With the help of the some on our side, he just might.
Trump would not be serving even one term if those on the left who want the party to be more liberal had voted for our nominee in 2016. Had they done so, we could all be urging President Clinton to implement progressive policies instead of watching the country go backwards.
The progressive agenda that all of us support in varying degrees has been set back years if not decades by the divisiveness that arose in the 2016 primaries. It cost us the election in 2016. It will do so again in 2018 and 2020 if we don’t unite as Democrats.
The reports below describe the California Nurse’s Union, among others, giving the reactionary Republicans a pass while attacking democrats. Whose side are they on? Do we really want Trump for eight years? These antics will help weaken us to their benefit. There isn’t time to create a new party before 2018. The choice on the ballot will be either Republican or Democratic. We democrats whether we call ourselves progressive or not share far more than we disagree on.
Let’s focus on the prize which is winning control of Congress in 2018 and the White House in 2020. Then we will have the power to MAKE change not just TALK about it.
Jerry Scribner
May 27, 2017
[The comments below reporting on the California Convention are from the Website of the Auburn Area Democratic Club and Indivisibles Auburn]
California Democratic Party Convention – A Divided Party
Three thousand people attended the recent California Democratic Party Convention in Sacramento on May 19th, 20th and 21st, including me, your fellow AADC Member, as I’m a CDP delegate representing Assembly District 5. One of the key goals of that Convention was to elect the new leadership team for CDP now that Chairman John Burton is retiring. But to this day, we are still awaiting the decision about the new Chair. Since Eric Bauman, previous Vice-Chair of CDP, only received 62 more votes than his challenger, Kimberly Ellis (formerly President of Emerge California), the Party agreed to a re-count and audit of the election process. Kimberly will not concede the election, pending the outcome of that audit.
That wasn’t the only divisiveness at the Convention. The California Nurses Association protested several California Democratic Senators who have not yet signed onto the proposed SB562 for California Single Payer Healthcare. While the entire Republican team in the California Legislature is against this bill, the Nurses Union chose to take their anger out on the few in the Democratic Party who have not yet made their decision, further disrupting the Convention.
In the final Session of the Convention, new delegates kept shouting down speakers and disrupting any attempt Chairman Burton made to move through the agenda, demanding a point of order since they were unhappy about the announced election results. They continued this behavior despite the pleas from Chair-man Burton and Hilary Crosby, Kimberly’s Campaign Manager and retiring CDP Controller, to let the audit process proceed to determine the final results of the Chair position.
Folks, this is not good news. It is clear that the Bernie Sanders supporters have decided they want to take over the California Democratic Party and make it do what they want it to do, and they plan to disrupt anything that doesn’t go their way. They are “tea-partying” the Democratic Party. Since we are all watching the disgraceful “tea-partied” Republican Party running our Federal Government, what does this mean for the Democratic Party? Will we become as fractured and dysfunctional as the Republican Party? Will we be forced to the left-most positions by Bernie extremists even if the majority in our Party do not share their views, similar to the right-most Republican “tea party” policies?
How will our country unite to solve its problems if both parties are pushed to their most extreme positions??
Jan Bell, AD5 Delegate to CDP
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I worked the Democratic Convention this last weekend as a volunteer.
Just when I thought that by moving to a small town and laying low, I could escape my fascination with politics. And then along came Donald J Trump. Since he ascended the throne to King, I have jumped into Indivisible Auburn, joined the Auburn Area Democratic Party, and am a volunteer to work the California Democratic Convention this next week-end. Heeding my own advice: Don’t whine, Act. My days are going to become very busy.
This was my face book post prior to the Convention:
Worked the California Democratic Convention in Sacramento this weekend. Interesting time. Wonderfully diverse…young, mid-age, older folks of all colors and hues and languages. Interesting time. Very diverse points of view. Bernie Sanders has made his mark on young activists.
This is my face book post after the convention: “The convention was upbeat, well organized, and well attended. Speakers were motivational and except for the ending, it was a most positive experience.
I have to say that the Democratic resistors on the far left, led by RoseAnn DeMoro, head of the California Nurses Association, created great friction, at the closing session. Having been unruly, during the speeches by DNC Chairman Perez and Assembly Speaker Rendon, they were outrageous and insulting to outgoing California Democratic chairperson Burton. The dispute that arose from the election of Eric Bauman as the new Party Chairperson, defeating Kimberly Ellis, was disrespectful and uncalled for. There had been an agreement from Ms. Ellis and her staff to attend a ballot re-count to insure the validity of the election. I do believe that the Democratic party I know understands the value of creative conflict and has been open to dialogues that result in synergistic problem solving. I found it difficult to listen to the disrespect shown to chairperson Burton and others trying to explain what they had negotiated with candidate Ellis and her staff.
I hope that Indivisible Auburn never stoops to that level of engagement with its Auburn Area Democratic Club.
Submitted by Robert Mehler
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Divided We Fall
“A party that is fractured by anger and backbiting is a party that will not succeed. It is no secret that our party is divided into factions. It is also no secret that those factions frequently throw rocks at each other.” So said Texas Republican Party chairman Terri Mechler before resigning.
This statement could have very well been said about our California Democratic Party.
Our recent convention had some of us booing Demo-cratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez and others deemed not progressive enough. And after the election for our own State chair, there was a call for a re-count. I don’t know about you, but in my humble opinion either Kimberly Ellis or Eric Bauman is a good choice.
There was an interesting and insightful editorial in the May 23rd edition of the Sacramento Bee. I ask that each of you read this editorial and consider what it tells us. And I pray that we all come to the realization that the old adage about “divided we fall” is true.
Let’s not forget that we should be fighting for Democrats to be elected in 2018. The enemy is not us.
Rosalie Wohlfromm
