Frustrated Democrats near their Tea Party moment: 'This is not okay'
2 years ago by MicroWave to c/politics
Summary
Frustrated by Democratic leaders' failure to counter Donald Trump’s swift policy changes, grassroots liberals are pushing for a Tea Party-style insurgency within their party.
Anger is mounting over leadership’s lack of urgency, ineffective messaging, and perceived disconnect from voters.
Activists and strategists argue Democrats must shift from defending institutions to telling human-centered stories that resonate emotionally.
Some are calling for primary challenges and new leadership to counter Trump's influence. Reform efforts are already underway, as progressives seek a more aggressive and responsive Democratic Party.
Unfortunately the "Tea Party-style insurgency within their party" is what we recently experienced with the "freedumb" caucus, not the original tea party. I don't see this happening with us because as good ol' twodicks pointed out, it was yet another billionaire influence campaign... :/
Of course good Old Jimmy Twodicks beat me to it! Lol
This is exactly why it won't happen. We don't have billionaires behind us trying to finance the movement, doing whatever they can to increase exposure and fund campaigns... :(
It's frustrating how so many people don't understand this.
You forgot the bootstrapping from FauxNews
The aims of the tea party were bullshit, but you can’t argue with the effectiveness of their methods. The Democratic party needs to change direction, and the left can learn from how the tea party forced a change without being inauthentic political hacks.
"Activists and strategists argue Democrats must shift from defending institutions to telling human-centered stories that resonate emotionally."
No, they need to actually defend institutions instead of just saying they are working on organizing themselves enough to start trying to defend institutions. We don't want stories we want actions.
"Activists and strategists argue Democrats must shift from defending institutions to telling human-centered stories that resonate emotionally."
First of all, this is Nü "newsweek" so fuck that - and secondly this is true-to-form Democratic consultant garbage.
Remember the first trump turd circus? Immediately after that kicked off Dems jumped into action with their new angle to attract voters: "Better Jobs"
Yeah not shitting, that was their genius retort to russian bombing of the presidential election. It reeked of 40 years of milquetoast.
The Tea Party movement was a hostile takeover of the Republican party be the far right that didn't complete until Trump in 2016. They literally had a guy who created a pledge for Republicans to sign that said they'd never vote for new taxes.
Progressives and other democrats that are further left NEED a Tea Party moment. The base is done being taken advantage of and we need to reshape the party and do a country wide approach. And progressives and others on the left need to actually get out to vote in the primaries in 2026 to be able to do this. Kick out the old guard, they've repeatedly failed. We can do so much better
And for those that say go for a third party, it is far easier to remake the Democratic party, an existing party with an existing infrastructure, than it is to convince people to vote for a third party that is either new or has existed for a while and never been successful. The green party, the PLS, are distractions. Put that effort into changing the democratic party.
Always remember that the only time in American history the left had significant power was under FDR because we were consistent voters for the Democrats and voted for New Deal Democrats instead of the old guard. If we want to be taken seriously, pull a Tea party.
/Rant over
I don't know how we refom a party that chooses their "leader" to be Mr."there are good and bad billionaires. We'll refuse bad billionaires money but we will take good billionaires money."
So as long as Boeing says they like gay people and don't refute climate change then we'll continue to take their bribes donations, but will also take their direction on what we're allowed to vote on. Status quo, but with morally "clean" billionaire funding. :/
By voting in the primaries. The RNC didn't want Trump, they didn't want all the shit that happened originally. It happened because people voted to put specific Republicans in office during primaries and in the general who helped change their party into the Trump machine it is today.
We can do the same. You reform by actually voting in primaries.
And for those that say go for a third party, it is far easier to remake the Democratic party, an existing party with an existing infrastructure, than it is to convince people to vote for a third party that is either new or has existed for a while and never been successful. The green party, the PLS, are distractions. Put that effort into changing the democratic party.
By my quick scanning of this page there’s are <45 members of state legislatures around the country, out of >7,500 total state legislators. And 2 out of 535 US Congress members.
What this government is showing me is that there already a third party and they're in control. They gave us the two party system so we can point fingers at each other and get tired trying to bring about change.
There is only one rule to follow these days and that's FOLLOW THE MONEY.
Well I won't really argue with that. But, which wing of which party is actually trying to use the powers of Congress to fight back against things like Citizens United? If we can all rise up and get more of them in Congress, then we can expect to see a shift away from the oligarchs.
45 members out of 7500 is .006%. While that is a tiny amount of success, increasing that to a majority will take decades. The "third parties" in Congress are Independents which is not a formed party like Greens or the PLS like I was talking about. No actual third party has been elected to congress since 1937, according to your very link you provided. Of course I'm not counting Lieberman because his "Third party" was the Connecticut for Lieberman which was literally just for him.
And for those that say go for a third party, it is far easier to remake the Democratic party, an existing party with an existing infrastructure, than it is to convince people to vote for a third party that is either new or has existed for a while and never been successful. The green party, the PLS, are distractions. Put that effort into changing the democratic party.
Strongly disagree, they’re a controlled opposition party owned by capital. You can’t fix that, you have to fully replace it.
While I get that, building the infrastructure of a new third party, or increasing an existing third parties infrastructure to the right size, is next to impossible unless you convince every single Democrat voter to move to the next one. That's just not gonna happen. Statistically speaking, third parties will never win. And if you work on building that infrastructure, that will just guarantee Republicans winning until you convince enough people to abandon the Democrats which could take decades.
So then what's the logical next step if those people want to be represented in government? You remake the Democratic party. The Republicans were remade post tea party in 6 years into the Trump party. The Democrats could be remade into an actually consistent and willing to fight far more effectively progressive party in 4 if we just work towards it and vote in the primaries in all elections over the next 4 years. It's far more possible and a far quicker possibility. As long as we have elections going forward, that is, Trump could just cancel them.
The next logical step is a second American Revolution, not being pussies and “remaking” the bought and paid for Democratic Party.
I swear to god I’m so fucking tired of progressive activists herding people back into the failed Democratic Party.
So does that mean overthrowing the government? Does it mean starting a Civil War to establish a new Union? Would it mean the country splitting off into their own grouped together countries? What would a Second American Revolution look like? Because we have an idea of how you can remake the Democratic party. A second American Revolution in modern day needs an image of what it should look like if it is going to work.
For what it's worth, I personally think you either remake the Democratic party, or the country will split.
People seem to think that what's happening in the US is just a worse version of the same old cycle. It's not. There's a reason Trump is demonizing the democratic allies who call out fascism while praising fascist leaders. There's a reason he has a problem with voter statistics being anything other than those you would get in dictatorships. There's a reason he's suggested that people wouldn't have to worry about future elections and has passed around the idea of a third term. There's a reason he's replacing everyone in government, specially those that will oversee the next elections, with loyalists. There's a reason he's pushing people who would be extremely unfit for their positions where it not for their loyalty to him. There's a reason he's demonizing any world order that has come from diplomacy, open borders, free speech, and open dialogue. This won't switch back next election, because by next election your "democracy" will be dead, replaced with a mockery for show as the US becomes increasingly fascist.
Your federal government is no longer the government you pledged to. If you take out all the parts of the ship of Theseus, throw them into the garbage, and build a monument to yourself with completely new parts, it is not the ship of Theseus. Your federal government has more debt than any individual state does. In the EU, the UK was free to leave, but in the US, you've been indoctrinated that you must remain united even when what you were remaining united to no longer remains what it was. If you still want to remain a "one Nation under God, indivisible" you are choosing to ignore the "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands" of the pledge, and you are also choosing to ignore "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The south starts civil wars to protect the slavery that profits the oligarchs while the north plays submissive while the whole country shifts to fascism. How could the United States of America not be doomed?
Yes, other countries want there to be division within the US. But you know what they want even more? To have their pawn in the presidency. Don't try to avoid losing a battle to end up losing the war. While the new oligarchs are pledging themselves to Project 2025 for the Dark Enlightenment to extend their influence internationally while they pen us up in our borders, Trump has been promised to become the fascist dictator of a Russianesque faux democracy, and Trump doesn't mind how shit it gets for everyone else as long as he gets to be its king.
People seem to think that what’s happening in the US is just a worse version of the same old cycle.
At first I thought you meant the historical cycle of dictatorships and was confused because "Well, isn't it?" But you meant the cycle of Republican-Democrat-Republican-Democrat. Yeah, that's done. Voters voted democracy out.
Activists and strategists argue Democrats must shift from defending institutions to telling human-centered stories that resonate emotionally.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
Stop treating your parties as if they were companies. These marketing terms make me sick. "Human centered stories that resonate emotionally"? What about thinking about the humans and the emotions they are feeling such as fear and desperation?
"Okay, but how can we monetize those feelings to harmonize with our end-state goals?"
“We have campaign funds to raise, quotas to hit, and money to be made.”
Exactly. They should simply act like leaders do, show the example by actively resisting, blocking everything they can. Simple as that. The non-millionaires in the party know this, but the leadership is sooooo disconnected they don't realize what their constituents want.
I am WELL past that point personally. I’m past the point of insurrection. I’m to the point of just burn the whole mother fucker down pookie!
I just read The Tea Party - A Brief History by Ronald Formisano. It’s a fascinating read. He talks about the start of the Tea Party movement and how it grew to a political powerhouse by 2012.
It was written contemporaneously with the movement and before MAGA. He walks through how it started as a real grassroots movements that was co-opted and astroturfed by Billionaires. Reading it with a modern perspective, it’s almost quaint. Formisano (and may others) talk about how the movement is so unique because it doesn’t have any de facto leader.
It was primed and ready for the taking in 2016.
Capitalist media always conflates fascism and liberation as "populism". This is a great example.
It might work if the Dems find a messenger who isn't as obnoxious as AOC...
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By "near their Tea Party moment," do you mean that a left-wing version of the Koch brothers is stirring the pot and quietly financing a bunch of organizations to pretend there's a grassroots movement that will end up solely benefiting the people at the top of the food chain? Because that's what the Tea Party was.
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