My liberals, I love you, but we need to have a talk. I know any time we lose an election (and sometimes we’ve won one), we have to point fingers at each other and refuse to shoulder any of the blame, but can we please not do it this time? Pretty please? I’m seeing a lot of anger in response to the loss, and while some of it is reasonable, much of it is misplaced.
Look. We have a dark future ahead of us. I’m uncertain what’s actually going to happen (and I don’t trust anyone who says he knows for sure what Trump will do), but I’m pretty sure we’re fucked. The last thing we need right now is to point fingers at each other or rehash the primaries.
“Bernie would have won!” Maybe, but it’s not a sure thing. The strain of virulent anti-Semitism in this country is much stronger than I had imagined, Sanders is a cranky old Jewish socialist. Many of the same people who rejected Clinton certainly weren’t going to be comfortable voting for Sanders.
Look. I voted for Sanders in the caucus, but I wasn’t sure, even then, if he would be a good president. I appreciated him for moving Clinton to the left because her inclination is to turtle down and do what’s most politically expedient. I was never completely sold on Clinton, and we have to face that as well. The fact that she might not have been our strongest candidate, but we’ll never know because the DNC cleared the way for her fairly early on.
I’m not saying we aren’t in need of self-reflection. God knows we’ve fucked this up big time. What I’m saying, though, is that we need to do it without hurling accusations and without being defensive. Progressives are saying pragmatists sold out and offered up a corrupt candidate. Pragmatists are saying progressives are being childish and unrealistic, and have to prove themselves to the party once again. There is a grain of truth to both sides, but each side is being way too unflinching and tribal.
Basically, let’s stop yelling at each other and actually start talking to each other. There’s been a disturbing trend in the Democratic party to narrow support rather than broaden it. “I will only support someone who is X, Y, or Z.” It’s understandable to be comfort with people who are like you, but it’s not a good political move to cut out others who differ from you slightly. One thing I’ve always liked about the Democratic Party is that we’re a broad tent. We welcome many. Yes, there are lines that need to be drawn, and the sticky area comes from who gets to draw the line and where. For example, I firmly believe that two planks of the platform need to be reproductive justice and workers’ rights. I am chary of the expansion to include anti-choice Democrats and right-to-work Democrats. Intellectually, I know that there are large swathes of America in which you need to at least be nominally anti-choice in order to run, but it chafes at everything I believe in.
Same with right-to-work. There seems to be more and more Democrats who disparage unions and are more capitalistic than not. Workers are feeling neglected, and it’s not entirely unwarranted. One reason Sanders garnered so much support is because of his championing of workers, and the more pragmatic wing of the Democratic Party would do well to heed that message. Do not simply dismiss it as white dudes bitching because it’s more than that. Economic uncertainty has been the catch phrase of this last election, and while most Trump supporters are better off than other people, it doesn’t mean that they’re not economically scared. Fear is not always rational, and dismissing that fear won’t do anything to dispel it.
Let’s be honest. Manufacturing jobs have gone, and they’re not coming back. There are many small towns in America that are withering because of this, and we need to address their concerns. What are we going to do to help them? Without the manufacturing jobs and with little other skills, how are they to survive? We need to find a way to help them learn other trades, or we’ll have whole towns dying off. It’s uncomfortable for me to write this, and we Dems don’t like to think about it. We must, though, because it’s the right thing to do, but it’s also a portion of Americans we have been ignoring. We need to remedy that, especially if we want to survive past the next four years.
My progressive friends, it’s frustrating being a political junkie. but do not let purity get in the way of progress. There was a huge difference between Trump and Clinton, and by refusing to acknowledge that, we now have someone who is eminently unsuitable as president. If you want to change the system, you have to work at it–and not just protest vote every four years. Change is fucking hard. And, now, we’re going to see everything we’ve worked for in the last eight years repealed.
My pragmatic friends, don’t be afraid to stick your neck out. We have to show what we stand for–not just that we’re not the Republicans. We need to offer possibilities for them that they can’t get from the Republicans, and they need to be clear. We need to be clear about why Clinton lost, study candidate Obama, and learn how we can do better in the future. Clinton took some constituents for granted, and didn’t do enough to fire people up. I grew to admire Clinton more as the campaign went on, but I was never enthusiastic about her. I don’t make that a condition for my support, but some people do.
My fellow marginalized friends, let’s not jump down the throat of everyone who wants to be an ally. I’m not talking about trolls or hateful people, but the ones who are really trying their best to do the right thing. I know it feels good to yell and lecture, but it’s not doing any good. Changing people takes time, work, support, and love. I’m not saying don’t push back or make them come correct, but cut them some fucking slack. I see people walking on tenterhooks, afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. I want people on my side. I want people not fearing to speak their minds or sharing their thoughts. I’ve seen more than one ally frustrated by being told to sit down and shut up or anything they try to do isn’t good enough. I’m not talking about giving ally cookies, but everybody needs to feel valued. I don’t like the current thought that it’s OK to berate someone who’s in the majority just because.
Which leads me to, woke white allies. I’d like you to stop berating your fellow white people or talking about how ashamed you are to be white. It reminds me too much of marginalized people denying their own communities in order to ingratiate themselves with the powers that be. There is a certain cache in liberal social media in being a minority, and there are white people way too eager to throw their compatriots under the bus in their desire to show how down with the cause they are. In addition, it allows them to assuage their own guilt or to gloss over the fact that they’re also white.
We have work to do, within the party and without. Within, we have to come together because we have a bigger threat than each other to face. I’m fucking tired of seeing liberals online sneering at each other, and both sides refusing to accept any responsibility. We are all to blame, and if we keep yelling at each other, we’ll all have much more to worry about if we don’t get our shit together for the upcoming battle.
I’m still vacillating between fear and rage about what happened and what is happening. I’m still not able to put my thoughts in coherent order, so I’ll end this post for now.