Ralph DeCamp painting
We’ve now looked at Montana’s progressive past and we’ve looked at its progressive future.
Today we’ll look at what leverage the Montana progressives have.
Leverage is nothing more than “influence or power used to achieve a desired result.”
Too often, however, a false sense of loyalty keeps progressives from exercising their leverage.
We see this all the time in people voting for Democrats despite the Democrats not doing what these people want.
So that way doesn’t work.
It’s much better to use leverage, and progressives can do that by not voting or voting for the other guy.
Voting for the other guy is of course the best tactic, as it induces the most fear in Democrats.
Fear of losing is the only thing that will get Democrats to do what progressives want.
Remember, we’re trying to get what we want. We can use the carrot, we can use the stick.
At this point I’d like to use the stick.
Today we’ll look at what leverage the Montana progressives have.
Leverage is nothing more than “influence or power used to achieve a desired result.”
Too often, however, a false sense of loyalty keeps progressives from exercising their leverage.
We see this all the time in people voting for Democrats despite the Democrats not doing what these people want.
So that way doesn’t work.
It’s much better to use leverage, and progressives can do that by not voting or voting for the other guy.
Voting for the other guy is of course the best tactic, as it induces the most fear in Democrats.
Fear of losing is the only thing that will get Democrats to do what progressives want.
Remember, we’re trying to get what we want. We can use the carrot, we can use the stick.
At this point I’d like to use the stick.
The time for coddling Democrats is over.
No longer will they receive my vote, for the simple reason that they don’t do anything I want.
Worse, they use excuses to make up reasons why they don’t do what I want.
We don’t have the votes in the legislature…we don’t have the funding…the Republicans are crazy…life’s just too hard!
Stuff that shit in the toilet.
- If you don’t have the votes, you find them.
- If you don’t have the funding, you make cuts elsewhere.
- If Republicans are crazy, than you get even crazier.
- If life’s too hard then get out of the fucking arena and let someone with some balls in.
We’re trying to swing voters one way or another in this election, at least the Democrats and Republicans are.
For the Greens and Libertarians and independents and communists and socialists and whatever else there is out there, it’s all about getting a few votes, making a statement.
For the Ds and Rs, however, it’s about winning…whatever that is.
Remember, a win for the politicians is a win for the rich corporations and billionaire class.
It does nothing to make your life better.
But gosh darn, you’ll keep voting for the schmucks.
Whether it’s a Hilary or a Bullock or a Lindeen or a Laslovich, you’ll keep voting for ‘em even though they do exactly the opposite of what they say they will.
Most of the time they just make your life worse.
Raising your insurance rates…selling off public lands…utterly failing to produce any kind of meaningful legislation in your life.
$8.05 an hour minimum wage…and you want me to be proud of this ‘accomplishment’ at the state level, getting a dollar more than the national rate?
Our “leaders” are so clueless it’s not funny, it’s no longer sad, and it ain't pitiful.
At this point it’s dangerous for you and it's dangerous for your family.
Their heads are so far up in the clouds that they don’t understand the common concerns of the citizens they purport to represent.
But gosh darn, you’ll keep voting for 'em.
You and the propaganda organs of the state have convinced you that they’re not that bad, that the other guys are worse, that if you don’t vote for ‘em, things will go to shit.
For so many people, things already are shit.
So this is what I’m doing, and you can do what you like.
I encourage you to do what you want, to think for yourself, to make your own decisions - most people don't.
So this is what I'm doing:
I’m not voting for any of these fools, and that’s my leverage.
I won’t be voting for Democrats until they begin to sound like Democrats, not pro-business nut jobs that don’t know my concerns.
If this causes them to lose their oh-so-important statewide races, good.
That’s the leverage that we progressives will develop with this election and we'll build it up as we move forward to 2018.
If you’re just going to pay us lip service, then we’ll go ahead and pay you back by staying home or voting for the other guy.
If you lose, good – go to that fancy-pants corporate gig you have lined up, or maybe that lobbying position.
Then next time when another rosy-cheeked glad-hander comes along making promises, we’ll listen and learn and investigate.
If they come up smelling like shit, I won’t vote for them.
They’ll lose, and when this happens to enough of those charlatans they just might get the message that they have to listen to us lowbrow and downtrodden individuals that they despise.
Might.
I’m not really counting on it, however, as they've rigged our election system.
PACs and corporations and the rich assholes that run ‘em can give unlimited dark money to whoever they want and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.
- When Republicans do it the Democrats try to counter them by raising even more.
- When Democrats do it Republicans try to counter them by raising even more.
Why bother courting your progressive vote when the charlatans know two things:
- First, gosh darn, you’re gonna vote for ‘em anyways because you’ve been brainwashed into believing the other guy is so bad.
- Second, you have no leverage because there’s more than enough dark money to destroy whatever leverage you’ve built up.
So they laugh at us behind their closed doors and in their smoky rooms and in their gated communities.
On their propaganda organs they admonish us to vote for the good guy, even though the husband of their 'good guy' pardoned the financiers of their bad guy.
They laugh at us and shake their heads and know that it doesn’t matter.
We can stay home, we can vote for the other guy…it doesn’t matter.
The dark money is giving equally to Ds and Rs and no matter who gets in, the corporate agenda of endless war abroad and complete poverty of the mind, body and soul at home will continue.
Leverage is nothing more than “influence or power used to achieve a desired result.”
I’ll be exercising mine in 90 days, and I’ll be doing that by not voting for our Democrats.
Fuck ‘em.
