All I’m hearing on DailyKos are the same old tired arguments regarding what Democrats need to do to get back on their feet that I’ve heard the last couple times we had our asses handed to us. We need radical revolutionary change. Stop trying to preserve outdated wars against top-down institutions. You will lose trying.
First of all, unions are outdated — we need to move to a worker cooperative based economy. If we’re going to bailout a corporation that has been bankrupted due to boardroom malfeasance, give it to the workers and convert it into a worker cooperative. Don’t liquidate it to the next corporate crony. If they are going to privatize everything, then learn to play their game — convert public institutions to a privatized worker cooperative. Argue that it relatively minimizes corruption and overhead typical of top-down organizations. That includes public schools — give them to the teachers and schoolboard. This is how you fight back against the corporate rent seekers who are behind ALEC, using their own arguments. Many issues like a fair minimum wage will be better resolved and second nature under a worker cooperative oriented economy.
Secondly, promote the GIGA economy. If top-down institutions can replace workers with robots, then we can do the same — replace top-down institutions with robots and computers. A lot of top down institutions that are outdated and needless middlemen that serve no purpose but to procure overhead costs like health insurance and basic banking can be replaced with a computer. Microsoft offered the Obama administration the opportunity to build such a health insurance network in the early days of the ACA debate, but of course Obama declined, being beholden to the industry.
Thirdly, campaign finance reform needs to be up front and center, and hammered endlessly and relentlessly. Bernie Sanders set the gold standard in that regard — no more corporate DINOS who are quiet about it. Any Democratic candidate who is quiet about it and takes wall street money is compromised — stop voting for them and then acting all surprised that they’re beholden to their donors. No more pivoting. no more triangulation. Voters can smell a phony from miles away, that strategy doesnt work anymore.
Fourthly, stop ignoring voter suppression. I’m tired of people acting all surprised after election day that voter suppression of minorities is still going on and factors into razor thin margins, when it was reported in the news all year long for years. It just shows how much you really cared about the minority vote. We see you.
These four issues need to be promoted day in day out everyday, all year round, in every corner of the country, everyday until election day, both during midterms and presidential elections, both during the primary and general election. And do it ruthlessly and unapologetically.
That’s how you win the war against ALEC and Wall Street. It’s time to move on to the 21st century and leave the past behind.
Addedum: The reason why we’re losing jobs is because we still have a top down institution based economy that buys off politicians (with the overhead costs they earned by ripping off their workers, no less) to send jobs overseas and convert jobs to computers/robots and cares nothing of the local community, not a bottom up institution based economy that is more invested and rooted in the local community. As long as top down institutions still rule the roost you will be forever screwed, no union job will save you. Appeal to localism and bottom up growth is a winning strategy.