Perilous Times

 

Perilous Times

Last week Matt Jones, who is known by many through Kentucky Sports Radio, came to speak at a dinner in support of the New Kentucky Project. He and Adam Edelen, who was supposed to accompany him, were both slated to appear but Mr. Edelen could not attend for unresolved reasons. I leave you to consider that. Both of these men are considered to be possible candidates for elective office from the Democratic Party. As the party and most of the rest of Kentucky is aware the Democratic Party did not fare that well in the last election and nationally there is an emerging effort to reclaim the base that once secured the party. For the life of me I can't understand why the party failed to attend to the housekeeping duties during flush times. To the great credit of our democratic republic and the two party system the opposition stole their lunch and multiplied it into a feast.

Anyway, it is the goal of the New Kentucky Project to place a representative of the party in every precinct and to support candidates from each county. What? We we weren't doing that already? Anyway, as President Obama showed in the 2008 and 2012 elections there is no substitute for grass roots organizing. Also, beginning in the 1990s there were some deep pockets in the GOP that saw that the real battle was going to be in the state houses because they get to draw congressional districts. That has payed off big time for the GOP and gerrymandering has left us with very few competitive districts nationwide. The New Kentucky Project aims to counteract that in Kentucky.

This is what the New Kentucky Project has told us so far. Matt Jones made a point of stating that it is their belief that the people of Kentucky can agree on 80% of the issues facing them. Jones and Edelen believe that we can focus on the similarities and that persuasive arguments for a reasonable solution can turn back the tide of partisanship that has gridlocked our nation. Well, I can certainly agree that most people agree on 80% of the issues. That is the way it has always been. It is the other 20% that bedevils us and candidates focus there because that is where elections are won and lost. Grass roots organizing is the key to mitigating those differences. All politics is local and generally people vote in a consistent manner with the group they associate with.

The National Democratic Party elected a new chairman and made his more progressive opponent his deputy. Tom Perez has been touring with Bernie Sanders to energize not only the existing voters but to also induce new participants in the system to register to vote and become politically active. For whichever party you belong to this is good news just as it is good news for the entire nation.

Immediately following the inauguration women across the country took up the battle to resist the Trump administration and have been furnishing the energy to create more participation in order to

change the results that have been disastrous to them. That energy has translated into GOP congressmen who won't show their faces in an event where they may be questioned because they know what the people want and that is not what they want. GOP congressmen will not show up at town hall meetings because they got a taste of that early on and they remember what the Tea Party did to democrats at the town halls. It is all about public perception.

There have been millions of cards and letters sent to congressmen and congresswomen and those missives have been effective in stiffening the backbones of democratic representatives and changing the perceptions of GOP representatives. What happened to the attempted repeal and replace of the ACA is testament to that. This week there are other issues of significance coming up. It is expected that another run will be made at the ACA but also a spending bill is coming up and the President wants funding for the border wall that he said Mexico was going to pay for. One thing of great significance to us is the funding for a permanent solution to the health benefits crisis for the out of work coal miners. Miners health benefits video The conservative Heritage Foundation says that we can't do that because it would set a bad precedent. What would be a GOOD precedent is for our wealthy nation to furnish health care for everyone. Problem solved. These miners were promised

benefits in their contracts and the coal companies were allowed to use bankruptcy to avoid payments to the fund. Even when the assets of those companies were liquidated it wasn't the miners who got taken care of. It was the big banks. Just awful treatment and now a government that lacks honor and compassion wants to leave them to die of black lung and other afflictions suffered as a result of their labors. It is only right that these people be given their health benefits but this is only another way that King Coal managed to be such a cheap fuel to use. King Coal never cleans up its messes.

I'm thankful for the New Kentucky Project but if the goal is to win seats in the 2018 mid-term elections and take back the White House in 2020 it is going to take a change in public perception and that will not quickly come by making persuasive arguments in a debate. It will come by making those arguments come alive in public demonstrations both small and large. Public action with news coverage is a force multiplier. Demonstrations in Beattyville and New York. This must be a goal of political organization.

My Take is that these are perilous times. The situation is dire and solutions must be visibly presented.