A new, liberal tea party is forming. Can it last without turning against Democrats?

[DonViejo]

By Paul Kane February 11 at 4:50 PM

Grass-roots movements can be the life and death of political leaders.

It’s a well-worn story now about how John A. Boehner, then House minority leader, joined a rising star in his caucus, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, in April 2009 for one of the first major tea party protests in the California Republican’s home town of Bakersfield.

A little more than six years later, after they surfed that wave into power, the movement consumed both of them. Boehner was driven out of the House speaker’s office and McCarthy’s expected succession fell apart, leaving him stuck at the rank of majority leader.

Democrats are well aware of that history as they try to tap the energy of the roiling liberal activists who have staged rallies and marches in the first three weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.

What if they can fuse these protesters, many of whom have never been politically active, into the liberal firmament? What if a new tea party is arising, with the energy and enthusiasm to bring out new voters and make a real difference at the polls, starting with the 2018 midterm elections?

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/a-new-liberal-tea-party-is-forming-can-it-last-without-turning-on-democrats/2017/02/11/94421200-efdf-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html?utm_term=.2e95132e0515&wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1

[Blanks]

1. Liberal is a bad word...

Right wingers have been using it in place of profanity for decades.

Conservativism is the opposition to liberalism, which is why we must fight for progressive issues. Jobs will come from fighting conservatives with progressive issues.

Alternative energies, sustainability, improved infrastructure (high speed internet), more telecommuting, green technology, these are progressive issues and when you talk about creating jobs with these issues, conservatives (especially young conservatives) will come over to our camp.

We won't bring them over harping on liberal issues that they don't care about. It's all about which issues we put out front. We have to appeal to where we want to go, to oppose their tendency to return to the good old days.

[brer cat]

4. So you are willing

to throw women and people of color under the bus?

[Blanks]

5. Absolutely not...

Most of the investment that we should make is in urban areas that seem to have been abandoned. We need to repurpose old schools and abandoned malls and residential neighborhoods with dilapidated houses. That's where we can put solar panels and green technology like aquaponics and neighborhood farmers markets.

There's a fair amount of this kind of thing going on anyway. It just isn't widespread enough.

Of course we want to take care of the less fortunate, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, but that should be a given, history is on our side, the issues that we need to push are green and technology jobs if we want to widen our base.

[brer cat]

6. So you are going to address issues important to women and people of color

by investing in abandoned urban areas and taking care of the poor, disabled and elderly? Wow. I think my question was answered quite loudly. Ta, ta.

[Blanks]

9. What did I say wrong?

[Hortensis]

15. This is just an illustration of how failure happens.

Let's hope it's not a preview.

IF an activist movement involves all groups who resist what's happening on the right, but specifically including the largest and most stable and effective group -- Democrats, including liberals and moderate conservatives in and out of the party--it will succeed.

If it is made up of and run by a smaller group of illiberals, it will ultimately turn its energies to squabbling with the rest of the left--instead of the right--and will fail. We know this because it has happened so much in the past. The so-called tea-partier extremists on the right are a cautionary tale; they were bound to fail by the makeup of their movement, and its foolishness. They did so immediately by being formed, funded, and directed by agents of the Kochs, for god's sake.

Btw, another big issue is that the Kochs are ALREADY hoping to do the same with a left-wing movement made up largely of radicals who naturally reject mainstream Democrats. The Kochs know they can't turn liberals, but directing radicals to weaken and cripple Democrats? Well worth their investment.

The current huge threats to our democracy ALL come from the right. When a Steve Bannon is working to replace our democratic republic with an authoritarian state run by an elite class FROM WITHIN THE WHITE HOUSE, any movement to protect our nation must be focused on stopping them and only on that.

[EarthFirst]

13. Solutions to urban gentrification include solar arrays and aquaponic gardening?

What a load of horseshit!

Solutions to urban communities being left to decay include Civilian Review Boards to address aggressive law enforcement agencies with overwhelming Caucasian officers, whom largely live in suburban neighborhoods.

Addressing urban infrastructure that is tens of decades in antiquity that is poisoning infants and children, lead and asbestos abatement programs.

Access to nutritional produce markets and programs and healthcare.

Access to suburban employment that is available NOW, (not some future green washed tech job) by adding mass transit routes to service these outlying sources of income.

These aren't groundbreaking goals here...

THESE are the solutions to the problems that our urban populations need access to, real, tangible human rights solutions that are not by any means difficult to achieve, however they require that a radical approach to institutionalized racism that perpetuates the BASIC problems that are dealt with daily in urban communities.

But please, don't condescend to urban communities by saying a fucking tilapia farm is going to make a difference.

I'm so flabbergasted by how out of touch your response is!

[Blanks]

14. I'm flabbergasted by your aggressive response...

Based on your ideas, there are probably some things we could discuss (since I agree with some of them) but I have a difficult time discussing anything with someone who starts a conversation with 'horseshit'.

Van Jones was putting solar panels on roofs in the city 10 years ago, his goal was to make certain that the out of pocket amount the homeowner paid was less than the utility bill.

Will Allen has been tweaking hydroponics in Milwaukee for a long time, and there are examples of people repurposing existing resources in places like Kansas City and Detroit, but you want to bus the poor to the suburbs. We should be the party of the small innovative business incubator, not the 'bus them to a fast food job' party.

Also, people who live in inner city areas aren't always enthused about gentrification. It often prices them out of a place to live, whereas small agribusinesses make them more independent.

Yes, they should start by requiring that the cops live in the area that they patrol, and dangerous heavy metals and chemicals are a problem, but bussing people to crappy jobs does nothing to improve either of those things.

[ghostsinthemachine]

2. Can the Democratic party move towards

The progressive movement? That's the big question. If not, then the party will split.

[elleng]

3. How Democrats Went From Being the Party of the People to the Party of Rich Elites

Thomas Frank
Democrats have gone from the party of the New Deal to a party that is defending mass inequality.

'The Democratic Party was once the party of the New Deal and the ally of organized labor. But by the time of Bill Clinton's presidency, it had become the enemy of New Deal programs like welfare and Social Security and the champion of free trade deals. What explains this apparent reversal? Thomas Frank—best known for his analysis of the Republican Party base in What's the Matter with Kansas?—attempts to answer this question in his latest book, Listen Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?'

http://inthesetimes.com/article/19084/listen-liberal-thomas-frank-democratic-party-elites-inequality

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016154051

[PoiBoy]

7. What an interesting article...

...I'm kind of bothered that I can't disagree with the point that he is making... but I never looked at the situation through his lens... and this article is spot on, IMO..

Thank you for posting this link... it's greatly appreciated..!!

[elleng]

8. You're welcome, PoiBoy.

I suspect his lens would be valuable for many.

[JudyM]

11. Great article, elleng! Thanks for posting it.

[elleng]

12. You're welcome, JudyM.

Many more should be aware, imo.

[yurbud]

10. way to win the trust of the progressive base by comparing us to the Tea Party