(02-01-2017, 11:09 PM)RandomGuy199 Wrote:

Qvait Wrote:What needs to happen is you find a candidate who isn't moderately-far-left (Bernie) or center-right (Hillary). We need a candidate that is center-left, one that can reconcile both the Bernie and Hillary Democrats. The truth of the matter is, the Democrats need Bernie Sanders for the grassroots (he won Wisconsin and Michigan) and we need "the establishment" for their money. Yeah, I hate the big donors. However, since the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, we are playing by their rules. We'll take their sword and use it against them. However, the grassroots needs attention first. State legislators, governorships, and congressional seats are up for grabs before 2020, and we need every last one of them. When the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, minorities who vote Democratic were targeted by discriminatory voter ID laws passed by Republican state legislatures and governors (North Carolina and Wisconsin). The Census is coming up in 2020 as well. With that comes redistricting, and that means gerrymandering by the Republicans. We need to stop that in its tracks. The Democratic Party needs to get busy, right now.

I'll have to disagree on this one. If you take establishment money you'll be seen as hypocrites. Bernie Sanders (who I wouldn't describe as far-left in the slightest) didn't take money from donors, but came close to beating Clinton on the primaries (and some say he could have beaten Trump too) and could have possibly done so, if not for the DNC rigging them. It has been argued that one of the reasons Hillary lost is the fact that she was seen as an "establishment" candidate and a hypocrite pledging to "regulate Wall Street" while taking millions from them.

That is true. And, I forgot that the American political spectrum is skewed to the right. Bernie would be just left. However, one thing's for sure, Hillary is on the right. Before 2020, the Democrats should introduce a constitutional amendment banning political donations from corporations and unions. We need to be the party of the people. The Republicans are not. They take money from Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big whatever. The Koch brothers considered donating a BILLION (with a "b") dollars to elect a Republican President in 2016. That's not the party of the people.

The Democratic National Committee is run by Clinton Democrats, but they have a chairmanship election this month. My hope is that Keith Ellison is elected as the chair. As a Democrat from the Midwest, he can understand people in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. He has the backing of Bernie Sanders, former Minority Leader Harry Reid, current Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, eight other Senators, civil rights icon John Lewis, 27 other Representatives, and my Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.