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mallorys_cameraOh, what a virtuous human being I am! I revel in my own virtue! I’m a regular Mrs. Jellyby. (Though I did steal some of L’s laundry detergent without asking first – is that a blot on my escutcheon? )
First meeting of the DCPAA steering committee last night. I begged a ride from Mike and Maria, who are even more virtuous than I am – if that’s possible (snort) – because it was pouring rain, and the ground fogs are still high, and I’d had enough of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow reenactment the night before.
I’m not sure the meeting accomplished all that much. The Big Question is legal structure: Are we a 527 tax exempt? A 501 C4? A 501 C3? A Political Action Committee (PAC)? And how do we raise the $3,000 to $5,000 a year we’ll need for office supplies?
At the one hour mark, we broke into smaller groups. And that was where the real fun began! I joined a sub-committee that was supposed to be looking at ways to vet potential candidates for the 2017 county legislature election. Among the participants was a woman called Elisa Sumner, who’s the head of the Dutchess County Democratic Committee. A regular Debbie Wasserman Schultz in training. She’d come to suss us out. To conscript us into the Democratic enclaves.
I have zero interest in joining the Democratic Party myself. The Democratic Party is moribund and delusional. This morning, for example, the great Democratic rallying cry is that the oligarchic Trump administration is stripping the U.S. for parts. It’s a shakedown!
And I am thinking, Uh huh. That’s right. But how exactly would that have been different if the Dems had won? You don’t remember Nancy Pelosi’s insider stock trades? You don’t remember Hillary Clinton accepting what to me amounted to a $680,000 bribe from Goldman Sachs?
I’m all for vilifying Trump because of his hateful and racist Cabinet choices.
But, I mean, c’mon. Trump may be stripping the great candy-red ’55 Chevy of State at an unprecedented scale.
But I’m not sure that “scale” alone is grounds for moral outrage.
Anyhoo, one of the participants in the sub-committee is a very brilliant young man named Ranald Adams who’s running for the county legislature from District 2.
“You didn’t even set up an appointment with me,” Elisa Sumner told him dismissively.
Subtitle: You didn’t kiss the ring!
Republicans are comfortably in control of the county legislature.
Elisa Sumner thinks that’s because Democrats won’t get out to vote in local elections.
“So-o-o, your expectation then is that Democrats will vote the party ticket without really evaluating the candidates?” I asked. I was struggling to understand.
She ignored the question.
“And candidates need us,” she said. “We have access to funding sources to help you with –“ She rolled out a number of things that candidates need to do. One of those things was phone banking. Another was polls. A third was those slick, glossy election flyers that most people dump in the recycling bin without reading. Some people throw them in the trash.
Now, I’m all in favor of slick, glossy election flyers. They’re the only thing that keeps small local print shops in business.
But phone banking?
I’ve never understood why anyone thinks phone banking accomplishes a goddamn thing. I mean, maybe it did back in some halcyon, bygone time when lonely people relished every opportunity to talk to someone, anyone, on the phone. But this is 2016. Millennials don’t like talking on the phone. I would actually be disinclined to vote for some candidate or his/her surrogate who incessantly called me at dinner time.
“So-o-o how many people actually vote in county legislature elections?” I asked.
Elisa Sumner snorted. “Are you talking Democrats?”
“Uh, no. I’m talking voters.”
She reeled off a number that I now can’t remember and am way too lazy to look up.
“And what’s the margin of winning?”
“That depends upon how well we mobilize the Democratic vote.”
“So, again, your expectation is that people will come out to vote for Democrats as opposed to voting for candidates with some sort of name recognition. That’s an awfully retro Tammany Hall approach, don’t you think?”
Elisa Sumner glared at me. Shortly afterwards, the subcommittee disintegrated into heated post-game election analysis.
“Trump won because Democrats didn’t get out to vote! And because of Jill Stein!” cried the liberal lawyer to my left.
“No. Trump won because Hillary Clinton was a hugely flawed candidate and the Democratic Party was too arrogant to see that,” I said.
Well, that didn’t go over very well!
Mike and Maria had stepped out early, so I begged a ride back to Hyde Park with Ranald Adams.
Really, really smart kid.
“There will be a decade or so of political freefall,” he said. “The death agonies of the Democratic Party. It won’t be pretty. But we’ll survive it.”
You will! I thought. I might.
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Twenty,” he said.
“You’re playing a long game, aren’t you?” I asked.
“I am,” he said.
“Where does your game end?” I asked.
He looked at me and smiled. “The White House,” he said.
Maybe there is hope.
First meeting of the DCPAA steering committee last night. I begged a ride from Mike and Maria, who are even more virtuous than I am – if that’s possible (snort) – because it was pouring rain, and the ground fogs are still high, and I’d had enough of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow reenactment the night before.
I’m not sure the meeting accomplished all that much. The Big Question is legal structure: Are we a 527 tax exempt? A 501 C4? A 501 C3? A Political Action Committee (PAC)? And how do we raise the $3,000 to $5,000 a year we’ll need for office supplies?
At the one hour mark, we broke into smaller groups. And that was where the real fun began! I joined a sub-committee that was supposed to be looking at ways to vet potential candidates for the 2017 county legislature election. Among the participants was a woman called Elisa Sumner, who’s the head of the Dutchess County Democratic Committee. A regular Debbie Wasserman Schultz in training. She’d come to suss us out. To conscript us into the Democratic enclaves.
I have zero interest in joining the Democratic Party myself. The Democratic Party is moribund and delusional. This morning, for example, the great Democratic rallying cry is that the oligarchic Trump administration is stripping the U.S. for parts. It’s a shakedown!
And I am thinking, Uh huh. That’s right. But how exactly would that have been different if the Dems had won? You don’t remember Nancy Pelosi’s insider stock trades? You don’t remember Hillary Clinton accepting what to me amounted to a $680,000 bribe from Goldman Sachs?
I’m all for vilifying Trump because of his hateful and racist Cabinet choices.
But, I mean, c’mon. Trump may be stripping the great candy-red ’55 Chevy of State at an unprecedented scale.
But I’m not sure that “scale” alone is grounds for moral outrage.
Anyhoo, one of the participants in the sub-committee is a very brilliant young man named Ranald Adams who’s running for the county legislature from District 2.
“You didn’t even set up an appointment with me,” Elisa Sumner told him dismissively.
Subtitle: You didn’t kiss the ring!
Republicans are comfortably in control of the county legislature.
Elisa Sumner thinks that’s because Democrats won’t get out to vote in local elections.
“So-o-o, your expectation then is that Democrats will vote the party ticket without really evaluating the candidates?” I asked. I was struggling to understand.
She ignored the question.
“And candidates need us,” she said. “We have access to funding sources to help you with –“ She rolled out a number of things that candidates need to do. One of those things was phone banking. Another was polls. A third was those slick, glossy election flyers that most people dump in the recycling bin without reading. Some people throw them in the trash.
Now, I’m all in favor of slick, glossy election flyers. They’re the only thing that keeps small local print shops in business.
But phone banking?
I’ve never understood why anyone thinks phone banking accomplishes a goddamn thing. I mean, maybe it did back in some halcyon, bygone time when lonely people relished every opportunity to talk to someone, anyone, on the phone. But this is 2016. Millennials don’t like talking on the phone. I would actually be disinclined to vote for some candidate or his/her surrogate who incessantly called me at dinner time.
“So-o-o how many people actually vote in county legislature elections?” I asked.
Elisa Sumner snorted. “Are you talking Democrats?”
“Uh, no. I’m talking voters.”
She reeled off a number that I now can’t remember and am way too lazy to look up.
“And what’s the margin of winning?”
“That depends upon how well we mobilize the Democratic vote.”
“So, again, your expectation is that people will come out to vote for Democrats as opposed to voting for candidates with some sort of name recognition. That’s an awfully retro Tammany Hall approach, don’t you think?”
Elisa Sumner glared at me. Shortly afterwards, the subcommittee disintegrated into heated post-game election analysis.
“Trump won because Democrats didn’t get out to vote! And because of Jill Stein!” cried the liberal lawyer to my left.
“No. Trump won because Hillary Clinton was a hugely flawed candidate and the Democratic Party was too arrogant to see that,” I said.
Well, that didn’t go over very well!
Mike and Maria had stepped out early, so I begged a ride back to Hyde Park with Ranald Adams.
Really, really smart kid.
“There will be a decade or so of political freefall,” he said. “The death agonies of the Democratic Party. It won’t be pretty. But we’ll survive it.”
You will! I thought. I might.
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Twenty,” he said.
“You’re playing a long game, aren’t you?” I asked.
“I am,” he said.
“Where does your game end?” I asked.
He looked at me and smiled. “The White House,” he said.
Maybe there is hope.
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no subject
Date: 2016-12-01 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-12-01 10:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-12-02 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-12-02 02:08 pm (UTC)i didn't feel compelled to point it out to them either, which says something about how little I care about their opinion. :-)
Talk is cheap, right? :-)