If you examine the root of republicanism you get greed thus the repukian turd maggots are running things .

GREED = REPUBLICANS. oh and they can rationalize it till everyone is dead .

Where we have lost is when the DCCC steps in and informs a local district and its potential candidates which candidates they will support. I think I saw such arm twisting happening when a friend of mine was "called aside" when he was going to run for Duke Cunningham's seat in a special election in San Diego, and subsequently pulled out. We lost that election to Brian Bilbray later. The Democrat we had in the primaries wasn't a bad person, but she didn't want to take strong stances on things like public campaign financing, etc. that I think a populist candidate might have taken, and I think my friend might have brought to the mix had he run in the primaries. Sadly, we couldn't even get a recount done, when the infamous Denny Hastert swore Bilbray in to office before such challenges could be heard by a court, and the court that was appealed to said that Hastert's federal moves precluded him from hearing that court case then too.

I would also like to respectfully suggest that Bernie Sanders is a racist.

Populism is what Bernie is all about, and I'm not sure how racism factors in to what I said...

My friend's arm twisting was happening at the time that Rahm Emanuel was pushing "centrist" candidates every place, and I think in hind sight, that was what this was all about.

If we really want to take back congressional and state level seats, we need to get people like my friend to say "NO! I have a lot of friends that believe I would best represent our interests here, and i'd like to be heard in the primaries if not have a chance to win them!" We need that happening everywhere in coming elections to take back the state houses in time for 2020 when the next census is taken.

Of course I'm being sarcastic. And I'm well aware about Rahm's ethnicity, too...

... sometimes those not wanting Bernie can sound serious about such things...



I think Rahm even served in the Israeli military forces didn't he? I guess he won't use some sort of anti-Jewish slang word to describe Bernie the way he has done us liberals though...

We will most likely always have the presidency but with nothing else. That would be horrible.

It happened after the 2010 election, when Republican similarly dominated state politics. And redistricting is why we did not win back the House in 2012.

Democrats needed to start fighting hard on the state level in 1990. There's finally some talk about forming a committee to study the methods of forming a task force to plan a strategy of a chartering meeting to consider the position of making a strongly worded statement about the need to increase competitiveness.

... and it might be harder for Republicans to have more dominant election results then like they did in the midterms in 2010. But yes, it will take work not only for campaigning for president, but giving a lot of time to get back our state legislatures by that year so that we can prevent the gerrymandering that the Republicans will want to solidify then if allowed to do so.

I remember back then on DU when members were talking about how republicans were planning on gerrymandering and
democrats did not do much to prevent them stealing it. Well, here we are and have seen the result of gerrymandering
in local and state elections.

and it's a very difficult state to live in. Everything is so expensive.

I voted D for my US REP, D for my US Senators, D for my State Rep, D for my State Senator, did not vote D for Gov this past election (did not vote for R, either; left that spot blank). I don't think I am that much better off in a lot of areas. The two-party system isn't working for the middle class anymore, imo, especially on the state level, at least not in my state. That's how it feels, anyway.

a hundred years before 2010), I can tell you once they gerrymander your state, you may lose it for a lifetime (because the courts now back any extreme measures they do). Many here are still a little naïve how much life can change.

and I don't expect to see it turn blue in my lifetime, despite the fact that everyone says it will.

Rather, the GOP is controlled by money.

I believe it is important to consider their base, which is comprised of fundies/racists
and a mix of disillusioned people who also have a lack of education and or adeptness
with regards to politics. The Republican party through one proxy, is hate radio...
when they complain about the problems they face, lost wages etc, they are told it is,
for one, the liberal media lying to them, and welfare programs etc that are bankrupting
the system. They believe this as they do in fact hear a unified voice on these subjects.
The patriotism to continue wars is also strong in the base, although different from the
a percentage of the elite in the Republican party that benefits directly from the military
industrial complex.

Obviously, the elite are the ones who benefit from the corporate greed, the Wall Street
alliance and other groups. One terrible consequence is that the Republicans do not have
the actual numbers in votes to win without that base, which results in pandering to their
social causes, the need to control abortion rights, the need for a wall to keep out immigrants,
all of that ends up indeed part of the Republican platform. Lets recall when Bush, as one
example, tried to pass an immigration bill, the base went nuts..no way.

I also find it interesting how the 1% are not fazed in the slightest about abortion rights and
other social issues, it appears they are confident that no matter what, money will gain them any
solution they or their family members may face. Shortsighted on climate change, true, since
it won't matter how much money you have, everyone will be paying the price of that
neglect at some point in the future.

The Republicans are attempting to unravel the work achieved by the civil rights movement,
yet where I see light at the end of the tunnel, is to look back at the some odd 9 million Republicans
who voted for Obama in 2008. There are millions of people who do not feel represented fairly by the
Republican brand.

With all that said, it is a mystery to me as to why there would be any doubt that the
priority must be to combat corruption in politics. I do not see how the Democrats are
going to sustain this model, and quite frankly, how much longer will it take before the
differences between the two parties are insignificant.

I am grateful to Sanders for sounding the alarm, at the very least, Americans were warned.