I know the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have been part of our fine country for half the decades since its European conquest. And there have been plenty of times before now that they’ve seemed dysfunctional or irrelevant. Something about the conduct of the 2016 election just makes me think: this is it, the time when the towel is thrown in — and political parties [at least, the two aforementioned] will join land line phones, record stores, video rentals, photographic film and handwritten letters in the scrap pile of recent history.
Sure, there are certain aspects of strategy and expertise [voter databases, redistricting, canvassing, cultivating candidates] that may remain the special domain of party operatives — some of which require actual human judgment calls, and thus are not prone to replacement with well-sorted mobile apps.
As far as maintenance of two major parties as a popular construct, that’s probably past its reasonable shelf life.
When one major party nominates Trump, they virtually guarantee not being taken seriously. That still has such an air of un-reality to me. I couldn’t stand him since the ‘70s when he was fucking up Atlantic City. Everything he has done since just piles on — nonstop fraud and abuse, in litigation at all times... the billionaire with a victim mentality, the misogynist creep, gold-plated cheese-ball dispenser of platitudes, a know-nothing ruthless, maniacal mo-fo, not remotely qualified or gifted in any helpful way. I find Michael Moore’s explanation, that this was nothing but a publicity stunt gone bad the most plausible explanation of all.
To quote a friend, I am an “equal opportunity hater”. I will not be cheering on Secretary Clinton in the last month of this brutal, twist-the-knife-in-the-open-wound election cycle. And I know that is not the Party Line, and this is a Party Site, with Party Rules and Protocol.
Going to talk about Alaska, since that is where I live. The Alaska Democratic Party is given to flights of fancy, and there’s not always agreement about tactics and process. Such is the situation in many Red States, eh? I’ve been a declared Democrat for 12 years [and voting for 36], but not active or participating much. In 2010 about half the Dem flock jumped to support the Write-In candidacy of Sen. Lisa Murkowski after she was defeated by Joe Miller in the primary, abandoning Democrat Scott McAdams. Now, six years later, with Murkowski as the R incumbent and Joe Miller in the race as a Libertarian [recently replacing previous L candidate Cean Stevens, who was apparently a placeholder] — about half the Democrats have dropped support for D nominee Ray Metcalfe in favor of Independent Margaret Stock. And in 2014, The Alaska Democrats agreed to withdraw their gubernatorial candidate, Byron Mallott in order to combine tickets with Independent Bill Walker [under the agreement, Mallott ran for Lieutenant Governor with Walker, and the previous Lt. Gov. candidates on both the D and I tickets withdrew].
Margaret Stock is a long shot, and pretty certain Murkowski coasts to a win, maybe by as much as a 30-point margin. In 2010 Murkowski was humbled by the bi-partisan support, then proceeded to do nothing to acknowledge it. Now governor, Walker immediately reneged on his promise to Democratic supporters to not prosecute divisive social issues, by continuing his predecessor Gov. Parnell’s lawsuit to restore marriage discrimination after it was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Most of the State Democratic Party officials were Clinton supporters, but they did not interfere in the operation and prosecution of the D primary in March, wherein Sanders won with 81%, his second largest percentage in any state, only exceeded in VT.
When I discuss the races above with many AK Democrats I end up getting admonished. Ironic, that I seem to go to the polls every time and vote a straight party line [not crossing over in order to block the Tea Party guy or the not-part-of-the-club Dem] and by so doing I am the pariah, the outlier, the enemy of the people. Just one more example of the party system being broken and in serious disarray.
Clinton, with her corporate donors and pro-war/interventionist history is a bit of a turnoff, sorry to say. I feel almost exactly the same way as I did in 1988 when George H.W. Bush won: ambivalent. Not what I wanted at all, but not terrible either. And if I knew his entire history and everything he was involved in, I might think much differently about it [the parts that were widely known were bad enough]. I felt like I was trading integrity for savvy and expertise.
In 2016, that’s not enough. We will all be dealing with an environmental apocalypse of biblical proportions within our lifetimes. Meaningful action is antithetical to the corporate agenda. Corporate interests are supporting Clinton because they know Trump will not win. They are playing their cards as expected.
The fate of the earth shouldn’t be left in the hands of a Center-Right and Far Right party. One is more trustworthy; neither are effective; both a fool’s errand.
