Dr_0ctag0n posted:

Guillotines

Mirthless posted:

Except they can't do that because those gun control laws get challenged in court by republican lobbying groups or blocked by the national party

If states were allowed to decide their own gun control policies and if people were allowed to get legal recourse for gun crime there would be less of a push for it to happen at the national level in the first place.

bump_fn posted:

OhFunny posted:

I just got home.

I drove an hour to attend my County Democrat Meeting and got to speak during open forum.

I said I was there because I was angry. Angry that Donald Trump is President and Hillary Clinton. That I was also angry that labor had been ignored this election. That we lost Wisconsin and Michigan, the most union states, because we didn't speak to labor issues. Donald Trump spoke to workers about how he was going to bring jobs back from China. He's lying of course, but lies are better than silence. I said Democrats need to make labor the #1 priory going forward from the local to the national level and the strongest voice for that would be to support Keith Ellison as the next DNC chairman.

Everyone applauded and a woman came up to me later to thank me for speaking and that they needed more rabble rousers.

I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Mordiceius posted:

Well, I'm at the Alameda County Democratic Party meeting and they're already rumbling about pushing for a general strike.

Dr. Arbitrary posted:

What's nuts to me is that there definitely is some sort of local presence in every state, but we're a group of pretty sharp people and can't seem to find a way in.

What hope would a less connected person working on their own have?

Pollyanna posted:

NationBuilder looks good, although their front page is a little broken for me.

I think one of the things in this country that really, really could benefit from better tech and infrastructure is local politics, especially given how far behind the times the Democratic party is. Social media integration, things like NationBuilder...something, anything.


All of them do, we just die too quickly for it to kill us off.

Sheng-ji Yang posted:

he left the party again and will be an independent in the senate but also on dem leadership

skylined! posted:

Me too. My new theory is that the moment it was clear trump won they were all raptured.

Venom Snake posted:

Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence.

quote:

Our local town and ward committees are the heart and soul of grassroots organizing. They are responsible for organizing Democrats in their communities. Below you'll find a list of local town, ward, and city chairs across the state. Contact your local chair to get involved!

Serf posted:

This is my current plan.

If by "showing up" you mean "starting my own local Democrat branch because one doesn't currently exist in my godforsaken county"

Syndlig posted:

Further update on lovely Texas Democrats: After scouring their website, I still have no idea when their next meeting is (presumably some time next year), but I did find this

Holy poo poo. Twenty-loving-fourteen?!

Pollyanna posted:

Yep, this is what I've run into trying to find a place to show up to here in Boston. There's loving nothing. The Democrats don't care about us.


Where!?

Pollyanna posted:

lol yes im totally gonna do that and not immediately get either 1. escorted away or 2. flat out shot

Apraxin posted:

Democratic Senator says he's gonna back appointing Sessions as AG. (It's Joe Manchin, of course, but still UGHHHHH.)

Also gonna quote this thing I posted in another thread, in case anyone here might have an answer (beyond 'lol, yes they are'):

Mrit SA posted:

This is awesome, except the Republicans will completely ignore it so it won't go anywhere.

logikv9 posted:

people are morons that don't understand taxes except that they're bad for nebulous reasons so "paying taxes is a good thing" won't resonate with most voters

ChickenOfTomorrow posted:

saaaaaaaaame


what's your candidate statement gonna be

Gringostar posted:

-proceeds to get elected

-republicans block everything they can and then blame you for things not getting better

-republicans elected to replace you

GlyphGryph posted:

Yeah it's worth pointing out that only one of my examples of Leftist success could actually be attributed to the Democrats, and that they're also the ones responsible for how poo poo it ended up being as a solution.

I tried really hard to think of a time in the last several decades where the Democrats actually gave people hope and then followed through on it when they had the power and it was actually really hard, they mostly just seem to... resist cultural changes less strongly?

Gringostar posted:

i don't disagree with you on the second point

and on the first point it's either institutionalized racism in police forces that aren't confined to only CA but instead a systemic problem or prop 13 which if you wanted to do poo poo about that the state would swing republican so fast it would make your head spin

i say this as someone that wants prop 13 to get reformed

Gringostar posted:

people in blue states are generally happy though so why would politicians want to gently caress that up and risk getting tossed?

i'm not trying to be an rear end in a top hat btw, most people in CA are happy with their politicians and none of them ran on fixing prop 13 or strengthening unions (if anything most people hate unions here because of the prison guard one) but I'm 100% on board with supporting ones that actually propose those things

AngryBooch posted:

Dude, Democrats in California raised the minimum wage, gave farm workers overtime pay, and passed equal pay in 2016 alone. So, yeah, they're doing poo poo.

AngryBooch posted:

Like what else on the state level?

sincx posted:

I think the key here is that California Democrats are liberal on social issues and are willing to accept somewhat higher taxes (especially if they only apply to people richer than themselves) to resolve some aspects of economic disparity. What they (and most others) will NOT accept is anything that they perceive as negatively affecting their own quality of life or the life of their children, even if it's for the greater good.

The latter include any repeal of Prop 13 (will drastically increase property taxes and/or lower housing value), attempts to increase housing density (will put more pressure on neighborhood public services and might make schools *gasp* more diverse), attempts to reform healthcare (single payer may result in a decrease in care quality for those who currently have good employer-sponsored health insurance), etc.

If the California democratic party starts pushing realistic solutions to any of the profound economic disparity issues facing the state, the backlash will flip California red. And the CA dems know this, so they will never do something this drastic.

Gringostar posted:

repealing prop 13, or even amending it will absolutely hurt the middle class most of whom are only middle class because of how much their house is worth

AngryBooch posted:

California could absolutely be better but they don't even have the votes to repeal prop 13 yet (and when/if they do they'd likely start with raising the property taxes on commercial properties, rather than residential), urban density is increasing and starting to be addressed in Los Angeles (which I know more about than other counties). California is one of the most well-run states in the union and is continually improving even through severe drought and economic headwinds with virtually no help from the feds. Things could be better though, not disagreeing.

Gringostar posted:

Prop 55 passed which kept the increased taxes on people making over $500k dude

raising taxes on the rich is something CA has done and will continue to do, but until prop 13 is fixed there are a lot of things that will still be hosed is the issue

Pener Kropoopkin posted:

It's not enough to just show up and vote, the leadership has to be primaried out of contention. The problem with the Democratic party is ideological, and pushing turnout for the same corrupt machine Democrats isn't going to change anything.

Penisaurus Sex posted:

One of the most positive things that can come out of this farce of an election is for people-at-large to realize that there are far more ways to become politically involved than by showing up every 2 years to vote.