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Since Bernie suspended his campaign, I& #39;ve felt trapped in some political wilderness. I& #39;m not really sold on the idea of going Green, as I just don& #39;t think it& #39;s feasible to make them a viable party in one election cycle. I believe that requires much more planning and organizing.
I also think it& #39;s dangerous to continue the false-equivalence between Trump and Democrats. The absolutist take on M4A, Green New Deal, $15/hour min. wage, etc. (all of which NEED to be adopted), is not tenable. It inherently lumps any detractors together as one and the same.
There are, in fact, very real policy differences between Trump and even his own party, but certainly Democrats. Yes, the Democrats perpetrate and perpetuate many of the same harms, but where they& #39;re different, they& #39;re different. And acknowledging that is NOT a character flaw.
What keeps me up at night isn& #39;t a question of Biden v. Trump, or if the House stays in Democratic control, or if the Senate flips....none of that will fundamentally change anything. Trump will be gone, sure. But we will have moved just one step ahead when we need five.
I& #39;m troubled by the question of how do we as progressives actually achieve electoral and policy success? I think using the Democratic Party as a vehicle is not a bad idea. But we need to take the wheel and stop sitting in the backseat. What do I mean by that, you ask? Well...
I think the best way to prepare for 2022/24 is to start naming progressives NOW. We need a primary before the primaries. We need to have our voters registered, our ground game ready, and our candidates chosen. Can we do this before the next inauguration?
There are now many seasoned progressive challengers who did not succeed in their 2020 primaries. Can we decide NOW if they want a rematch or if we need to choose someone new, and start building up that infrastructure? Registering, fundraising, advertising, opening offices, etc.
It& #39;s no secret that COVID dealt a death blow to many challengers, as polling places closed and people stayed home. But if we had done our ground work one year ago, we would not have been in the position of candidates still needing to petition or knock doors weeks before voting.
We also need to avoid splitting the vote/volunteer base. Pick one progressive per race. We do not have the luxury of coalescing around a candidate too late in the game. It actively works against us, as many progressives are relatively unknown to each other& #39;s voters.
At the POTUS level, we can ensure the progressive choice to primary Biden or run for the open seat has been made well before 100 other people announce their candidacies. And a progressive foil to Biden OR a progressive in an open race will work wonders for messaging on policy.
All in all, we should get started NOW. Don& #39;t wait for candidates to announce or people to approach you about organizing. We need to start the building process, and make sure the car is not just running, but gassed up for whoever jumps in to take the wheel.
