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comment by goobster

I've read through all the comments on your post, and - kleinbl00's incendiary, yet effective, language aside - I think the key statement you make is this:

    "...You are not entitled to our votes..."

You and your ilk seem to think that you exist outside the reality that everyone else lives within. If you just hold out in your fortress long enough, the right traveling salesman with the right magic elixir will come to your door a'knockin.

And that just ain't gonna happen, toots.

The fact is that the vast majority of the population understands that the actual political system - as it is practiced beyond the keyboard - has little to do with whether you put a little R or D (or any other letter) next to your name. All that indicates is where your funding comes from, and if you don't have an R or D, I think you are adorable and plucky and an inspiration to kids everywhere that if you have a trust fund you really CAN be anything you want to be... but the one thing you will never be (outside of a fringe state like Vermont) is a Politician.

There is never a time - past, present, or future - where the Rs or the Ds will come to you. Because you simply are not playing in the big leagues. Your t-ball game prowess does not get you a seat on the Mariner's starting bench.

I too registered Democrat and was a delegate for Bernie Sanders. Do I like Democrats? Not really. But I thought the SOLE living effective Independent pinning the yellow D of shame to his breast, was something that could be a game-changer. He had momentum. He had a rigid set of beliefs that has been consistent in every breath he drew for more than 70 years. And that was something I could get behind. A guy who actually believed in SOMETHING and worked like a dog to get there.

You want to co-opt his work, put on his mantle, and claim some sort of partnership with him... and then expect the Ds and Rs to come to you begging for your support?!?

Ain't gonna happen, snowflake.

And that's why Kleinbl00 and I have zero tolerance for you and your type. You bring nothing to the table, and want all of the concessions to go your way.

That's not how this - or anything, really - works.

(Final note: WELCOME TO HUBSKI!! In all seriousness. We love it when new people from Reddit show up with actual thoughts and opinions, and are willing to engage in debate. Can ya tell? :-) Seriously. Stick around. You touched the third rail on your first post, so... honestly... how much worse could it get? :-)





OftenBen  ·  2237 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Answer me this please.

You said

    There is never a time - past, present, or future - where the Rs or the Ds will come to you. Because you simply are not playing in the big leagues.

The Rs and Ds do come to someone. Who do they come to? Who do they court? What determines if a grassroots candidate moves up the party hierarchy?

goobster  ·  2235 days ago  ·  link  ·  

They don't come to anyone.

Eventually, people come to them.

Being intractable and stubborn and dogmatic is what it means to claim your fealty to the R or the D side. Variance is not allowed. (Post Bill Clinton, at least.)

Did Hillary do a single thing to bring Bernie supporters into the fold? To appease them in any way at all?

Nope. Nada. Zilch. She didn't have to. Her company had control over the party purse strings, and simply pulled them shut.

"Grassroots candidates" are a convenient fiction. People like Randy Bryce show up now and then, but they aren't connected to the right people or channels, so they can't leverage any of the existing infrastructure that the parties have in place.

Political parties are industrial-era machines. Letting a little guy come poke his head up from time to time is good for the morale of the electorate, and makes us think we have some power or input into the process. So the parties let them percolate up, maybe bring a specific issue to light, and then switch the narrative away from the little guy and back to the party-approved candidate.

No matter how far down the rabbit hole you go, it's dollars, all the way down.

user-inactivated  ·  2235 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    "Grassroots candidates" are a convenient fiction. People like Randy Bryce show up now and then, but they aren't connected to the right people or channels, so they can't leverage any of the existing infrastructure that the parties have in place.

Explains the "Bernie isn't/wasn't even a Democrat" discussion susinctly.