The DCCC Doesn't Define The Democratic Party The Same Way Most Democrats Do-- And That's A Big Problem

Over the weekend Nomiki Konst highlighted an excerpt from Donna Brazile's book that explains how the political establishment advances the financial disfunction of the Democratic Party. Konst is, in effect, explaining the DCCC's shameless jihad against working class candidates while recruiting hopeless and generally wretched self-funders. She's also explaining Pelosi's dependence on members of the 1% for 100% of the advice she listens to and why she backs multimillionaire candidates over non-millionaire candidates. And, most of all she's explaining how Clinton campaign manager Robbie Mook, an abysmally failed executive director of the DCCC, managed to encourage mediocre congressional candidates to sit back and wait for the Hillary landslide against Trump to sweep them into office. Candidates down-ticket not working hard enough, helped tank thew hole ticket, bringing victories to Trump and keeping Ryan and McConnell in power. The DCCC is repeating the same brilliant strategy for 2018 with their horrendous recruiting of loser candidates who can only win in a tsunami.

On Friday the American Prospect published an essay by Peter Dreier destroying another pillar of DCCC recruitment, their second favorite after the need for self-funders-- the need to recruit Republican-lite candidates, especially "ex"-Republicans who are Republican-lite candidates. When Rahm Emanuel tampered with the DNA of the DCCC and left it the mess it is today, the revulsion with the New Deal policies of the party were cemented in stone. The Democrats all but completely jettisoned working families in their pursuit of Wall Street, Silicon Valley and upper middle class professionals.

Dreier's premise is that American voters prefer progressive policies, not the conservative ones the DCCC aspires to and recruits candidates to represent. "When it comes to key policy areas," he wrote, "polls show that a vast majority of Americans also depart from Trump by leaning left. That lean isn’t generally reflected in Americans’ self-designations, nor is ideological consistency a notable American trait. A new Pew survey found that about one-third of Americans hold both liberal and conservative views, depending on the specific issue. Another Pew report divides Americans into nine categories based on their political and social views, from core conservatives (13 percent) to solid liberals (16 percent). But even those on the extreme right and left ends of the spectrum share some views in common.

Since Trump’s inauguration in January, much attention has focused on how his racist rhetoric toward immigrants and Muslims, disdain for the rule of law, and hostility toward the free press have polluted the nation’s public discourse and given legitimacy to hate groups associated with the “alt-right.”

But the focus on division and bigotry can obscure other views that most Americans share, especially when it comes to such matters as economic fairness, protecting the environment, and the drift toward plutocracy. The vast majority of Americans are liberal or progressive when it comes to these matters. Even some Trump supporters, Republicans, and people who call themselves “conservatives” have liberal views on many topics.

Americans are generally upset with widening inequality, the political influence of big business, and declining living standards. Public opinion is generally favorable toward greater government activism to address these and other problems, like climate change and health care.

Most Americans worry that government has been captured by the powerful and wealthy. They want a government that serves the common good. They also want to reform government to make it more responsive and accountable.

The figures cited below come from surveys conducted by Gallup, Pew, and other reputable polling organizations on the key issues facing the nation. These are the most recent national polls on each topic. Most of them are from the past year, although a few go back further. Each poll is hyperlinked so readers can look at the original sources.

The Economy

• 82 percent of Americans think wealthy people have too much power and influence in Washington.
• 69 percent think large businesses have too much power and influence in Washington.
• 59 percent-- and 72 percent of likely voters-- think Wall Street has too much power and influence in Washington.
• 78 percent of likely voters support stronger rules and enforcement on the financial industry.
• 65 percent of Americans think our economic system “unfairly favors powerful interests.”
• 59 percent of Americans-- and 43 percent of Republicans-- think corporations make “too much profit.”

Inequality

• 82 percent of Americans think economic inequality is a “very big” (48 percent) or “moderately big” (34 percent) problem. Even 69 percent of Republicans share this view.
• 66 percent of Americans think money and wealth should be distributed more evenly.
• 72 percent of Americans say it is “extremely” or “very” important, and 23 percent say it is “somewhat important,” to reduce poverty. 59 percent of registered voters-- and 51 percent of Republicans-- favor raising the maximum amount that low-wage workers can make and still be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, from $14,820 to $18,000.

Money in Politics

• 96 percent of Americans-- including 96 percent of Republicans-- believe money in politics is to blame for the dysfunction of the U.S. political system.
• 84 percent of Americans-- including 80 percent of Republicans-- believe money has too much influence in politics.
• 78 percent of Americans say we need sweeping new laws to reduce the influence of money in politics.
• 73 percent of registered voters have an unfavorable opinion of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Taxes

• 80 percent of Americans think some corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
• 78 percent think some wealthy people don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
• 76 percent believe the wealthiest Americans should pay higher taxes.
• 60 percent of registered voters believe corporations pay too little in taxes.
• 87 percent of Americans say it is critical to preserve Social Security, even if it means increasing Social Security taxes paid by wealthy Americans.
• 67 percent of Americans support lifting the cap to require higher-income workers to pay Social Security taxes on all of their wages.

Minimum Wage

• 66 percent of Americans favor raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
• 59 percent favor raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour. (A survey of registered voters found that 54 percent favored a $15 minimum wage.)
• 63 percent of registered voters think the minimum wage should be adjusted each year by the rate of inflation.

Workers’ Rights

• 61 percent of Americans-- including 42 percent of Republicans-- approve of labor unions.
• 74 percent of registered voters-- including 71 percent of Republicans-- support requiring employers to offer paid parental and medical leave.
• 78 percent of likely voters favor establishing a national fund that offers all workers 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.

Health Care

• 60 percent of Americans believe “it is the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage.”
• 60 percent of registered voters favor “expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American.”
• 58 percent of the public favors replacing Obamacare with “a federally funded healthcare program providing insurance for all Americans.”
• 64 percent of registered voters favor their state accepting the Obamacare plan for expanding Medicaid in their state.

Education

• 63 percent of registered voters-- including 47 percent of Republicans-- of Americans favor making four-year public colleges and universities tuition-free.
• 59 percent of Americans favor free early-childhood education.

Climate Change and the Environment

• 76 percent of voters are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about climate change.
• 68 percent of voters think it is possible to protect the environment and protect jobs.
• 72 percent of voters think it is a “bad idea” to cut funding for scientific research on the environment and climate change.
• 59 percent of voters say more needs to be done to address climate change.

Gun Safety

• 84 percent of Americans support requiring background checks for all gun buyers.
• 77 percent of gun owners support requiring background checks for all gun buyers.

Criminal Justice

• 57 percent of Americans believe police officers generally treat blacks and other minorities differently than they treat whites.
• 60 percent of Americans believe the recent killings of black men by police are part of a broader pattern of how police treat black Americans (compared with 39 percent who believe they are isolated incidents).

Immigration

• 68 percent of Americans-- including 48 percent of Republicans-- believe the country’s openness to people from around the world “is essential to who we are as a nation.” Just 29 percent say that “if America is too open to people from all over the world, we risk losing our identity as a nation.”
• 65 percent of Americans-- including 42 percent of Republicans-- say immigrants strengthen the country “because of their hard work and talents.” Just 26 percent say immigrants are a burden “because they take our jobs, housing and health care.”
• 64 percent of Americans think an increasing number of people from different races, ethnic groups, and nationalities makes the country a better place to live. Only 5 percent say it makes the United States a worse place to live, and 29 percent say it makes no difference.
• 76 percent of registered voters-- including 69 percent of Republicans-- support allowing undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children (Dreamers) to stay in the country. 58 percent think Dreamers should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements. Another 18 percent think they should be allowed to stay and become legal residents, but not citizens. Only 15 percent think they should be removed or deported from the country.

Abortion and Women’s Health

• 58 percent of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
• 68 percent of Americans-- including 54 percent of Republicans-- support the requirement for private health insurance plans to cover the full cost of birth control.

Same-Sex Marriage

• 62 percent of Americans-- including 70 percent of independents and 40 percent of Republicans-- support same-sex marriage.
• 74 percent of millennials (born after 1981) support same-sex marriage.

All this should be good news for Democrats... These survey findings should compel Democrats running for Congress and governor next year, and for president in 2020, to promote a bolder progressive policy agenda. To have credibility with voters, Democratic candidates can’t be close to Wall Street. And candidates must be able to explain how these policy ideas translate into improving voters’ lives. Democratic candidates will need to draw a sharp contrast between their views and their GOP opponents’, linking them with the unpopular Trump.

But the DCCC isn't recruiting candidates through these screens-- quite the contrary. This cycle, in fact, DCCC chair Ben Ray Lujan-- who doesn't fart without getting permission from Pelosi-- announced that the DCCC would be recruiting "some" anti-Choice candidates and working jointly with Blue Dogs and New Dems to recruit reactionaries from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. (And, yes, he hired Rahm Emanuel as a DCCC consultant.)

One of the independent-minded progressive candidates the DCCC certainly did not recruit is former Treasury Department economist Austin Frerick. He's way too much the reformer for the DCCC insiders, although he was just enthusiastically endorsed by Blue America. Yesterday he read Peter Dreier's article and told us that "Clearly, most Americans agree with our progressive platform. So we gotta ask why there hasn't been progress? It's because of these robber barons. Their economic power buys off our system. Until we tackle these barons, we can't get to the promised-land. That said, Democrats cannot run their own barons to tackle these barons. They fundamentally don't understand what $400 monthly loan payments feel like at 23 with an unpaid internship nor do they understand what it is like to work well into retirement to pay for the prescription drugs you need. In order for Democrats to reach the voters they've lost, they need to run candidates with these experiences."

Derrick Crowe is a superstar in the progressive firmament. The DCCC has some self-funding party-switcher they'd like to see as the nominee, but the people of Austin, San Antonio and the Hill Country know better. He read the Dreier piece too: "We spent all day today in the heart of Texas Hill Country," he told us yesterday, "talking to voters about progressive policies like a 15/hour minimum wage and Medicare for All.  Democrats and progressives respond to that message everywhere we go. Stating the obvious: this is a midterm, and midterms are about exciting, organizing, and turning out the base. And the proof is in the results we have already seen: today, for example, we won the Bexar County Democratic Primary Straw Poll with double the votes of our nearest competitor in this primary. Centrism crashes and burns this year. Progressive messages will be the winners.”

Mary Matiella is exactly the right candidate to turn the other Tucson district beautifully blue; that's why Raúl Grijalva endorsed her over the pathetic, sold-out DCCC carpetbagger and NRA Trojan Horse. Mary was Assistant Secretary of the Army under Obama. Last night she told us that "Polls show that voters want an authentic, relatable candidate-- someone who understands them. The DCCC wants a candidate who can raise funds.This disconnect in candidate vetting disenfranchises the voter."

Randy Bryce is running on a full, unapologetic platform of progressive issues-- and he's winning! Last night he told us that "When considering getting into the race to repeal and replace Ryan one of the issues that came to mind was how would I be able to raise the money needed to beat a person who could raise more money than God? Those who had approached me to run knew that I don't back down from a fight when it involves standing up for working people, but, to have a real chance, I needed to raise millions. Well, since jumping in my faith in others has been put in the same level as others' faith in me. I'm sticking to my commitment to ensure that everyone has access to health care. I know how debilitating it can be to face cancer while not having insurance. It's one of the main issues I fight for. We all deserve to be healthy. Everyone is welcome to help. To those who don't want to be a part of history I just ask that they don't get in our way. The campaign contributions have been coming in (average- $25/contribution with over 1.5 million after first full quarter) people see how I'm not going to budge from standing tall for strong progressive issues. Standing up for people has allowed the people to know they have a voice and that we are going to do this together."

Randy Bryce enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1983, when Paul Ryan was driving a weinermobile