For sure. Basically treat it like a minority government in Canada.
They ruined this option for themselves with markey. The progressives have nothing to lose.
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You miss the point. Nobody expects to replace Pelosi with a progressive. They want to replace her with someone who is competent and knows how to play politics. Pelosi legit seems like she tries to lose on purpose.
Progressives would be more than happy to get a centrist who knows how to message around stimulus
Plus just getting a new face to the party would have it’s own huge benefits. Everyone hates Pelosi, shes weak and ineffective and synonymous with failure, corruption, being a coastal elite etc
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You may have a point there, but we got 200+ house members, there has to be somebody. Hell I’d take Schiff in a heartbeat. He did great in the impeachment trials so he can at least speak and tell a narrative well.
Then we should break the machine while trying.
That’s unfortunate. They are all getting primary challengers no matter what.
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Sure, but you might as well attempt to negotiate for some committee chairs.
They’ll basically face that anyway.
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I mean you’re probably correct to some degree, but I’d like to try before we have to burn the country to the ground.
I mean I know the establishment doesn’t want progressive legislation to pass, but I can’t imagine all of them want to purposefully lose now that they know fascism is approaching. Them getting jailed or executed in the near future is totally on the table if they keep losing and the next Trump comes along.
And thats my problem with Pelosi. Not that she isn’t progressive, it’s that it seems like she’s trying to lose. She can put forward stimulus bills that are populous as fuck without risking it actually passing, we know the GOP won’t pass it. She can do a lot of shit that isn’t progressive to try and win those seats in GA, and yet she doesn’t.
I can’t imagine the establishment even now wants to lose, their own personal life could be on the line in the future.
Will face it? They already are. Didn’t they burn like 10 million on Omar or someones challenger? They are already doing all that, publicly attacking them etc. The Edems have already declared war on progressives.
It’s time for progressive voters to back them up. Not just by donating and voting for them, but actively attacking the establishment by not voting for them. Let them get crushed, and make sure they know why. Either get your shit together or maybe the next Trump has you all put on trial for treason.
I highly doubt they’re worried about challengers, I’ve read a ton of stories about them already facing well funded challengers.
I think they haven’t done it so far because they recognize how big of a threat Republicans are and disunity would have been horrible going into 2020, and they don’t want the voters to turn on them even more which they would.
Popularity wise what is being proposed is pretty dumb. If the progressives try to put in a Republican speaker or some shit everyone but the most die hard progressives would hate them and the party would die quickly. Not because of well funded challengers, but just voters turning on them.
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You may only need five defections to pull that move. AOC and Ilhan are two who can count on getting a well-funded challenge anyway… Jamaal Bowman is getting one no matter what, but maybe he doesn’t know that yet.
Like AOC alone can make this happen if she wants to. She’s got at least four others who will ask how high if she says jump. But it may not be in her own best interest to do so, because it may doom her presidential run since a lot of the party would loathe her for it.
It’s a risky gambit, but if they showed some results from having the committee chairs they might be able to win people back. Imagine the hearings.
I mean I don’t think you can compare now to anytime in US history. Actual progressive popularity is at an all time high by far. It makes up about 30% of the party, and when you look at policy its actually the majority.
Plus we’re way closer to fascism than we’ve ever been. All norms and rules have gone out the window and while we didn’t fall off the cliff, we’re still hanging by a thread.
I get what you’re saying and I understand local activism and grassroots support is a big part of this, but it can’t be the only part. You also need to play politics, use your support as leverage, and try to do better.
We don’t have the time to sit back and hope the grassroots eventually takes over the party in 20 years. We will be a legit one party ruled fascist state by then if things keep going the way were going.
There needs to be pressure on the establishment to get these old ghouls who don’t understand how politics work anymore out and some winners in. Even if those winners do nothing but protect capital, we need some fucking winners in there. Like we just BARELY passed fucking decriminalizing weed, why wasn’t that done before the election? Then hammer the Republican senate? Why wasn’t it done before 2018?
This isn’t just the system dude, dems can win and still protect capital and fight progressiveness. It’s pure incompetence and old ghouls who don’t know how to do politics anymore clinging to power.
You won’t get Schiff. You’ll end up with Cheri Bustos.
https://twitter.com/Zachary/status/1336012013705846792
Great Depression II has been ordained.
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If they do this, but with means testing, it will be a huge mistake.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1336324662695964672?s=21
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Seems like a great way to further splinter your base. Just rip the bandaid off and forgive it for everyone. At some point the dollar amount doesn’t matter.
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The Democratic obsession with means testing is part of how they lose so goddamn always. God forbid they help anyone with enough food to eat who isn’t rich enough to donate the max to no less than a dozen political candidates.
In other news the Rand corporation just told everyone that if income inequality hadn’t gone completely insane since the 70’s the median earner would be making 90k+ instead of ~50k like they do now. (median household is 68k)
There’s no world where we actually win all the elections and gain power without getting the average voter to understand how badly they are getting screwed. Other people have it worse is not an argument anyone getting screwed wants to hear.
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A huge part of the Democratic base is educated millennials with reasonably high income but zero net worth. The things our whole generation is screaming about are the insane cost of housing, health care, child care, etc., for which there has been absolutely zero help from the Democratic Party. If they do it with income restrictions those people are going to be furious, and rightly so. Imagine you worked your ass off in undergrad and grad school and now you’re grinding out like $200k in NYC or San Francisco, that is absolutely not an extravagant lifestyle in those cities, and the Biden Administration tells you to go fuck yourself on student loan relief? Awful.
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