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I had originally intended to recount my experiences at the Michigan Democratic state convention in this post; an experience that was personally negative, even while positive overall for the future of the party in the state. However, now that I’ve had time to process the whole experience (with the help of Villagers here and on Twitter), my viewpoint has changed. Because I promised though, I will include an overview of the events that impacted my experience.
Don’t let anyone tell you “Bernie Bros” don’t exist. After attending the Women’s Caucus (inspiring) and the Faith Caucus (disappointing for both lack of leadership and low attendance), I attended the caucus of my CD, MI-10. This CD covers most of the infamous Macomb County, as well as counties north into the Thumb of Michigan. It is very white, as well as very red. The election of the leadership for the caucus was fairly uneventful and accomplished within the first thirty minutes of the caucus. A “unity” slate was elected, with the chair and vice-chair being known “Bernie supporters.” (Although it was billed as a unity slate, I assume the other positions were also self-described Berniecrats.) Unlike the Revolution group that was causing controversy and disarray in other caucuses, this slate, however, was filled with people that are committed to growing and revitalizing the party in Michigan, rather than merely imposing the latest marching orders from Our Revolution on the party. So far, so good. At the end of the meeting, as comments were being taken from the floor, the man sitting in front of me stood up to speak. He was physically imposing and clearly agitated. He spoke out angrily, saying that as a lifelong union member, from a family of lifelong union members, this was his first convention, and he came to it because of Bernie. He proceeded to say that never again should the party be allowed to “select a shitty candidate” and that we had to “listen to the people.” He made further comments in this vein, receiving applause from 1/3 to 1/2 of the caucus; at this point, two African-American women sitting next to me, got up angrily and swept out of the room. While I was watching that in shock and dismay, another group swept by the speaker. Apparently, one of those leaving bumped into the speaker (I didn’t see it happen, so I have no idea if it was intentional or not). The speaker wheeled around and yelled, “Did you just bump into me on purpose, thug?” Finally, the newly-elected caucus chair called him out of order, and the man sat down, yelling, “My point is that we must get rid of superdelegates!”
I was angry, horrified, and more than a little scared. Even though I’m married to a man who is considered “physically imposing” by some (he’s 6’8″), I’ve never felt intimidated and threatened by a man before. At that moment, I did.
With leadership comes responsibilty. The second event which created a negative perception happened shortly afterwards. I went outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air (with twice as many people at the convention as had been anticipated when the site was booked, the place was very hot and very claustrophobic). While I was outside, the newly-elected vice chair of my CD caucus was also there and surrounded by a group of very angry women. They were yelling that “it isn’t fair; they blame us for losing” and “they’re trying to shut us up and shut us down.” The response of the vice-chair left me cold. Unlike the chair of the caucus who had handled the disruption reasonably well, the vice-chair did nothing to deescalate the complaints and in fact, joined in. I heard her say, “I don’t know how they think they’ll survive without us; we’re the walkers. We’re the callers. We’re the door-knockers.” I also heard, “Don’t worry, we have the leadership of more than a few caucuses now.”
I’m the first to concede that I have kvetched about Bernie supporters loud and long with fellow Hillary supporters. But I have never done it when in a public place or where I am in a leadership position. I was once again very, very angry and felt betrayed by someone who just moments before had been touting a “unity” slate.
The final result for me personally was that I never made it into the afternoon full-convention gathering. I went upstairs with every intention of entering the grand ballroom with 4000+ other Democrats, but instead I found myself sitting on the floor, contemplating throwing up or sobbing my heart out. I texted peregrine kate, known at DK but also a friend, and let her know I was probably leaving. She came out to see me, and the minute we sat together, I collapsed into waves of ugly crying as I told her what had happened. I found that what most distressed me was the departure of the African-American women from my caucus as I cried, “Is this who we are going to be? Are we going back to something so ugly?”
The aftermath (my personal moment of Zen). Yesterday, I shared this video issued by the MDP to tout the new Project 83 initiative, which is about an 83-county strategy in reclaiming our state. It’s a laudable initiative and very much needed in reviving the party after long years of relying on unions to do the hard work. But as so many noticed yesterday, Hillary was erased altogether.
After a few hard days filled with uncharacteristic anger and bitterness, this Village helped me reach some long-overdue conclusions. First, I really, really hate electoral politics. This is something I’ve actually known for a long time, but I’ve always stayed involved with the party, because at least in my neck of the woods, someone has to. Secondly, I am a feminist first; my identification as a Democrat is much further down the list. This does not mean I won’t resist, nor does it mean I won’t be a reliable D voter. But I am rethinking how much involvement I will continue to have in the party once my term as precinct delegate is up. And finally, I will not sit idly by as women are erased from our collective history and discourse. I particularly will not sit by as my sisters of color are once again expected to “wait their turn” or sit at the back of the Democratic bus. What that means in practical terms is a work in progress, but I know this: I will fight.
34 degrees on this valentines day. Morning. Keep your head up and there are 3.7 million more folks who voted for the so called lousy candidate.
We have more supporters, so i wouldn’t worry about what happened there. I’m willing to take a step back and have the party go through a 6888. What’s that you ask? 6888 is the 20 year stretch from Humphrey to Dukakis where dems lost five out of six elections.
If these folks think their way can get to 270, go for it… they won’t have nor receive full minority support. Without it, dems won’t win dog catcher. Folks can take their revolution and TRY to win 45 pct plus of the Caucasian vote as that is what will be needed if poc pull back.
Sink or swim time…. i have on my lifejacket if folks want to be mean and resort to bully tactics.
Thanks Do re mi.
I’m less concerned with them taking over the party than I am with them taking over the party and failing. So many of the new Dems seem to understand power, but lack an understanding of organizing. I ran into more than a few who touted their work on the Sanders campaign as their experience; I seem to recall an awful lot of organizing failures due to lack of training.
And of course, the sheer hubris is galling. There were assumptions being made from the top on down that the increase in attendance was all about Bernie. If that’s the case, why was attendance at the Women’s caucus 4x greater than past years? But the loudest and bro-iest didn’t see that, because the proxy fight for the Progressive and Justice caucuses grabbed so much attention (mostly for size, noise, and controversy). If I stick with party politics, which is far from certain, I will align myself tightly with the Women’s caucus.
Well said. If someone can take over with a plan for the party and win with it, fine, have at it. But expanding the power of caucuses and getting rid of super-delegates are technical “fixes” to non-existent problems. Caucuses are undemocratic – period. They limit participation to those who have unlimited free time and perfect access to the location and facility. And the super-delegates are a fail-safe, a feature that has never been used to change the outcome of the nominating season results. It is there to stop a candidate who stumbled into a win but who does not reflect the principles of the majority of the party, the stakeholders who built this party and poured their energy into it and who serve as elected officeholders. They have a right to have an outsized say in who they run with.
Don’t give up, DoReMI! We need people like you.
Excellent post – thank you for sharing your experience.
I’m not ready to step back and let Alt-Left white dudes test drive my party for 20 years. Sure, I might still be around in 20, or I might not. As a woman and a fighter and half of a bi-racial partnership, I’ve waited long enough. I’d much rather #Persist.
Thank you for the reminder. I needed it!
Going up to 46 and sunny today in Chicago. Beautiful winter so far.
We don’t usually go out for Valentine’s day but we are tonight. Happy V day all.
Flynn is down, now he needs to go to jail. And his idiot son needs to shut up.
Curious to see who will be next to fall. Soon I hope. The nasty thing is if we hopefully get rid of “it” and pence, we get smirkyface as pres. ick.
I like that Dems aren’t satisfied and are pushing hard on the Oversight Committee. Comey has shown his true colors, so investigation is only going to happen with relentless pressure. And that means “we, the people” too.
Hey, Broths, hope all is well. Just the thought of smirkyface makes me ill.
{{{DoReMI}}} – thank you for doing the job. With politics the answer to “if i don’t, who will?” isn’t “nobody” it’s “somebody who will totally discount me and my demographic”. The first thing I did before I left the Quorum Court was make sure the somebody who was going to replace me shared my values. I’d have primaried him if he hadn’t. It is so very disheartening to see the misogyny so strongly at work. Nothing new, but very disheartening. I’m just hoping we can get our Party back in time for the 2018 elections because if we don’t, rto is right, we’re in for a stretch of losses that will take us/our country back to the 1870s. Or worse.
The reason we keep fighting even when so totally dismissed and disrespected by our own team is simply self-preservation. Yes, they treat us like servants and 2nd-class citizens. The Rs don’t even accept that we are “persons” with all the rights granted to persons under the Constitution. No, you em-effing little bernie-bro, I’m not grateful that you only treat me like a servant and 2nd-class citizen rather than not-a-person – and I’m damn-sure not working to put you in power. I will find a 3rd way, a way for women and other “minorities” to have the rights supposedly unalienable in this country, and you can take your pissant “woman’s place is in the kitchen” attitude somewhere else.
OK – there’s my rant on the issue. We need the fight song. We need that version of the fight song with the Hillary Coalition doing the singing. I just wish they’d put more people of color in that video. Like percent of population more. But it’s still our fight song. So we Persist, Resist, and fight both ends of the political spectrum at the same time. We’re under siege. But we’ve got what we need to withstand it. After a while they will run out of food, water, and steam. We will survive and thrive. {{{HUGS}}}
Why, bfitz, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard you cuss before…!
I intend to write an email to the new CD caucus chair with some of my observations. He seems genuine in his desire to unify, despite having been a staffer on Bernie’s MI primary campaign. But he’s also a union political guy, so I suspect he has skills at listening to opposing or diverse voices.
And for unity’s sake, I wish Dems would quit introducing themselves with, “I was a Bernie supporter.” I never once heard anyone at the convention say, “I was a Hillary supporter,” and I don’t think it was self-erasure. I think it was because we know we are Dems; I don’t think all of the Berniecrats realize that yet.
I try not to. It seldom adds anything to the discourse. But them trying to erase Hillary’s work, policies, and qualifications is what you might call a bridge too far.
Be sure to include in those observations the part about not introducing themselves as “Bernie Supporters” – either they’re Dems or they’re Berniecrats and if they’re Berniecrats they are not going to do anything to bring the Party together. Or win elections. (As should be obvious by their behavior at the national convention as well as the MI convention just finished. But it doesn’t hurt to point it out.) Might be a bit much to remind him of how well appeasement worked for Neville Chamberlain in 1938 – but that’s exactly what he’s facing.
It was an excellent rant bfitzinAR, and most timely and accurate. All the more intense and emotive since unlike some people around here (coughmecough) you’re much better at maintaining your calmness and composure and decorum.
I meant to mention last night, I so do appreciate that it always seems to be you and MomentaryGrace who help me to calm down and regain perspective.
All the hugs to you!
{{{CBD}}} – thank you. I taught public school for a few years and that does teach you to hang onto your temper if nothing else. heh.
I view anger as a resource. It’s energy. Harnessed it’s very useful. Unharnessed, it’s harmful, even dangerous. (Think of a mule – running loose he tramples what corn he doesn’t eat and is likely to kick or run over you if you can’t get out of his way; harnessed he pulls the plow, the harvester, the wagon that takes the corn to market.) If I am helping you harness that mule, well, I’m doing my job. :) and moar {{{HUGS}}}
{{{{Captain}}}}} For my part bfitzinAR is the one in our group with true grace, which is my I only claim it on a momentary basis. ;) I love to ‘hear’ bfitz rant, though! It’s like watching a beautiful storm sweep through, invigorating!
Captain, you are fire, which gives heat and light. I’d hate to try and spend a night out in the wilderness without you. :)
{{{MomentaryGrace}}} – thank you. That is a very high compliment and I am honored. And absolutely agree about the energy CBD radiates. :)
Thanks, DoReMi, for this account. As a woman I also share your frustration along with all woman about where the party seems to be heading. We need to join together with all the Dem women and prevent this from happening. Otherwise, I also agree with rto …. we will lose in 2018 and beyond.
Wow DoReMi…great diary and even better rant…as I’ve said before my local Democratic party here in UT are big Bernie supporters…after the primary was over I was still getting emails in support of making Bernie the nominee and during the GE I don’t recall any direct support of Hillary…only anti-trump stuff so as a result I gave to the candidates directly and not to the party…I haven’t been able to overcome my reluctance about supporting them now…not sure I will be able to…
{{{shenagig}}} – write the Chair of the Party and tell (probably him) exactly that. That you are a Dem but you will not give your money to a party that is willing, and definitely not to one that is anxious, to erase the most qualified, the most progressive, Dem candidate ever. And that if they wish your financial support ever again, they’d best change that attitude and start giving credit where credit is due. To Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton.
And pass the word to do the same to any other Hillary supporters you know in your area and in your state.
Yes you are correct but the local person and the most vocal Bernie supporter is a young female…everyone I know who is a Democrat supported Bernie although all of them (I think) voted for HRC in the GE…I don’t know that many Dems here because everyone is either a Republican or a nonpolitical who votes Republican when they vote…also it’s my impression that a lot Dems here lean towards the Libertarian side of the ledger and see the government as much an enemy as the Repubs do…
The more civics and economics is phased out of the school system, the more “history’ is derived from movies and TV shows, the more “Libertarians” we get. They think they are swimming the Atlantic Ocean when they are actually in the swimming pool of the QEII. And since they’re such good swimmers, regulations about life jackets and mandated lifeboat drills are a waste of money and an impingement on their freedom.
You got that right…
Folks can’t erase 47 years and 35 million primary votes, and 65.8 million g.e. votes. Not gonna happen. Bill and Hillary have forgotten more about being a dem than what i will ever know.
{{{rto}}} – the bros are trying. But Bernie isn’t a Dem, never has been a Dem, never will be a Dem. The bros are our Deplorables. The Rs let them take over. The Dems had better not do the same because the Rs can win with deplorables in charge but we can’t.
I love it every time you say this, and you are (of course!) so right.
Most amazing diary DoReMI!
I will just leave this here:
It is especially fitting I think. Amen to doing away with ‘white feminism’ and any anti-LGBT aspects of the movement. To everything else I say, I Drink to That! Finally, Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down {{{HUGS}}}
I am, by nature, a conciliator, and over the years, I’ve developed the skills to be an effective one. One of those skills is building a very long fuse for my temper, but now when I do hit “anger,” I’m not sure what to do with it. Because you and this Village listened to it yesterday, I realized I really needed to listen to my own voice too.
And what I heard was my own frustration at trying to fit my personal square peg into a political round hole. As my reawakened, less passive, feminism drives me, that’s the voice I need to listen to. There may be a place in party politics for that (e.g. the Women’s caucus); if not, there is no lack of outlets for that which motivates me. I feel empowered now and can only laugh at myself for falling into the age-old, patriarchal trap of denying my own voice.
{{{DoReMI}}} – it’s a rut we’ve tread so long it’s feet deep so not only hard to get out of, very easy to fall back into (and hurt yourself when you do). But “listen to your own voice” is exactly what we need to start doing. What we tell our kids or our friends is what we need to hear ourselves – believe it, act on it. moar {{{HUGS}}}
{{DoReMI}}
That was totally a Fierce diary! And thank you for sharing. :)
Not sure if you had seen it, but I tried to provide some captions for the MDP video last night when Melaka asked.
I did; thank you so much. And I saw you left a comment for the MDP too. I may contact some of the folks with the Disability caucus too (if I can track them down). We need to do better at checking our privilege and leaving our ableism behind.
Any mention of Hillary’s historic run in 16.
I love women. I gravitate toward them. Love spending time with them. Women’s talk. They way we support each other and befriend each other and support each other.
In the military I heard it said many times, “I’m one of the guys” “I prefer working with men” And it makes me so sad and shake my head, because this division is perpetuated by men who spread the meme that women can’t work together because of female competitiveness and cattiness. It’s all done to make us seem less professional and it hurts us all. Women who buy into it and share the mindset are equally as guilty, although I do get the impulse to be that one ‘token female’ that doesn’t get attacked so men can use you to justify their bad behaviour and be able to say, “see! I’m not sexist I treat xx with respect!”
It’s so necessary to have spaces away from the BS. I’ve questioned myself at times for choosing to purge my FB feed of all the right wing crazies, and for just saying my piece and avoiding and not further engaging sexist commentary. But then I thought, you know what? I hear/see that shit all the time, I know all the arguments, I don’t need that negatively in my life.
Ultimately women need spaces where we can flourish out from under the thumb of male expectation and dominance. Some good old fashioned feminist organizing, spaces like this where we can come together and say our piece amongst like minded individuals.
Not to say that this is a ‘woman’s place’ or suggests that the gentlemen around here aren’t awesome!
To be able to make progress, we must have a space where we can relax and be comfortable – not have to guard our backs – or our fronts – all the time. It doesn’t have to be a “women only” space, but such as space is more likely to be women only. Which doesn’t mean we don’t also have to guard against female attackers because it is very evident that we do – but we are still less likely to be attacked by women. Of course that makes us more vulnerable to women attackers – as we are more vulnerable to Dem attackers – because we don’t expect it of them and we let them get closer to us. But we must have that safe space – to eat, sleep, enjoy comradeship and generally recruit our strength and make our plans for the battle outside that space.
The Village at the Moose Pond is such as space online – welcoming all demographics as long as they are supportive.
Outstanding DoRemi and my heart bleeds with yours for our Party. Just got back from Valentine date lunch and heading with my valentine to see LaLa Land
{{{Philly}}} – have fun.
DoReMI – first, hugs!!! Thank you for writing up your experience, as negative as some of it was. Seems like there are a lot of angry people like that guy sitting in front of you, who are actually very scared, and want a quick fix. The quickest fix is always to throw out the old, in with the new, whether that is truly the best thing to do or not, whether the “new” really has any merits other than just being the “new”. We as a country/culture are fairly well addicted to quick fixes, and it takes the more mature among us (which can be any age) to understand that discarding experience and hard work in favor of an illusion of perfection is an automatic fail.
I’m with you completely on not allowing the erasure of HRC, of women of color, of all our multicultural base. They can try and drown us out but when their voices fail and fall silent we will still be singing.
Quiet by Milck has become my new anthem; a song that reminds me that we will keep singing.
Great song…darker than the fight song but I guess it’s more fitting for the times…
There are people – and it sounds like the Chair is one – who voted for Sanders in the primary because they thought him the slightly better candidate and spoke rather better to theirissues. They’re no problem at all – see DNC member Chris Reeves for an example.
But those who keep saying “I’m a Bernie Bore” are focused on party internals and dragging the party as far to the left as possible.
I would point out how well that has worked out for the British Labour Party since it lost the 2015 election. It is now heading for 20% in the polls and is losing votes hand over fist.
But I wouldn’t dwell on that. I’d be talking about how the faultlines in US society are not essentially economic ones any more. They’re about values. Whether people should be equal under the law, whether people doing the same jobs should get paid the same, whether you welcome or reject diversity, whether you believe in international co-operation or a race to the selfish bottom.
And what Hope & Change means when we want to talk about it.
The way you win voters these days is change you can believe in which offers hope and optimism rather than gloom and doom.
Remember that Trump harvested votes by offering a vision of hope. It may have been lies, and it may not have been what liberals hope for, but that’s what the people who voted for him thought they were getting.
Whomever one supported in the primary is of little relevance now: it’s about how to refashion the way the Democratic Party presents itself and what it fights for.
That’s pretty much it. Which is why anyone who prefaces his comment with “I voted for Bernie” is telling us straight up he (or of course she) is not a Dem and is just trying to take over the Dem party for the extremists who are not capable of building a party of their own. Values are indeed the issue – and the values of the deplorables at either end of the political spectrum are not ones I’m going to fight for, much less put my life on the line for.
We talked about this in the sparsely-attended faith caucus…that although we come from different traditions, our traditions share a language of hope and love, and we need not shy away from that. In the Christian tradition, we speak differently than our conservative, evangelical counterparts, but the foundational language is the same.
It’s effective. I once made a call to someone (for the Obama campaign), and the husband informed me that as the head of the house, he determined how his wife would vote, and it wouldn’t be for Obama. He then told me he would pray for me, and in a moment of boldness, I suggested we pray together. He started with a prayer that was pretty typical conservative, fire and brimstone jargon. When it was my turn, I invoked the Jesus of the Gospels who commanded us to serve and love. At the end, he simply said that the conversation was a blessing before he hung up. I didn’t change his mind, nor he mine. But for a brief moment, we shared our common humanity, because I could speak a language he knew, respected, and loved. I don’t recommend dueling prayers as a strategy, but sometimes it is possible to set aside our contempt and look for what we share. And hope is one of those universals.
You keep your temper better than I would. I’m afraid I’d have hung up on him. And then fumed about all the things I “should have said” instead of just hanging up.
The Obama campaign trained us very, very well for persuasion, and one of the things our FO hammered into us was, “Listen for the fear.” If you can identify the fear and not immediately disparage it, conversation becomes possible.
And believe me, there was a part of me that was raging inside when I heard the head of household crap. But the training took over; his fear was clearly that I (and Obama) were challenging his core beliefs, and I showed him I could share some elements of them. I didn’t challenge him directly; I just reminded him of other elements of his faith.
It’s also why I don’t share the optimism of the Berners about their ability to change things for the better. I’ve seen no evidence of persuasion training in the primaries or now. And frankly, Hillary’s campaign didn’t have it either. Effective persuasion training is hard, time-consuming, and must be practiced over and over. The Obama campaign did it well; I hope OFA or some other group revives it.
I suspect the Berners of using my techniques for doorstep political persuasion, which largely consist of telling people who won’t vote for my candidate that they’re terminally stupid and shouldn’t be allowed to vote. It’s extremely ineffective, which is why I don’t go out on doorsteps.
I’m far better at phone banking than canvassing. I have no poker face, so face to face persuasion is hard for me. On the phone, I might well be flipping them the bird while keeping my voice calm and modulated.
I used to be able to do that. I was very good on the phone – receptionist, customer service, and yes phone banking from my teens until my 40s. Somewhere around Bill’s 2nd run I started losing it and by the time we were dealing with W’s 2nd run – well, I work the office every election cycle. Receptionist, hand out swag, do voter registration – but no more phone banking.
I love this, this is pure guerrilla faith/marketing! You are epic.
I was just fortunate the guy was a talker. Most people just hang up after they get in their shots.
DoReMi—I’m just sitting here picturing a faith-based telephone conversation between me and a guy like that.
Me: “And as a sign that ye be free, let ye be naked in your rites.”
Guy: “Say whut? Are you the Scarlet Woman?”
Aside from that, you are to be commended for your forbearance and willingness to listen to others. It’s wonderful.
I decided to take a break today from calls and visits, and be me. My 28-year old daughter has asked me to make a Supergirl costume for her; a choir she belongs to is doing their spring concert with the theme “The World of Fantasy.” For one of the sets, the members get to pick their character, and Supergirl was her choice. I’m not the only one feeling empowered today! (And I’m also pleased that I got in and out of the fabric store with only the fabric I needed. That qualifies as a miracle in a sewer’s world.)
{{{DoReMI}}} – Resistance comes in all shapes and sizes – and physical expressions. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Gonna be captain obvious: Flynn and Trump are in trouble.
{{{rto}}} – good. The more the better. And take the entire R administration down with them.
That’s an out-of-character remark for Capt Obvious. He appears daily on British TV extolling hotels.com, and has never been known to comment on politics.
These days, hotels are political!
:::snort:::
From what I’m seeing, say “hi” to President Pence — all the stories seem to have him in the clear in terms of “what did he know and when did he know it,” unlike Trump.
Not thrilled about that outcome, but on the other hand, I think the disarray of an impeachment/resignation might be enough to limit the damage.
Hi everyone, late to the party again. I know that I haven’t gotten over anger at the Bernie Bros. It doesn’t eat at me but when I hear that smug tone it makes me furious. Great diary, that must have been quite a day. Now we may be looking at Watergate II, it’s starting to feel that way. The Chump administration think the only problem iis that it got out. They are clueless
{{{kathy from pa}}} – you’re always welcome whenever you show up. As to this administration, well, as rto said from the beginning, buckle up – it’s going to be a wild ride. The berners I can take or leave – as in take if they keep their mouths shut about Hillary and leave the minute they start their crap. Holding the Good Thought that we, the country, and the world get out of this mess whole and sane. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Hi, all, I was out all day yesterday so I missed DoReMi’s wonderful diary, which I’ve just read. Understand completely why you have felt so discouraged, DoReMi, but remember what everyone said yesterday: women are a force and will not be silenced.
We will NOT!
Persist and prevail.