The Samuel L. Jackson Approach to Dealing with Centrist Democrats Post-Roe and Pre-2022 Midterms

Recently one Medium subscriber said in an article reply that Democrat voters shouldn’t rock the boat or make real demands of Biden and Pelosi and Schumer because that won’t solve anything and could make things worse.

You know, sometimes the reply to a Medium article is more important than the original piece of writing.

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Kamala Harris during CNN interview with Dana Bash after the overturning of Roe v. Wade

Unfortunately in the short term there aren’t many options for getting the job done and the final nail in the coffin for democracy will be hammered in if the GOP wins back Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024.

I’m not saying vote blue no matter who but it seems you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

No.

Just…no.

Making no real demands of Centrist Democrat politicians and letting them sell themselves to the highest corporate or billionaire/millionaire donor is what got us all into this mess.

It’s what dug us into this deep hole.

And yet in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Centrist Democrat leaders insist that Democrat voters continue to write Democratic leadership donation checks $15 at a time…

…and insist that Dem voters “vote harder”…

…while Nancy Pelosi and Jim Clyburn did everything they could to prevent anti-abortion, Democratic incumbent Henry Cuellar from losing his primary election to a pro-choice, eminently qualified Democratic challenger named Jessica Cisneros.

Are you kidding me?

This is the response from Centrist Democrat LEADERSHIP?

Anyone who (1) is pro-choice and pissed off about the overturning of Roe v. Wade but then (2) still goes and votes for Pelosi or any other Centrist Democrat Congressperson or Senator — or writes a check to them — is a fucking moron.

Voting for “the lesser of two evils” is still voting for evil.

After it has become crystal clear that the Supreme Court has been taken over by right-wing religious zealots and that overturning Roe v. Wade is only the first part of a Republican agenda that still has miles to go, why would you vote for people who have clearly told you they’re not going to do anything to reverse the situation?

Pelosi, Harris, Biden, Obama, Schumer, and all the rest of them have no intention of trying to make this right. The only thing they’re looking to do now is fundraise off of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Come on, guys. This isn’t hard.

What’s the only smart thing to do when you’ve dug yourself into a hole?

Stop digging.

Stop voting for the people who helped create this mess and who have no intention of doing the work to fix it.

Step outside the box that Centrist Democratic leadership has put you in

The Medium reader suggested in his reply (above) that there are “no short-term options.” Maybe that’s true if we accept the box that Centrist Democratic leadership has put all of us into.

But what if you don’t accept that box?

Go create new short-term options that pull us all out of that box.

Don’t whine about being afraid of what will happen in 2022 if you try to put pressure on your elected leaders. You should be far more fearful of what will happen in the coming years and decades as Republicans become more radical and amass more power while the Centrist Democrats become ever more feckless.

Change the game. Put new options on the table. Put real pressure on the players on the other side of the table. If your goal is to fix problems, then stop doing all the same things that have been loser strategy and tactics up until now.

Reflexively saying there is nothing we can do = preemptively surrender.

Preemptive surrender is another way of say, “Sure, we’re cool with losing.”

Expecting — and demanding — nothing from Democratic leadership is preemptive surrender.

Screw that.

Anyone who wants to solve the big problems facing us has to reject that defeatist mindset 100%.

If you actually try to fight for something worth winning, sure, there’s a chance you lose.

But at least there’s a chance you win.

I will always take (1) a chance of winning over (2) a certainty of losing.

Did anyone ever say this better than Teddy Roosevelt?

“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt, April 23, 1910. Excerpt from the speech entitled “Citizenship in a Republic” at the Sorbonne in Paris.

In other words, get in the fight, and fight to win.

Why are Centrist Dems worried that Republicans might win the midterm elections in 2022?

The myopia — the utter blindness — in the reply above where the Medium subscriber says they’re worried that “the final nail in the coffin for democracy will be hammered in if the gQp wins back Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024” is unbelievable.

“IF the GOP wins in November”…that’s what you’re worried about?

Republicans have been fighting this war on multiple fronts for decades now, and they’re winning! Preemptively surrendering yet again isn’t going to turn the tide.

Dude, the Republicans are ALREADY on track to very possibly win in 2024.

They are on track to win precisely because Centrist Democrats have been the kind of feckless losers whose only dance move is to preemptively surrender and not even fight just because…it’s messy…and it would be embarrassing to outright lose…and you can still get paid by your donors even if you don’t engage in the fight.

Hell, it’s worse than that.

Centrist Democrat officeholders get paid and rewarded by their donors ESPECIALLY if they don’t engage in the fight.

For fuck’s sake, come on Centrist Dem voters! Do something — anything — different.

At least there’ll be a chance that you win.

Samuel L. Jackson did the reading for the audiobook version of “Go the F — k to Sleep” which was a mega-bestseller several years back for parents who were frustrated with their little kids not wanting to go to sleep at night.

Perhaps we can get Mr. Jackson to do a sequel audiobook for clearminded problem-solvers who are beyond frustrated with Centrist Democrat voters who continue to vote for Centrist Democratic leaders whose only dance move is preemptive surrender.

The title of the new audiobook targeted at Centrist Democrat voters would be “Centrist Dem Voters, Wake the F--k Up!”

How about it, Mr. Jackson — are you in?

Centrist Dem voters, you have to wake up.

If you don’t show the Centrist Democrat Leadership that you will hold them to account — that there are consequences for not even showing up to fight on your behalf — they will never change behavior.

They won’t have any incentive to change.

And remember that they have plenty of financial and power reasons to keep preserving their own status quo.

Elizabeth Warren’s Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act of 2020 is an excellent roadmap of the different ways that money and influence — particularly corporate money and influence — have corrupted the vast majority of Republican andDemocrat politicians and officeholders.

The link takes you to a 7-page bullet point summary of the much longer full bill — it’s very well-structured and easy to skim and get a sense of what is going on.

If you’ve never seen this, have a quick skim through the bullet point summary. But have a drink nearby….you’re going to need it.

By the way, it also tells you something deeply disturbing about Centrist Democrat leadership when a far-right Republican Congressman from Alabama — Mo Brooks — speaks the truth about corruption in DC more honestly and informatively than Pelosi or Biden or Obama or Schumer or Clyburn have ever done.

Again, look at this reply that the Medium reader posted:

Unfortunately in the short term there aren’t many options for getting the job done and the final nail in the coffin for democracy will be hammered in if the gQp wins back Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024.

I’m not saying vote blue no matter who but it seems you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

We all have to realize that the argument Centrist Democratic leadership is making now for the 2022 midterms is the same one they made in 2020…and the same one they will make in 2024 and 2026 and 2028….and on out into forever.

Unless you are suggesting that there will never be — and should never be — a moment when Dem voters will realize they’ve been enabling their own impoverishment and destruction, then we have to call bullshit at some point.

Let’s do it now.

Thinking Outside the Box — One Potential Option

No other options? Seriously?

Think outside the box.

I’ll suggest one option here, but there are dozens of others that could have some amount of effect.

Are Centrist Dems like Biden, Pelosi, Harris, Buttigieg, Schumer, Cuellar, et. al. and R’s like McConnell, McCarthy, Scalise, Thune, Rubio, Hawley, et. al. the real players that we need to influence?

Of course they are not.

If any one of them gets forced out of office, new people will go in who are likely going to be owned by the same corporate and individual donors who already drive so much of American policy and government now.

Pelosi and Harris and Biden and all the rest of them are just the pawns on the chessboard. They are distractions while the donors and long-term thinkers/actors — the Kings and Queens — sit toward the back of the chessboard…..where they are protected and can run things.

You want to get things done? Go after the corporate donors.

One — but only one — possibility would be to start a grassroots boycott of a particular corporation that has either done great harm or is doing great harm today and who spends a lot of money and effort lobbying government officials. Exxon, for instance, comes to mind.

Threaten their revenues and profits.

And don’t back down. Don’t be reasonable.

Make an example out of them.

The goal here isn’t to get them to change 10% of their behavior.

The strategic goals would be to (1) cause them so much pain that they fundamentally change their behavior and (2) set an example for other companies and industries.

It might take 5 or 10 or 50 examples like this to really start to change corporate behavior, but at some point it does.

Make this a Texas hailstorm for these corporations — the bad actors can run, but they can’t hide.

Once you change enough behavior in the corporate world and make it very, very personal for the individuals there, they will start to do the work of making elected officials do what we the people want.

That, in turn, will grab the attention of people in Congress….because those officeholders are owned by the people/companies who Dem voters would finally be threatening.

Why are we all obsessing so much about trying to put pressure on the PAWNS on the chessboard? Biden and Obama and Pelosi and Schumer….none of them are the kings or queens. They are pawns, bought and paid for.

If Centris Dem voters (1) remain unwilling to understand how the system really works and (2) keep preemptively surrendering because it’s too hard, or because the big bad Republicans will win if we demand anything from our elected officials, then we are all screwed big time…

…because the Republicans will just continue to have their way with the system:

Female reproductive rights? Already gonzo in most red states.
Female reproductive rights nationwide? Already being targeted by Republicans euphoric after successfully winning a 40+ year goal.
Gay rights and gay marriage? Don’t hold your breath. The Supreme Court decisions protecting gay rights and gay marriage have the same vulnerability that Roe v. Wade did as far as the current Supreme Court goes.

Anyone who wants *good* change has to be relentless.

Preemptive surrender is the opposite of being relentless.

Centris Dems can learn some lessons from the Republicans:

Don’t give up.
Stay focused on your long-term goals.
Have hills you’re willing to die on…especially if your opponents are feckless and cowardly.
Keep getting back up when you get knocked down.
Make your leaders do what YOU want and need them to do.
Don’t whine — it’s unproductive, and it’s a bad look.
And don’t ever, ever give up. You can almost always outlast the other side and win if you never give up.

In other words….behave like the Republicans in the Federalist Society have been doing for the past 40 years. That’s long-term focus and drive. That’s being relentless.

And you can’t argue the fact that their strategies have been successful.

Again, power doesn’t give itself willingly.

It never has.

It never will.

Republicans understand that. Why are Centrist Democrats so clueless?