Speaking of millennials and allowing everyone a seat at the table

I continuously see three big problems: 

People assume all millennials are the same.

 

They aren’t. There are some, like my daughter, who started young and earned a seat. She started volunteering at age thirteen, and cherished the wisdom, instruction, and patience of people she worked with (Donna Brazile the biggest name to show personal interest in her). Following years of volunteer experience and study, and working with both unions and ACORN, she went on to become a paid campaign worker. She has been an officer in the local Young Democrats for years. 

And, now, people who skipped all of that think people like her, as well as those of us who have been doing the same for decades, should forget everything we know and pretend that their wild ideas that we know from experience aren’t going to work the way they demand (especially the demands that we die and get out of their way so they can continue to help Republicans win elections) are doing everything they can to put kinks in the system (including physical violence at times) and to push every qualified, experienced, intelligent Democrat in office or in support positions out the door. This is unacceptable and a death sentence for the party*.

People assume all Sanders supporters are millennials. 

This is not true. I am sixty-three years old and know many Sanders supporters in my age group. They have been throwing elections to Republicans at least since Nadar and continue to infiltrate every Democratic group to sabotage Democratic candidates. Some run for offices they don’t want and/or know they can’t win to give themselves what they believe is credibility in groups (internet and not). They repeat right-wing talking points (lies), propagate the ridiculous notion that both parties are the same, and encourage people to either vote third party or don’t vote at all. 

They are pure tea party, whether or not they are willing to admit it and whether or not they know (as I do) that MoveOn actively recruited tea party members to, “Learn from them,” (their words, and I personally heard them directly from leadership). Their goal is to destroy both parties from within and now they have people who say they are loyal Democrats helping them even though some are just naïve and don’t understand how they are doing so. 

People assume all new ideas are good ideas that deserve our time.   

They are not. There are plenty of terrible ideas floating around and we have more important things that we should be focused on and that demand our time. Anyone who is honestly interested in getting involved and becoming a leader should understand that they need to work their way into leadership positions by listening and learning. This isn’t a ‘everyone gets a trophy for pretending they know what they are doing’ sport. This is a matter of life and death – for people, for the party, and for this earth.

Truth is, anyone who has been involved and demonstrated leadership positions or even willingness to have a seat at the table (as opposed to hogging the gavel and all control) isn't having to fight for a way to be involved.

We can't criticize Ivanka and her crazy father and party if we aren't going to stand up to people who want to give every little Ivanka who shows up the 'you are not qualified but stick around and learn' speech we think she deserved. 

*the party that many of them want to destroy and are only feigning support for so they can destroy from within

You Say You Want a Revolution

If you listen closely to the lyrics of the song, they express my thoughts about the current revolutionists. Wouldn't, or shouldn't, we all like to see the plan? From all I’ve seen so far, the Sanders and Paul calls for revolution are short on plans and big on destruction of the political parties that they have crashed and of our government. Sanders, a socialist who has done nothing but criticize the Democratic Party jumped into their primary race without even bothering to join the party first. Paul, a libertarian who did join the Republican Party, also professes to hate the government he asks voters to trust him with. 

This makes sense to some people?

They appear to draw support from the same pool: disgruntled people who, rather than admit they caused the problems they complain about, want to punish the rest of us. They like to shout about demanding, forcing, revolting . . . From what I’ve seen and heard from these groups, there isn’t a single reason to believe they will do anything but, at best, stand on the same street corners screaming the same things and asking to be arrested, or make things worse to enable their self-fulfilling prophesies and eternal whining. Like the candidates they want to put in positions of leadership, they don’t seem interested in peacefully working toward specific goals.

Pipe dreams, shouted in anger is all they seem to have. Well, not all. They also have dismal records. 

The fact that the anarchists on the left and faux patriots on the right didn’t start their revolutions when the Supreme Court handed the White House to Bush in 2000, or when Bush invaded Iraq for no reason, tells me they are more about making noise and getting attention than they are about protecting the country they profess to love or standing for something.

So, we have anarchists to the left of us and patriots [sic] to the right. I will be sticking with people who can express themselves without shaking their fists, wagging their fingers, or throwing temper tantrums, and whose plans are concrete and whose proposals include steps toward achieving goals. That’s progressive, by my definition. Screaming ? Not so much. Not even close.

Art by Deb Mandicino (Great job, thanks for allowing me to use this, Deb.)

BS Analogy 5

The job interview:

I’m here to apply for the Director of Communications position.

Great. First, tell me what you know about our company.

I hate your company and everything about it. I'm here to force you to do things my way.

What is your way? What have you accomplished that should make me think you could do the job?

I don't know what my way is. I named a couple of puppies and scammed a few people. SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK.

I was letting you talk.

I am the only person who ever did anything right in your company.

You haven't done anything in my company.

Doesn’t matter. If I tell people to believe I have, they will believe me. By the way, your CEO sucks, too, except when he does things that I want to take credit for.

You're hired! (Only in the fantasies or delusions of BS supporters.)