It\u2019s absolutely true that Mitch McConnell and the Republicans obstructed every Democratic initiative. On the other hand, Democrats didn\u2019t give people a reason to go to the polls. Why should Democrats bother to vote when its clear their party chooses the needs of banks and corporations over the needs of its constituents?<\/p>\n
Whatever you think of Ralph Nader,<\/a> he made a lot of sense when he spoke with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now<\/a> about Democratic losses in the midterm elections. He says there are plenty of excuses being made like being outspent by Republicans, and Republican obstructionism, but they don’t\u00a0hold water.<\/p>\n The Democrats raised huge amounts of money this time around, and in 2012 . . . plenty of money to win. [But] . . . they didn\u2019t get their own voters out, because although they finally came around to the only issue that Politico<\/em> said is getting traction for the Democrats\u2014raising the minimum wage for 30 million people, who are paid less now than workers in 1968 adjusted for inflation, 30 million people and their families, a lot of voters\u2014they didn\u2019t make it a big enough issue. . .<\/p>\n We got a president who spent almost two weeks in salons, from New York and Maine and San Francisco and Los Angeles, raising money for the Democrats, not barnstorming the country on an issue that has . . .80 percent support. . . .So, . . .they didn\u2019t have a policy. They didn\u2019t have an agenda. They didn\u2019t have the message.<\/strong> They had tons of money to put on insipid television ads that didn\u2019t move the needle. . .<\/p>\n In other words, people back home are not given enough reason to vote for the Democrats.<\/strong> But they\u2019re given plenty of emotional reason to vote for the Republicans because of all the social issues\u2014the school prayer, the reproductive rights, the gun control. The Democrats have dropped the economic issue that won election after election for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman.<\/strong> They can no longer defend our country against the most militaristic, corporatist, cruel, anti-worker, anti-consumer, anti-environment, anti-women, even anti-children party\u2014the Republican Party.<\/p>\n A lot of soul searching is needed, and we shouldn\u2019t let Citizens United<\/em> and voting restriction laws . . . be used as alibis by the Democrats in Congress.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cSoul searching,\u201d of course, means actually adopting a progressive agenda\u2014one that serves the majority of Americans. And that means being willing to give up the corporate gravy train\u2014the big campaign contributions, and the lucrative jobs upon leaving office. Most (although not all) Democrats are hooked into this money\/power revolving door, so I don\u2019t expect the money influence in the party to change, on its own, any time soon.<\/p>\n But there is some good news coming out of the midterms. The Republican \u201csweep\u201d of Congress in no way represents the underlying mood of the country. Democratic losses came from a cocktail of Republican voter suppression and glaring Democratic Party policy failures.<\/p>\n