home
DNC Opens in Philadelphia | 148 comments (148 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

At the end of the day, it's all about the votes. (5.00 / 1) (#22)
by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Jul 25, 2016 at 04:38:34 PM EST
And Hillary Clinton received 4 million more of them than did Bernie Sanders.

You want a place at the political table, then you need to muscle up, be willing to throw a few sharp elbows and also take a few shots in return. If you're just going to whine about how unfair everything is, you're going to find yourself shoved aside without so much as a second glance or thought.

Sad to say, but political change doesn't spontaneously burst forth from the goodness of people's hearts. They'll care enough to do something about it, only if you are substantial enough to command their attention and make them care.

Aloha.

Parent

Who was it, Joe Hill? (none / 0) (#29)
by jondee on Mon Jul 25, 2016 at 04:53:28 PM EST
who said "Don't mourn, organize"?

The problem around these precincts seems to be that if people organize too well, they may run the risk of outraging the dignity of the personality cults that mysteriously congeal around certain career politicians who somehow have gotten confused with people's early childhood memories of mommy and daddy.

Parent

Spoken like someone who's ... (none / 0) (#142)
by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Jul 25, 2016 at 09:39:09 PM EST
... never done any organizing whatsoever. You obviously know nothing about party organization, so please don't even go there. I'd lay better than even money that -- and be honest here -- you probably don't even know how many precincts there are in your own district.

And therein lies the likely problem. If you feel this strongly about things, then please stop complaining, get out there and get involved on a local level. Take the time to educate yourself about the politics of your own community, and you'll likely find that there are others of similar mindsets who'd be more than willing to make common cause with you, if you but seized the initiative and made the effort.

And who knows, by doing so, you might find -- as I did when I started 25 years ago -- that the Democratic precincts and districts in your region or state are so loosely organized as to be ripe for the plucking. I'll even show you how to assess the prospects and do it, if so asked. Because in order to get things accomplished politically, you have to start by working to maneuver yourself into a position where the powers-that-be ignore you at their own peril.

In my old east Honolulu region, I worked like hell at organizing my four districts. I'm proud to say that by the time I moved to Hilo last year, that six-mile stretch of Oahu's southern coastline from Diamond Head to Makapuu Point is where one out of every eight card-carrying members of the Democratic Party in the entire State of Hawaii presently resides -- including our State Party Chair and two Democratic National Committeemembers.

And our capacity to turn out the Democratic vote in that region is substantial. When Gov. Ige was elected in 2014, more than 40% of his margin of victory was derived in east Honolulu.

That's called clout. How you attain it is by organizing, organizing, organizing. There is no easy short cut.

Aloha.

Parent

DNC Opens in Philadelphia | 148 comments (148 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft