A better platform

Liberals and moderates are in trouble. They have almost nobody recognizable to run at the national level. It’s time they revisited their platforms and started being serious about compromise and their country.  It’s also time to put the DNC back in the hands of its members and get rid of the Super Delegate system.  A huge indicator for me that the Dems are screwed this season is the fact that nobody is talking about the mess that happened with Bernie and Hilary.  I’d have cleaned house had that been an option.  There would be a smoking crater where the top leadership had been standing.  You can’t play the intellectually superior(and therefor morally superior) card and then run your party just like your opponents do.  If your constituency are those people who are the downtrodden, the oppressed, the minorities- all looking to make a better life for themselves, maybe you should stop acting like, and running, mostly rich white folk.

Conservatives are in trouble.  They don’t even have a party much less a recognizable platform.  When your entire election platform is “We’re not Obama and We’re not Trump, but we can make America great, too!”, you’re in worse trouble than the Democrats.  Meanwhile you have a conservative media that is played like a fiddle.  President Trump’s supporters don’t care what is said.  It no longer matters.  It does not matter how much he lies.  It doesn’t matter about facts, figures or who is right.  What’s more, a lot of conservatives, especially on the religious right, are along for the ride.  They’re going to support President Trump regardless of what he does – they’ve already hitched their horse to his wagon.  It’s cost a lot of non-Trump Republicans their base.  Honestly, I’m not sure what their fix is, yet.  Not and still be recognizably Republican.

In a way, it’s rather funny to me.  Both parties were brought to their knees by their stereotypical arrogance.  The Left made fun of Trump.  The way he speaks, his lack of punctuation, word choice and variety.  His inability to sound either educated or coherent.  Typical stupid redneck English, yee haw!  But they weren’t really paying attention to what he was saying.

The Right, who spent all their time criticizing the intellectual elite and chanting “Words can’t hurt us you liberal snowflakes!”, were getting their heads handed to them because they ignored the power of the words he was using.

It turns out that words do have power, they do make an impact.  It also turns out that you don’t necessarily need to speak like an ivy league graduate to connect to your audience.  Jobs, pride, MAGA, citizens first and drain the swamp!  That last one went over especially well considering the wide spread corruption in both camps.  But the camps weren’t listening.  They already knew everything.  Never even saw it coming.

I spent many a lunch time, tea time and bottles of beer with two dear friends of mine.  Both frightfully intelligent, mixed political views and observant.  We watched the train wreck in slow motion,  saw it coming quite a long ways away.  How could you not see it?  Not even admit the possibility?  Listen to what he’s saying.  “Hold onto my MAGA hat and watch this!”

So, Liberal or Conservative, forget what you thought you knew.  Connect to your people and stick to the basics.  Balance the budget.  Focus on jobs, the economy and education.  Paint a future where we can afford to live safely in our country.  Tell the people, our Citizens, that they still matter.  That they are our Country.  Repeat without being an asshole.

By Dan Granot

I chose the Shorter Whitman because of his work, "Song of Myself" and because of my self-deprecating sense of humor. I am under no illusion that I can write successful essays or poetry, but I have been known to write them anyway.

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