When Party Leaders Abandon Democrats, Democrats Abandon Them Back

Sellus Wilder is the progressive Democrat-- Democratic wing of the Democratic Party-- running for the Kentucky Senate seat currently occupied by Rand Paul. The Democratic Establishment has their own candidate in the primary, Jim Gray, all ready to do all the same old GOP-lite things Democrats do in Kentucky to lose elections. When Wilder spoke at the Bernie Sanders rally in Pikeville this week (video up top) he talked about Democratic voters who are "ready for candidates who aren't afraid to be honest about where they stand, who aren't afraid to be Democrats... It's important for us to be free and independent thinkers... I'll let you in on a little secret-- Bernie is going to win Kentucky [May 17]. But even if he doesn't win the nomination-- but I think he can-- this revolution is real and it's strong and thousands of Kentuckians will continue to stand up and insist that the United States of America is not a nation dedicated to corporations and the pursuit of power and profit at the expense of our neighbors but is rather a nation of the people, by the people and for the people. You can contribute to Sellus Wilder's campaign here on the page with the congressional candidates who have endorsed Bernie and are running on his issues.

Brad Ashford (Blue Dog-NE), Ami Bera (New Dem-CA), Scott Peters (New Dem-CA), Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN) and Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ) aren't-- and never will be-- on that page. They have their very own page: the page of traitors who should have been tossed out of the Democratic Party long ago. Yesterday, the 5 of these anti-family rightists skipped across the aisle-- as always-- and voted with most of the Republicans to raise the cost of prescription drug prices.

Mr. Doggett moves to recommit the bill (H.R. 2745) to the Committee on the Judiciary, with instructions to report the bill back to the House forthwith with the following amendment:

At the end of the bill, add the following:

SEC. 5. PROTECTING CONSUMERS AGAINST HIGH PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS.

(a) This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall not apply to mergers that would unreasonably increase the costs of pharmaceutical drugs.
(b) The Clayton Act (15 U.S.C.12 et seq.) and Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45 et seq.) as in effect immediately before the date of the enactment of this Act shall apply to mergers that would unreasonably increase the costs of pharmaceutical drugs.

When Thomas Frank talks about the Democratic Party changing from a Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Party dedicated to working families to a loose union of careerists and corporate shills serving a top 10% professional class, Ashford, Bera, Peters, Peterson and Sinema should pop right to mind. Up in the Sacramento area, anti-working family New Dem, Ami Bera has pushed working men and women so far with his Republican agenda that two unions, the Carpenters and the Teamsters, have just endorsed his Republican opponent. If the Democrats lose this swing district it will be their own fault for being so violently opposed to holding bad Democrats like Bera accountable through primaries.



Wednesday 12 members of the North Carolina state legislature joined the GOP in passing the ugliest anti-LGBT legislation that's come down the pike in years. 5 of the bigoted legislators-- Charles and George Graham, Howard Hunter, Garland Pierce and Billy Richards-- are on Hillary Clinton's North Carolina Leadership Team. I was surprised to learn that all 12 aren't. After all, until it became pretty safe politically and very expedient electorally, she was mouthing anti-gay talking points on the Senate floor.

A new poll released by Bloomberg yesterday has Bernie slightly ahead of Hillary among Democrats nationally-- and doing scary-better in terms of November electability.

By a more than 2-to-1 ratio, Democratic primary voters say Sanders would fight harder than Clinton for the middle class and do the most to rein in the power of Wall Street. Nearly six in 10 say the Vermont senator cares the most about people like them, and 64 percent see him as the most honest and trustworthy candidate. Just a quarter of voters said that of Clinton.

“It comes down to this: Bernie Sanders is the one Democrats see as looking out for them-- meaning he will build a stronger middle class at the expense of Wall Street,” said J. Ann Selzer, whose firm conducted the poll. “They trust him to do it. In the end, Hillary Clinton has a trust problem.”

Matthew Slater, a 26-year old retail manager from Gulfport, Mississippi, said he doesn’t view Clinton “as believable and authentic.”

“Seeing the issues that Hillary Clinton has flip-flopped on, has once supported and is now against or the other way around, I don’t believe in her,” Slater said. “I don’t really trust her.”

The survey also signaled some trouble for Clinton in holding on to Sanders supporters in November. In general-election match-ups, Sanders holds a 24-point edge over Donald Trump, a 12-point lead over Ted Cruz, and a 4-point advantage over John Kasich among likely general-election voters. Clinton, by contrast, trails Kasich by 4 percentage points. She would carry a sizable lead into a contest against Cruz, where she holds a 9-point advantage, and Trump, whom she beats by 18 points.

At some point, the DCCC, DSCC, DNC and the Beltway Democratic Party in general will have been so abusive to it's members that they will figure out they're being scammed by a bunch of values-free hustlers out for themselves. At that point it won't just be the Sacramento area carpenters and teamsters abandoning the party. The seeds for a new party based on the values of the Roosevelt wing that made us interested in the Democrats to begin with:

Meet Sellus Wilder, The Progressive Who Can Replace Rand Paul In Kentucky

I was excited last night because there were 4 special elections for Kentucky House seats. Although the GOP managed to hold onto Mike Harmon's Danville-based seat (very red Boyle and Casey counties), by winning the other 3 races, they keep their 53-47 majority in the House, despite the carefully planned and well-financed GOP operations to take over. The wins spurred me to call Sellus Wilder, the progressive in the Democratic primary to determine who the candidate will be to face Rand Paul in November. Schumer and the DSCC have recruited one of their typical self-funding old school conservaDems, Jim Gray, mayor of Lexington who has virtually no shot to beat Paul whatsoever. I asked Sellus to write a guest post for us about how Kentucky Democrats can start winning statewide again. He's part of Bernie's political revolution and the task came easily. Please give it a look and if you like what you see and want to help him win the primary and the general, you can contribute here.

Kentucky Voters Reward Authenticity
-by Sellus Wilder

Why do Democrats competing for federal office in Kentucky insist on running the same losing campaign over and over again? Our establishment standard-bearers and their advisers are convinced that we can't compete at the statewide level without pretending to be more conservative than we are. Our candidates always do their best to distance themselves from progressive values, and we compete with Republicans to see who can best embrace the coal industry while doing very little to actually help the miners and their families who have been left behind by the 21st century.

Many party leaders aren't happy that I'm competing in the Democratic primary for the US Senate. They think voters aren't ready for honest conversations about the health of our Commonwealth, the decline of the coal industry, or an economy that values power and profits more than the lives of real people. The establishment's candidate in the U.S. Senate race has so far declined to publicly support any progressive policies in his campaign, despite the fact that we lose elections every time we compete with the GOP to see who can be the most Republican. Kentucky Democrats deserve candidates who are open-hearted with the public about where we stand.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, progressives and conservatives can work together to accomplish great things without sacrificing their own values. I was proud to help defeat the controversial Bluegrass Pipeline with a diverse coalition that included Republicans, Democrats, tea partiers, churches, farmers, ranchers, environmental activists, grassroots groups, and non-profits. Many Kentuckians are ready to set aside partisan differences and join hands across political divides to lift each other up. Progressives don't need to sacrifice our authenticity (a rare and invaluable commodity in modern politics) just in order to win elections.

Particularly in light of Flint, Michigan, many Kentuckians now see the value of environmental regulations that prevent heavy industries from polluting our drinking water and our air. We need strong unions to elevate wages and working conditions for working families all across our Commonwealth. I support expanding access to affordable education, including increased funding for early childhood development. It's time for us to work together to protect the health of our people, our economy, our environment, and our spirits.

I signed up for this race because I saw an opportunity to engage and unify the progressive voice in Kentucky. Win or lose, I intend to set some new ideas on the table and finally start some honest conversations around our Commonwealth. I've since learned that many Democrats have been yearning for authentic statewide candidates, and I'm quickly finding the support I'll need to compete and win.

At a recent candidate forum in eastern Kentucky, I explained why coal jobs aren't coming back before laying out the new opportunities that we owe the many families that have sacrificed their land and their health for our state's economy. Rather than getting booed by the audience, most folks nodded in agreement and told me afterwards how refreshing it was to actually see an honest candidate. We need to be real about the challenges we face before we can own them and fix them.

This election offers a unique opportunity to forge a new direction for our Commonwealth and our party. We can debate whether or not my approach can win in November, but there's no denying that the traditional approach of the party establishment loses every time. I believe that sincere progressive values can compete in our Commonwealth. It's time for us to save the Kentucky Democratic Party from itself, and I hope readers will choose to be part of this wake-up call.

You can learn more about Sellus' campaign here but let me say he's a farmer, filmmaker, and former Frankfort City Commissioner was elected by his colleagues to become Frankfort's youngest Mayor Pro Tem. He's proud that he brought unprecedented levels of transparency and sustainability to Kentucky's capital and led the way as Frankfort became the first city in Kentucky to incentivize recycling. His latest film (The End Of The Line, about defeating a pipeline) recently won the "Spirit of Activism" award at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival. He'd make a lot better senator than Rand Paul, across a wide range of issues-- and without being part of the ugly Schumer establishment machine. Again, you can contribute to his campaign here. Democrats have been running Republican-lite candidates for the Senate for long enough; it never works. Isn't it time to try a progressive with a real vision for making Kentucky better and bringing disgruntled citizens into the process?