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Robert Reich: real reason behind big Dem midterm losses
http://robertreich.org/post/102314408470(also reprinted at http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_real_reason_behind_the_democrats_big_midterm_losses_20141111)
The President blames himself for the Democrat’s big losses Election Day. “We have not been successful in going out there and letting people know what it is that we’re trying to do and why this is the right direction,” he said Sunday. In other words, he didn’t sufficiently tout the Administration’s accomplishments. I respectfully disagree.
If you want a single reason for why Democrats lost big on Election Day 2014 it’s this: Median household income continues to drop. This is the first “recovery” in memory when this has happened.Jobs are coming back but wages aren’t. Every month the job numbers grow but the wage numbers go nowhere.. .. Fifty years ago, just 29 percent of voters believed government is “run by a few big interests looking out for themselves.” Now, 79 percent think so.
. . The midterm elections should have been about jobs and wages, and how to reform a system where nearly all the gains go to the top. It was an opportunity for Democrats to shine. Instead, they hid. Consider that in four “red” states — South Dakota, Arkansas, Alaska, and Nebraska — the same voters who sent Republicans to the Senate voted by wide margins to raise their state’s minimum wage. Democratic candidates in these states barely mentioned the minimum wage.
.. .And the Democrats? They have a choice. They can refill their campaign coffers for 2016 by trying to raise even more money from big corporations, Wall Street, and wealthy individuals. And hold their tongues about the economic slide of the majority, and the drowning of our democracy. Or they can come out swinging. Not just for a higher minimum wage but also for better schools, paid family and medical leave, and child care for working families.For resurrecting the Glass-Steagall Act and limiting the size of Wall Street banks.For saving Social Security by lifting the cap on income subject to payroll taxes.For rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges, and ports.
For increasing taxes on corporations with high ratios of CEO pay to the pay of average workers.And for getting big money out of politics, and thereby saving our democracy.
It’s the choice of the century. Democrats have less than two years to make it.
If you want a single reason for why Democrats lost big on Election Day 2014 it’s this: Median household income continues to drop. This is the first “recovery” in memory when this has happened.Jobs are coming back but wages aren’t. Every month the job numbers grow but the wage numbers go nowhere.. .. Fifty years ago, just 29 percent of voters believed government is “run by a few big interests looking out for themselves.” Now, 79 percent think so.
. . The midterm elections should have been about jobs and wages, and how to reform a system where nearly all the gains go to the top. It was an opportunity for Democrats to shine. Instead, they hid. Consider that in four “red” states — South Dakota, Arkansas, Alaska, and Nebraska — the same voters who sent Republicans to the Senate voted by wide margins to raise their state’s minimum wage. Democratic candidates in these states barely mentioned the minimum wage.
.. .And the Democrats? They have a choice. They can refill their campaign coffers for 2016 by trying to raise even more money from big corporations, Wall Street, and wealthy individuals. And hold their tongues about the economic slide of the majority, and the drowning of our democracy. Or they can come out swinging. Not just for a higher minimum wage but also for better schools, paid family and medical leave, and child care for working families.For resurrecting the Glass-Steagall Act and limiting the size of Wall Street banks.For saving Social Security by lifting the cap on income subject to payroll taxes.For rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges, and ports.
For increasing taxes on corporations with high ratios of CEO pay to the pay of average workers.And for getting big money out of politics, and thereby saving our democracy.
It’s the choice of the century. Democrats have less than two years to make it.
10 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Liberal Democratic policies. Wow, what a novel idea.
But that would mean wrestling away the strangle hold on party dialogue from the conservative, pro-corporation 3rd way, unless we want more of the same.
"And the Democrats?
They have a choice. They can refill their campaign coffers for 2016 by trying to raise even more money from big corporations, Wall Street, and wealthy individuals. And hold their tongues about the economic slide of the majority, and the drowning of our democracy.
Or they can come out swinging. Not just for a higher minimum wage but also for better schools, paid family and medical leave, and child care for working families.For resurrecting the Glass-Steagall Act and limiting the size of Wall Street banks.For saving Social Security by lifting the cap on income subject to payroll taxes.For rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges, and ports.
For increasing taxes on corporations with high ratios of CEO pay to the pay of average workers.And for getting big money out of politics, and thereby saving our democracy.
It’s the choice of the century. Democrats have less than two years to make it."
They have a choice. They can refill their campaign coffers for 2016 by trying to raise even more money from big corporations, Wall Street, and wealthy individuals. And hold their tongues about the economic slide of the majority, and the drowning of our democracy.
Or they can come out swinging. Not just for a higher minimum wage but also for better schools, paid family and medical leave, and child care for working families.For resurrecting the Glass-Steagall Act and limiting the size of Wall Street banks.For saving Social Security by lifting the cap on income subject to payroll taxes.For rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges, and ports.
For increasing taxes on corporations with high ratios of CEO pay to the pay of average workers.And for getting big money out of politics, and thereby saving our democracy.
It’s the choice of the century. Democrats have less than two years to make it."
The Democrats HAD an opportunity to do all those things beginning back in 2006 when they won the House and Senate,
and especially immediately after 2008 when Obama won the White House on a Populist campaign,
.....but now, in 2014, with Repub majorities, THAT window is closed.
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights...
[font color=white]......[/font][font size=3]Obama's Army for “CHANGE”, Jan. 21, 2009[/font]
[font color=white].....................[/font][font size=4]"Oh, What could have been."[/font
...what happened was that a crucial decision-point was reached by many ''Democratic-leaning'' voters. As with any other gambler playing the one-armed bandit, you reach a point at which you must decide whether to keep pulling that lever -- just one more time -- in the hopes that you'll hit the jackpot somehow and recoup your losses.
Or, to walk away before you have absolutely nothing left. Not even your dignity.
- The Republicans won nothing. This broken system was handed to them.....
K&R
