We need a 3rd party thats not completely bought off.
Liberalism isn't going to save us. Way I see it, if we want a better country, we have three options:
Violent revolution. This should be a last resort, and I don't think we are quite there yet.
Wait for Fascism to collapse. It will. Problem is, A FUCKING LOT of people will suffer and die in the mean time.
Mobilize a viable third party. No, not the Greens. They are just as corrupt as the rest, and they pal around with Fascist traitors. I'm talking about a real grass roots Leftist movement, starting from the ground up. Basically, use the exact same playbook that MAGA used. They spent the past decade taking over social media with their Manosphere bullshit, and suddenly Gen Z shifted hard to the Right, which younger generations almost never do. We need to take back that online space. Take over town hall meetings, take over school boards, take over city councils, show up in huge numbers to vote for actual good (or as good as we can get) judges and DA's. This also means volunteering, phone banking, door knocking, and most importantly of all, some of you need to run for office. Even something local can make a difference in your community. That's how MAGA won. They didn't even have the numbers. They just had the right strategy, and in their hubris, Democrats ignored it.
The third option is obviously what I prefer to happen. It'll take a few years, and we may not even win the White House in 2028. But this isn't about you or me. It's about the future of civilization. If they did it, so can we. Let's not be outsmarted by a bunch of people who worship a man who can't fucking read.
The 3rd option is still playing with liberal electoralism which got you here in the first place. you could get results faster with mutual aid and strong unions, this is how you guys got worker rights before, in the times of FDR.
A better presence in social media is a good direction though, especially in federated communities that don't need to fear corporate censorship.
Liberal electoralism isn't going anywhere any time soon, unfortunately. We still have to operate within that system if we want to affect any change for the better at the political level. Things like mutual aid and strengthening unions can and should happen right alongside it, just as they did before. But that's a good addition, and I should have mentioned it.
Honestly I'm attempting option 3 any way I can currently. I keep telling my partner if I lose my job I oughta become one of those youtube/twitch talking heads but for actual leftist views and maybe I can help the shift back.
Not saying it can't be done, obviously it can but to many people saying "run for office" is like saying "build a car".
Are there primers on how to start with a campaign for people that have the desire but not the knowledge?
What is all involved in starting and running a successful campaign?
How much time do you need to dedicate to the campaign?
What would be the personal cost for running for office?
Who do you need to hire to help you (manager, donation specialist, volunteer coordinator, etc)?
My guess to this is that the higher the office the more people and money you will need.
I'm not writing this to be contrary but to really get answers - I think more people would be more open to the idea if they could see what a campaign needs to be successful.
Definitely good questions. I couldn't find any "Beginners Guide to Running for Office", so I sat up for a while chugging coffee and reading a whole bunch of local election board websites and other related sources, and this is what I came up with. This is by no means a comprehensive list or plan, but I tried to break down the main components of running for a local office in the most general terms possible, so it could be applied more broadly.
Preparation
Campaign Team
Campaign Strategy
Build Your Brand
Community Engagement
Fundraising
Messaging
Get People to Vote
Again, this is by no means a comprehensive, foolproof plan. I didn't include many resources, because requirements, deadlines, and paperwork all vary by state and county. These just seemed to be the most common points I picked up from a number of sources, and should at least give you an idea of how and what to research further.
Personally, I have no ambition to run for office because I'm already 50 and don't want to add to the pool of geriatrics running this country. We need to hand the torch to young people. That said, I will help any way I can if someone younger wants to run. Speech writing, phone banking, logo design, or pretty much anything else, I will gladly offer my services for free.
Great list, thank you for putting it together!
I'm specifically barred from holding any public office, political or not until I exit the military. I have about a year left before I can launch any kind of campaign legally. Assuming we survive that long, I plan to. That all said I have no idea what I'm doing and would love to have the answers to the questions you pose here.
Nope, sorry, I just saw a politico article about Newsom agreeing with Charlie Kirk on trans people in sports that basically boiled down to "FINALLY! SOMEONE understands that this is the most critical topic in America today, and for Democrats to win, they need to become republicans!"
The democrats aren't leading us anywhere. They're not going to save us. They have no vision besides being dollar store republicans and wondering why Republican voters keep choosing Republicans over them.
They have no vision besides being dollar store republicans and wondering why Republican voters keep choosing Republicans over them.
While screaming at anyone to their left for not being enthusiastic to vote for dollar store republicans.
There is a reason the main Democratic leadership is not pushing a more left leaning agenda, they would lose. If the left got a foothold on the national conversation like maga did then the middle of the road Democrats fear they will go the way of the middle of the road Republicans and that is out of power.
There is a reason the main Democratic leadership is not pushing a more left leaning agenda, they would lose.
Well, they just lost by moving right.
Yes they did but they didn't lose control of their narrative which is weak and feckless.
"give me more money and keep me in power and I promise to not do much." and "don't look left, they are crazy!"
Yes they did but they didn’t lose control of their narrative which is weak and feckless.
Weak and feckless is their brand.
The Democrats feel like they are more concerned about how the utencils are arranged beside the plate than making sure people have food on it.
look up your local water treatment infrastructure. look up all the suppliers, and their suppliers, so you know who to talk to when you're the last thing between your city and mass dysentery. maybe get some reserve chemicals and commonly broken parts, if you can afford it.
and figure out how to keep your local nazis from destroying all the infrastructure. they love doing that shit.
Progressive ideals? Democrats can’t even spell it, let alone legislate it without corporate strings attached. Incisive critique of bipartisan failure and urgent call for accountability.
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
we don't need the democrats. they will never step up. they have had so many chances. if anyone remembers the 2000 election, you'll know that this is all kind of their fault. they won an election, and gave it up because the nazis threw a fucking fit.
if you want leadership, pick up a fucking banner. you are the government now. and you should be fucking pissed about that.
The fact that Democrats should be raising their voices as loudly as possible against this admin’s moves but instead a sizable 10 of them voted to censure the 1 Democrat who tried to in fact do that, tells you everything about the Democrats’ plans.
At this point, there are only a handful of them who are rallying their constituents and speaking out about this admin’s atrocities, but the majority is completely MIA. Then they wonder why their voters are MIA during the elections.
at best the democrats don't understand the assignment. at worst they understand this to be the assignment
i fear for the core of the party, it's the latter, and that the majority is following that core because they don't know the assignment
The dem party needs to be burned to the ground, I don't think it is reformable at this point.
so you would take out Bernie and AOC over a law to remove SA content?
trump is already suing media companies openly so he doesn't even need this.
At this point a total collapse of the USA's 2-party-system seems the best of all realistic alternatives.
Because the Dems getting their shit together in less than 4 years certainly isn't realistic.
The two party system can't collapse without taking the whole government down with it. It's baked into the constitution. Not in words as such, but in mathematical reality. I just want to be real about "realistic outcomes." Fix the parties or rewrite the whole fucking shebang.
And that second option—there is a lot unsaid there about how that comes about, but it's not by everyone embracing universal brotherhood and sisterhood and mutually agreeing on a better way.
The two party system can collapse. It has several times before. What needs to happen is for the Democratic Party to go the way of the Whigs.
With the Whigs, there was a total realignment of politics based on the single issue of slavery, which led to immediate civil war. That doesn't seem like it really contradicts my point.
The US government is like a beat up old car we try to keep on the road with Lucasoil and duct tape. We’ve needed to fix it a long time ago but we didn’t.
The car will eventually stop working and leave us stranded if we do nothing, but we also can’t afford to leave it at the mechanic for a week because we need to get to work in the morning.
The government will fall, people will be hurt by it, and we will have to make something new - note I didn’t say better - and it will happen at the least opportune time.
Couldn't agree more. Especially that last part. New doesn't mean better. We can hope.
The democrats and thier party have been bought and paid for. They aren't going to save us from the billionaires.
Then Why did you vote them out and give Republicans complete control over the government?
Dear non voters, it would've been nice if you turned out and gave us any power.
-Democratic party
Dear democratic party, it would've been nice if you ever actually used any power to do things for the people beyond token gestures.
-the people
Aca, student loan debt cancelation, biggest climate change bill ever.
You- "but it's not my pretty pony I wanted."
Attention all whiners- maybe vote them in everytime so they don't have to spend at least half if not all their term cleaning up Republican messes. And vote in primaries for more progressive candidates.
Or just accept things getting shittier because youre lazy and spoiled. Either/or.
The ACA was made mostly useless by not having a government option. The end result was a system where you either had to pay for a shitty overpriced healthcare plan or pay a penalty on your taxes. The tax penalty has since been removed, but the shitty overpriced plans remain. There are a couple of good things like not denying certain cover for "pre-existing conditions" and allowing younger people to stay on their parents' insurance until 26, but those are closer to token gestures than real solutions, as I've said. There is a reason why health insurance profits keep breaking records.
Student loan debt cancellation was mostly the enforcement of an existing program where you already have to jump through hoops just to qualify. By the time you qualify, you've already paid back more than the principle on your student loan debt by a lot. Another token gesture for a problem that biden helped create by backing a bill making student loan debt non-dischargeable through bankruptcy. Sure must be nice to be given credit to barely make a debt in a massive problem he himself had created.
The "biggest climate change bill ever" is argued in terms of dollars spent. Money spent =/= effective action taken. For example, biden was approving oil drilling permits on public lands at a faster rate than even trump's first term. He also slapped 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs and 50% on solar panels.
In each of these cases there has been a massive giveaway to American corporations with a few token gestures to lull regular people into thinking democrats are doing something for them. You may be clapping your hands together and giggling in ecstasy at democrats shaking a rattle, but people who know better and can see these insignificant actions for what they are aren't impressed. Democrats work for the billionaires and them blame everyone else for things getting worse, just like you're doing right now. You're doing the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" argument, electoralism edition.
ACA has no public option because of Lieberman. Now maybe if he had been primaried and another more progressive Dem taken his place, then we'd have a public option by now. Instead we've continued with concessions to insurance. But yes- it is MARKEDLY better than what was there before despite all the warts.
Debt cancellation was done by Biden who did everything he could. Now maybe if the Dems had more than a slight majority in the Senate full of (yes, Lieberman like) Sinema and Manchin, they could've done something through Congress.
Biggest climate change bill ever PERIOD. And yes, he approved oil drilling and put tariffs on Chinese EVs. Part of politics. People do want clean solutions but do not want 1) American jobs to vanish due to Chinese subsidization of their entire EV industry overwhelming American auto jobs and 2) ...no real excuse for the oil drilling. Other than people would bitch about even more inflation had he not.
In each of these cases you'll notice a common refrain- the Democrats DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH POWER to enact the things you're talking about. They are not "token" gestures- they're what can get done with what they had. WV put Manchin there but what did the rest of America do? They put only 51 Democrats next to him (including a turncoat in Sinema.) If they didn't need those two votes at all then maybe they couldn't nuke the biggest portion of these bills. Maybe if the American people gave a shit then things would get done.
People seem to think I'm arguing for Democrats or something. I'm not really. I'm arguing for ACTION. Now if you wanna delude yourself and make a "Socialism NOW" party of progressive politics that by first glance turns off 70% of the voting population, go ahead. I'm telling you as a former 3rd party voter when I was a pie in the sky idealist that it's just not gonna happen. What can happen though is turning the Democratic party back to what it needs to be- a populist-ish party that actually seriously helps Americans. If you froze a Republican in 2000 they would probably not recognize the party in 2025 given how the tea party zealots and bigots and grifters have taken it over (even from a dismal 2000 outlook.)
So maybe if progressives and leftists and all those people stopped endlessly fighting amongst themselves and banded together, they could primary and move the party left. Or maybe if they turned out EVERY ELECTION and convinced everyone else to do so, the Democrats wouldn't have to unfuck the previous 4 years of Republican destruction. Or maybe progressive policies just aren't as popular as people think (and one could argue that people in general are too dumb to realize it.)
You gotta train the dog. You can't wait for the dog (the Dems) to do what you want by abstaining from voting or "punishing" them by letting them lose. Witness how the Republican party mirrors their devouts' most fervent desires vs....the Dems.
ACA has no public option because of Lieberman.
ACA has no public option because the public option was always a bill of goods. It was meant to be jettisoned at the very first opportunity, and it was.
Aca
Was 15 years ago. How long to you intend to continue coasting on an inadequate half-measure?
This is the new whataboutism strategy. This is the new "both sides".
Nah, Democrats failed us again last year. Instead of focusing on what matters, they played the exact same play out of their playbook from 2016. Which was to attack Trump over and over. They didn't promise much of anything, only that "well, we're not Trump so vote for us!". We did that in 2020 with Biden and the best Biden did was nudge things but he didn't do that grand of a job. We voted for him because he wasn't Trump. When it came time for a fresher candidate to make history again, what did Harris do? She caved and went the whole "AT LEAST WE'RE NOT TRUMP!" towards the end of her campaign and that didn't do wonders.
And the fact that the Democrats allowed for Republicans, unchallenged, to take the Senate and House? Dude, no balls on them.
Ah, but they don't work too serve us. They work to serve corporations and billionaires. We can fix that, but it will take a lot of relentless work and vigilance, before, during and after fixing it.
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