It is time Democrats quit pussy-footing around and call out the snow flakes that tend to throw elections to the Republicans.
Donald Trump just nominated his second Supreme Court Judge that will skew the High Court far right for decades to come. I am not shocked by this. Republicans have never keep a secret of their goals: to do away with Social Security and Medicare, overturn Roe vs Wade, oppose gay marriage and gay rights, enact biblical law and give massive tax breaks to the mega-wealthy and mega-corporations. This is who the Republicans proudly are.
Republicans play hardball – Democrats play Scrabble
Republicans fall in line – Democrats meander
Republicans demonize Democrats – Democrats talk about their friends across the aisle.
There is only one way to address this.
If you believe in democratic socialist principles – that the government has a responsibility to improve the lives of its citizens; then as Democrats we must give up our milk toast, politically correct demeanor and our fear of offending people. We need to call it as it is.
There are only two viable parties in this country and in a Presidential election either a Democrat or a Republican will be elected.
If purity required you to opt out of supporting the Democratic candidate in the past election, then by default you elected Donald Trump.
If you could not bring yourself to vote for Hillary Clinton because of her e-mails; or you could not vote for Republicans or Democrats because both parties are imperfect; or if you wrote in the name Bernie Sanders; or because of your desired to appear pure and independent to your friends and neighbors you voted Libertarian or Green Party – then I don’t want to hear your lamentations when Roe vs Wade is overruled, when the Affordable Health Care Act is rolled back, when Gay rights are no longer constitutionally protected or children are being taken away from their mothers …
If you claim to be a liberal and did not vote for the Democratic candidate in the past Presidential election, then you should shut up. You own this.
William Gilliland
Farmington, ME
Hey William, How did socialism work out for Germany in the 40s? How has socialism worked out for Venezuela in the mid 2000s? How has socialism worked out in any country that has it? Denmark? Denmark actively aborts unhealthy babies. Well they have universal healthcare? No, they have universal emergency rooms(we have that too) which means that anything that an emergency room can fix, is government funded,(we have that too) any special treatment, you have to pay a 7000 Danish Krone($1100usd) copay upfront, oh and you may have to wait up to two years for treatment, any elective treatment isn’t covered at all, which means, if it won’t kill you, they won’t help you. Got a little itchy skin? Not covered. Here is a short list of countries that work like this, Canada, Australia, the UK, Finland, and Switzerland.
We need a constitutional driven Supreme Court, NOT a social justice driven Supreme Court. Republicans tend to be more constitutionally driven than dems are, this is just a simple fact. Roe v. Wade is unconstitutional, it always has been. Gay marriage, is still a state matter, the only thing SCOTUS did was, tell the government that since traditional married couples were eligible for benefits and tax breaks under the federal government, they also had to offer the same to same sex couples, it didn’t force each state to have same sex marriages, if Maine wanted to have another vote to repeal the gay marriage law, we could and if it gets repealed there is nothing anybody can do about it, except put it up for vote again.
If people are going to call themselves Americans, they can at least learn how our constitution and laws work.
Agreed. It is LONG past time for the Democrats to take off the (rapidly slipping) mask they hide behind and admit that the foundation of their party is socialism for the United States, with the people collectively controlled by a ruling elite. Thanks for your honestly, William. I’d also propose they change their name to the Socialist Party USA, as the difference between their platform now and textbook socialism is miniscule. Today’s GOP is the equal of JFK’s Democrat Party, for reference.
Nothing says “America” like handing all of your freedom and control of your life to the 1%, now does it? This choice needs to be made once and for ALL, and then buried. Let’s all be honest, shall we?
Constitutional Republic…rule by the elite. There are your choices.
Man have you got it all wrong. Democrats pussy footing around? Have you watched the news lately? The democrats are going berserk! They just can’t get over the fact that Hillary the Liar lost and Donald J. Trump won the election. Until they get over it and start coming up with a constructive platform other than trashing the President of this United States they have no chance. You need to get out of that liberal stronghold called UMF once in a while and see the real world as it is.
You know I agree with you on many things here. I was a Bernie supporter. I was very frustrated by the system that the DNC employed to ensure Hillary the nomination. I truly believe that the wrapping up of Superdelegates and announcement of them well before the primaries of those states is wrong and denies the whole democratic voting process we are supposed to be going through to choose our candidates in the first place. That I feel was one of the most egregious mistakes. Superdelegates votes are bought and paid for by the highest bidder. Do away with them and put them back in control of the voters of the primary.
When I think about the actual election for president, the Independents know they have no chance. They are distractors, rabble rousers just loud enough and gain enough attention to get the signatures to appear on the ballot and give a protest vote. I agree a protest vote is useless. That is cutting your foot off at your ankle t o cure an ingrown toe nail. You took care of the toe nail, but really wasted a perfectly good foot.
I look back at how I handled my vote. I did not like what I saw in either candidate for president. I did not like what I saw in Trump. My independent nature completely rebelled against everything he did and said. He repulsed me. On the other hand, I looked at Hillary and said yes, she is qualified..more than, she brings many things to the table, including the fact she had an extremely smart husband.. which was one of the reasons I voted for him btw the last time he ran ..he had an extremely smart wife that he included in his work.not just as a decoration.. However, I didn’t appreciate the YOU should vote for her because she is a woman..like you are.. and I did not appreciate the BS way the DNC railroaded her into the nomination..as if she had been promised it and no matter who else was running..it was hers. That may have been a deciding factor for a lot of Dems actually..
So any way.. I was at a loss as to how to vote. I knew I didn’t want to throw my vote away. Then I realized that one of them was going to win. And it didn’t matter which one got in, the odds that the elected one finishing their term in office was in my mind questionable.. So I took a hard look at their running mates. Who did I want to see take over as President. Which VP candidate was more in tune with my beliefs. I paid attention, listened and researched. It happened to be the Dem ticket. That was how I justified my vote. It was yes a vote for the ticket, but it was a vote for Tim Kaine first and foremost.
That is my suggestion for future elections. Take a look at the whole ticket.
Ahhhh yes, the cover is peeling back, the new Darling of the socialist democratic party is being funded by the ruling elite hollywood class. Too bad shes as dumb as a poke & knows nothing about AMERICA. ive got a free tube of silicone to seal their coffin after their toasted.
Or maybe people are just sick of death and destruction witch is what the leadership of the demoncrap party enforce. The party has morphed into a domestic terrorist organization. Did you ever think that maybe this whole trump thing is because that is what the people want? Quit whimpering like a neutered beta male and realize your reign of terror has suffered a yuge setback. 40 million babys murdered since legal abortion and enough is enough. 50% of black babies never make it out of the womb. So I guess if you support genocide than you should be upset about nomination. I hope we get 50 years out of the next judge to dismantle the past 50 years of the systematic “transformation” of America. I never get tired of watching trump mop the floor with losers. Go back under your rock William, you lose, for now.
There are Socialists out there who think Venezuela is the ideal country. People are so hungry there that they’re eating cats and dogs…doesn’t sound like the government is taking care of them. Sounds like they’re taking care of themselves.
People seem to forget the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was Socialism as is best (worst?), where healthcare was extremely poor because it paid better to be a factory worker than to be a doctor, so if you got an infection that could have been cured by modern treatment, you were likely going to die. Dissenters, if not immediately killed, were sent to gulags where they were worked to death. The same went for intellectuals, as they could potentially be enemies of the state. Let’s also not forget the cleansing of inferior races and the eliminating of those who weren’t of use anymore to the state, as well as the purging of those born with imperfections.
But I suppose we’ll just keep ignoring history that happened only in the past several decades and keep telling ourselves Socialism is a viable option. As long as politicians keep saying that magical political f-word (FREE), it seems people will always be willing to give up their freedoms to the state despite the fact that FREE simply means someone else is going to be forked the bill. The system we have now certainly isn’t perfect, but it hasn’t failed like Socialism has time and time again in the last hundred years.
Cheers, and enjoy your freedoms while they last,
Shamus
Every single one of you has completely missed Mr. Gilliland’s point