And in case you forgot, Democrats got the shit kicked out of them in 2010 and 2014 and will, most likely, get the shit kicked out of them in 2018, too. If for no other reason than 25 out of 33 Senate seats up for election that year are in the Democratic Caucus. And if 2012 was supposed to be solace, Pres. Obama was reelected with only half the margin he won in 2008 and the Democrats won back only 8 of the 63 House seats and 2 of the 6 Senate seats they lost in 2010.
Brutal Fact. The Republicans are going to control the White House as well as both the Senate and the House. Not only did Hillary Clinton lose, but the Democrats only gained one or two Senate seats in a year with 24 GOP seats to 10 Dem seats. Similarly, the Democrats only gained about a half dozen House seats leaving them below 200.
And the biggest fallout from this election will be the Supreme Court. Scalia’s seat which has remained unfilled since his death will be filled by a conservative - quite possibly a far-right conservative. And the coming retirements of Ginsburg and Kennedy will result in more conservative appointments - such that by 2020, the court may have a 6 to 3 conservative majority for a generation.
Then there are the state legislatures and governors. Prior to the 2016 election control of state legislatures was - 30 Republican, 11 Democratic, 8 split, and an overwhelmingly Republican Unicameral in Nebraska. Last night in Connecticut, a Democratic-controlled state, the Republicans almost reached parity. In Minnesota - Minnesota, mind you - the Democrats failed to regain the state house and have likely lost the state senate, as well.
Prior to the 2016 election, governorships were - 31 Republican, 18, Democratic, and 1 independent. There were 12 governors races in 2016 - 8 Dem seats and 4 GOP. The Republicans gained at least three - in Missouri, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Democrats will probably retain Montana and may flip North Carolina in a cliffhanger.
Oh, and Democrats have to do better in presidential election years because they usually do worse in off-year elections with lower turnout. But 2016 was not a good year for Democrats at any level.
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So, why am I boring you will all these dreary details?
Because here at Daily Kos there appears to be more of the same.
If things do not change, not only will the Democrats be a minority party for the next generation, but Daily Kos will be little more than a debating society between the Judean People’s Front and the Fourth International Trotskyite Faction.
I have been a Democrat all my life. I have marched in Alabama, North Carolina, and Wyoming - for racial justice, for union organizing, and for LGBT rights. And I am fed up with being told to shut up because my views do not comport with the received wisdom. Especially when that received wisdom has been wrong - over and over again.
I have been HRed twice in the past 24 hours. Once for having the gall to say that Clinton had lost the election based upon numerous low results in crucial counties. The second time for challenging a front-pager who insists that the major issue at stake is white supremacy.
I have no disagreement with the pervasive and insidious nature of racism in American society. But to make white supremacy not only the major parameter of political action, but a litmus test, as well, is an invitation to political disaster. You may not agree with me, you may think I am an asshole - but a political website that seeks to address a series of devastating losses should have a modicum of tolerance for opinions other than the dominant discourse.
I would be wise to quit. And the only reason that I do not is probably because it would make so many people happy if I did. It really blows my mind that some of the movers and shakers here think that they can create a mass movement by haranguing dissenters into line. I mean, people who come here are already two standard deviations left of the political center. There’s a term that leftists hate - “shrill” - but it really is what chases average non-junkies away from progressive politics.
I also take exception with those who say that climate change is the single most important issue facing humankind. It may be - it may not be. But on the political ground in places like Kenosha, Wisconsin and Lima, Ohio it is not. Donald Trump promised to flip the Midwest and he did. For people who are working two jobs to earn half what they did 10 years ago, demands to double the price of gasoline or electricity are gifts to the right wing.
If I had a dollar for every time I have been called a “denier” here at Daily Kos, I would be a millionaire. Maybe richer than Trump. But the fact remains that core economic issues have to come before environmental ones or you give the political playing field to the Republicans. And I can assure you that the Trump administration and the Tea Party Congress is going to do nothing to address climate change.
Markos Moulitsas admitted that he had been mistaken in this election cycle and urged progressives to keep up the good fight. But unless there is a careful assessment of what went wrong - unless there is a willingness to adopt new approaches - and unless there is a tolerance of ideas that may run counter to the current - then it will all be a futile exercise.