Sunrise Movement Climate Protesters Invade Trump Rallies Jan 17, 2024 – The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder from youtube transcript: “how they get elected and who their coalition is influences whether you as an activist can influence those people – you’re not choosing your messiah you’re choosing your enemy you’re choosing who’s going to be the gatekeeper to what you want and you want a gatekeeper who is susceptible and can be influenced by people that you can influence that’s the point”
Being Realistic About Electoral Politics Oct 10, 2024 The Majority Report from youtube transcript: “if we keep electing the Republicans over and over again the idea that we’re going to be closer to an end to an imperialism and capitalism is just bonkers it is it is bonkers that’s what you say if you’re a Green party person the and we have evidence of this over and over again in my lifetime alone eight years of Reagan four years followed up with George Herbert Walker Bush what did it bring us it brought us a Democratic party to the right significantly to the right of where it was 12 years earlier”
Why Progressives Are Bad At Organizing (with Rep. Ruwa Romman!) Leeja Miller Aug 26, 2024 from youtube transcript: “when Congress convened in 1959 they formed an official caucus the Democratic study group The DSG acted as a policy think tank lobbyist group and procedural reform coalition all at once this group did everything it deployed members to check in on promised votes supported reforms that would weaken the opposition’s chokehold on procedural power and it also produced and disseminated top-notch research for both members of Congress and the press exposing conservative tactics and offering weekly legislative updates on key issues the Democratic landslide in the 1964 election brought huge liberal majorities into the House and Senate and the DSG grew to 175 members they managed to pass groundbreaking legislation with lightning speed the Voting Rights Act Medicare and Medicaid federal aid to education environmental regulations and more but those wins came with concessions and compromises that wound up eroding trust among many progressive activists outside the halls of Congress because I think progressive activists tend to to be led by their morals even though for better or for worse electoral politics is about strategy not uncompromising adherence to a strict set of beliefs progress be damned far-left activism began to fragment into single issues and many lost faith in electoral politics in the election of 1968 many were too bitter to vote for Hubert Humphrey and voted third party instead handing Nixon the presidency and ushering in half a century of neoliberalism and then trumpism.”