Power and Party

Returning from an impressive and progressive town hall in Santa Rosa, where my belief in Mike McGuire was again justified, I got word that the National Democratic Party had elected a new chair, a Hillary man. That should solidify power in the grip of those who see the future of the party as centrist, middling and Wall Street. And, most important, it will keep the party in the same capable and wealthy hands that, by losing, brought us our current House, Senate and President. Next, a new Supreme Court. 

The problem here is that demographics are not destiny unless you can persuade the new voters that you will deliver what they need and care about. Otherwise they won't register or vote. Why should new voters trust the National Democrats? Why should I?  Yes, control of the National Democratic Party can make a poor Arkansas man as rich as a Clinton. It's a gigantic money machine. But the National Party and its aging leaders don't deliver on my issues. They lose elections. They don't know or care what I want or what Black Lives Matter wants or what the nurses want. They do grasp what Wall Street wants. That's where the cash is. If you own a national party, you find a thousand pots of gold in reach.

Sometimes the National Democrats ride by throwing out cheap gifts to the poor. They aren't Republicans. But I (who once chaired the liberal caucus of the California Federation of Young Democrats) am no longer a Democrat. Today I became an independent progressive. Independents outnumber Republicans in California. Earn my vote if you can. I'm listening. Many are not. Nearly half the citizens in swing states, including many young ones, won't listen to stale rhetoric. They need something new.