Tag: 2010 midterm elections

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump: If They Don’t Know Them (Apart) by Now…

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This photo mash-up of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (Dillary Clump?) is the kind of thing that gives small children nightmares. (Image Source: TheChive)

Economist Robert Reich, a man whose insights on matters of economics and public policy I respect dearly, and whom I’ve referenced numerous times on this blog, took to his own website to weigh on the refrain he’s heard from numerous Bernie Sanders supporters who see little difference between the two major-party candidates for President of the United States this election cycle. In a piece entitled “Why You Must Get Behind Hillary, Now,” Reich makes an impassioned plea to those voters contemplating a protest vote, whether based on the notion Hillary Clinton is no better than Donald Trump, that if she is better she’s still corrupt, or that the Democratic Party doesn’t deserve our vote owing to their shenanigans. His response to these justifications for choosing anyone but Hillary is threefold:

1. Trump is a crazy asshole.

Robert Reich here is not so much making a defense of Hillary Clinton, who he acknowledges is not perfect, as much as he is pointing out Donald Trump’s flaws. Namely that he’s dangerously unqualified, full of himself, and racist as all hell. Clinton, at the very least, is very qualified. As we’ve heard 10,000 times this campaign, HRC is supremely qualified.

2. Trump is an evil, crazy asshole.

Forget the “lesser of two evils,” says Reich. Trump may actually be pure evil. I’ve talked about how voting him into office is making a deal with the Devil, but this literally may be the case. In all seriousness, Robert Reich here is urging Bernie supporters to be “realistic and practical” in making their choice, insisting they are not abandoning their progressive principles or “selling out” by voting for Clinton. Even though that’s totally what it feels like.

3. I know you don’t want to reward the stupid Democratic Party for being stupid, but don’t potentially punish future generations because of it.

Here, Reich stresses again the need to advance progressive values in accordance with the formation of an economic and political system that adequately represents working Americans. The first priority, however, is beating Donald Trump. Without that, argues Robert Reich, the revolution can’t get started, and will only get set back further because of it.

Of course, I am paraphrasing Reich’s more tactful verbiage for (debatable) entertainment value. Creative license aside, I agree, broadly speaking, with the above points. Certainly, I submit to the assertion Trump does not deserve your vote, and assuming the lesser of two evils paradigm, Hillary wins on that count as well. As for voting for Donald Trump to stick it to Clinton and the other establishment Democrats, by punishing the DNC, you are by proxy rewarding a self-destructive Republican Party that should have never allowed Trump to rise so high in the first place. While voting for Hillary Clinton does not equal a vote for a true progressive, electing Donald Trump is moving even further from these ideals. To borrow an analogy I witnessed on Twitter, voting for Trump instead of Clinton after supporting Bernie Sanders is like ordering, because you can’t have the hot dogs you really want, a bowl of scorpions instead. Robert Reich closes his entry with this stark reminder:

There are just over seven weeks until Election Day. My request to those of you who still don’t want to vote for Hillary Clinton: please reconsider. It is no exaggeration to say the fate of the nation and the world are at stake.

Rather doom-and-gloom, no? Still, I believe Reich is only speaking in such a sobering way because of the gravity of the situation. Donald Trump should not be President of the United States, and if he does win the race, he will probably be a disaster in this role. There’s no need to mince words in this regard—not at this late hour.

Robert Reich is completely right to make this appeal to voters’ better judgment. That we’re less than two months away from the election in November, however, and he’s still having to try to convince Bernie supporters and other would-be protest voters there is a difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, does not bode well for his ability or anyone else’s, for that matter, to sway their opinions. Having far fewer Facebook subscribers to my name, I am in a yet worse position to change the minds of those in dissent. This notwithstanding, let’s review their charges as enumerated by Mr. Reich which may be key to understanding the depths of the #HillNo resistance:

1. Hillary Clinton is no better than Donald Trump.

As Matthew Berry of ESPN fantasy sports might say, “This is factually incorrect.” Hillary Clinton is certainly better than Donald Trump. Trump has not only built a campaign on a Mexican wall that is absurdly ill-advised and would be incredibly wasteful, but he has run on a platform of jingoistic hate speech. Clinton, for her part, has tried to capitalize on her primary competitor’s most offensive remarks, even busting out the slogan “love trumps hate” with obvious allusion to her Republican rival as part of this attempt to distinguish herself to independent and undecided voters. Of course, the concern with Hillary is that she has repressed genuine emotion for so long she can’t actually feel love anymore, much as an android might claim to express love for a pet cat, so that is its own issue. Regardless of her robo-feelings, Hillary Clinton is a better choice than Donald Trump. This does not necessarily mean she is good, mind you, just better than the major-party alternative.

2. Clinton is corrupt.

Um, yeah, but so is Trump. For all that has been said about Hillary Clinton, her E-mails and potential ethical and legal violations occurring with respect to the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Victory Fund, Donald Trump still hasn’t released his tax returns, and has a history of cheating people out of money. In fact, it often seems, when they are not intentionally trying to lose the race by saying something stupid (especially Trump), some unsavory detail about their present situation or past misdeeds surfaces to make us wonder whether or not they have been purposely aiming to out-corrupt one another. In my mind, calling Hillary Clinton corrupt without indicting Donald Trump of the same is allowing a professional con man to fool you by deflecting or by using legal smoke and mirrors to hide his wrongdoing. Clinton’s no saint, but Trump very well may be going to Hell at the end of his story. You know, assuming he’s not Beelzebub to begin with.

3. The Democratic Party doesn’t deserve our vote.

This is probably true. Concordant with Robert Reich’s aforementioned arguments, however, neither does the backwards Republican Party, whose convention was eschewed by both Justin Bieber and Tim Tebow, and which Third Eye Blind—yes, “Semi-Charmed Life” playing Third Eye f**king Blind—performed at just to troll the attendees. The GOP has allowed itself to essentially become an enemy of homosexuals, minorities, sensible gun laws, science, women’s rights and the working class, among other groups. The Democratic establishment may not have done much to earn our vote, but much of the Republican establishment is an embarrassment to the American freedoms it claims to protect.

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The photo that launched a thousand memes. Maybe Bill Maher is right. Maybe Hillary Clinton could benefit by becoming “the Notorious HRC.” (Photo Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

While perhaps unlikely, this thinking could become moot once the presidential debates begin and a yet larger segment of the population gets to witness how completely deficient Donald Trump is in the areas of domestic and foreign policy. Which is pretty much all the policy there is to discuss, so here’s hoping Trump can really put his proverbial foot in his mouth—and often. Still, less than 50 days away from the general election, if we’re still having to wax theoretical about whether the American public might comprehend how deeply unfit Donald Trump is for the highest office in the United States, perhaps we’re barking up the wrong tree. That is, even putting aside his incredible insensitivity toward blacks, the disabled, Jews, members of the media, Mexicans, Muslims, spouses of political rivals, veterans, victims of gun violence, women, and probably scores more groups I can’t immediately bring to mind—admittedly a tough ask, by the way—that the man has nothing developed to his political credit beyond a very costly plan for immigration reform which will only alienate the international community, and that voters don’t see through this fatal flaw, gives many among us pause and makes us wonder why they don’t get this. Unless they do grasp this much, and support him anyway, which, I submit, is ten times worse. If they can’t appreciate this simple truth, then appeals to logic along the lines of Robert Reich’s probably won’t make much of an impact either. For his avid supporters, Trump and his “truthiness” tends to win over more objective measures.

Knowing this, from a campaign strategy perspective, how do we pursue the necessary votes to keep Donald Trump from the White House? As per the usual, the results of polls may vary, but despite her best efforts, Hillary Clinton is still ahead nationally by a slim margin of about 5%. Of course, if we’re familiar with our old friend the electoral college, we know that presidential races are not won based on overall votes, but owing to performance in individual states, necessitating the elaboration of convoluted what-if scenarios and giving John King another chance to satisfy his apparent touch-screen map fetish. With this in mind, on the state-by-state front, other polls would indicate that the race is more or less neck-and-neck in key battleground/swing states, and with Hillary possibly galvanizing the cause for Trump among his potential supporters with her “basket of deplorables” comment, the presidential race may be even closer than most of us think. Taking this all into account, let’s finally talk turkey on how to address the looming specter of a Donald Trump presidency:

1. Look to recent history to demonstrate that Donald Trump could totally f**king win.

For all the doomsday bluster about Donald Trump possibly winning the presidency that I’ve seen contained in the litany of E-mails I currently receive because of my affiliation as a registered Democrat (which only came about because I wanted to vote for Bernie Sanders in my state primary), as well as my contributions to charitable causes and political campaigns, Democrats, on the whole, don’t seem to be taking this whole voting thing as seriously as the Republican base is, or at least not seriously enough to inspire any real sense of confidence heading into November.

By now, we should understand that if there’s one thing cranky old whites—or COWs, as I call them—like to do: it’s vote. (Presumably, this is second among their favorite things next to telling kids to get off their lawn.) In recent American history, the 2010 mid-term elections were a shellacking of Democratic Party candidates, likely at the hands of voters who were either already disenfranchised with President Obama’s policies, or never wanted a black president in the first place. This occurred, in part, to an overall low voter turnout rate. In international history, but even more recently, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. It still feels weird to say. Turnout was higher in this referendum vote, and the victory for Team Leave was much less decisive than in the 2010 U.S. mid-terms, but on the strength of—you guessed it, herd-mentality COWs scared about Muslims and convinced by unrealistic economic processes—pro-Brexit forces were able to win the day, and as many submit, endanger Britain’s economic future. (Good job, lords and ladies!) The parallels to this presidential election are, by now, obvious. If nothing else, Democrats who avidly support Hillary Clinton need to vote to cancel out the likely-more-committed GOP voters. You wanted her—now you have to elect her.

2. Stop treating Hillary as more than the alternative to Trump.

This is perhaps a microcosm of the race as a whole, and if nothing else, is telling as to where we are in the seemingly never-ending 2016 presidential campaign. In explaining why he plans to vote for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election at a public debate against Rep. David Jolly (R), former governor of Florida and Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist said this of the potential Madam President: “The thing I like most about her is steady. I believe she is strong. I believe she is honest.” After that last bit, though, the crowd didn’t cheer or applaud. They laughed—and since there was no one to laugh with, they must have been laughing at her. See, here’s the thing: for all the people who think Hillary Clinton has been unfairly targeted by Republicans and has come out of all her trials by fire unburnt, there are as many people or more who just aren’t buying what the Clinton campaign and an army of Democratic supporters are selling. They don’t see her as a sound decision-maker, especially when considering her tenure as Secretary of State and her penchant for promoting regime change. They don’t view her as likely to keep her progressive promises if she makes it to the White House. They don’t reckon she is particularly strong, though this likely has something to do with presumed doubts about her physical health, something I feel should be off-limits, but tell that to her detractors. And most importantly, they don’t believe she is honest. Not in the slightest.

So, let’s dispense with the rhetoric for all but the bottiest of the Hillbots and the staunchest of the Democratic Party loyalists. If you’re voting for Hillary Clinton, there’s a strong likelihood you’re not voting for Hillary Clinton. You’re voting for cold neoliberal pragmatism. You’re voting for incremental progress. Perhaps you’re voting strictly to usher in the first female president, or to continue the legacy/precedent set by Barack Obama—whatever you think that entails. But you’re voting first and foremost to block Donald Trump. We don’t need any more than that.

3. Specifically for the woman herself, don’t try to be likable. (After all, it hasn’t really worked all that well anyway.)

This is akin to what Bill Maher was asking of Hillary Clinton a short while back when he told her to embrace her dark side and become the “Notorious HRC,” the “super-villain” Republicans and Bernie-or-Busters conceive of her to be. Hillary apologized after her “basket of deplorables” remark, but only on the aspect of calling “half” of Trump’s supporters by this term, and without a hint of irony, at that. While it was indeed an ill-advised comment by Clinton, for once, it would be refreshing if she would simply double-down on what many see as a gaffe by her, refuse to apologize—even though she didn’t really give a full apology to begin with—and do something to inspire her base of support. “You want me to say sorry for calling half of you ‘deplorables.” Well, I am sorry—sorry I didn’t call all of you that! My opponent is an asshole. If you like him, you’re probably one too! Don’t care for what I’m telling you? Want to call me a ‘bitch’ about it? Good. I’m the baddest bitch in these United States! Sorry—I ain’t sorry.”

In this way, Hillary Clinton could take a cue from Beyoncé, or perhaps even channel her inner Kelis. In the lead-in to her 2006 single “Bossy,” Kelis speaks, “You don’t have to love me/You don’t even have to like me/But you will respect me.” Why? Because she’s a motherf**king boss! That’s the kind of attitude that galvanizes your own base as much as it does the other side. That’s the Democratic Party representative we need! Show them who wears the pantsuits in this race, Hillary!

Suggestion #3 is obviously unlikely to be put into practice, even though, like Tyrion Lannister telling the witnesses to his trial he wishes he could be the monster they’ve made him out to be—and that he had enough poison to wipe out the lot of them—I’m sure a lot of people would love the chutzpah Hillary Clinton would demonstrate to tell millions of prospective voters she doesn’t care what they think about her and that she can run the country a hell of a lot better than stupid Donald Trump. Then, presumably, there would be a trial by combat or something. Maybe a head smashed in or two. Now that would be some sort of political process!

Unfortunately, we aren’t apt to see HRC throw shade on a sizable portion of the electorate, drop the mic, and walk away, nor is it conceivable we would observe Donald Trump being mutilated by a gargantuan man likened to a geological formation. Instead, though, arguably the best approach for the Clinton campaign would be to encourage the most fervent supporters to cast their vote, cut their losses with potential voters who can’t see past Trump’s more glaring flaws, and in general, give less of a shit about what people think outside of actual polling numbers. Hillary, you’ve been dancing with Trump and around the truth for months now. It’s time to punch him in the mouth and see if he has the glass jaw we imagine he does.

Mid-Term Elections and the “Ripple Effects” of the 2016 Presidential Election

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Still think mid-term elections don’t matter? (Image retrieved from politicalastrologyblog.com.)

I know we’re fewer than 100 days away from the presidential election. I know the stakes are high, especially in the eyes of the large bloc of Americans who imagine a Donald Trump presidency would result in absolute disaster, as well as in the eyes of concerned and incredulous onlookers in foreign countries. I even know that you know that I know that I go psycho when my new joint hits, that I just can’t sit, and furthermore, that I must get jiggy with it. All this notwithstanding, let’s put aside the craziness of the race to the White House for a moment and consider that once the votes in the general election are counted and in the books—mostly correctly, we hope—this will not be the end of elections to come. Provided, you know, the winner doesn’t manage to blow Earth up before the end of 2017.

Yes, I’m talking about mid-term elections, particularly those for challenged and vacant spots in the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as state governors and legislatures. For all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the presidency, the primary season and party conventions—and the balloons, sweet Jesus, all those balloons—voting for members of Congress and gubernatorial candidates may be as critical to our sense of being represented in governmental affairs, perhaps even more so, than the vote we cast for Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, or a third-party candidate we might actually like. This is where the cautionary tale of the 2010 mid-term elections fits in. At that time, a lot was going on economically as well as politically. Two years earlier, the country elected its first African-American president in Barack Obama, who ascended to the top office in the country on a platform of hope, change and “YES WE CAN!” Unfortunately for Obama, his vision, which may have lacked some degree of practicality, was already bound to be constrained by the effects of the “Great Recession,” an event we’re told is over, and yet, things are not all that peachy, rosy or whatever word you like that has been mostly sapped of authentic meaning, for the average American.

But yes, in terms of the mid-term election aspect, six years ago, the House of Representatives, for one, saw massive upheaval, with the Republican Party gaining 63 seats, recapturing the majority in the House, and winning the most dramatic turnover in U.S. history since 1948. Republicans also saw a net gain in the Senate and among state governors, and furthermore, gained 680 seats in state legislatures, ensuring the GOP would have control of a majority of the fifty states. What prompted this Republican uprising, if you will? As you might expect, there are a number of variables at play here. Certainly, economic factors played a large role, as voters were concerned about health care costs (esp. those following the passage of the Affordable Care Act a.k.a. ObamaCare), taxes, and unemployment rates, and many of them were upset at how easily Wall Street got its bailout seemingly without proportionate relief for the so-called “99%.” On this front, the Tea Party movement led the charge, elevating the economy as the top issue among independents and Republicans, as well as elevating itself in terms of political prominence. This is not to say that social issues completely fell by the wayside, however. Immigration reform, in particular, grew legs, particularly in states that are more likely to be affected by illegal immigration, and in turn, more readily see this subject as a challenge rather than an opportunity. Arizona SB 1070, most notably (or notoriously), was indicative of a cultural backlash against trends in undocumented immigration—real or imagined.

So, yes, in a nutshell, based on the state of the economy and jobs, and owing to changing laws and regulations regarding health care in the United States and immigration policy, among other areas, 2010 saw a significant shift in the political landscape. With specific respect to the Tea Party and its remnants, while Ron Paul is seen by some conservatives as a “godfather” of sorts—even if he is not an explicit founder of the theory behind the movement—other, shall we say, less respected political minds found themselves in positions of at least nominal influence by riding its wave of enthusiasm: Glenn Beck, Jim DeMint, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, just to name a few. Even today, leaders at the state and national level with ties to the Tea Party movement or sympathetic to its broad aims continue to play a notable part in the nation’s politics, including Louie Gohmert (Texas), Matt Bevin (Kentucky), Mike Pence (Indiana, and now, Trump’s VP pick), Paul LePage (Maine), Rand Paul (Kentucky, and son of Ron Paul), Steve King (Iowa), and the man everyone apparently loves to hate, Ted Cruz (Texas). I acknowledge, as a self-described liberal and supporter of progressive politics, that I disagree with a number of these figures on matters of policy, so I am not all that objective in assessing their viability for public office. That said, a number of these men and women are—and I’m putting this as nicely as I can—complete and utter morons. So, if you’re part of the large segment of Americans who think the country has gone to shit and that our political leaders aren’t doing much about it, you can, in part, blame the lot of them.

But are we, as voters, somewhat culpable in allowing a bunch of know-nothings and numb-nuts to run the show? Maybe, just maybe. I don’t always enjoy Samantha Bee’s material on Full Frontal, especially when she insinuates that anyone who won’t vote for Hillary Clinton is either sexist, stupid or both, but in speaking about the 2010 mid-terms, or what she refers to as “the most important election you didn’t bother to vote in,” she highlights how demographics factored significantly in the election results. Turnout among minorities and younger adults was relatively low in the 2010 mid-term elections, paving the way for voters mostly over the age of 45, predominantly white, and overwhelmingly, as Bee puts it, “cranky” (read: racists who don’t like the idea of a black president). By extension, these results paved the way for, among other things, a partisan battle over the Affordable Care Act which prompted a government shutdown in 2013, no real progress on immigration reform, and as one of the rings of the proverbial ripple effect of dropping a stupid Republican rock in America’s political waters, made Congress so unpopular that Donald Trump circa 2015/2016 seems like a good idea to many. It’s a bit of an oversimplification, but Samantha Bee’s analysis isn’t wildly out of bounds.

Either way, the emphasis is on more than the general election. It’s about those ripples after the fact that manifest in the form of political mobilization and voter turnout for local, county and state elections. Going back to the 2010 mid-terms, the kind of sweeping victories garnered by lawmakers under the GOP banner afforded them the power to do—or not do—what they want, more or less. When the mood or issue suited them, as with approving a repeal of ObamaCare, defunding Planned Parenthood or green-lighting ungodly amounts of military spending, they could at least railroad legislation through the House of Representatives owing to their majority. When a bill or executive order didn’t tickle their fancy, as with background checks for gun ownership, banking reform, closing Gitmo or, heck, even hearing a Supreme Court justice nomination, they could be every bit the obstructionist Congress they have been known to be of late, or as the turtle-faced Mitch McConnell would have it, not even doing their job. It has oft been said “to the victor go the spoils,” but following the sizable gains of the 2010 elections, Republicans have taken that idea and run with it, treating their victories as mandates of some sort, or otherwise all-too-appropriately acting like spoiled brats with said spoils, refusing to compromise and stubbornly pressing on with their agendas despite record lows in approval rating.

This is why—whatever happens come November—the results of the presidential election are not the end game, and consummate with this notion, if you feel like I feel, no sooner than these votes are tallied should attention be levied to organizing and rallying the proverbial troops to make sure the GOP doesn’t maintain/establish a death grip on state executive offices and legislatures, as well as federal public offices. That’s why the threat of a Donald Trump presidency looms so large—not so much because of what damage Trump himself might do while holding the nation’s top office (though that is a very real concern), but how it would stand to produce a ripple effect of galvanizing other bigots and individuals with little sense and few legitimate qualifications to serve the public interest to try to run for public office in their own right. David Duke—yes, that David Duke—has announced his bid for a Louisiana state Senate seat. The American Nazi Party—are you sensing a theme here?—has also expressed its desire to be relevant in a political sense, believing as many as three of every four Trump supporters would support their candidates as well.

Donald Trump’s securing a major-party presidential nomination has emboldened unabashed racists, and the logical conclusion is that they feel Trump and others within the GOP sanction their brand of prejudice. Average white voters, feeling alienated by a federal government they feel has neglected their needs and wants, and all around believing that “their country” and way of life is being taken away (Jon Stewart, ever the sage, recently challenged this assertion), see and hear in the Republican Party nominee a voice that “says what they’re thinking.” Of course, those of us who would never vote for Donald Trump might naturally react by insisting, repulsed, that those who think like Trump might not be, deep down, good people. At the same time, however, one has to admit that establishment Democrats and Republicans alike haven’t exactly embraced working-class Americans as well as they could or should have recently, being more concerned with winning elections, appeasing big-money donors and lobbies, and preserving the status quo. Granted, poor and working-class minorities have a yet bigger gripe on this end, but with income and wealth inequality expanding by leaps and bounds, people in this country of all sizes, shapes and shades are being ignored, or at least taken for granted.

Aside from the idea Donald Trump is a bully, fraud, liar, man-child, racist, sexist and xenophobe, this potential empowerment of white supremacists and others who may not be out-and-out Nazis but still shouldn’t be running for public office is a big reason why, in their hatred of Hillary Clinton, Bernie-or-Busters/disenfranchised independent voters shouldn’t flock to her Republican rival in an effort to stick it to HRC and the DNC. As I see it, if you don’t want to vote Clinton, your next best bet is to vote your conscience, whether that is best reflected by Jill Stein of the Green Party or Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party; that, to me, sends the clearest message to the Democratic Party that its leadership has work to do to engage your values and earn your vote in 2018 or 2020. Or you could write in Bernie Sanders, if it makes you happy. Or just don’t go to the polls at all. A vote for Donald Trump, if nothing else, to blow things up and to hasten a progressive uprising, is making a deal with the Devil, and rewards Trump and the GOP for running a campaign marked by bad behavior, divisiveness and hate. This is to say, if one views Hillary Clinton as “the enemy,” well, Donald Trump and the Republican Party aren’t your friends either.

Returning to the concept of the proletariat, if you will, in the United States being subjugated by the machinations of the bourgeoisie, though not a perfect analog to Trump’s rise (how does anyone prove a true analog to that?), Bernie Sanders’ rise in the national profile and his widespread appeal among progressives and younger voters is fundamentally important because his so-called political “revolution” speaks to the long haul. As Sanders himself has expressed—and must keep expressing to his supporters who think voting for Trump is a good idea—America must prevent Donald Trump from ascending to the role of Commander-in-Chief, and though he differs from Hillary Clinton on key points, he supports her bid for the presidency to achieve this goal. This is just the immediate concern of his political movement, however. Following the presidential election, Bernie has made it clear that the Democratic Party and/or third parties need to embrace younger voters and working-class Americans alike as a basis of its diversity and strength, and in doing so, support progressives running for office.

To this end, Bernie Sanders is spearheading something he calls Our Movement, which, beyond asking for more contributions is pretty vague, but reportedly, the organization will continue the spirit of grassroots support for progressive candidates for public office—presumably Democrats, but potentially independents as well. Obviously, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to the ability to generate donations, as Sanders supporters who already feel as if they’ve given their fair share, or otherwise feel cheated by the Democratic National Committee and possibly Bernie himself in endorsing the much-despised Hillary Clinton, may not be as willing to pony up for the sake of down-ticket Dems and non-affiliated office seekers. For those who aren’t asking for their campaign donations back and who are committed to sustaining a durable movement toward reducing the influence of corporate interests in politics, meanwhile, Our Movement could be the start of a sizable force in American politics. You know, especially when it gets some actual details about its agenda to its name.

We can debate whether or not we believe Donald Trump might actually be better as President of the United States in the grand scheme of things because the inevitable progressive backlash would be more profound than anything that might manifest if Hillary Clinton were to be elected President; with that, the conservative call to arms which could spring to life if HRC becomes POTUS might just set back the goal of Democrats reclaiming Congress and state governments from the Republican Party. Personally, I wouldn’t invite Trump into the Oval Office just like I wouldn’t invite a pack of wolves to look after a toddler, but we can agree to disagree. Regardless of who wins and who loses in the general election, it is incumbent upon supporters of the Democratic Party, especially its representatives who embrace more progressive bits of policy, to approach voting in mid-term elections in 2018—and even getting out the vote for down-ticket candidates this November—with the same sense of zeal as millennials attending a Bernie Sanders rally, or gun activists lobbying against background checks and other reforms (on that last note, I’m not sure anyone can match the fetishistic fervor with which the NRA and their ilk stand in the way of progress on gun control, but one can sure try). You know, lest we undergo a repeat of the 2010 fiasco.

It’s been said anywhere from half to 80% or 90% of the battle is showing up, and in a representative democracy characterized by a broken or “rigged” system, this seemingly has never been more accurate. If we the people are going to make a splash and take charge of how our elected representatives respond to our needs, we’re going to need to understand and appreciate the ripple effects from each presidential election. The time, my friends, is now.