|
I apologize for asking this in multiple threads, but who are the big progressive SuperPACs? Are there any? As much as particular individual candidates can sometimes overcome funding barriers, it seems to take so much funding to do the canvassing, ads and social media outreach necessary to cut through against opposition attacks and media noise to help a candidate define himself or herself instead of letting external parties do the defining. It takes so much time and money to run for office, which is why wealthy donors and gatekeeping organizations like the DCCC and the DSCC have so much influence over how candidates position themselves. If there were some decently sized funds more left wing than, say, George Soros, willing to help candidates get off the ground and make themselves visible, I'd like to think that would really help things a lot. Recent years seems to have established that the DNC and mainstream Democratic apparatus is overcentralized and varies between incompetent and corrupt (if not being both at the same time), so I think you need funding alternatives so progressive candidates aren't coming in with box cutters while the other side has M16s. I think we're still watching the full disaster of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision unfold.
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2020 15:55
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 08:58 |
|
|
Cpt_Obvious posted:At a certain point, we are going to need to define what "progressive" means in such a way as it qualifies some things and disqualifies other. As it stands, "progressive" implies progress towards a goal, but that goal has never been identified. Good question. In many ways, Soros is "progressive," but not nearly to the left as most posters here would like. I was thinking of whether there were SuperPACs supporting Bernie Sanders or any other candidate who supported Medicare for All or the Green New Deal.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2020 16:39
|
|
|
Cpt_Obvious posted:Again, that depends entirely on how you would define "progressive". What are we progressing towards? What are we moving away from? What does that word mean in a political context? Okay. I don't have a useful response. I was counting on posters to say, "well, [INSERT NAME] is a SuperPAC advocating for single payer healthcare" or "[INSERT NAME] was started to support insurgent candidates and chip away at the DCCC's dominance," or similar pieces of information. Would it help to just eliminate "progressive" from my question? I am mainly wondering how the left will fuel its own advocacy and political organizing when money means so much (even if it shouldn't).
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2020 16:50
|
|
|
I'm starting to dream about a left-leaning investment fund that engages in some kind of passive or socially responsible investing and then uses the funds to support candidates who want good things and not just capitalist donor pet projects. The contradictions of capitalism and all the other familiar demons means this is probably a really problematic idea that you'll all go HAM on, but it just seems like you need something like this if it doesn't already exist.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2020 17:00
|
|
|
Ytlaya posted:I think that money can be somewhat useful for some low-level races, but that it will never be a solution for actually achieving significant power (since the left will always lose that game). I know some people who I thought would have been great candidates who just could not get the funds to run and could not get outside support. They didn't come from money and they couldn't just quit their jobs to chase a primary against opponents who already had DCCC or other established party connections. I agree that money does not solve things on its own, but it's a lot easier to pull off an underdog victory if they aren't fighting with nothing. For me, it's helping worthy candidates and campaigns get started and stay in the fight. And as you point out, with state level and city level races, we're talking situations where 4-5 figure amounts could be big game changers. quote:There's also a pretty big problem with large self-defined "progressive" political organizations with significant money involved with them tending to become infested with PMC ladder-climber types (as The Oldest Man mentioned). The Bernie campaign was also victim to this. Are there any articles on this? I'd like to learn more.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2020 03:28
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 08:58 |
|
|
doverhog posted:Progressive means you want society to progress towards gay space communism. Trump started Space Force, so Trump is the most progressive.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2020 21:07
|
|