Too many pundits and voters liken politics to sports way too often. In sports, we have a zero-sum contest with a definitive winner and a loser. Democrats buy into this notion even more than Republicans. Republicans, especially hardcore conservatives, understand the long game. I disagree with their ends but I have to marvel at their means.
American Conservatives always seem to lose and then turn their defeat into a win later on. From the 1930's to the early 1970's, Conservatism seemed to be dead, we had Democratic Presidents or very moderate Republicans and this period of our History saw incomplete but not insignificant legislation and court cases that advanced economic justice, civil rights, women's rights, rights for criminal defendants and even rights for the environment.
Some how, we are here in 2016 and so many of those advances have been turned back by movement conservatives. The voting rights act has been gutted, States suppress minority votes, the Economy is wildly unequal and rigged, Republicans control the House and most State governments, law enforcement is still militarized and abortion is de facto illegal in many States. If NT was around in 1973-74, every progressive would celebrate and would say, in the wake of Roe v. Wade, "that's a wrap, champs."
The Conservatives are masters at getting triple kills from Beyond the Grave.While many of these conservative victories came in the Reagan and Bush years, they have made a great deal of "progress" in The Clinton and Obama years. The Clinton years, one can understand, the electorate was fundamentally center-right. The Obama years, however, defy conventional wisdom.
In 2008, we were told that we were all socialists now. Our Economy was to be red, our President would be black and our energy system would be Green. Crazy financial capitalism had been rebuffed, racism had been rebuffed, the seas would cease to rise and it all was confirm on night in early November. In 2010 we got the Tea Party.
In 2012, we were told that we were part of the "Coalition of the Ascendant." We were to expect legions of hip, young, diverse, sexually fluid, social media savvy urban professionals to descend from their trendy downtown loft apartments and deliver a permanent Democratic majority. Children of undocumented immigrants turned web designers would make places like Arizona and Texas into blue States in no time. This overwhelming liberal majority would make conservatives acknowledge the humanity of undocumented people and LGBTQ people. Two years later Mitch McConnell took over the Senate. one year ago, we got Trump and his Wall. This year we have State government making laws concerning who can and cannot use certain bathrooms.
I say to fellow Bernie supporters, we need to be steady and persistent and in time, we will win. This process will take a while but it will take less time if we have Democrats in the White House and Congressional majorities. So in a general election, vote for Clinton and more importantly vote all the way down the ballot and then we will do the same thing in 2018 and 2020 and we will persist.
Good answer.
