My bf has a friend. This friend has parroted phrases like “Democrat*c establishment.”

This friend told my bf in 2018 he wanted to run for US Congress House seat in his state. They have ZERO political or corporate experience & this shouldn’t matter, but hasn’t been to college. /1

My bf asked this friend if they go to city council or BOE meetings & the answer was “no”, so my bf advised them to volunteer for a council member to get their foot in the door & then possibly run for city council or BOE & essentially outlined an entire career path for them. /2

My bf’s friend took this as a lack of support then abandoned the idea altogether but has been parroting talking points for the past year, one of which is “Democrat*c establishment.” /3

I need you all to understand something: individuals who are established among their community are so because they’ve put in the work in their community from the ground up... BOE, city council, parks department, the mayor’s office, etc. /4

*As an aisde to this rant, folks like AOC are outliers & unless you are willing to literally wear through the soles of your shoes like she did walking around the entire district & knocking on EVERY door, you will not & can not win on “well, i just wanna run for office” alone. /4+

So, an individual politician may be established in their community, but they’re not really part of an establishment.

Some individual Dems may receive money from corporations, but almost every Republican does, but you all don’t complain about THEM, so what’s your REAL issue? /5

Do you think Democrats should hold ZERO high money fundraisers? Accept zero dollars from CEOs or corporations at all? That notion is ridiculous & in some districts, when going head to head with Republicans, we CAN NOT WIN unless there’s money involved. /6

So I need people to really ask themselves what their issues actually are...
a. Are you mad that some Democratic politicians have money & nice houses? Are they supoosed to live like paupers?
b. Are you just mad your candidate didn’t win?
/7

c. Are you broke, white & male and mad that too much of the party’s focus is on women &minorities?
d. Are you mad that not ENOUGH of the party’s focus is on women&minorities or liberal & progressive ideas?
e. Are you mad because a 2 party system doesn’t entertain enough ideas?
/8

Ok, let’s discuss...
a. You’re mad that some Democratic politicians have money & nice houses. A note: many politicians went to law school. It’s expensive. You know the only way to pay off law school if they didn’t get a grant? Working for a law firm. Then they made money. See? /9

b. You’re mad your candidate didn’t win & the “Democrat*c establishment” is to blame. Or OR, people just didn’t think your candidate put in the work (see Tweet 4) in the community & instead chose someone who has put in the work. /10

c. You’re mad that you’re broke & white & male and you think too much of the party’s focus is on women & minorities. The modern version of the Democratic Party is to champion underrpresented communities. Deal with it. We’re here to stay & we will NOT be silent. /11

d. You’re mad that not ENOUGH of the party’s focus is on women & minorities or liberal & progressive ideas.

This is fair criticism & part of the reason why i reject the “Democrat*c establishment” phrase because the party is not the monolith that the Republican party is. /12

d. (cont’d)So you’ve got a vertical line with space on the right & left... Repubs are going to be all the way to the right at almost ALL times. They move in lock step.
Democrats will be all over the place... all the way to the left, just left of center & midway between those. /13

d. (cont’d) In the Republican party, there’s not a lot of room to be different. In the Democratic party, there is. Because of this, a few Democratic Congresspeople, Senators, Governors Mayors, etc. are just NOT going to be as Liberal or Progressive as we want them to be. /14

e. So this feeds into, you’re mad because a 2 party system doesn’t entertain enough ideas. You’re right!! However, I am not an expert on this so I can’t offer much here, BUT! in my own opinion: If we poof! all of a sudden had a Far Left party to add to Dem & Repub... /15

e. (cont’d) ...REPUBLICANS. WOULD. WIN. EVERYTHING. In my opinion only, if we were to split the Democratic party into 2 parties at THIS moment in our history, both would lose. Example: if 3 candidates ran a campaign on ONE issue, let’s say money for Parks & Playgrounds... /16

e. (cont’d)
Dem: $1M to parks!
Far Left: $2M!
Republican: Fuck trees. Parks get $0 & you all get a tax cut!

Democrat: 30% of the vote
FarLeft: 30% of the vote
Republican: 40% of the vote

60% of voters CLEARLY want $ for parks, but the Republican won the election, so $0.

d & e. (cont’d) So this is part of why the Democratic party is so all over the place & honestly can’t really be an “establishment”. We have most of the same goals & values, but differ wildly on where to prioritize them & how much to fund them. /18

Republicans share almost none of those. While Democrats are infighting about where to prioritize what’s important, Republicans are like “that’s literally not important to me AT ALL.” /19

So what am I saying in all this??
- BOE
- City Council
- Parks Department
- Mayors office
- County clerk’s office
- Governor’s office
- etc.
If you do not think the Democratic party is what you want it to be, contact one of the above mentioned places & volunteer for them. /20

GET. IN. THERE. Then run for city council or BOE. THEN maybe a State level position. THEN maybe a Federal position.

DO. THE. WORK. Pound the pavement. Knock on doors. Be IN your community. Change what you call “establishment” from within. Establish YOURSELF. /21

Last, if you find yourself constantly attacking the Democratic party for not being liberal ENOUGH or progressive ENOUGH... ask yourself why you don’t keep that same energy for Republicans. Yes, hold your party officials accountable, but at the end of the day... /22

...Republicans are the ones out here gerrymandering & suppressing votes. Imagine what the Democratic party would look like if more people weren’t blocked from voting. I imagine it’d be a lot more liberal & a lot more progressive. So know who the real enemy is in all this. /23