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Blue Wave? Same old song and dance.... Unless we address the problems within the Democratic Party [1]
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Date: 2025-04-03
The turnout and results in WI the other night IS something to be excited about. And it already has people predicting a 2026 Blue Wave. I read Kos’s article and it left me feeling … meh. And then the comments section was full of arguing over whether we will have a blue wave with the optimists fighting the pessimists and my reaction to the comments debate was… meh. Arguing and reporting about a blue wave is nothing more than discussing the horse race. Our democracy crumbles and we are supposed to pitch our hopes to an unknown slate of Democrats with no semblance of a message or a plan?
Yes, the Democrats are light years better than the Republicans and I would certainly work for a Blue win and be happy with one. But I’ve yet to hear any actual plan being put forth by the majority of Democrats to address our structural issues within the party and within the country. We had a Blue wave in 2018, won the 2020 presidency, and then utterly failed to protect Democracy. So to me a blue wave in 2026 is at best a minor respite and looking at how likely Trump is to ignore the Congress and the courts I’m not sure how much it will help us. Again, it’s better than the Republicans winning, but to what end?
If you want to get me excited about 2026, Democratic leadership needs to come out with a comprehensive strategy to restore Democracy in this country and to run on explicitly removing the power of the Oligarchs over this government. I need to see Democratic leadership putting forth policy to reverse Citizens United, expand the Supreme Court, and get rid of the Senate Filibuster. And then I need to see fast and bold policy to combat climate change. Otherwise, what are we doing here? Rearranging deck chairs?
People got excited about Cory Booker and the 25 hour filibuster. Great, show some fighting spirit. But then what are we going to do with it? For decades the Democratic Party has been about getting moderate pro-business democrats elected to cautiously make minuscule changes that don’t upset the Oligarchs. The Democrats have mostly just retreated again and again with a few good wins here and there such as the Affordable care act (corporate friendly) and the IRA (again corporate friendly). We will not get out of this mess by being corporate friendly. We might get rid of Trump, which would be good. But without addressing the underlying shift of power to the wealthy it will only be a matter of time before the next attempt on Democracy is made.
Until people get it into their thick skulls that allowing billionaires to openly bribe politicians is a bad thing, we can’t ever truly get out of the mess. Until people demand, DEMAND, that billionaires face the same justice that the rest of us do, we will not get out of this mess. And until people demand that climate change gets truly addressed, the ticking time bomb of climate catastrophe will never get diffused.
When all of Democratic Leadership starts talking about radical ideas such as “economic equality”, “equal protection under the law”, “one person, one vote” and “no bribing politicians” then I will start to get excited. And I will get even more excited when I see the concrete proposals they will put in place should they win. I really just can’t believe that so many people who consider themselves responsible adults can’t seem to demand these basic attributes from our Democratic leadership. Instead it’s always about “well the other people are worse” and we rarely end up with leadership fighting for actual justice for the people.
Don’t talk to me about blue waves. I don’t care. If you want me on board you need to both talk about real justice, AND have a plan to get there. If we’re going to get out of this mess through the ballot box I need to see your plan to protect the vote with all the vote suppression stacked against us. Are we going to vote in 2026 and then meekly walk away if they steal it from us? Or do you have a plan? And I mean a real plan that we can know about and see put into action. I don’t trust the Republicans not to try to steal the vote and you have no credibility in my eye if you claim there is no way for them to steal it.
And once we win, what is the plan to remove the power of oligarchs and corporations? If you don’t see that as a problem, that is a problem. I’m not interested in Fascism-lite. I’m interested in finally seeing responsible adults taking charge and putting in place the governance to make this whole world a better place. If things get ugly why should I put my life and my kids lives on the line for a return to corporate control of the government? If all we are about is returning to the status quo of the early 2000s than I’d rather spend my time building my kids a bunker with a veggie garden 200 ft above todays sea levels in a select part of the world.
But I’m not the retreating type. I want us to make this world a better place. But to do that we need to take power out of the hands of the greedy and return it to the people. I can totally see a large beautiful movement happening to achieve this better world. But it’s going to have to start with expecting much more from our Democratic leadership and replacing those who are in the way.
Join me on Bluesky! peterolandt.bsky.social
If you want me to write more you can support me by buying me a coffee. And thanks SO much for those who have done so!
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