.....to keep themselves in power.

If we cannot mobilize and beat that, we don't deserve a free country. If they mess with the vote, we overwhelm them and demand to be heard.

young at the age of 34 but I have to say in my lifetime I have never seen the Dems reverse horrible economic republican polices of a republican presidency. I'm not really optimistic the next Dem president will be able to easily reverse this crap.

it usually more of a holding pattern or passing republican policies.

Clinton passed welfare reform and crime bills, the ACA is the REPUBLICAN version of health care.

BHO did get some bank regulations passed, and he did a lot via executive order.

But, there is SO MUCH going on now that needs cleaned up ...

up how I feel about it. Since I was born its been the typical pattern in which the Republican president creates economic destruction then the Dem president comes in as republican lite and just puts a temporary bandage on the problem. What people also forget even with Dem majorities it's not guaranteed we can push stuff through due to some of the Dems being blue dogs. With all the being said I'm all for Dem majorities because it at least prevents crappy republican polices from being pushed through. I feel that's the only thing Dem majorities guarantees.

People become demoralized when they believe that both parties are the same. This hurts the Democrats and Democratic voters more because Republicans have their super loyal base and they tend to get things done when they get into power.

If the Democrats do win in 2018 and 2020 I hope we try to ram as much progressive legislation through as we can so that people know that we will fight for them when we are in power and not just be the "good cop" in a "good cop, bad cop" routine.

...although I would replace "will be able to" with "will actually want to". But I'm just a cynic.

The right wing is driven by and funded by rabid ideologies.
The Democratic Party is comprised of and funded by centrists that prefer compromise and collaboration..

Dems are too wedded to the idea of fair and reasonable governance to exercise the type of muscle we are going to need to undo the destruction of the administration.

I hope I'm wrong.

Dems are too wedded to the idea of fair and reasonable governance, doing things the right and honorable way, bipartisanship, etc., to exercise the type of muscle we are going to need to undo the destruction of the administration.

I hope I'm wrong, but you clearly have a bead on it, IMO.

I haven't always voted in the midterms but now I will!

in congress to clean up just what has happened over this last year ...

are not so naïve...8 years of it here.

Local elections in the "off" years build the bench for the national offices.

I know a lot of DUers don't like guns... But I firmly believe we're gonna have to defend ourselves with actual firearms.

Remember those KKK guys who shifted elections by murdering black voters? Yeah that relic from the 19th century is coming back now that the Nazis see that they can't underestimate minority voters. If you think I'm fearmongering, you need to remember the kind of sociopaths we're dealing with. They've sent rape threats to multiple women who said stuff they don't like about video games. They cheered with glee when someone was murdered in Charlottesville. Dylan Roof is considered a hero by a lot of these scumbags. We must assume they're willing to do anything. And we must, if necessary, be willing to meet force with force. And not the "get Nazis fired" force.

Hate cannot drive out hate. But love damn sure didn't stop the bullet that killed MLK.

And if/when we win elections, we may have to step up and defend those victories. And I don't mean in court. And I don't mean at the election board. I mean "we may have to put 'Any Means' into "By Any Means Necessary." And I'm not trying to peddle extremist or fearful rhetoric. Look at the facts:

When it was thought that Hillary was gonna win, the militia idiots already stated they were going to start standoff after standoff after standoff after standoff to make sure the government was too consumed by bullshit to do anything else.
A significant portion of Roy Moore supporters won't accept that they were outvoted. And if these types lose control of the government on a mass scale, they won't go quietly.
We can't depend on the police to defend our voters or our candidates. We saw the NYPD's tantrums. You think the police unions will defend the people who want to dismantle the protections from accountability that they've spent millions to protect? More likely that they'll help the militia freak find his sniper perch and take an opportune coffee break.

Winning the elections will be the first step folks. These guys are cray-cray. They're down for anything. And the "proper authorities" are down for them. If we win, we're on our own.

Trump's unpopularity is meaningless unless people get out and vote against the Republicans. Sadly, way too many people believe that both parties are the same and equally bad. We need to fight against this attitude because it is ruining the country.

That would require not just winning majorities in the house and Senate, but all Democrats being willing and able to push back against what has been done with the strength that is needed to undo it all..

If the past 30 years have shown us it's 10 steps backward when Republicans win and 5 steps forward when Dems take back control.

Each time we take control we internalize a little more of the Republican narrative ("Welfare is bad! It needs to be reformed!" Taxes are bad! They need to stay low!" "We can all agree abortion is icky and should be rare!" "We need to be touch on Islamic terrorism!!&quot I have zero reason to believe this next go around will be any different, especially with how quickly Northam and Jones have turned around and tried to go soft, and all the other Dems I just heard about who are saying they won't push a vote on DACA because they are too afraid of re-election, despite Trump and the GOP's cratered popularity.

And of course if we do vote and get out the vote, and do win, and then we dare complain about Dems going soft then......well we'll be told to just STFU and take some civics lessons or some other bullshit.

So long as we can maintain our right to vote?