FUCK OFF - I will not abandon trans or any other group, even if the Republicans or the press beats us over the head with distortions.
@Bix I think she's got a point. "latinx" exemplified that dynamic. That term came from academia and was promoted without doing the footwork to see it embraced by the community it was created to represent.
We have to do the footwork. Yes, we should demand our leaders champion important causes and trans rights tops that list. But we have to activate support for those priorities among the people. We can't dictate what should be important, frown on those who disagree, and end our efforts there.
@Ironworker229 @Bix Yes. I think its the most tangible change democrats can make going forward. Activism is near and dear to our hearts. But just as activism has devolved from consensus building to demanding change and canceling detractors so too has our policy making. There's an air of "this issue is too urgent to tolerate any dissent" around so many of our core issues and that isn't getting the work done.
@Ironworker229 @Bix And she's totally on point about trading the faculty lounge for the assembly line. A major labour leader felt appearing at the RNC was representing his workers. We lost so much ground among labour voters. And people carry on about it as if means he and those workers are out of touch and should be shamed instead on finding the more important truth - we aren't connecting with these people any more. Not the way we need to be.
I love Obama and treasure those years.
@Ironworker229 @Bix But I worried back then seeing OFA in action because while Obama was using tools he had to develop coming up in the political environment of Illinois - where he had to break past the old guard to get elected - what he was in practice doing with OFA was setting the pattern of running without making use of the traditional party structure that has ensured all the people some saw as standing in the way were brought into the process and taken on the journey. My way or the highway
@Fellixe It frequently seems that "incremental" is interpreted by many as a bad word. I don't have to like it, but the reality is that changing minds takes time and is generally more successful in small bites. @Bix