Why I left the Democratic Party

She won in a very left-leaning district. The republican challenger doesn't stand much of a chance. Some statistics on this district.

18.41% White
11.39% Black
16.24% Asian
49.80% Hispanic
0.45% Native American
3.71% other

These districts are supposed to represent ~300,000 people. Somewhere between 140,000 and 240,000 vote in this district in November elections. Only 27,000 voted in the primary and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won by 4100 votes.

Democrats have been winning this district by 70-80% the last 12 years.

Of note is that Crowley was redistricted into this district in 2013. He has not served this district for all 14 years he was in the house.

These are exactly the districts where far left candidates can be viable and should do well.

Impressive for a 28 year old.

I particularly liked her slogan "I don't come from the far left, I come from the very bottom." --- that may not be the exact quote.

Well, that is good news; then.

Kennedy is stepping down from the SCOTUS.

I'm sure Trump's pick for the Supreme Court (which just ruled against public unions, almost ensuring their demise) will be the SAME ONE that Hillary would have picked.

Thanks Jill Stein voters and non-voters. I hope you've got a high enough horse to get us your morally superior asses through this mess.

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/policy-and-politics/2018/6/27/17508528/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-new-york-primary-election-socialist?__twitter_impression=true

Excerpt:

Maybe it shouldn’t be such a shock that a young woman of color who identifies as a democratic socialist won a Democratic primary against a machine politician who takes millions of dollars from corporate donors, even a 10-term incumbent like Crowley.

Democratic voters, and much of the public, have been telling us for years that they were ready for a genuinely progressive policy agenda to enter the mainstream. Maybe it’s time to listen.

Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old who is a registered member of the Democratic Socialists of America, ticked off every box in the emerging litmus test of the American left:

Medicare-for-all (and she meant real single-payer health insurance)
A federal jobs guarantee
Tuition-free college for all
Repeal Citizens United by constitutional amendment
Abolish ICE
Restore the Glass-Steagall financial regulations
A Green New Deal to be fossil fuel-free by 2035
Ban privately owned prisons
It certainly sounds like a left-wing platform — but it also might be pretty popular.

So-called socialist ideas might be more popular than you think
Vox has written about the polling on single-payer health care a lot, and opinions are undoubtedly malleable. But the fact is that “Medicare-for-all,” as a slogan, is overwhelmingly popular. Even single-payer described as such has the support of nearly half of Americans.
————————
Too bad they took so long to read the American political landscape. We have them to thank for President Trump.

Better late than never, I guess.

Like all that stupid inane talk of corporation controlled democrats means a pot of beans right now. We are literally screwed. Kennedy resigned or is resigning. Trump will get another nut for Supreme Court. Every single major decision which actually effect our lives will be an ultra right wing partisan decision.

We wouldn’t be in this position if corporate-controlled Ds (specifically Hillary Clinton) had attempted to resonate with the electorate rather than partying with her millionaire donors.

The source of the problem —corporate-controlled ‘lawmakers’—needs to be eradicated instead of capitulating to our elitist overlords.

They are now finally losing power.

Be a part of the solution, rather than the problem.

That's right!

You left out one from your "litmus test" list, to wit: The racism which the left embraces. Cortez said that her campaign was "about race." She said a white man could not possibly serve her district well.

He's white. I'm a latina.

He's a man. I aint.

Nuff said. Now git to votin, willya?

Are you practicing to write slogans this mid-term? I just don't buy into this fad that has gotten out of control. It is the same ideological 'thinking' which brought us Trump.

The political goals you ascribed to Ocasio-Cortes (or the "emerging left" ) would, of course, be a disaster for the country. Happily it will never fly with the majority of voters. In the last Presidential primary Bernie Sanders gained the enthusiastic support of a relatively small minority of voters. It was large enough to astound Hillary who appears to have been caught off guard by this and the "emerging left" movement to which you refer. However its potential for growth among the electorate has already proven to be very limited.

I agree though that this movement appears to be the most vigorous remaining element in the Democrat Party. The "establishment" Democrats appear to have no agenda other than opposition to Trump, and the party is badly in need of a positive program. Right now the emerging left appears to be the only option for that. If it prevails the Democrats are likely to be a minority party for a long time.

You keep stating this and when I keep challenging you on it, you never seem to acknowledge that there are indeed plans, bills, legislation, party-platforms, get-out-the-vote efforts, candidates actually running campaigns and doing things, primary elections, etc.

How can you say that there appears to be no agenda?

I agree with you, Ma. They do have an agenda and a major campaign issue to run on.

Impeach Trump!

Not to even mention making sure no Trump supporter is welcome in ANY public place, including the streets and sidewalks.

And ya know what? I think this Cortez babe has come up with another they can all agree on: Abolish the ICE.

With that little addition, I'm sure they'll win in a landslide.

George lives in a bubble where he actually believes in his own pontificating opinions regardless of facts or proof to contrary. In fact Democrats introduced 9,083 bills since May 22, 2017.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/subjects/democratic_party/1883#current_status[]=1&terms=__ALL__&terms2=__ALL__

I think when your district is overwhelmingly brown, it seems sensible to be represented by a brown person, but if lily-white Crowley had been a good rep for his constituents, he would’ve kept the job if he’d been purple.

He’d completely lost touch with his people.

Nobody hears anything from Dems but ‘we hate Trump.’

Wow! They have been busy. Do you have the report on how many bills the GOP introduced?

It seems rather obvious that the "establishment" Democrats are being eclipsed by the new wave of insurgent Left wing progressives who do indeed have a well-described agenda. It is foolish in the extreme and unlikely to garner them enough support to win them a majority in the Congress .

However, ,apart from pro forma statements, agendas and draft legislation, submitted only to back up future political campaigns by their authors in Congress, but never advanced or articulated by Establishment leaders, The Establishment Democrats indeed have offered no viable political program.
That is exactly why they are now being overwhelmed by an unelectable left wing contingent that has already taken control of the DNC.

The following article is from April 2016. The pundits are now saying that the GOP is about to lose the House. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/04/how_the_gop_is_losing_its_grip_on_working_class_republicans.html
Not a good sign for the GOP. https://www.thedailybeast.com/midterm-elections-2018-the-conservatives-who-want-the-gop-to-lose-this-fall

Their political program is outlined in as much detail as any other party’s program over at their website under the party platform.

I admit that this new wave is loud and boisterous and have had 2 or 3 victories in primary elections in very safe districts. I’d hardly call that “overwhelming.”


What is the “well described agenda” of these left wing progressives you mention? How does it differ from whatever you’d consider the establishment?