I went to our County Democratic Party meeting on Monday,

Since Gab13by13 signed off on their rant, ( https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220576145 ),

(Please know that I know the depth of compassion here on DU, the depth of understanding here exceeds most other environments by magnitudes. However, it is still extraordinarily difficult to really imagine that shoe on our foot. Many people pity us. Many more simply cannot imagine being in that station of life.)

I figured I can pick up the ball and gimp it along a couple of yards lol.
I attended my second FCDP (Fayette County Democratic Party) meeting on Monday and I have a few observations to share.
First, the good parts:
Attendance was good, I'd estimate 35-40 people.
Second, the format of the meeting is less formal that others I've attended and by itself, encourages a more free flowing exchange of ideas.
Third, a candidate for IL-15 race for Congress, Paul Davis, made his second appearance at our humble little gathering.

https://www.pauldavisforcongress.com/

His stump speech touched all the points as it were and simultaneously epitomized everything that we are struggling with today when it comes to connecting to our voters.

My County is 81-16 Trump so some of my observations should be expected.
Several officers of the County Party regularly refer to us as the democrat party. Happened numerous times at the meeting to the point that during the q&a portion, I asked that it stop, and the response was honestly stupefying and stunning!
"What are we supposed to call it?" Came from a former chair of this chapter. What struck me most though, is that one single person in the room supported what I was trying to do. One.
During Candidate Davis's stump speech, he kept referencing his moderate credentials, made sure to let us know he wouldn't sacrifice his values, and then said this. (Paraphrasing)
I know taxes are too high......but I really appreciate the roads, education, police, fire, infrastructure etc... that I have profited from immensely.
Here beginneth my rant
We as Democrats, begin every conversation on policy inside their 50 yard line! Every single conversation, as we've negotiated away or just sat silently as Republicans have altered the entire direction of these conversations to begin with.... Cost, Taxes, Deficit, waste fraud and abuse, you know, the kind that eats 1 out of every hundred dollars when the defense budget alone contains waste insane multiples and tens of billions of dollars higher than SNAP/Medicaid fraud.
Our values and the need to fight for them have been so far buried in these "negotiations" that but a few politicians can even tap into them anymore.
Candidate Davis is a Veteranarian, and he suffers from the same ailment most Democratic Candidates are afflicted with;
They keep speaking to us, even if it's not down to us, instead of really listening. During his q&a, I congratulated him on running and standing for everything a Democrat should stand for......and that his stump speech is the same as every other stump speech I've heard from Democrats going back to the eighties. Why should I vote for you?
It took about twenty minutes of him talking before he stated the following " I am running to beat Mary Miller"
Someone in the room the asked me, what do you want him to say?
I said, speak for me, hear me, (as in us) and as I closed in a text to him an hour later, "Speak with our Voice, it's a lot louder"

In in the interests of brevity, ,
I believe the difference between progressive Democrats, and more moderate ones, and yes, I'm stereotyping some, progressives have listened to the poor, the unheard, and the forgotten.
The reason progressive ideals seem so "out there" to so many, is that so many really can't fathom a life that would require these "Socialist" policies.
Here is a challenge to reconnect to the absolute isolation and abandonment the poor feel. Please do not compare this to surviving a bad storm because your underlying problems in this challenge is poverty, the kind that people can't help but notice, the kind that gets you looks, not understanding.
(Please know that I know the depth of compassion here on DU, the depth of understanding here exceeds most other environments by magnitudes. However, it is still extraordinarily difficult to really imagine that shoe on our foot. Many people pity us. Many more simply cannot imagine being in that station of life.) Aside all the caveats, please start Friday am as soon as you rise, no coffee first.
Turn off the power to everything in your house immediately! You couldn't afford to pay your bill so, you're out of luck til Monday at the earliest.
Turn off your cell phone, you can't afford one.
You have $31 in your checking account, giving you the max Snap benefit of $10 a day to eat on.
You're in luck though, you do have the food in your fridge and freezer that you can eat, til it goes bad, and, there's a cold front moving in so those 90 plus degree humid days are fortunately taking a break this weekend.
You don't have a car, you've about used up every favor a neighbor can offer through all the prior emergencies you've suffered through.
You've been silently judged, condemned, scolded, embarrassed, humiliated, and the rumors as to your REAL problems, you know, the ones that are really your own fault but you won't admit it to yourself and change, and on and on and on.
Come Monday, when hat in hand, you are forced to your proverbial knees practically in tears, to beg this person, the one that has done all of the above to you and for you, for a ride to the Social Services building "downtown" so you can try to get your power turned back on. You know, that place, where I don't have an appointment because I don't have a phone, Internet, or any other form of information gathering or problem solving ability.
By this point in our lives, our pride has long since been buried under layers of necessity, we've gradually become who you see us to be, again, out of necessity.
I have two questions for you at this point.
Where's the hope in this exercise?
Tell me about the bootstrap thing now?
The isolation that is about to descend on you if you're true to this challenge is suffocating. This isolation isn't self imposed, it's just self nourished.
The isolation begins from society, it's like you have a communicable disease and they don't want to catch it. It is only as that reaction repeats again and again that you start shaming and guilting yourself out of those scenarios voluntarily. You avoid the feelings that only cement your status as dirt poor, you know, there must be something wrong with you poor, because who would live like that willingly?
Just as a curiosity, when was the last time anybody went door to door advocating for those that need it the most as THE agenda, not a talking point?
Real life example of how much ground we've lost:
In 2024, in Illinois there was a ballot question asking to add a 3% tax on incomes over 1 million dollars.
Almost 40% of those who voted, 2,121,507 to be exact, OPPOSED this progressive tax designed to offer property tax relief to those that need it.
Most people have been programmed to believe that any tax is a bad tax and that we're ALL being forced to pay too much in taxes when in fact, that hasn't been true for those above my pay grade for a long long time.
How's this for an ad and why am I the one thinking of it?
Do you think you can find Medicare enrollees who could honestly say, man if only this had been available for everyone, I wouldn't have to be working at seventy years old because I was bankrupted by my heart attack, stroke, MS, etc....Medicare for all!
The Democratic Party today remind me of what I was like in my twenties; a good heart, plenty of passion and the fact that I knew everything and had all the answers.
They know everything, trust us, and please donate to beat whatever the deadline of the day is.
That Senator Bernie Sanders is viewed by many as a radical is a major problem because there is probably a similar amount of Democrats that won't support him under any circumstances as there are Hillary avoidant Democrats.
That this huge wedge still exists years later is the stuff dreams are made of for Republicans as it is really a far bigger battlefield than him vs her, it's a struggle of direction and we've been programmed to sabotage "both".
Do you know what Candidate Davis never asked?
How many of you have health insurance that isn't Medicare or Medicaid? How many have no insurance?
How many of you "know someone" (code for you lol) that has visited a food bank in the last three months?
What are the issues important to you? You know, here in Rural America because I live in a booming third ring suburb of St Louis?
The fucking election is 14 plus months away, how about you listen twice as much as you talk, instead of bragging that this meeting is one you can make without missing out on work. How about I love coming here because it offers intimacy in crowd size and yet immense diversity in opinion. It gives me the opportunity to hear from every segment of our society, wealthy farmers to the people literally living hand to mouth.
This is life or death for many of us. If you can't find that worth listening to, you probably shouldn't be running.
When was the last time someone who wasn't labeled a progressive, ran for the "Least of These"
When was the last time they fought for a poverty elimination program that would rival these tax cuts that Democrats and Republicans have been supporting for years that made life a little better for everybody except the poor?
I'll close with the following irony and please forgive the pun, but it's delicious!
Most of us can't afford to take the above listed challenge.
All words spoken here I love and with hope. Please take them that way.
Love, John