The Marti wrote a KTK diary on Sunday about those of us on the site needing to
not be dicks with DailyKos members in red states. She brought up the point there are DKos folks in blue states that say "serves you right" for living in red states. I must admit there
is some of that but so what? It's just people being who they are. I've seen far more people being empathetic here and commiserating with those of us in red states or very red areas in blue states. I just wanted to point that out.
I'll tell you something about politics. It doesn't matter one iota what you may think or say about blue folks that live in red states. It makes no difference at all. You know what? If you live in a red state and are blue in your political orientation and it hurts your feelings to be admonished with "it serves you right" then you have no business being involved in anything political. For God's sake, if you can't handle some dickish comment on a blog on the internet then you aren't going to actually do anything about politics other than vote and say some things about it on your facebook page, if that.
Politics totally sucks. Politics is rough. I've chronicled what I've done over the years in the political arena from 7th grade to now. It's always unpleasant at best and sometimes dangerous. Words are cheap and they've gotten much cheaper in the past decade. Actions are all that count...period!
Trolls come in all forms. I have a few of my own personal trolls right here on DKos who enjoy and delight in refuting anything I say. They will purposefully take the exact opposite opinion to mine just to attempt to get under my skin. So?
The first rule of trolls is ignore them. The second rule of trolls is to feel sorry for them because that's what they do? How petty and pathetic. Imagine how it must be to live in their head. Imagine for a moment what nutty screwed up obsession they have. Trolls are sad. Hell, critics are a notch up from trolls.
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BeninSC wrote a KTK diary yesterday as well stating some similar stuff but asking for support of blue people in red states by way of, not just getting along and being nice to each other here on DailyKos, but also in tangible ways. I agree totally. Again, words are cheap and getting cheaper. What you do, and not what you say, is all that matters. Sometimes words from another can light a fire under you. Shockwave made a remark about DailyKos members becoming Assembly District representatives for the Democratic party in their states. I went for it, though I started far too late. I hadn't even thought about it before he mentioned it. So I went for it anyway just to see what would happen and to experience the whole process.
One thing BeninSC wrote about is changing gerrymandering.
OK lets talk about gerrymandering. There is nothing that can possibly change until after the 2020 elections. Do you honestly know why the Tea Party was created after Obama got elected? It was really to be sure the GOP would sweep states' governments to then be able to do the gerrymandering that came after the 2010 census. The Tea Party was created by GOP superpaks and FOX NEWS specifically to control gerrymandering. What, you thought it was grassroots? You thought it was about race? It may have been for the stupid old white people who were pawns. And boy oh boy did the networks play into their hands. They'd show 50 Tea Party folks at some rally created for them while totally ignoring thousands of folks at a rally for the Democrats.
But what was the real intent by Americans For Prosperity and FOX NEWS. It was to be able to control state legislatures right at that time to control gerrymandering. That was the golden egg they wanted...period...because that meant they'd have total power in creating voting districts for a decade after that. They are absolutely going to be in control until 2020.
You have to look beyond the shiny object they dangle to distract you. The GOP makes big moves at specific times to get quantum control of things for a long, long time. Always look for the real intent behind the moves they make. They are experts at using smoke and mirrors so you won't see the truth.
So, if you want to do something about gerrymandering, you need to start now, not five years from now. You need to make it your #1 political thrust because whomever gets to decide how things are gerrymandered after the 2020 election will have an entire decade of political control for a decade after that. Then you'll have to wait until the 2030 election for the next chance to change anything. Nothing could have a more profound effect then gaining control of your state legislature by 2020. Forget each two-year cycle as an individual election. You have to look at each 2-year cycle as one step towards your 2020 strategy. Your 2020 strategy regarding gerrymandering began in 2010! Are you doing something about that yet? Why not? It will determine how your state's legislature will be for the next decade until 2030. So, the reality is how things are run in your state now will be the way it will be until at the very least 2030 unless you bust your butt starting now to change the legislature in your state by 2020. There is no time to wait.
Speaking of 2-year voting cycles, do you know who your Democratic candidate is for the US House of Representatives for the 2016 election if you currently have a Republican representing you? If not, then Democrats in your district are not serious. The House elections NEVER stop. There is no pause. As soon as one election is over, the losing party MUST be going full steam ahead towards the next election. The party in control already has all their group going and all the financial backing they need. They just need to sit back and play rope-a-dope. They don't need to do anything now. For them there is a pause, but not for the party out of power. For the party out of power it's full-court press time if they are going to be serious in taking the seat.
Where I live, in the last election, the Democratic candidate didn't even throw her hat in the ring until far less than a year before the election. This is how you lose and is proof she wasn't serious. She was never written about in the newspapers. She rarely gave any speeches. She couldn't be bothered to visit all the cities and towns in her district. She was just wishing she might win. She wasn't dedicated or really desire the position. If you have a serious candidate for the House, they will be known by mid-summer at the latest. If no one comes forward by then...it's a joke. You can possibly mount a serious campaign for the House if you bust butt for 18 months before the election. Where I live Democrats don't even state their intention to go for it until 8-9 months before the election which means they aren't serious or simply are totally ignorant.
Gerrymandering determines who controls your state legislature and most likely who will be in Congress representing you as well. But there is something that holds the most political power for the longest amount of time in our country. It's Federal Judges and Superior Court Judges. These people are in their positions for life unless they get impeached. Federal Judges and Superior Court Judges rule for more than a generation (a generation is considered to be 20 years). Many rule for two generations. If you want to change where the most power is for the longest time...this is where it's at. Thankfully Obama was able to get a good number of Federal Judges placed. But the Democrats have not done well since way back. GOP presidents have been able to place Federal Judges onto the bench in much greater numbers than the Democrats for several decades now. When a Democrat is president, the GOP stalls or simply disallows Congress to put those judges on the bench. What do you suppose that means? It means a Federal Judge in Texas can stop the president's executive order regarding immigration. To overturn that one single Federal Judge's order will take time and could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
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Let's look at very, very local politics. I live in a town of 25,000 people. We actually had a drop in population between 2000 and 2010. Here are some things that were in the latest newspaper for my little town.
1) The school teachers, who do have a union, are wanting an increase in pay. They took pay cuts for several years when the economy was down. Now the economy is doing better and the state is giving more money to school districts. The school superintendent says he can spend that extra money anyway he wants. He has no mandate as to what to spend it on. He was also quoted as saying, "teachers are worth nothing." He's offering them a 1% pay increase. The teachers sacrificed when things were bad. Now that things are better this is the attitude they get. Interestingly, during the bad times, the school board voted to increase their own pay. What do you suppose is most likely to happen with the majority of the new money coming into our school district?
This is about power plain and simple. It has really nothing to do with what's best for the citizens and the students.
2) We have a lake for our source of water. They've allowed non-motorized boats (canoes and kayaks) to be on the lake from April until November (the non-rain months, though now we no longer really have a rainy season it seems). We pay $50 each year to use the lake. There is a man who's been the Lake Patrolman for the past 7 years. Now the water board has decided to open the lake up for the entire year starting in March with fees to go up accordingly. Well, one member of the water board simply hired a relative for that job at top pay ($41,436 per year) without even allowing the person who'd been doing it to have a chance to apply for the job. Later they let that guy apply but then acknowledged they didn't even consider him.
It's about power plain and simple. It's not about what's best for the citizens or our lake. The new guy's never done the job and only one out of five board members made the decision to give his own relative the position. And that's that.
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Just a note. Today the paper's editorial went off on Obama making statements about the USA not being at war with Islam. Oh boy, that didn't sit well. My local paper then let us know that "the world has been at war with the Muslims for a solid 919 years", since the Islam religion began in 610 AD. The paper let us know the Christian Crusades...9 of them over 176 years...were only due to Europe defending itself against being totally conquered by Muslims. Jeez, does my local paper historicize much?
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Bottom line is all politics is local. Look at the crap that goes on in a tiny town of 25,000 folks. If you want to really make any change in a red state or a red area you have to truly understand what things have the longest standing effects for the greatest amount of time. Each election matters for the House, but each 2-year election is one step to the big league stuff which determines things for decades. You really need to have the far, far vision if you want change to occur. Being nice to each other here is nice. Actions are all that matter.
What do you want to kibitz about tonight?
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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