to control. Their worship of wealth above all else.
I agree! I am only 70, but I have had a lot of health problems during the last years. My husband keeps telling me that the world is not our problem any longer. I completely disagree with that!. I may no longer be able to get out and march or protest, but as long as I have breath in my body I will write letters, sign petitions, send what money I can and do anything else I can to try to make my country as functional and fair as it can be.
Linda Sue Padgett ; I agree! My husband often pushes back at me because I like to follow the news and pay attention to politics. He says the old "politics ; Many blood sucking creatures" thing. But lately I see him scrolling the news. CNN ; but he does report when the former guy is in hot water possibly, for perjury etc. etc. Not bad influence I have on a former Republican. I mean, he likes Social Security and a future for our grandchildren, too. Never too old to learn!
Pamela, if that was reference to my post, I didn’t say being 78 was an excuse for not getting involved, but with age-related loss of ability, you realize you can’t storm the ramparts like you did in years past. In the 2018 election at the young age of 74 I held a sign with others against DeSantis for hours each day during early voting at my polling place. Just 4 years later, I have difficulty walking or even standing and keeping my balance. Ageing for me has been incrementally faster in just 4 years. I am involved, but not much as in the past and politics ain’t my problem anymore because my shift is about over and the next had better be ready to take the helm.
Rob Boyte (Miami Beach) ; It's true that aging is not for the faint of heart. Hang in there. Standing with a sign for hours against DeSantis is an honorable thing to do. I believe that making people wait for hours to vote is another way to block especially older people and young families with children from voting. We should sic the ADA act on them when they do that.
The days when we were standing for people's rights and fighting for them were exciting and caused progress to happen despite the elements that tried to stop us. So many factors intervened to cause the progress to slow, even to stop at times, but many of our young people are ready and willing to take up the task of making our society live up to the idea of creating a more perfect union. We need to challenge them, encourage them, show them the way until they are willing and able to take over. Conservatives will fight the moves with everything they have, money being their most significant weapon, but with our support, they can make a positive difference. Besides, they have to or our planet as we know it is lost.
On your election day I turned 73, so a few years younger than you. But I have been a hippie all my life. Do whatever you want to do, be whomevr you want to be, as long as you do no (intentional) harm! I don't smoke weed anymore, or dtop acid -- or drink alcohol -- but I still love my brothers and sisters, and I am still a child of the universe. Peace to all! And Happy Belated Biryhday, Bob.
And I am 88 and may not be here for 2024 either but I can tell you if democrats (and I used to be one) should win there will be no more democracy. Can’t you see the Marxist have taken over the democrat party and heading straight to socialism then communism? Look at facts..
You have been listening to FAUX NEWS too long. It is the Republicans who are threatening democracy! They want to take away the vote from everyone who is not straight, white, male, and christian. This may be okay with you, it is certainly not okay with me!
No such thing! Any of those things — communism, Marxism, and socialism — can be democratically run by a vote of the people determining how those **economic** systems are administered by the government,
What destroys democracy is Oligarcy and Autocracy. The ultra-rich classes using their money to squeeze out the voices of the people, and **dictators** ignoring the will of the people, cancelling the vote, ruling by decree.
But the Democrats are not communists, Marxists, or socialists, anyway. They are not a threat to our system of government. Those who ignore the constitution, the rule of law, and the voice of the people through our votes are the threat.
Craig, Though your point about the youth vote, indeed, is valid, considering, first, that the percentage that voted has more than doubled in recent years and, second, that they voted for Democrats 2 to 1, a ratio substantially higher than any other group, I believe if we don’t turbo-charge our efforts to get out this vote, we neglect to do so at our peril.
No doubt. Fully agree with you. My issue is with those shouting from the rooftops that their demographic single handedly saved democracy when 70% of their peers didn't bother to vote. This in a world when luxuries like mail-in ballots and early voting exist.
Craig, Though I’m not aware that young people are “shouting from the rooftops,” I, admittedly, am bothered, given how much effort was invested in galvanizing this group, that more young people didn’t vote, or get involved for that matter.
The ones I hear from are sick and tired of being forced to vote for someone who apparently is “next in line” with the guys who have been running things so far. The Lesser of Two Evils doesn’t excite them. Somehow, they fail to realize it’s still Less Evil, but there you go. What they need to know is, their civic political responsibilities and influences do not begin and end with voting — they need to make their voices heard and get their political constituency to respond to the POWER of those votes. In order to do that, they need to speak up on a regular basis, AND they need to cast those votes in order to make them valuable. We’ll see if they learn the lessons.
Pat, Considering nationwide, that Dems had an historically diverse and largely astute slate of candidates up and down the ballot, the excuses you are hearing don’t ring true, at least not to me.
Barbara Jo, young folks have a lot of obstacles in the way of voting and doing a whole lot of other things that would help them. Young people are scrambling for jobs, trying to get relationships going, confused by insane voting rules, watching appalling ads that can mess with their brains, and more. IF they are in college, figuring out where you can vote or if you should just go absent-t can prove challenging. Several young people I have talked to couldn't even name the candidates in our high-profile elections, and didn't have a clue how to register to vote. I gave them the information and I suspect at least a couple of them did vote. We have to encourage the young people not only to be aware of elections, then vote, but also reach out to friends and family and get them to do the same.
Ruth, I wouldn’t dispute any of the valid obstacles you have enumerated. Still, because the data show that GenZers, overall, are far more progressive than their predecessors (i.e., Millennials and GenXers), your comment has strengthened my resolve to support groups, who work year-round to galvanize young, eligible voters whose numbers will increase by millions by the 24 Presidential election.
Craig D. ; I agree ; I live in a progressive area where some organizers have actually said that a rally being held in town was explicitly for the young only. This is the chest beating that you describe. Not helpful to diss based on age, gender, orientation , race or faith/origin/ethnicity. There are those who want to divide us and never stop trying.
Dems tend to take most voters and voting blocs for granted*, thinking those voters have no alternative but voting for them. Young voters would've probably punished Dems for high gas prices if it wasn't for SCOTUS abortion rulings. The right wing media does a great job getting out their messaging despite bad-MAGA policies. Dems need much better messaging and younger leadership. And, if Dems don't eke out a few more House seats* to show accomplishments in the next 18 months, young voters will abstain in 2024
*for example, Hillary didn't think she needed to go to WI, leading to both her loss & seditionist Sen. Johnson's win!
**either by unexpectedly eking House control via as-yet uncounted races, or by convincing Sinema & Manchin to toss the filibuster and grant DC & PR statehood in the next few weeks
Mitch, I doubt if Clinton's showing up in WI would have done anything positive there. Just notice that Johnson, a total fool, won again when there was enormous attention placed on the WI races. Enough people like Johnson's brand of vitriol they will vote for that over anything. This time, there was some serious racism involved too. I don't see Manchin and Sinema doing anything to help anyone in this next 2 months or so. They are self-centered and paid for by huge corporate interests and do not want to lose that backing now that they have it. Those corporate interests don't want DC to be a state or anything done to improve life for anyone. They have plenty, so they don't care about much beyond their own wealth increasing. I would love to be proven wrong here. Yo, Manchin and Sinema, prove me wrong!
Everything you say seems spot on to me, save for predicting that Dems need legislative accomplishments in the 118th Congress in order for young Dem-leaning voters to show up. The 2024 election is a presidential election. People aged 18 to infinity will turn out to vote for a president. Our job is to make the coattails.
Young people will not vote for Biden period, even if Democrats do not understand who he is young people are much more aware of who is actually working in their interests (Bernie Sanders, AOC etc) and who is yanking their chain so to speak.
Coattails seem not to exist today. Many races had ticket-splitters. Candidates knew this, and hesitated to align more strongly, lest it discourage ticket-splitting. There were decisive Gov/Senate splits in WI, GA, NV & VT, and margins were different in other states
Voters like to lash out and penalize politicians for ignoring them, disrespecting them, and/or not giving them what they feel they're due. They can lash out several ways:
(1) voting for an opponent when it will force the incumbent out
(2) voting for an opponent as a protest, even when they think* it won't matter, including clearly tossing a vote to a 3rd party candidate when the opponent is repugnant (GA's 2% Libertarian Senate candidate). *It also includes a 3rd party vote when the candidate is good, but not good enough: 2000's Gore vs Nader in PA & WI
(3) abstaining
As I wrote in a different post, I believe many voters really wanted to lash out at Dems last week for high gas prices and many other issues. And, I think they would've done so if polls said the race was close, or that Dems were likely to retain control.
More importantly however, IMO, the media screamed relentlessly there'd be a MAGA tsunami and Dem bloodbath, and that Dobbs was irrelevant to voters. This gave voters the option of lashing out at MAGA candidates (over Dobbs) by thinking they were throwing away their vote to Dems (who were fated to lose).
Bill, thanks for reminding us of the importance the Black vote has had in the past and present elections. Their votes have saved numerous elections for the "forces of good." And, more Black men and women are running for and winning offices. It will be great when more of our institutions reflect America more accurately.
I completely agree. Great to see the total youth turnout so far above the 20% average for a midterm (20%!), but it's still pathetic. Registration difficulties and other voter suppression tactics can account for some of that, yes, but not that much. I wonder if it's not indicative of youth despair to a large extent. Youth mental health studies are very, very troubling these days.
David, I am concerned about the mental health issues facing young folks, too. Just getting psychological help for them is not going to be enough. Getting them involved with current issues they can have an impact on can raise self-esteem and appreciation of one's self-worth. Being involved in community, in things beyond oneself can make a huge difference in a person's life.
Youth turnout has always been low, and this was a relatively good turnout. We do need to focus more on registering Gen Z to vote. Do the voter registration drives at college campuses, pre-register 16 and 17 year olds who will be able to vote in 2024.
Alas, I think women and young people do need to be commended because there are a lot of forces working to keep them from the polls. Men of color too have been targets of all kinds of actions on the part of conservatives to keep the vote for white folks in general and white men in particular. We do need more young people voting, but they need to be engaged by old and young members of our society, making them know that what they think matters and that they can express it through the ballot, every time voting happens. That's a task for all of us who already know how important voting is.
Do you know WHY the voting numbers are so poor, Craig D.? Voting days are not National Holidays yet!!! How can anyone expect a 20 year old with a family and a 60+ hour work week to drive 30-60 minutes to vote when no one has EVER helped them very much??? Don't get me wrong: I am VERY politically motivated so I would do it, but many have more important concerns.
Why vote? Both choices suck! Since Trump got away with all of his lies now everyone lies. Bide did not with the primary. But they couldn't control the other guy.
And knowing that one lousy alternative you can live with — at least for while! — and one you can’t. Pick which one, and then stop sitting back and letting other people do the heavy lifting — make your voice heard, USE the power of your potential vote in the future, and make them hear what you want for your world.
Pat, I would only add, they could actually run for office to work to make things better. Complaining may make one feel righteous, but doing something to make things better can actually BE righteous.
Touche. There are degrees of lousy. While texting out the vote for the Poor People's Campaign, I had an exchange with a Georgian who was sitting out this (and every) election because she couldn't live with herself if she voted for "the lesser of two evils" (got cliches?). The conversation boiled down to her stance that the lesser of two evils is still evil versus mine that the lesser of two evils is less evil. She was 100% unmoved.
😞😞😞. If they manage to GET the greater of two evils, they will see the difference.
I asked a friend if they’d rather be tossed off a boat in the middle of the ocean, or burned at the stake. I know which one I’d choose, and how far I’d go to avoid the other.
Bill, the Georgia woman afraid of "the lesser of two evils" is just pretending some kind of righteousness that really isn't there. We have a lot of excellent candidates in our nation running for all sorts of offices from school board (super important) to President (important). If she is so worried about voting for an "evil" (nonsense, of course), she could run to be the "good" in the race. My guess is that she just likes to complain and show off her righteousness. She must need that in her life or she wouldn't do it.
I think also it may be that trying to determine the better of two lousy alternatives can sometimes take some work,some effort to research and think. putting things in the same basket, they're both evil, gets one off the hook to do anything.
OMG Patricia! Are you serious? Just because Republicans have decided lying is their go to strategy does not mean everyone does it at the levels they do it. You know that, but I guess some negativity has pulled the veil of "everybody is doing it" over your observations. I am sorry for that.
Agreed. I am grateful to all the Dems who made it important to vote. A good turn out by newly less-enfranchised women, seems very appropriate, lest we lose more rights. Bravo to the young voters flexing their muscles, too. You will inherit this mess. Please step up and be a part of the muscle trying to shove this country toward a “more perfect Union”. But unfortunately, the percentage of voters, this mid-term is LOWER than 2018! The very real fact that we could lose our democracy was not enough to get 53% of voters to give a shit. Even in my State of Michigan, we could not crack the apathy of almost 40% of the voters. WhaaHoo! We had @60% turnout! And we won BIG! But the win would be sweeter if more voters actually voted. Our project for the next two years has to be two-fold: Actually deliver a better, more hopeful future for Americans “from the bottom up and the middle out”, and figure out how to crack the apathy of non-voters with a better tools than fear and hate.
This was such good news to hear, that The Repugnant Party will not run completely rampant over Civil Rights. Unfortunately, Floriduh Hispanic idiots joined with the cracker idiots to keep DeSantis in power to continue his petty, vindictive fascism. The backward redneck Floridians are still part of early 20th Century Dixie, but the mid 20th Century Cubans actually said they voted to “Stop Communism.” And, my choice candidate Val Demings could not wrest the Senate seat from Puto Marco Rubio who will continue representing his rich benefactors and give his ignorant cult following inane words from his Holy Buybull.
I am glad to hear that we are not dependent on the ignorant Repugnant voters of Georgia who should never have put the unqualified, mentally defective Herschel Walker in a runoff with Raphael Warnock who is actually qualified to be a Senator. Having worked with developmentally disabled ppl for 30 years it is an observable fact by his words and actions. Whether it is just a low IQ or brain injury from football, you can see that he does not grasp the situation, in addition to his lying and irresponsible behavior. When he pulled out that honorary police badge, well, I have known DD men who did the same. He is a pathetic tool of the Repugnant Party but the blame goes to the ignorant cult following who will vote for him over a qualified candidate.
In Walker’s case, they are only looking for an ass to sit in a seat. Not a contributing member of the Senate, and certainly not someone with a healthy brain.
There is still hope that the 14th Amendment provision denying office to insurrectionists will be applied. I laid out the House mechanism the other day.
Rob, alas, in the past couple of decades, even more, party has superseded quality or qualifications. We saw that in 2000 when a barely qualified (if even qualified) George Bush got more electoral votes than Gore who was actually qualified and experienced and could have led us muych sooner into dealing with global warming. The Supreme Court's members couldn't see past party, theirs. In 2016, the electoral college again gave an election to a fool (this time, not just unqualified) instead of a highly qualified person. The white states are misogynistic as well as racist in large numbers. How do We the People address that? I am looking for good ideas!
The good ideas are impossible. Get rid of the electoral college, it is an 18th Century anachronism that failed in one objective to keep the unwashed masses from electing an idiot – The white aristocratic slave holders dominated that institution and such a popular vote could have been prevented. No one saw that there would be two parties and the electors would be partisan and that gerrymandering would stack certain states so when that party elected their idiot, the electors would cheer him on. It would take a Constitutional Amendment to institute the popular vote, getting rid of the mechanism that makes us not an actual democracy. It is very frustrating. Maybe one of my great grandsons will see it happen.
You’re right about everything in your post. I know I’ll not see Citizens United repealed... the biggest threat to our democracy. The Federalist Corporation will never be held accountable for the destruction they’ve wrought in the name of white supremacy. Their fear mongering over things they themselves have created and control. Inflation, gasoline, things they’re manipulating their base with to instill deeper distrust of liberals. The Federalists purpose is to create a huge abyss between the haves and the have nots. Recognize that and you can’t un-see it. That’s a place to start.
I AM! Daniel you were heroic in everything you did. Thank you for all the voting information you always put on this site and clearly all the effort and muscle to improving all the odds. You never lost hope! In the early 90's I lived in Denver, Colorado. The state was then very conservative. Today, Jared Polis is governor and Colorado is one of the most progressive states in our country, I don't think you can call it purple anymore. (Just waiting to see if they bounce out Boebert.) Maybe Florida and Ohio can be changed, won't be my lifetime, but maybe. I'm going to read Laboratories of Autocracy by David Pepper, in that, he talks about the structurally captured states that now can't outvote Republicans. He says he adds solutions in the end of the book. Anyway, kudos to you Daniel!
Thanks. David Pepper is a professor of law at the University of Cincinnati. Go Bearcats.
David was chair of the Ohio Democratic Party. I think the state was mesmerized by Trump and needs an epiphany. I don't know what his solutions are but I think purgation, cleansing by criminal prosecution might work. The Republican Party in Ohio is corrupt. The first trial involving the bribery of the state legislature begins in January. Then there is Trump....
All politics are local. Here, DeSantis is the caudillo that the Batistianos always longed to have.
Not too many of them outside Florida.
Ironically, in supporting Republicans, caudillistas are inadvertently supporting Putin, ally of the hated Cuban government.
MLRGRMI, I do believe you are right about needing to find effective ways of convincing people in this country that voting is essential in their lives. I think young people may be the best option for a concerted effort. I know a lot of them want to make a difference. We need to show them they can and do make a difference when they vote. If we care about our kids and grand kids into the future, we need to draw them into the whole process of being an active American.
Hans Flikkema : American democracy was saved by women voters and young voters, along with all the rest of the Democrats of all ages who voted! This forum has members who are very interested in politics. And who are not so young. We all deserve credit for caring and participating. While encouraging/congratulating women and youth, let's avoid division based on things we cannot control: like gender and age.
Hans, Considering 63% of GenZs (18-29) voted for Democrats followed by 51% of Millennials (30-44) after which the percentages drop by nearly 10 points, while women clearly are a major factor, the numbers indicate the most significant factor is the youth vote. I just posted a comment on this site detailing the political implications of these percentage breakdowns.
The main reason people my age (78) trend Republican is they do not know they are marks for cuts in their benefits.
The secondary reason is because statistically more hear the call to their collective racist subconscious.
This also varies greatly by region and with geography. White women in the south vote like white men in the north and west. Still a rural deficit. Black men did not show up.
Daniel, Though you’ve touched on some points, I sense the explanations run deeper. For example, the percentages voting Democratic among GenerationXers and Babyboomers both are in the low 40s.
The Senate majority demonstrates that the House should have had a Democrat majority also... if it weren't for the gerrymandering of Republicans. Their gerrymandering allows them to pick their voters and to practice minority rule by avoiding statewide elections for the US House of Representatives and for State Houses.
Johnny come lately here, but I just came across this on Midas. It occurs to me, and since you've brought up young voters, that Democrats should make a big deal of how it's Republicans alone who are blocking student loan forgiveness - including the judges. If the Republicans fear young peoples' votes, Warnock should make an issue of it in the runoff. It seems the court sitting on the injunction was holding off on a final ruling until after the election, lest it queer their Republican candidates' prospects of victory. Just sayin'.
The democracy was never threatened and the democrats know that but they also know if they say it over and over some people will believe it without looking at all the facts of that day - such as the FBI involvement.
The election(s) was/were a relief, given what the pundits were predicting. But your final paragraph treats "us," "Americans," as if we are a single person who just made a single action. ("Perhaps that’s what Americans have opted for. After years of tempest and tumult, it may be that most of us want nothing more dramatic than a competent government that acts reasonably and carefully — and doesn’t make any waves.") No, we Americans voted for very strongly opposite things/candidates in most instances. The votes were Very Close in instances that gave wildly divergent options. We are a very divided country.
I hope the Democrats will come up with more candidates who can appeal to working people. We can't expect to reproduce Fetterman—he's a unique man. But I hope his appeal and his ability to win even in the face of a terrible health challenge convinces the powers-that-be in the Democratic Party that continuing to foist candidates whose main commitment is to Wall Street oligarchs is not a winning plan. President Biden has governed in a far more sensible way than I, frankly, had expected (although he could not pass many of his programs because of his small legislative majorities). One important point was his making Bernie Sanders a key member of his cabinet. If Biden does not run again (and I'll be happy if he does run again), the candidate must not be one of those pretty faces whose heart belongs to Wall Street. And they abound in the wings, getting ready to run. That mistake could cost the country big-time.
Completely agree about the fallacy of trying to ascribe an overarching narrative to the result of millions of votes across 50 states. I'd argue the majority do want waves - progressives who know the status quo is not sustainable, and right-wing conservatives whose solution is autocracy. The corporate wing is happy with the status quo, but their minority is backed by the most money.
YES, “The corporate wing…” we need to get rid of Citizens United and corporate money in our elections, government and Courts that allow this absurd and dangerous change in our governing system.
Yes. It looks like the ones who did not want waves were the ones who chose to NOT vote. The rest of us wanted to make waves, but waves coming from opposite directions cancel each other out. It only appears to be “no waves” in the center because the energy was absorbed cancelling out the opposing waves. There’s still a LOT of turmoil in the water.
On "...more candidates who can appeal to working people." Tim Ryan, in Ohio stands out for making that sort of appeal. Strong headwinds stopped him from prevailing. But he stood out for making the case. It's an appeal to an old base that the party has totally lost track of.
A note: I'm not from Ohio and I wasn't aware of Ryan until this election cycle. He did lose. But he also made an impression.
An additional note: Biden is also good with the blue collar base. That's the reason Trump regarded him as his most dangerous opponent.
I am from Ohio and campigned for Ryan...and he did pretty awesome here even if he dididn't win. He flipped Lorain County blue and every other county but 2 had a vastly larger % vote for him than any other Democrat in a hot minute.
Next step here is the maps, just like Michigan. The gerrymandering is completely illegal, with an actual court decision to back that statement up.
I’d like to know how an election using a completely illegal, gerrymandered map is legal. FL, OH, TX, it is cheating. That is all there is to it. We know they cheat. We let them cheat (both parties) and then we accept the results of an election where blatant cheating occurred as “legitimate”? No. My overactive sensitivity to fairness still bristles at accepting these types of results. Life isn’t fair naturally, why add to the chaos by keeping these maps relevant when they were legally ordered to be re-drawn? General elections are the only true and fair way to choose our leadership.
Michele, Yes: “The gerrymandering is completely illegal, with an actual court decision to back that statement up.” Courts and Truth are under assault. We have to reverse the manipulation of our elections and include eliminating the Electoral College in that quest for change.
Last Wed, NPR had an interview with (Michigan?) union workers who overwhelmingly felt Dems abandoned them and unbearable inflation was caused by them. They were angered by Dems' student loan relief, since none of them had college loans. They also distrust their pro-Dem union leaders, and feel Dem politicians take them for granted. And, they wanted to make Dems pay in the mid-terms, except that their daughters were more upset by Reproductive Rights. While I cannot find that interview podcast, I find similar thoughts in this WaPo article, which includes these quotes:
“Democrat is a dirty word [around here],” said JoJo Burgess, a canvasser for the AFL-CIO in southwest Pennsylvania and a union steelworker.
“I think on a national level the Democratic Party has done a terrible job of getting an economic message across,” said Dorsey Hager, a leader of the Columbus Building Trades Council
neighbors have given Parker heat for wearing a “Steelworkers for Fetterman” T-shirt. “People around town throw Pringles chips at me when I wear it,” he said.
Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with Tim Petrowski, a steelworker in Michigan, and Georgetown University professor Sherry Linkon, who studies working-class issues, about which political messages resonated with working-class voters this midterm election.
I think that's a complex issue. I don't know, but it's always seemed as if the majority of airline pilots in ALPA's union have been Republicans. If that's true, then it's not an issue of education. Until recently, pilots typically had to have college degrees. I'm not sure it's even about typical workers issues. Bush helped terminate our airline's pensions and drastically cut pay industry-wide, yet loyalty to GOP seems to remain. That's partly, I sense, because Democrats have done nothing to help. Democrats are perceived, I think, as the party who help only "poor people," students, and minorities including illegals. I perceive them that way. They have never done anything to help me as a worker. I just see an even greater danger in Trumpism, so recently, I've voted Democrat. Before that, what I saw on the Republican side was Ragan destroying the airline industry for workers, Bush helping, and GOP making pro-worker promises they don't keep. In short, what I see is a lot of greedy, lying politicians on both sides, neither of which have ever done anything to help me or stop the other side from hurting me. For decades, I've seen the GOP as worse but the Democrats as also being anti-worker unless those workers are one if the Democrat-favored classes. As a human being, overall, I see the Democrats as at least pretending to support some "worthy" groups, while the GOP helps only themselves, corporations, and the wealthy. But personally, yes, as a worker, I feel disenfranchised. Left out. Abused. Not valued for my decades of hard work. Not even as ine if the first women pilots. They still took my pension, and the Democrats didn't reverse that, which they could have done, so talk on both sides is cheap. So I used to just not vote. Not out of apathy or ignorance, but out of a researched view that corruption, favoritism, and greed rule on both sides. Then Trump came along as a threat to democracy, and I voted AGAINST him, but not FOR the other party. For those reasons, I'm registered as an Independent, as No Party. If forced, I lean Democrat, while I think the majority in our union vote Republican. I think we all agree on what I've saud, so what is the difference that causes many if us to prefer Republucans? Part of that.answer, I think, is whether one leans more toward altruism and decides to just let the Democrats "give it all away" to other people or whether one leans toward greedy and manages to imagine that, somehow, as a buddy of the rich, one will be rewarded, or at least the GOP won't give everything away. But maybe even more than that, in my experience as a woman pilot, the more sexist, the more Republican my fellow pots are. Racism isn't quite as string as sexism. Black pilots were hired and begrudgingly accepted long before women pilots. Still, it seems true also that the more racist, the more Republican. So, if Democrats want to increase their appeal to laborers who identify more as workers than as the poor, women, or minority, then 1) do something to help workers or at least "stop the (pension and compensation) steal." And even tougher to address 2) recognize that much of your target audience are sexist and racist. If they remain true to form, Democrats, being fans of helping poor, women, and minorities, will pipe dream that they can magically convert those sexists and racist to see the light and vote Democrat. Democrats just aren't as good as Republicans at seeing (and using) reality. Republicans obviously don't care about workers, but they mount fake appeals to the sexism and racism. They press those buttons, and get the "good old boy" worker votes.
Mo: Thanks for being the only person who replied to my post, and giving such a long, thoughtful reply. It deserves a reply, but, alas, I am not knowledgeable enough on the issues to give you the type of reply you deserve. I am sorry about your pension. Corporate greed is evil.
I am only registered D because I wanted a voice in that party's primaries, and registering Green never accomplished much. I definitely don't want to be an apologist for the D Senate bloc, but the filibuster threshold prevents it from accomplishing very much.
Sadly, I have several affluent relatives who buy into the false equivalence that all political parties are bad, so why not vote for the ones who'll lower my taxes? ...and that Climate Change & Global Warming aren't their problem, and aren't worth lowering their portfolio returns
I may be totally misstating the issue, and pissing you off, but I would naively assume airline pilots are paid more than members of blue collar, healthcare or teacher unions, and are more likely to buy into the same pro-tax-cut, pro-GOP mentality that some of my affluent relatives have.
fwiw, I posted because the NPR story (UAW union members overwhelmingly prefer the GOP) surprised me, and I wanted others who didn't know to listen to the podcast
I wish I shared your optimism regarding last week’s midterms, Dr. Reich but I don’t. Despite the garbage shoveled by the mainstream press, Donald Trump does not control the Republican Party. As the handmaiden of affluence the GOP was, is, and will always be committed to redistributing wealth upwards, and because of that it was, and remains, under the control of a cast of plutocrats all of whom are dedicated to insulating their privileges from public accountability and they will use any device at hand to make sure that remains the case. In the early 1950s the Party not only tolerated, it encouraged, Joseph McCarthy. When the Wisconsin senator outlived his usefulness they discarded him. The same will happen with Donald Trump. In fact, we may be seeing the beginnings of this process already. Trump may be harder to get rid of than McCarthy owing to the loyalty of the “base” ,but given their resources, once the plutocrats give the signal, Trump is gone.
This doesn’t mean Trumpism is going anywhere. Extremism is the Republican’s metier and given that Charles Koch, Peter Thiel, and their cohort of billionaires are determined to end majoritarian politics in the U.S. we can expect it to continue, albeit perhaps with a bit more nuance. This presents the Democrats with a challenge. The corporate Democrats who run the Party are as dedicated to protecting their big donors as Republicans. Since 2016 Democrats have been running against Donald Trump who provided good cover allowing the Democratic leadership to knee-cap its progressive change agents. (Has everyone forgotten Joe Biden’s 2020 guarantee to the donors that if he was elected, “nothing fundamentally will change”?) As Dr. Reich makes clear, last week’s results were not an endorsement of the Democratic Party. Had they been the result would have been a blowout. Off year elections or not, Democrats would have been given a solid majority. While the Supreme Court is sure to drop a number of bombshells in the coming years, I doubt anything will be as galvanizing as the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Without abortion or Donald Trump to campaign against, the Democrats are going to have to deliver for working Americans. We know the Republicans, Trump or no Trump, aren’t going to change. This question is, will the Democrats?
We must work to get Warnock elected. His opponent is a useless, incompetent potential senator, not to mention the politics he espouses. The young voters who got us over this fascist hump deserve all the activism they voted for!
FYI-Vote Forward is doing a letter campaign for the run off. https://votefwd.org/dashboard. I've already done 16 letters and plan for more. The mail in date is 11/29/22. Run off date is 12/6/22. There are also postcard campaigns under way.
I'm tired from writing post cards and making phone calls, so it's tempting to agree with you.
But
"The other change if Warnock wins is that Senate committees will no longer be evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats will gain majorities on them, with the result that Biden’s nominees and Democrats’ bills won’t be deadlocked in committee, requiring time-consuming floor votes to resolve." RR
That sounds like a pretty good reason to me. I wouldn't put anything past the cynical power grabbers who've been working for this (and succeeded at the state and local levels, as well as SCOTUS) since Gingrich.
As far as Rev. Warnock's run off: We still need to support him. if he wins, that would give us a Senate count of 51 (without needing to use Kamala's vote.) Vote Forward is doing a run off letter campaign. Letters must be mailed by 11-29-22 @ the latest. There are also post card campaigns under way. Run Off is 12-6-22. https://votefwd.org/dashboard
Wish we had a crystal ball. We cannot take anything for granted. This election was/is full of surprises. One is and isn’t: how can an incompetent and unqualified candidate run for office and possibly be elected. We have to have hope that enough Dem voters (and others who care about and understand Democracy) turn out to stop this MAGA candidate and that sanity and justice prevail.
It would be a great relief if the BS crazy wing of the Republican party would just go away. It's main symbol may hopefully sink into oblivion, but the crazies are still there, and they may dominate with other seemingly well-articulated agenda items. Rick Scott and the dismantling of Social Security and Medicare comes to mind. What will over half of all seniors dependent on SS do if there is a threat of their earned monthly benefits saying goodbye? What will happen to our already ravaged health care system gets the right wing representative treatment? Will there be any support for environmental protection with Ryan Zinke back in Congress promoting gun ownership so he can shoot wolves in Montana? We have a two year reprieve on any of this getting through, but we better not relax too much or Lindsay Graham's shifting loyalties and policy pronouncements will confuse us all.
"Notably, not a single election-denying candidate at the state level for secretary of state – the people who would have overseen the 2024 elections – was elected. "
What does it mean? When it comes to the complete craziness of this country over the last two weeks, here's something it might mean. It's almost as if.....and bear with me here.....making decisions for voting, predicting, investing, loving, hating, attacking, believing, denying, governing, buying, selling, ingesting and bleaching based on messages of 280 characters or less MAAAAY not be the wisest choice for individuals or the nation as a whole.
I’d love to see 51 Dems in the Senate. I just wish we had it the last two years so more could have been accomplished. Women and young voters- here’s hoping it keeps up in 2024.
The analysts will no doubt provide us with a picture of who voted and who supposedly were the influential elements in the vote.
Something else, however, is changing. For possibly the first time since the early 1980s, there is a President articulating a strategic direction for the nation. We may disagree with the neo-liberal direction set in the early 1980s but that may prove the point rather than refute the importance of having a deeply held sense of national direction. Strategies and direction setting can be misguided and even destructive but they do produce results.
Perhaps this time the green shoots of decent direction setting should be grounded in some basic principles of democracy.
* Human rights are for humans, and must be seen as rights within a vibrant society.
This would mean that "legal fictions" such as corporations do not enjoy the human rights in the constitution, i.e. money is not political speech. It would also mean that rights such as freedom of expression cannot be used primarily as a means to intimidate and endanger others or destroy the country.
* Universal suffrage.
Simply put, if you are a citizen of age 18 or older (as noted in the 26th Amendment), you are entitled to vote. The gaming of the vote with registration purges, ID ploys, and other shenanigans needs to end.
* Good governance needs to be the norm for all governmental and economic activities (including corporations).
This means
- upholding the rule of law (not ruling by law),
- effective, accountable, non-corrupt, and transparent institutions,
Thank you Dr. DG...... so well stated. I would add that we (older folks) must improve our communication to citizens of 18 and older about how vital their participation is. Teach strength, humility, kindness and honesty to children to strengthen our nation.
The Republicans brought this upon themselves, not only by empowering Trump (and his lies) but by going after reproductive rights. Not only with the overturn of Roe V Wade but because Lindsey Graham stupidly unveiled his nationwide abortion ban bill before the midterms.
He either intentionally sabotaged his own party or is extremely ignorant. Honestly it could be either one.
Regardless, voters repudiating both Trumpism (for the most part) and election deniers is a great step toward protecting our democracy.
Trump may be gone or on his way out, but Trumpism is not dead by a long shot. Representative Adam Kinzinger said it well when he said the fight against Trumpism has just begun. Ron DeSantis is Trump on steroids and Trump who can read. Far more dangerous than Trump ever was. The far right militia groups are still here and the basic ideas of fascism and anti-democracy and white supremacy are still far too prevalent among far too many people. This is not over with this election.
Professor, Considering the one group that supported Democrats 2 to 1 is GenZ, I imagine their aspirations these next two years far exceed “a competent government that acts reasonably and carefully—and doesn’t make any waves.” Presuming Warnock defeats Walker next month and the Republicans, by a paper-thin margin, re-take the House, GenZs, in my view, and rightly so, will expect Dems to fight hard for the agreements reached in late Spring 2020 between Senator Bernie Sanders and presumptive Presidential nominee Joe Biden. People here might recall the two created 6 policy task forces to deal with education, climate change, healthcare, the economy, criminal justice, and Immigration reform. Throughout 21 and 22 virtually every policy that had emerged from that effort passed in the Democratically-controlled House and remained stalled in the Senate partially because Manchin and Sinema had joined the 50 Republican Senators to filibuster the legislation and partially because they had voted against much of the transformative reconciliation package (BBB), leaving Dems to pass the substantially edited down Inflation Reduction Act as the so-called “human infrastructure” companion to the bipartisan physical infrastructure package.
My sense is that if Dems don’t work hard to enact what did pass, let alone fight hard to get more passed, GenZs might not be nearly as engaged in 24. Speaking realistically, we can’t win races without them, particularly in the Senate where the Party will be facing tough re-election contests.
As a final point, while gaining that 51st seat in the Senate affords several advantages, foremost in my mind is the promise of Warnock greatly contributing to amassing a sufficient enough downpayment to make the case for seating more Democrats.
I just learned that American progressive economist, Herman Daly, author of the 1996 book, Beyond Growth, just passed away, in his mid-eighties. I gather he won the Swedish left Nobel Prize for his work.
Might you be interested in building a post around Daly's work? I suspect that it might be valuable for all your readers.
I am amazed at Biden's favorability rating being so low, as he has done a remarkable job and is a thoroughly decent person. It is at least my belief that his lack of a favorable rating is due more to extremely harsh treatment from the media than any other reason. What more could have been "reasonably" expected of him over the past not quite two years?
Agreed. I'm so very tired of hearing about Biden's low approval rating. If there's anything these polls have taught us over the last several years, is that even if the statistical math is correct, the methodology in deciding who to poll is clearly off-base (no pun intended).
I'm so very tired of hearing about Biden's allegedly low approval rating. If there's anything these polls have taught us over the last several years, is that even if the statistical math is correct, the methodology in deciding who to poll is clearly off-base (no pun intended).
Hi Jane, I agree with your statements. Also what questions are asked and how the questions are framed also makes a difference to the outcome of the polling.
It seems that American democracy was saved by women voters and young voters.........The Democrats and us "boomers" owe them ...............
Don't get me wrong, it's great that that age group and women voted in historic numbers. Without those votes these races would have been disasterous.
Having said that, I cringe when people flood the internet with messages that the rest of the voting population should somehow be bowing to them. They did their job. In a democracy voting is one of the most important requirements for its citizens. Do these voters arrive at work and demand a round of applause because they opted not to run over any bicyclists or pedestrians along the way?
The other side to this story is that only 27% of young people voted. How approx. 70% of that group chose to sit out out when their reproductive freedoms, the climate they'll live with for longer than anyone, and the freedoms we have in this country were on the line is a compete travesty. Seven of our ten!.
So, yes, great job and keep the momentum. Get out the vote in even higher numbers in the runoff and in 2024. Democracy needs it! But let's keep the demands for appreciation and chest thumping to a minimum.
On election day I turned 78, a little older than the "Boomers" with whom I identify. I fairly resent being pigeonholed by a demografic of which I don't fit. I vote for the Democrat because it is the only choice in a 2-party system, tho I am registered independent and more Lib than most Dems. My political involvement started in the 1980s, but before that I was in the Hippie Demografic (dope smoking, acid dropping, agnostic, nudist, free-luv fornicator with men & women of all races). I have championed abortion rights & used those rights in the '80s (with one illegal one in the '60s).
Now my politics are "I'm too old for this shit." Watching all our civil right wins being destroyed by the Repugnant Party, with fascism pushed by the cult masses & the reality that I may not be around for the 2024 elections, it is time for the young ppl to take control or suffer the consequences. It's not my problem any more, it is theirs. I end these rants with "I fear for my grandsons and great grandsons."
I am 76. First Year Boomer. We were the ones who broke the mold in the 60s, and then too many of us reverted to Me FIrst in the 80s. OR, the ones who kept yelling at us to Love it Or Leave It were always here, and they made their voices hears, along with the Religious Right. But those of us who were progressive left in the 1960s most likely still are in the 2020s — I know I am! And I know the world isn’t mine to shape any longer — it belongs to the young people coming up. As long as I’m here, I’ll vote for what I think will help them, based on my having had some experience on this twirling rock in space.
— And then, I’l be gone, an it will be up to them. Peace and reason to them!!!
Pat, I'm with you. I will continue to do what I can to help the young people I encounter to work toward a vision of the world that will demand ways to make life possible, kindness essential, and joy a regular experience for every human being. I think that is what age demands of us.
And what true wisdom gives us.
Pat, I agree. All of my friends in college were very liberal and we all still are. There’s no way in hell I could imagine change my life view to any conservative position EVER! The parts of the population that are MAGAs including..Millenials, GenZ, Boomers etc. Across the board they all have a racist bent and propensity to believe in religion, conspiracy theories, fairytales.
It’s not that one generation makes the vote or takes it down. It is sanity vs insanity, selfishness vs lifting more people up.
seeking Reason ; Same and sane!
"We were the ones who broke the mold in the 60s, and then too many of us reverted to Me FIrst in the 80s." We became the people we warned our parents about. Tragic.
Pat Goudey OBrien ; As long as you vote for the common good, you are helping to 'shape the world'! I know a man who is 101 years old who lives alone, is an Independent,('unenrolled' in MA), cooks for himself and votes for the good of all and sustainability. He remembers the McCarthy era, Hitler: a lot. His son and daughter take him out for dinner three times a week, and he wants them to have a good quality of life and see their children live well, too. He still affects the world by supporting the common good with his vote. He counts.
Laurie, I love stories like the one you shared about the centenarian. I am not sure why people prefer the stories of older people who can only vote the way they voted decades ago when they could easily learn about the candidates and vote for the ones who would serve the greater good. It seems so many have "given up" and decided to do what is easy instead of what they know is best for them and other people too. How do we encourage people in their 50s and up to stay connected and to pay attention to what a political party is actually doing rather than what they or the other party says they are doing. Maybe we need to be specifically reaching out to those folks as well as younger voters. You can "teach old dogs new tricks." We usually don't and claim it's because they can't learn new things. Hogwash!
Laurie Blair — for sure. I said I will continue to vote for what I believe will be positive options for future generations. But if it comes down to a discussion of what kind of world they will wind up creating for themselves, it is not for me to dictate that. It is for me to talk. It is for me to present a point of view. It is for me to be a voice of experience and testimony from history. But I cannot prescribe the world that young people will make for themselves [I hope they have the chance to make it, anyway, and not have it foisted on them].
As for whether older generations can or should continue to speak up and vote — for sure. My mother is two years younger than the man you know, and she thinks, and speaks, and votes. Her experience and perspective are still relevant, and she cares about her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and children the world over she will never meet.
But the world that will be is still not mine to make. I hope those who are coming up will do well by themselves and generations to come.
Pat Goudey OBrien : I agree that we cannot dictate, but we can participate in the world where we presently live and vote. The world of the future we cannot see or know: not even in our dreams, can we live in the house of tomorrow, our childrens' world. Maybe we can show by example, at best, with ethics, good intent and humility if we can learn as we go.
I am a boomer being born in 1950 just in time to get in on being drafted and sent to Vietnam. By the time I got out of the Army things were devolving away from 60's optimism towards recession and inflation and then Ronald Raygun. It is really up to younger folks to remold this world.
I agree, sir. Sorry you got swept up in all that, but I think we owe people that our government — in our name! — sent off to that awful war a great deal of care and decency for answering the call, even though it was in the end a bogus call, and so many people were done so much damage, both our own and theirs. Be well.
And, yes, the country went off in another direction, in large part in opposition to the anti-war activism and the Make Love Not War crowd. Sad.
We are much the same, you and I - our attitudes, as well. I remember back when the youth were upset because they could be forced to fight and die in a foreign conflict without being able to even vote, and protested loudly. The voting age was lowered to 18 just as I became the previous minimum voting age of 21. Now, I hear some Republi-wanker, believing the youngsters were responsible for their failure to achieve the success they'd fantasized for this election, wants to disenfranchise those potentially draft-aged youngsters by rolling back to the original 21 year old minimum. How could >anyone< of our age countenance that dick-move ‽ (Ghosts of Kent State haunt me thinking about it!)
DZK, Yes, Republicans are constantly trying to come up with ways to disenfranchise people so the only ones left will be those who would swear allegiance to anything and anyone those Republicans propose. We older folks need to stand up to them and show young people how to get started taking their stand against autocracy or any other system that lets a small group dictate what We the People can do. Empowering and trusting young people is essential for creating a better future. OK young people, it's time for you to shine!
And you do shine!
Raise the age for voting but not for owning a gun.
Embarrassing
yes
Yep, they want an army who will make the gun manufacturers rich, and their obscenely wealthy friends (who buy politicians and 'Judges') more wealthy and powerful. They hope the youth don't know better than to be dogs on a chain hearing their whistles.
DZK; I am your age, because I turned 21 just as the 18 year olds were allowed to vote. Why would a generation like ours want to take voting rights away from 18 year olds?from anyone who is eligible? Oh yea! they are the same people who would take away women's autonomy and block the ERA, and don't have any empathy ; the ones who had no problem with Vietnam and later, no trouble with 'Shock and awe'. and a host of other ills. They would sell our country.
Laurie, Yep, Republicans have not changed much after they absorbed the former Southern Democrats, and they took on all the backward beliefs and practices of that group. A lot of "moderate" or "liberal" Republicans have drifted to either Democrats or Independents. Once the shift was made in the late 1970s and 1980s, their program of power for its own sake, doing nothing to help anyone but themselves and those like them, general racism and misogyny,and more. Their religious underpinnings have turned into Christian Nationalism, but those beliefs were there all along, just couched in issues like anti-abortion, conservative Supreme Court justices who also just happened to be conservative Catholics, and more. Now they don't even want to hide it. They also don't want to live as Christians because that would call them to stop lying, cheating, insulting, and passing legislation that would lead to deeper poverty and higher death rates, while they claim to be for the working people (or anyone else). It's crazy!
Yes, Ruth, it is crazy. They want the high ground, but shoot themselves in the foot with their greed and need to control. Their worship of wealth above all else.
It is, in my view, still our problem. All of us.
Being 78 is no excuse for not getting involved.
I agree! I am only 70, but I have had a lot of health problems during the last years. My husband keeps telling me that the world is not our problem any longer. I completely disagree with that!. I may no longer be able to get out and march or protest, but as long as I have breath in my body I will write letters, sign petitions, send what money I can and do anything else I can to try to make my country as functional and fair as it can be.
Linda Sue Padgett ; I agree! My husband often pushes back at me because I like to follow the news and pay attention to politics. He says the old "politics ; Many blood sucking creatures" thing. But lately I see him scrolling the news. CNN ; but he does report when the former guy is in hot water possibly, for perjury etc. etc. Not bad influence I have on a former Republican. I mean, he likes Social Security and a future for our grandchildren, too. Never too old to learn!
Pamela, if that was reference to my post, I didn’t say being 78 was an excuse for not getting involved, but with age-related loss of ability, you realize you can’t storm the ramparts like you did in years past. In the 2018 election at the young age of 74 I held a sign with others against DeSantis for hours each day during early voting at my polling place. Just 4 years later, I have difficulty walking or even standing and keeping my balance. Ageing for me has been incrementally faster in just 4 years. I am involved, but not much as in the past and politics ain’t my problem anymore because my shift is about over and the next had better be ready to take the helm.
My belief is that it is our problem til we pass.
Our children, grandchildren, friends etc, count on us to keep fighting.
Sorry about your disabilities.
I hope to find ways to contribute always.
My friend in her 80's in the COO of a community orchestra and leader of a local singing group.
She contributes money to campaigns and lobbies for local initiatives.
Just saying.
Every effort helps.
You said you are still working politically; whatever it is, it is powerful
Best wishes to you as you move into your 80's
We may each be here in our 90's- some more disabled than others.
So many stereotypes about folks 60+ ; lots of ageism; some inside us; some slapped on us by those below 60.
Not sure where you are coming from, Rob; speaking about myself .
Be well
Hope you can get help with the balance issue; not fun.
Bye
Rob Boyte (Miami Beach) ; It's true that aging is not for the faint of heart. Hang in there. Standing with a sign for hours against DeSantis is an honorable thing to do. I believe that making people wait for hours to vote is another way to block especially older people and young families with children from voting. We should sic the ADA act on them when they do that.
It's also no excuse for not being given credit and respect for voting and participating, being 78, or 98!
The days when we were standing for people's rights and fighting for them were exciting and caused progress to happen despite the elements that tried to stop us. So many factors intervened to cause the progress to slow, even to stop at times, but many of our young people are ready and willing to take up the task of making our society live up to the idea of creating a more perfect union. We need to challenge them, encourage them, show them the way until they are willing and able to take over. Conservatives will fight the moves with everything they have, money being their most significant weapon, but with our support, they can make a positive difference. Besides, they have to or our planet as we know it is lost.
On your election day I turned 73, so a few years younger than you. But I have been a hippie all my life. Do whatever you want to do, be whomevr you want to be, as long as you do no (intentional) harm! I don't smoke weed anymore, or dtop acid -- or drink alcohol -- but I still love my brothers and sisters, and I am still a child of the universe. Peace to all! And Happy Belated Biryhday, Bob.
Republicanism = insanity!
And I am 88 and may not be here for 2024 either but I can tell you if democrats (and I used to be one) should win there will be no more democracy. Can’t you see the Marxist have taken over the democrat party and heading straight to socialism then communism? Look at facts..
You have been listening to FAUX NEWS too long. It is the Republicans who are threatening democracy! They want to take away the vote from everyone who is not straight, white, male, and christian. This may be okay with you, it is certainly not okay with me!
No such thing! Any of those things — communism, Marxism, and socialism — can be democratically run by a vote of the people determining how those **economic** systems are administered by the government,
What destroys democracy is Oligarcy and Autocracy. The ultra-rich classes using their money to squeeze out the voices of the people, and **dictators** ignoring the will of the people, cancelling the vote, ruling by decree.
But the Democrats are not communists, Marxists, or socialists, anyway. They are not a threat to our system of government. Those who ignore the constitution, the rule of law, and the voice of the people through our votes are the threat.
Craig, Though your point about the youth vote, indeed, is valid, considering, first, that the percentage that voted has more than doubled in recent years and, second, that they voted for Democrats 2 to 1, a ratio substantially higher than any other group, I believe if we don’t turbo-charge our efforts to get out this vote, we neglect to do so at our peril.
No doubt. Fully agree with you. My issue is with those shouting from the rooftops that their demographic single handedly saved democracy when 70% of their peers didn't bother to vote. This in a world when luxuries like mail-in ballots and early voting exist.
Craig, Though I’m not aware that young people are “shouting from the rooftops,” I, admittedly, am bothered, given how much effort was invested in galvanizing this group, that more young people didn’t vote, or get involved for that matter.
The ones I hear from are sick and tired of being forced to vote for someone who apparently is “next in line” with the guys who have been running things so far. The Lesser of Two Evils doesn’t excite them. Somehow, they fail to realize it’s still Less Evil, but there you go. What they need to know is, their civic political responsibilities and influences do not begin and end with voting — they need to make their voices heard and get their political constituency to respond to the POWER of those votes. In order to do that, they need to speak up on a regular basis, AND they need to cast those votes in order to make them valuable. We’ll see if they learn the lessons.
Pat, Considering nationwide, that Dems had an historically diverse and largely astute slate of candidates up and down the ballot, the excuses you are hearing don’t ring true, at least not to me.
Barbara Jo, young folks have a lot of obstacles in the way of voting and doing a whole lot of other things that would help them. Young people are scrambling for jobs, trying to get relationships going, confused by insane voting rules, watching appalling ads that can mess with their brains, and more. IF they are in college, figuring out where you can vote or if you should just go absent-t can prove challenging. Several young people I have talked to couldn't even name the candidates in our high-profile elections, and didn't have a clue how to register to vote. I gave them the information and I suspect at least a couple of them did vote. We have to encourage the young people not only to be aware of elections, then vote, but also reach out to friends and family and get them to do the same.
Ruth, I wouldn’t dispute any of the valid obstacles you have enumerated. Still, because the data show that GenZers, overall, are far more progressive than their predecessors (i.e., Millennials and GenXers), your comment has strengthened my resolve to support groups, who work year-round to galvanize young, eligible voters whose numbers will increase by millions by the 24 Presidential election.
Craig D. ; I agree ; I live in a progressive area where some organizers have actually said that a rally being held in town was explicitly for the young only. This is the chest beating that you describe. Not helpful to diss based on age, gender, orientation , race or faith/origin/ethnicity. There are those who want to divide us and never stop trying.
🎯
Dems tend to take most voters and voting blocs for granted*, thinking those voters have no alternative but voting for them. Young voters would've probably punished Dems for high gas prices if it wasn't for SCOTUS abortion rulings. The right wing media does a great job getting out their messaging despite bad-MAGA policies. Dems need much better messaging and younger leadership. And, if Dems don't eke out a few more House seats* to show accomplishments in the next 18 months, young voters will abstain in 2024
*for example, Hillary didn't think she needed to go to WI, leading to both her loss & seditionist Sen. Johnson's win!
**either by unexpectedly eking House control via as-yet uncounted races, or by convincing Sinema & Manchin to toss the filibuster and grant DC & PR statehood in the next few weeks
Mitch, I doubt if Clinton's showing up in WI would have done anything positive there. Just notice that Johnson, a total fool, won again when there was enormous attention placed on the WI races. Enough people like Johnson's brand of vitriol they will vote for that over anything. This time, there was some serious racism involved too. I don't see Manchin and Sinema doing anything to help anyone in this next 2 months or so. They are self-centered and paid for by huge corporate interests and do not want to lose that backing now that they have it. Those corporate interests don't want DC to be a state or anything done to improve life for anyone. They have plenty, so they don't care about much beyond their own wealth increasing. I would love to be proven wrong here. Yo, Manchin and Sinema, prove me wrong!
Everything you say seems spot on to me, save for predicting that Dems need legislative accomplishments in the 118th Congress in order for young Dem-leaning voters to show up. The 2024 election is a presidential election. People aged 18 to infinity will turn out to vote for a president. Our job is to make the coattails.
Young people will not vote for Biden period, even if Democrats do not understand who he is young people are much more aware of who is actually working in their interests (Bernie Sanders, AOC etc) and who is yanking their chain so to speak.
Coattails seem not to exist today. Many races had ticket-splitters. Candidates knew this, and hesitated to align more strongly, lest it discourage ticket-splitting. There were decisive Gov/Senate splits in WI, GA, NV & VT, and margins were different in other states
Voters like to lash out and penalize politicians for ignoring them, disrespecting them, and/or not giving them what they feel they're due. They can lash out several ways:
(1) voting for an opponent when it will force the incumbent out
(2) voting for an opponent as a protest, even when they think* it won't matter, including clearly tossing a vote to a 3rd party candidate when the opponent is repugnant (GA's 2% Libertarian Senate candidate). *It also includes a 3rd party vote when the candidate is good, but not good enough: 2000's Gore vs Nader in PA & WI
(3) abstaining
As I wrote in a different post, I believe many voters really wanted to lash out at Dems last week for high gas prices and many other issues. And, I think they would've done so if polls said the race was close, or that Dems were likely to retain control.
More importantly however, IMO, the media screamed relentlessly there'd be a MAGA tsunami and Dem bloodbath, and that Dobbs was irrelevant to voters. This gave voters the option of lashing out at MAGA candidates (over Dobbs) by thinking they were throwing away their vote to Dems (who were fated to lose).
Then we'll just have to stitch some coattails. We're not powerless.
Why aren't we all talking about how the Black vote has enabled us to keep the republic--again?
Bill, thanks for reminding us of the importance the Black vote has had in the past and present elections. Their votes have saved numerous elections for the "forces of good." And, more Black men and women are running for and winning offices. It will be great when more of our institutions reflect America more accurately.
I completely agree. Great to see the total youth turnout so far above the 20% average for a midterm (20%!), but it's still pathetic. Registration difficulties and other voter suppression tactics can account for some of that, yes, but not that much. I wonder if it's not indicative of youth despair to a large extent. Youth mental health studies are very, very troubling these days.
David, I am concerned about the mental health issues facing young folks, too. Just getting psychological help for them is not going to be enough. Getting them involved with current issues they can have an impact on can raise self-esteem and appreciation of one's self-worth. Being involved in community, in things beyond oneself can make a huge difference in a person's life.
Youth turnout has always been low, and this was a relatively good turnout. We do need to focus more on registering Gen Z to vote. Do the voter registration drives at college campuses, pre-register 16 and 17 year olds who will be able to vote in 2024.
Alas, I think women and young people do need to be commended because there are a lot of forces working to keep them from the polls. Men of color too have been targets of all kinds of actions on the part of conservatives to keep the vote for white folks in general and white men in particular. We do need more young people voting, but they need to be engaged by old and young members of our society, making them know that what they think matters and that they can express it through the ballot, every time voting happens. That's a task for all of us who already know how important voting is.
Really relate to your comments!! ....didn't chest thumping become evident in 2016?
Craig D. ; Very well said!
Thank you Craig! Great comment. 👍🏼
Do you know WHY the voting numbers are so poor, Craig D.? Voting days are not National Holidays yet!!! How can anyone expect a 20 year old with a family and a 60+ hour work week to drive 30-60 minutes to vote when no one has EVER helped them very much??? Don't get me wrong: I am VERY politically motivated so I would do it, but many have more important concerns.
This is where mail-in ballots come in. Even people who are bed ridden or otherwise unable to make it to a polling location can vote.
Why vote? Both choices suck! Since Trump got away with all of his lies now everyone lies. Bide did not with the primary. But they couldn't control the other guy.
Because much of life is about making a choice between two lousy alternatives?
And knowing that one lousy alternative you can live with — at least for while! — and one you can’t. Pick which one, and then stop sitting back and letting other people do the heavy lifting — make your voice heard, USE the power of your potential vote in the future, and make them hear what you want for your world.
Pat, I would only add, they could actually run for office to work to make things better. Complaining may make one feel righteous, but doing something to make things better can actually BE righteous.
Touche. There are degrees of lousy. While texting out the vote for the Poor People's Campaign, I had an exchange with a Georgian who was sitting out this (and every) election because she couldn't live with herself if she voted for "the lesser of two evils" (got cliches?). The conversation boiled down to her stance that the lesser of two evils is still evil versus mine that the lesser of two evils is less evil. She was 100% unmoved.
😞😞😞. If they manage to GET the greater of two evils, they will see the difference.
I asked a friend if they’d rather be tossed off a boat in the middle of the ocean, or burned at the stake. I know which one I’d choose, and how far I’d go to avoid the other.
Bill, the Georgia woman afraid of "the lesser of two evils" is just pretending some kind of righteousness that really isn't there. We have a lot of excellent candidates in our nation running for all sorts of offices from school board (super important) to President (important). If she is so worried about voting for an "evil" (nonsense, of course), she could run to be the "good" in the race. My guess is that she just likes to complain and show off her righteousness. She must need that in her life or she wouldn't do it.
I suspect that you're correct about my intransigent correspondent, Ruth. Self-righteousness on steroids.
I think also it may be that trying to determine the better of two lousy alternatives can sometimes take some work,some effort to research and think. putting things in the same basket, they're both evil, gets one off the hook to do anything.
My guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now
I bet she had a lot to lose. Social Security, Medicare...the RIGHT to vote.
OMG Patricia! Are you serious? Just because Republicans have decided lying is their go to strategy does not mean everyone does it at the levels they do it. You know that, but I guess some negativity has pulled the veil of "everybody is doing it" over your observations. I am sorry for that.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OADlrLHfYW4
Agreed. I am grateful to all the Dems who made it important to vote. A good turn out by newly less-enfranchised women, seems very appropriate, lest we lose more rights. Bravo to the young voters flexing their muscles, too. You will inherit this mess. Please step up and be a part of the muscle trying to shove this country toward a “more perfect Union”. But unfortunately, the percentage of voters, this mid-term is LOWER than 2018! The very real fact that we could lose our democracy was not enough to get 53% of voters to give a shit. Even in my State of Michigan, we could not crack the apathy of almost 40% of the voters. WhaaHoo! We had @60% turnout! And we won BIG! But the win would be sweeter if more voters actually voted. Our project for the next two years has to be two-fold: Actually deliver a better, more hopeful future for Americans “from the bottom up and the middle out”, and figure out how to crack the apathy of non-voters with a better tools than fear and hate.
Be grateful you are not in Florida or Ohio.
THIS IS MY RANT FROM YESTERDAY:
This was such good news to hear, that The Repugnant Party will not run completely rampant over Civil Rights. Unfortunately, Floriduh Hispanic idiots joined with the cracker idiots to keep DeSantis in power to continue his petty, vindictive fascism. The backward redneck Floridians are still part of early 20th Century Dixie, but the mid 20th Century Cubans actually said they voted to “Stop Communism.” And, my choice candidate Val Demings could not wrest the Senate seat from Puto Marco Rubio who will continue representing his rich benefactors and give his ignorant cult following inane words from his Holy Buybull.
I am glad to hear that we are not dependent on the ignorant Repugnant voters of Georgia who should never have put the unqualified, mentally defective Herschel Walker in a runoff with Raphael Warnock who is actually qualified to be a Senator. Having worked with developmentally disabled ppl for 30 years it is an observable fact by his words and actions. Whether it is just a low IQ or brain injury from football, you can see that he does not grasp the situation, in addition to his lying and irresponsible behavior. When he pulled out that honorary police badge, well, I have known DD men who did the same. He is a pathetic tool of the Repugnant Party but the blame goes to the ignorant cult following who will vote for him over a qualified candidate.
In Walker’s case, they are only looking for an ass to sit in a seat. Not a contributing member of the Senate, and certainly not someone with a healthy brain.
Clearly — Gaetz. Gozar. Boebert. Taylor Greene, Johnson, Cawthorne — they’re collecting a Rogues Gallery of the Ludicrous. What a sad situation.
There is still hope that the 14th Amendment provision denying office to insurrectionists will be applied. I laid out the House mechanism the other day.
Rob, alas, in the past couple of decades, even more, party has superseded quality or qualifications. We saw that in 2000 when a barely qualified (if even qualified) George Bush got more electoral votes than Gore who was actually qualified and experienced and could have led us muych sooner into dealing with global warming. The Supreme Court's members couldn't see past party, theirs. In 2016, the electoral college again gave an election to a fool (this time, not just unqualified) instead of a highly qualified person. The white states are misogynistic as well as racist in large numbers. How do We the People address that? I am looking for good ideas!
The good ideas are impossible. Get rid of the electoral college, it is an 18th Century anachronism that failed in one objective to keep the unwashed masses from electing an idiot – The white aristocratic slave holders dominated that institution and such a popular vote could have been prevented. No one saw that there would be two parties and the electors would be partisan and that gerrymandering would stack certain states so when that party elected their idiot, the electors would cheer him on. It would take a Constitutional Amendment to institute the popular vote, getting rid of the mechanism that makes us not an actual democracy. It is very frustrating. Maybe one of my great grandsons will see it happen.
You’re right about everything in your post. I know I’ll not see Citizens United repealed... the biggest threat to our democracy. The Federalist Corporation will never be held accountable for the destruction they’ve wrought in the name of white supremacy. Their fear mongering over things they themselves have created and control. Inflation, gasoline, things they’re manipulating their base with to instill deeper distrust of liberals. The Federalists purpose is to create a huge abyss between the haves and the have nots. Recognize that and you can’t un-see it. That’s a place to start.
First; You must vote against those people. Do not allow them into positions where they can do damage.
Second; If they do get into those positions, do your best to prevent them from grouping together, keep them isolated.
Use their own tactics against them, bring suit after suit after suit! Keep them distracted
Fantastic rant Rob!
Tell me about it, I’m in Florida too
I AM! Daniel you were heroic in everything you did. Thank you for all the voting information you always put on this site and clearly all the effort and muscle to improving all the odds. You never lost hope! In the early 90's I lived in Denver, Colorado. The state was then very conservative. Today, Jared Polis is governor and Colorado is one of the most progressive states in our country, I don't think you can call it purple anymore. (Just waiting to see if they bounce out Boebert.) Maybe Florida and Ohio can be changed, won't be my lifetime, but maybe. I'm going to read Laboratories of Autocracy by David Pepper, in that, he talks about the structurally captured states that now can't outvote Republicans. He says he adds solutions in the end of the book. Anyway, kudos to you Daniel!
Thanks. David Pepper is a professor of law at the University of Cincinnati. Go Bearcats.
David was chair of the Ohio Democratic Party. I think the state was mesmerized by Trump and needs an epiphany. I don't know what his solutions are but I think purgation, cleansing by criminal prosecution might work. The Republican Party in Ohio is corrupt. The first trial involving the bribery of the state legislature begins in January. Then there is Trump....
All politics are local. Here, DeSantis is the caudillo that the Batistianos always longed to have.
Not too many of them outside Florida.
Ironically, in supporting Republicans, caudillistas are inadvertently supporting Putin, ally of the hated Cuban government.
In Florida politics is loco
Claire, I second your kudos to Daniel!
I beg your pardon??!!
MLRGRMI, I do believe you are right about needing to find effective ways of convincing people in this country that voting is essential in their lives. I think young people may be the best option for a concerted effort. I know a lot of them want to make a difference. We need to show them they can and do make a difference when they vote. If we care about our kids and grand kids into the future, we need to draw them into the whole process of being an active American.
Hans Flikkema : American democracy was saved by women voters and young voters, along with all the rest of the Democrats of all ages who voted! This forum has members who are very interested in politics. And who are not so young. We all deserve credit for caring and participating. While encouraging/congratulating women and youth, let's avoid division based on things we cannot control: like gender and age.
Well said. Human insistence on devisive stereotyping remains alive and thriving.
True. Divisiveness can work against us.
Youre damned right. And you're welcome !!!
Hans, Considering 63% of GenZs (18-29) voted for Democrats followed by 51% of Millennials (30-44) after which the percentages drop by nearly 10 points, while women clearly are a major factor, the numbers indicate the most significant factor is the youth vote. I just posted a comment on this site detailing the political implications of these percentage breakdowns.
The main reason people my age (78) trend Republican is they do not know they are marks for cuts in their benefits.
The secondary reason is because statistically more hear the call to their collective racist subconscious.
This also varies greatly by region and with geography. White women in the south vote like white men in the north and west. Still a rural deficit. Black men did not show up.
Daniel, Though you’ve touched on some points, I sense the explanations run deeper. For example, the percentages voting Democratic among GenerationXers and Babyboomers both are in the low 40s.
The Senate majority demonstrates that the House should have had a Democrat majority also... if it weren't for the gerrymandering of Republicans. Their gerrymandering allows them to pick their voters and to practice minority rule by avoiding statewide elections for the US House of Representatives and for State Houses.
Johnny come lately here, but I just came across this on Midas. It occurs to me, and since you've brought up young voters, that Democrats should make a big deal of how it's Republicans alone who are blocking student loan forgiveness - including the judges. If the Republicans fear young peoples' votes, Warnock should make an issue of it in the runoff. It seems the court sitting on the injunction was holding off on a final ruling until after the election, lest it queer their Republican candidates' prospects of victory. Just sayin'.
DZK: That is significant.
The democracy was never threatened and the democrats know that but they also know if they say it over and over some people will believe it without looking at all the facts of that day - such as the FBI involvement.
Argh
The election(s) was/were a relief, given what the pundits were predicting. But your final paragraph treats "us," "Americans," as if we are a single person who just made a single action. ("Perhaps that’s what Americans have opted for. After years of tempest and tumult, it may be that most of us want nothing more dramatic than a competent government that acts reasonably and carefully — and doesn’t make any waves.") No, we Americans voted for very strongly opposite things/candidates in most instances. The votes were Very Close in instances that gave wildly divergent options. We are a very divided country.
I hope the Democrats will come up with more candidates who can appeal to working people. We can't expect to reproduce Fetterman—he's a unique man. But I hope his appeal and his ability to win even in the face of a terrible health challenge convinces the powers-that-be in the Democratic Party that continuing to foist candidates whose main commitment is to Wall Street oligarchs is not a winning plan. President Biden has governed in a far more sensible way than I, frankly, had expected (although he could not pass many of his programs because of his small legislative majorities). One important point was his making Bernie Sanders a key member of his cabinet. If Biden does not run again (and I'll be happy if he does run again), the candidate must not be one of those pretty faces whose heart belongs to Wall Street. And they abound in the wings, getting ready to run. That mistake could cost the country big-time.
Completely agree about the fallacy of trying to ascribe an overarching narrative to the result of millions of votes across 50 states. I'd argue the majority do want waves - progressives who know the status quo is not sustainable, and right-wing conservatives whose solution is autocracy. The corporate wing is happy with the status quo, but their minority is backed by the most money.
YES, “The corporate wing…” we need to get rid of Citizens United and corporate money in our elections, government and Courts that allow this absurd and dangerous change in our governing system.
Yes. It looks like the ones who did not want waves were the ones who chose to NOT vote. The rest of us wanted to make waves, but waves coming from opposite directions cancel each other out. It only appears to be “no waves” in the center because the energy was absorbed cancelling out the opposing waves. There’s still a LOT of turmoil in the water.
False analogy.
Apathy? Mostly stupidity.
On "...more candidates who can appeal to working people." Tim Ryan, in Ohio stands out for making that sort of appeal. Strong headwinds stopped him from prevailing. But he stood out for making the case. It's an appeal to an old base that the party has totally lost track of.
A note: I'm not from Ohio and I wasn't aware of Ryan until this election cycle. He did lose. But he also made an impression.
An additional note: Biden is also good with the blue collar base. That's the reason Trump regarded him as his most dangerous opponent.
I am from Ohio and campigned for Ryan...and he did pretty awesome here even if he dididn't win. He flipped Lorain County blue and every other county but 2 had a vastly larger % vote for him than any other Democrat in a hot minute.
Next step here is the maps, just like Michigan. The gerrymandering is completely illegal, with an actual court decision to back that statement up.
Dems must follow the Michigan example!
I’d like to know how an election using a completely illegal, gerrymandered map is legal. FL, OH, TX, it is cheating. That is all there is to it. We know they cheat. We let them cheat (both parties) and then we accept the results of an election where blatant cheating occurred as “legitimate”? No. My overactive sensitivity to fairness still bristles at accepting these types of results. Life isn’t fair naturally, why add to the chaos by keeping these maps relevant when they were legally ordered to be re-drawn? General elections are the only true and fair way to choose our leadership.
Michele, Yes: “The gerrymandering is completely illegal, with an actual court decision to back that statement up.” Courts and Truth are under assault. We have to reverse the manipulation of our elections and include eliminating the Electoral College in that quest for change.
Needed that DNC money.
Last Wed, NPR had an interview with (Michigan?) union workers who overwhelmingly felt Dems abandoned them and unbearable inflation was caused by them. They were angered by Dems' student loan relief, since none of them had college loans. They also distrust their pro-Dem union leaders, and feel Dem politicians take them for granted. And, they wanted to make Dems pay in the mid-terms, except that their daughters were more upset by Reproductive Rights. While I cannot find that interview podcast, I find similar thoughts in this WaPo article, which includes these quotes:
“Democrat is a dirty word [around here],” said JoJo Burgess, a canvasser for the AFL-CIO in southwest Pennsylvania and a union steelworker.
“I think on a national level the Democratic Party has done a terrible job of getting an economic message across,” said Dorsey Hager, a leader of the Columbus Building Trades Council
neighbors have given Parker heat for wearing a “Steelworkers for Fetterman” T-shirt. “People around town throw Pringles chips at me when I wear it,” he said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/06/unions-senate-midterms-labor-ryan-fetterman-democrats/
I found it( Th 11/10): Which party's political message connected more with working-class voters?
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/11/10/democrat-republican-message
Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with Tim Petrowski, a steelworker in Michigan, and Georgetown University professor Sherry Linkon, who studies working-class issues, about which political messages resonated with working-class voters this midterm election.
What can Dems do to change perceptions?
I think that's a complex issue. I don't know, but it's always seemed as if the majority of airline pilots in ALPA's union have been Republicans. If that's true, then it's not an issue of education. Until recently, pilots typically had to have college degrees. I'm not sure it's even about typical workers issues. Bush helped terminate our airline's pensions and drastically cut pay industry-wide, yet loyalty to GOP seems to remain. That's partly, I sense, because Democrats have done nothing to help. Democrats are perceived, I think, as the party who help only "poor people," students, and minorities including illegals. I perceive them that way. They have never done anything to help me as a worker. I just see an even greater danger in Trumpism, so recently, I've voted Democrat. Before that, what I saw on the Republican side was Ragan destroying the airline industry for workers, Bush helping, and GOP making pro-worker promises they don't keep. In short, what I see is a lot of greedy, lying politicians on both sides, neither of which have ever done anything to help me or stop the other side from hurting me. For decades, I've seen the GOP as worse but the Democrats as also being anti-worker unless those workers are one if the Democrat-favored classes. As a human being, overall, I see the Democrats as at least pretending to support some "worthy" groups, while the GOP helps only themselves, corporations, and the wealthy. But personally, yes, as a worker, I feel disenfranchised. Left out. Abused. Not valued for my decades of hard work. Not even as ine if the first women pilots. They still took my pension, and the Democrats didn't reverse that, which they could have done, so talk on both sides is cheap. So I used to just not vote. Not out of apathy or ignorance, but out of a researched view that corruption, favoritism, and greed rule on both sides. Then Trump came along as a threat to democracy, and I voted AGAINST him, but not FOR the other party. For those reasons, I'm registered as an Independent, as No Party. If forced, I lean Democrat, while I think the majority in our union vote Republican. I think we all agree on what I've saud, so what is the difference that causes many if us to prefer Republucans? Part of that.answer, I think, is whether one leans more toward altruism and decides to just let the Democrats "give it all away" to other people or whether one leans toward greedy and manages to imagine that, somehow, as a buddy of the rich, one will be rewarded, or at least the GOP won't give everything away. But maybe even more than that, in my experience as a woman pilot, the more sexist, the more Republican my fellow pots are. Racism isn't quite as string as sexism. Black pilots were hired and begrudgingly accepted long before women pilots. Still, it seems true also that the more racist, the more Republican. So, if Democrats want to increase their appeal to laborers who identify more as workers than as the poor, women, or minority, then 1) do something to help workers or at least "stop the (pension and compensation) steal." And even tougher to address 2) recognize that much of your target audience are sexist and racist. If they remain true to form, Democrats, being fans of helping poor, women, and minorities, will pipe dream that they can magically convert those sexists and racist to see the light and vote Democrat. Democrats just aren't as good as Republicans at seeing (and using) reality. Republicans obviously don't care about workers, but they mount fake appeals to the sexism and racism. They press those buttons, and get the "good old boy" worker votes.
Mo: Thanks for being the only person who replied to my post, and giving such a long, thoughtful reply. It deserves a reply, but, alas, I am not knowledgeable enough on the issues to give you the type of reply you deserve. I am sorry about your pension. Corporate greed is evil.
I am only registered D because I wanted a voice in that party's primaries, and registering Green never accomplished much. I definitely don't want to be an apologist for the D Senate bloc, but the filibuster threshold prevents it from accomplishing very much.
Sadly, I have several affluent relatives who buy into the false equivalence that all political parties are bad, so why not vote for the ones who'll lower my taxes? ...and that Climate Change & Global Warming aren't their problem, and aren't worth lowering their portfolio returns
I may be totally misstating the issue, and pissing you off, but I would naively assume airline pilots are paid more than members of blue collar, healthcare or teacher unions, and are more likely to buy into the same pro-tax-cut, pro-GOP mentality that some of my affluent relatives have.
fwiw, I posted because the NPR story (UAW union members overwhelmingly prefer the GOP) surprised me, and I wanted others who didn't know to listen to the podcast
Um, I’m pretty sure Bernie Sanders is still in the Senate and not in the cabinet.
I wish I shared your optimism regarding last week’s midterms, Dr. Reich but I don’t. Despite the garbage shoveled by the mainstream press, Donald Trump does not control the Republican Party. As the handmaiden of affluence the GOP was, is, and will always be committed to redistributing wealth upwards, and because of that it was, and remains, under the control of a cast of plutocrats all of whom are dedicated to insulating their privileges from public accountability and they will use any device at hand to make sure that remains the case. In the early 1950s the Party not only tolerated, it encouraged, Joseph McCarthy. When the Wisconsin senator outlived his usefulness they discarded him. The same will happen with Donald Trump. In fact, we may be seeing the beginnings of this process already. Trump may be harder to get rid of than McCarthy owing to the loyalty of the “base” ,but given their resources, once the plutocrats give the signal, Trump is gone.
This doesn’t mean Trumpism is going anywhere. Extremism is the Republican’s metier and given that Charles Koch, Peter Thiel, and their cohort of billionaires are determined to end majoritarian politics in the U.S. we can expect it to continue, albeit perhaps with a bit more nuance. This presents the Democrats with a challenge. The corporate Democrats who run the Party are as dedicated to protecting their big donors as Republicans. Since 2016 Democrats have been running against Donald Trump who provided good cover allowing the Democratic leadership to knee-cap its progressive change agents. (Has everyone forgotten Joe Biden’s 2020 guarantee to the donors that if he was elected, “nothing fundamentally will change”?) As Dr. Reich makes clear, last week’s results were not an endorsement of the Democratic Party. Had they been the result would have been a blowout. Off year elections or not, Democrats would have been given a solid majority. While the Supreme Court is sure to drop a number of bombshells in the coming years, I doubt anything will be as galvanizing as the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Without abortion or Donald Trump to campaign against, the Democrats are going to have to deliver for working Americans. We know the Republicans, Trump or no Trump, aren’t going to change. This question is, will the Democrats?
Jim Giardina..soo well said.
We must work to get Warnock elected. His opponent is a useless, incompetent potential senator, not to mention the politics he espouses. The young voters who got us over this fascist hump deserve all the activism they voted for!
FYI-Vote Forward is doing a letter campaign for the run off. https://votefwd.org/dashboard. I've already done 16 letters and plan for more. The mail in date is 11/29/22. Run off date is 12/6/22. There are also postcard campaigns under way.
Now that the Democrats have 50 votes, the Republicans have no reason to vote. Rev. Warnock will win in a landslide.
Let’s not take ANYTHING for granted!
Yup!
I'm tired from writing post cards and making phone calls, so it's tempting to agree with you.
But
"The other change if Warnock wins is that Senate committees will no longer be evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats will gain majorities on them, with the result that Biden’s nominees and Democrats’ bills won’t be deadlocked in committee, requiring time-consuming floor votes to resolve." RR
That sounds like a pretty good reason to me. I wouldn't put anything past the cynical power grabbers who've been working for this (and succeeded at the state and local levels, as well as SCOTUS) since Gingrich.
As far as Rev. Warnock's run off: We still need to support him. if he wins, that would give us a Senate count of 51 (without needing to use Kamala's vote.) Vote Forward is doing a run off letter campaign. Letters must be mailed by 11-29-22 @ the latest. There are also post card campaigns under way. Run Off is 12-6-22. https://votefwd.org/dashboard
Wish we had a crystal ball. We cannot take anything for granted. This election was/is full of surprises. One is and isn’t: how can an incompetent and unqualified candidate run for office and possibly be elected. We have to have hope that enough Dem voters (and others who care about and understand Democracy) turn out to stop this MAGA candidate and that sanity and justice prevail.
It would be a great relief if the BS crazy wing of the Republican party would just go away. It's main symbol may hopefully sink into oblivion, but the crazies are still there, and they may dominate with other seemingly well-articulated agenda items. Rick Scott and the dismantling of Social Security and Medicare comes to mind. What will over half of all seniors dependent on SS do if there is a threat of their earned monthly benefits saying goodbye? What will happen to our already ravaged health care system gets the right wing representative treatment? Will there be any support for environmental protection with Ryan Zinke back in Congress promoting gun ownership so he can shoot wolves in Montana? We have a two year reprieve on any of this getting through, but we better not relax too much or Lindsay Graham's shifting loyalties and policy pronouncements will confuse us all.
This is fantastic:
"Notably, not a single election-denying candidate at the state level for secretary of state – the people who would have overseen the 2024 elections – was elected. "
What does it mean? When it comes to the complete craziness of this country over the last two weeks, here's something it might mean. It's almost as if.....and bear with me here.....making decisions for voting, predicting, investing, loving, hating, attacking, believing, denying, governing, buying, selling, ingesting and bleaching based on messages of 280 characters or less MAAAAY not be the wisest choice for individuals or the nation as a whole.
WELL said !! Couldn't improve on your characterisation more !! Thanks for your Exposing the "absurdity" in it all !!
I’d love to see 51 Dems in the Senate. I just wish we had it the last two years so more could have been accomplished. Women and young voters- here’s hoping it keeps up in 2024.
The analysts will no doubt provide us with a picture of who voted and who supposedly were the influential elements in the vote.
Something else, however, is changing. For possibly the first time since the early 1980s, there is a President articulating a strategic direction for the nation. We may disagree with the neo-liberal direction set in the early 1980s but that may prove the point rather than refute the importance of having a deeply held sense of national direction. Strategies and direction setting can be misguided and even destructive but they do produce results.
Perhaps this time the green shoots of decent direction setting should be grounded in some basic principles of democracy.
* Human rights are for humans, and must be seen as rights within a vibrant society.
This would mean that "legal fictions" such as corporations do not enjoy the human rights in the constitution, i.e. money is not political speech. It would also mean that rights such as freedom of expression cannot be used primarily as a means to intimidate and endanger others or destroy the country.
* Universal suffrage.
Simply put, if you are a citizen of age 18 or older (as noted in the 26th Amendment), you are entitled to vote. The gaming of the vote with registration purges, ID ploys, and other shenanigans needs to end.
* Good governance needs to be the norm for all governmental and economic activities (including corporations).
This means
- upholding the rule of law (not ruling by law),
- effective, accountable, non-corrupt, and transparent institutions,
- participatory decision-making,
- open access to meaningful information, and
- equitable protection of fundamental freedoms.
Thank you Dr. DG...... so well stated. I would add that we (older folks) must improve our communication to citizens of 18 and older about how vital their participation is. Teach strength, humility, kindness and honesty to children to strengthen our nation.
Thanks !! The clarity of this post brought tears to my eyes. Brief, succinct, to the point. Love your observations so well presented.
The Republicans brought this upon themselves, not only by empowering Trump (and his lies) but by going after reproductive rights. Not only with the overturn of Roe V Wade but because Lindsey Graham stupidly unveiled his nationwide abortion ban bill before the midterms.
He either intentionally sabotaged his own party or is extremely ignorant. Honestly it could be either one.
Regardless, voters repudiating both Trumpism (for the most part) and election deniers is a great step toward protecting our democracy.
Trump may be gone or on his way out, but Trumpism is not dead by a long shot. Representative Adam Kinzinger said it well when he said the fight against Trumpism has just begun. Ron DeSantis is Trump on steroids and Trump who can read. Far more dangerous than Trump ever was. The far right militia groups are still here and the basic ideas of fascism and anti-democracy and white supremacy are still far too prevalent among far too many people. This is not over with this election.
Duncan, I couldn't agree more !! We should never rest while the root of this problem is not dealt with !! {follow the MONEY}. Eys Open
Professor, Considering the one group that supported Democrats 2 to 1 is GenZ, I imagine their aspirations these next two years far exceed “a competent government that acts reasonably and carefully—and doesn’t make any waves.” Presuming Warnock defeats Walker next month and the Republicans, by a paper-thin margin, re-take the House, GenZs, in my view, and rightly so, will expect Dems to fight hard for the agreements reached in late Spring 2020 between Senator Bernie Sanders and presumptive Presidential nominee Joe Biden. People here might recall the two created 6 policy task forces to deal with education, climate change, healthcare, the economy, criminal justice, and Immigration reform. Throughout 21 and 22 virtually every policy that had emerged from that effort passed in the Democratically-controlled House and remained stalled in the Senate partially because Manchin and Sinema had joined the 50 Republican Senators to filibuster the legislation and partially because they had voted against much of the transformative reconciliation package (BBB), leaving Dems to pass the substantially edited down Inflation Reduction Act as the so-called “human infrastructure” companion to the bipartisan physical infrastructure package.
My sense is that if Dems don’t work hard to enact what did pass, let alone fight hard to get more passed, GenZs might not be nearly as engaged in 24. Speaking realistically, we can’t win races without them, particularly in the Senate where the Party will be facing tough re-election contests.
As a final point, while gaining that 51st seat in the Senate affords several advantages, foremost in my mind is the promise of Warnock greatly contributing to amassing a sufficient enough downpayment to make the case for seating more Democrats.
Robert,
Thanks for your wise counsel! Much appreciated!
I just learned that American progressive economist, Herman Daly, author of the 1996 book, Beyond Growth, just passed away, in his mid-eighties. I gather he won the Swedish left Nobel Prize for his work.
Might you be interested in building a post around Daly's work? I suspect that it might be valuable for all your readers.
I am amazed at Biden's favorability rating being so low, as he has done a remarkable job and is a thoroughly decent person. It is at least my belief that his lack of a favorable rating is due more to extremely harsh treatment from the media than any other reason. What more could have been "reasonably" expected of him over the past not quite two years?
Agreed. I'm so very tired of hearing about Biden's low approval rating. If there's anything these polls have taught us over the last several years, is that even if the statistical math is correct, the methodology in deciding who to poll is clearly off-base (no pun intended).
An excellent read... and I've read plenty. This is the clarity I've been hungering for. GO WARNOCK!!
I'm so very tired of hearing about Biden's allegedly low approval rating. If there's anything these polls have taught us over the last several years, is that even if the statistical math is correct, the methodology in deciding who to poll is clearly off-base (no pun intended).
Hi Jane, I agree with your statements. Also what questions are asked and how the questions are framed also makes a difference to the outcome of the polling.