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Red cards, signaling disagreement, often predominated at Sen. Dan Sullivans town hall May 20 in Anchorage. (Photo by Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media)

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan held a town hall meeting Saturday in Anchorage, one of only a few hes held on the road system since the election of President Donald Trump.

Hundreds packed into the Bartlett High School auditorium were frequently vocal.

This was not the kind of crowd Sullivan was used to.

I cant tell if those are boosor if those are Dont answer! Sullivan said at the start. You dont have to answer that.

When he spoke about rolling back federal regulation and turning control over to the states, lines that usually draw applause for him fell flat. Or worse.

The thrust of what we need to be doing is letting the states, who understand their (insurance) market much better, much better than bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., design a systemthat fits Alaska, Sullivan said, straining to continue over the chorus of booing.

Sullivan took questions for more thanan hour. Many were about proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act.

Health care worker Sarah Stevens asked the senator how he expects Alaskans to bear the cost of giving birth if Congress allows insurers to dropmaternity coverage.

Sullivan supports covering pregnancies, but flexibility would bring down insurance costs.

What I dont support is a federal government plan, like you have under the Affordable Care Act, that says to a 60-year-old male you have to have insurance that covers maternity, Sullivan said, amid sustainedbooing. It makes no sense, and thats why you have premiums spiking.

But isnt that just health insurance? Stevens asked, to hearty applause. I dont need prostate exams but I pay into a health care plan that provides prostate exams.

The booing continued, and the crowdheld up red cards to show their disagreement. A few people in the crowd started chants of single-payer.

Just to get it out of the system and get the biggest boo of the night, I am not supporting a single payer health system, Sullivan said, drawing the predicted response.

Red cards also went up when Sullivan spoke of defunding Planned Parenthood and mentioned Trumps more controversial cabinet secretaries.

Green cards appeared when Sullivan described Russia as an adversary and said Alaskas climate is changing.

(Sullivan, though, has disputed the scientific consensus on the cause of climate. He voted no to a Senate declarationthathuman activity contributes to climate change.)

The crowd chanted yes or no?when Sullivan did not give a simple answer to a question about his support for expanded Medicaid.

The senator saidhes focused on not pulling the rug out from under current enrollees.

Donna Marie is among the constituents who have been clamoring for months for a congressional town hall in Anchorage.

At his request, she introduced Sullivan on the Bartlett stage, and she took it on herself to ask people to be respectful and avoid booing. She wassurprised athow one-sided the audience was.

I thought the senator would have more conservative support in the crowd, and more support for his views, Marie said. I didnt see more than three or four ofwhat I would call Trump administration supporters, and the rest of the crowd seemed overwhelmingly progressive.

Sullivan responded with good grace and good humor to a fairly hostile audience,Marie said.

Were they rude? Perhaps a little bit, Marie said. But they werent out of control. Its not like they prevented the meeting from going on. They might have delayed (it) for a couple of moments, but otherwise I thought the audience reacted appropriately given the situation.

Marie said shes hoping U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski or U.S. Rep.Don Young will appear at a town hall shes organizing at the end of the month.

Sullivan, in a written statement Monday, said the Anchorage town hall was more raucous than his previous community outreach events. But he said he believes in listening to all Alaskans, regardless of theirideology.

Zachariah Hughes contributed to this story.

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Progressives make voices heard at Sullivan town hall - KTOO

That speech had some wishing Booker were accepting the nomination rather than Clinton, but the Trump era has brought renewed scrutiny of his record from progressives. Like all of his Democratic colleagues and even two Republican senators, Booker voted against the confirmation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. But he was rightly called out for hypocrisy, given that he previously worked with DeVos to promote school choice policies, including private school vouchers. Booker also voted against an affordable drug proposal from Senator Bernie Sanders, before ultimately backing a compromise bill. Booker said his initial opposition was based on the need for safety provisions, but critics werent buying it. This is silly, given that Americans already import drugs from Canada illegally and it hasnt resulted in a public health emergency, argued the New Republics Alex Shephard. Similarly, the Canadian drug industry doesnt exactly have a reputation for being dangerous. Voxs Jeff Stein wrote that while its true that his vote may have had more to do with the concentration of the pharmaceutical industry in his home state, its also only served to confirm some progressives suspicions that hes too closely allied with corporate interests in the Democratic Party.

Much of the criticism of Booker is still about tone. Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign committee said Booker has been getting better over the years, but still needs to do more:

One of the biggest issues some people had with Cory Booker over the years is an unwillingness to name villainswhich is an essential part of story telling and which Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders do very well. Unfortunately, Trump did this in 2016 and sold people on the idea that their economic pain was the result of immigrants and other races as opposed to corporate CEOs who arent sharing wealth with workers. Fortunately, Booker has begun to be more aggressive in the Trump era, and its a pending question as to whether he will be willing to call out Wall Street bank CEOs for defrauding millions of Americans and hurting our economy. We shall see, but things are progressing.

Moulitsas argues anyone thinking about 2020 needs to catch up with the grassrootsor ideally get ahead of themwhen it comes to stopping Trump and the Republican Congress. He foresees a massive field of Democratic candidates: Im absolutely convinced that were going to have an embarrassment of riches. That means progressives dont need to settle for second best. Our bench is growing, he said. The reason Im even taking a call about 2020 is because Democrats today need to think about what 2019 looks like. The first question anybody in the resistance is going to ask is where was this person in 2017? If they werent with us in 2017, that will make it really easy to whittle down that list.... Youre either with the resistance today or I would say dont even bother running.

Booker sees himself as very much with the resistance. He took a big stand against his colleague Jeff Sessionss nomination for attorney general, joining Representative John Lewis to testify against him. In January, NJ Advance Media called Booker a leading voice of dissent in the Democratic Party as the Donald Trump era begins, adding, Its a sudden turn of events for a lawmaker who arrived at the U.S. Capitol with a reputation for liking the spotlight but instead sought to hide from its glare, working quietly with members of both parties to advance legislation and using his celebrity status to help elect more Senate Democrats. At CAP on Tuesday, Booker said, I want to fight in this climate. I want to dedicate myself. But we cannot just be a party of resistanceweve got to be a party thats reaffirming that American dream.

Booker has long preached unity and transcendence. Progressives may want him to name villains, but he told Salon in 2013, I dont believe in wholesale vilification of any industry in the United States. The title of his book last year says it all: United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good. Hes worked across the aisle for good, as with his work on criminal justice reform with Senator Rand Paul, and for ill, as with his corporate school reform efforts in Newark with Governor Chris Christie and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Last summer, in a sign that he sees Booker as a political threat, Trump attacked the senators impassioned convention speech:

Booker responded neither with snark nor insult, instead telling Trump, I love you, I just dont want you to be my president.

Booker has long been compared to Obama, for reasons both lazy and legitimate. Their race aside, theyre both gifted orators who call for healing divisions, building bridges, overcoming political cynicism and partisan rancorin other words, they evangelize for hope. Theyre also not easy to pin down ideologically, and have angered their fair share of progressives and centrists. Tad Devine, who served as Bernie Sanderss senior strategist last year, said any comparisons to Obama would serve Booker well. I think voters would say theyd like another round of that, thank you very much, he said.

But the message that worked for Obama in 2008, after eight years of hopeless wars under President George W. Bush, may not work for Booker in 2020, after four years of chaos and incompetence under Trump. If progressives mood today is any indication, the Democratic base will demand anger and fiery obstructionism, which is hardly Bookers style. If he adopted such a persona in the partys primary, would the Bernie wing believe it? Not likely.

Booker also thinks its a mistake for Democrats to become what were trying to replace, treating Trump and Republicans like the GOP treated Obama. I literally have these arguments with supporters or fellow Democrats all the time, he said earlier this month on The Ezra Klein Show, where they say, Enough with the love and kindness stuff, Cory. Weve got to fight. And I say, When are those mutually exclusive?.... I think, again, we lose a bit of our moral compass when we are demonizing other people. He added, I just dont believe you need to be mean, you need to be deceitful, you need to practice the dark arts in order to win elected offices.

Booker may not have to completely transform himself to win the Democratic nomination, either. If he can monopolize support from black voterswhich may require outmaneuvering Kamala Harrisand pick up enough moderate Democrats, he could conceivably be the partys pick to take down Trump. While Bookers lack of populist bona fides could prove damaging in a general election, too, a constitutional crisis may well override concerns about, say, his Wall Street ties. But even in that scenario, its hard to imagine Booker succeeding with his same old message. Its hard to be both a lover and a fighterand you certainly cant kill Trump with kindness.

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Can Cory Booker Win Over Progressives? - New Republic

May 21 at 7:31 PM

Maryland Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery) has his heart in the right place, asking the states political power brokers to delay taking sides in the 2018 governors race [Democrats are divided on support strategy, Metro, May 18]. In recent races, their big thumbs came down hard on the scale, limiting the competition needed to produce the strongest candidate.

But not all early endorsements are problematic. It is one thing for leaders of the Democratic establishment to weigh in prematurely. But progressive groups new to the landscape lack the financial resources to be big players in the money primary. For them, an early endorsement may be necessary to participate meaningfully in a primary contest. Our Revolution Marylands county chapters began a process for our members to evaluate candidates, aiming to produce a popular, consensus endorsement for our state group.We are sending questionnaires to prospective candidates on issues of concern to progressive voters, with a candidates forum planned for the end of June.

This process is an antidote to the usual big thumbs giving voice to voters excluded from halls of power. Our open, democratic process will engage previously disenfranchised progressive Marylanders. It should also encourage candidates to make commitments on progressive policy that establishment candidates in recent high-profile races avoided making. That will create a process apart from political insiders usual money-raising contests, and it will serve the winner well in the general election.

Ed Fischman, Bethesda

The writer is chairman of Our Revolution Maryland Montgomery County.

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Maryland progressives need to act fast in the governor's race - Washington Post

This is the final installment in a four-part series on Americas Industrial Revolution and the political responses it sparked. Go to Richmond.com to read the entire series.

On Sept. 14, 1901, President William McKinley died from a gunshot wound delivered by a crazed assassin two weeks earlier. Republican Party leaders were stunned by the recent string of events. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, former Republican governor of New York and hero of the Spanish-American War, would now occupy the White House, something the party bosses viewed with grave concern.

They had put the popular Roosevelt on the ticket to help ensure McKinleys re-election in 1900, despite the fact that many of them thought he was a reckless maverick.

Everything went according to plan after the election with a safe, traditional Republican in the White House. The assassins bullet, however, changed everything. While McKinley fit the profile of the non-activist presidents who had held office the previous half-century, Roosevelt was almost the opposite.

At age 42, he was the youngest man to hold the office, and unlike most of his predecessors, Roosevelt was anything but a hands-off president. The worst fears of traditional Republicans became reality when Roosevelt began using his office as a bully pulpit to promote an activist government to serve the interests of most Americans over those of the few masters of big business.

He called for a Square Deal for all Americans businessmen, laborers, farmers, and consumers. He implemented stronger federal control of corporations by attacking the large trusts and monopolies that had squelched competition; by giving more authority to the Interstate Commerce Commission; and by protecting the countrys natural resources.

He received congressional support for the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the Meat Inspection Act to protect consumers from hucksters and unscrupulous food producers. More than any previous president, he took bold steps to protect some 230 million acres of the countrys wilderness from unchecked development.

***

The Progressive Movement clearly had an ally in President Roosevelt, and it did not end when he completed his next term, which he won in a landslide. Clearly, his activist presidency resonated well with the American public. For that matter his popularity helped ensure the election of his handpicked Republican successor, William Howard Taft, in 1908.

Although Taft continued breaking up monopolies and trusts, he seemed unable to control the Republican conservatives, who tried to reverse many of Roosevelts initiatives. He himself was more conservative than Roosevelt, and he took issue with many of the reformers and their demands for immediate action. A lawyer and judge by profession, he preferred a slower and more deliberate pace for reform legislation.

Tafts less-than-vigorous pursuit of reform raised the ire of his predecessor to such an extent that it led to a civil war within the Republican Party. The conflict grew so intense that Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican nomination in 1912, splitting the party wide open.

Frustrated that the incumbent Taft had his re-nomination locked up, Roosevelt and his supporters walked out of the Republican convention and launched a third party, the Progressive Party, better known as the Bull Moose Party. Their platform advocated expanding the powers of the federal government to bring about more reform and regulations.

With the Republicans torn asunder, the Democratic Party, which had elected only one man as president since 1860, saw victory within its grasp. The native Virginian and strong reform governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson, received the nomination and won the election by taking only 42 percent of the popular vote, but receiving 435 electoral votes to Roosevelts 88 and Tafts paltry 8.

***

Once in office, Wilson pursued an aggressive reform agenda. He created the Federal Reserve, giving the country a regulated currency. He pushed legislation that established the Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices. He supported the ratification of the 16th Amendment that resulted in a graduated income tax, requiring wealthy Americans to pay a higher percentage on their earnings. And he addressed a number of social issues, such as greatly restricting child labor and limiting the hours of railroad workers.

Despite these many reforms, some of his policies were backward-looking. Following the example of his native South, he implemented formal segregation in the federal government. For example, government buildings in Washington were required to have white and colored bathrooms. Appointments to federal jobs through civil service became increasingly difficult for African-Americans to obtain.

Perhaps the most controversial piece of legislation coming from Wilsons administration was prohibition. Approval in 1919 of the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, sale, and transport of intoxicating spirits, has been described as the greatest failure of a social experiment in American history. The amendment resulted in a huge illicit liquor enterprise and an explosion of organized crime. Within 14 years, it became the only amendment to be repealed in its entirety.

World War I and its aftermath dominated Wilsons second term, as did a nearly fatal stroke, taking his attention away from continued domestic reforms.

The United States emerged from the war as the most powerful nation on Earth economically, but the American public had grown weary of Wilsons activist government and reform in general.

A severe postwar recession contributed to a landslide victory in 1920 for Republican presidential candidate Warren G. Harding, who ran on a ticket pledging a Return to Normalcy and a repudiation of the progressive agenda of political and social reform.

There would be no bully pulpit presidents for another 12 years, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in a landslide in the depths of the Great Depression.

***

What can we learn from the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era? Some critics contend that we are experiencing a new Gilded Age. They argue that during the past few decades, corporations and elected officials (many representing safe gerrymandered districts) have rolled back many of the gains made by working and middle-class people during the Progressive Era.

They point out that despite its great wealth, the country now has the highest level of income inequality in 90 years. Most disturbing to these critics is that federal and state tax cuts benefited the wealthy at the expense of the poor and many in the middle class.

Advocates on the other side of the political spectrum, however, argue that government has become more intrusive than ever, thereby stifling the economic potential of the nation and interfering with our individual freedoms.

In his run for the White House, candidate Donald Trump pledged to return America to greatness by slashing regulations, easing government controls, and reforming the tax code, among other things. Once elected to office, much like Theodore Roosevelt, the president has used his own bully pulpit to implement his campaign pledges.

But a hundred-plus days into his presidency, little of his agenda has been carried out, despite having Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. Why? Is it his political inexperience? Is it his confrontational style? No doubt those are factors, but I think it is something more fundamental.

A century ago, conditions in the country were as problematic, if not more so, than they are today; yet three successive presidents were able to bring about major reforms to address the issues. One of the keys then was that reform and progressive thinking crossed party lines. Two of the three progressive presidents were Republicans.

Through compromise, cooperation, and effective persuasion, they were able to work with Congress to bring about needed reform. They found viable solutions to the problems created by the painful transition from the 19th century to modern America.

Today, anyone who cooperates with members of the opposing party is an anathema. Cooperation within both parties also has become more difficult. The rhetoric has become increasingly confrontational. Fealty to party or faction within a party appears more important than loyalty to country. It is unfortunate that todays monumental challenges are not being met by either side of the political spectrum.

Perhaps the time has come for introducing fundamental change in the way we govern ourselves, much as the American people did a century ago.

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Charles F. Bryan Jr.: With progressives in the White House, everything changed - Richmond.com

If you followed the race for the chairmanship of the Democratic Party of California this past weekend, you may have noticed several familiar plot points.

1. A heavily favored centrist was challenged late by a progressive, and the gap narrowed considerably.

2. Progressives demonstrated in the lead-up to the vote, while the centrists bristled and told them to shut the fuck up or go outsidein this case literally. And hey, at least they were honest this timetheir deepest desire is not to reach out to the newcomers, as they like to pretend, but to have them go away forever so things can return to normal.

3. The centrist won a very narrow victory.

4. Progressives were convinced that there was foul play.

5. The centrist faction shut down any investigation of the result, while the winner preached unitylaughably, since unity never means that actual concessions are forthcoming, but is instead a more polite call to step in line and shut up.

If any of this sounds just like the race for DNC chair, or just like the primary between Hillary Clintonand Bernie Sanders, thats no coincidencethis same story keeps playing out, over and over, in a starkly divided party. Heres what Politico had to say:

The tumult showed that in the countrys largest state which is controlled entirely by Democrats the Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders divide of 2016 and the intra-party sparring that followed Clintons November loss remain very much at the forefront.

Of course it remains very much at the forefront! When writers express surprise at the so-called tumult that occurs in these situations, they are ignoring a very basic fact, which is that the two groups of people have very different belief systems. They mostly agree on social issues, but thats where the similarities end. The centrists believe in a corporate democracy, complete with free trade and all the giveaways to big business and the wealthy and private insurance that this ethos implies, while progressives are democratic-socialists who want to usher in a second new deal complete with universal health care and the restoration of a strong system of entitlements. These value systems are fundamentally incompatible.

Seriously, they cant be reconciled. They are, in fact, at direct odds with one another, and its actually kind of stupid that people who believe these very different things are trying to function under the same party. The only reason for that is the historical anomaly that is the Republican Partya cruel society-ravaging cabal of elites devoted to making life miserable for all but the top one percentthat has somehow tricked a whole lot of people, via racial propaganda and other forms of bullshit, into voting against their economic self-interestsand, in fact, into voting for their own continued immiseration.

The existence of this party as a political powerhouse, which was made possible by the abandonment of the working classes by the centrist Democrats, has now ushered in an ugly reality in America, and it has forced an alliance between centrists and progressives at a time when such an alliance is politically unnatural, and should be blown apart.

Instead, they fight under the same umbrella, absurdly, while making lame noises at unity, because each is too afraid of what will happen if they do the logical thing and split up. This is the stay together for the kids mantra of the political worldforced solidarity among groups who despise one another, inspired by abject fear of the consequences a break-up would entail.

So whats the solution? Quite clearly, theres no easy way out, or one would have been found alreadythe Republican menace is real, even though withholding support from centrist Democrats is the best strategic move for progressives, since it would force the centrists to tack left in order to have any chance of retaking key offices, its also the kind of brinksmanship that can lead to further Republican victories, and all the consequences that entails.

In fact, as ridiculous as the current charade looks, it might actually be the rational choice for progressives, who have watched their ranks swell by shocking numbers in the past two years alone, and likely expect that with time, theyll become the dominant force in party politics. Until then, we live in the twilight zone, where two groups of people who would represent the left and right wings in any sane country are forced together to combat the far-right extremists who have been taking them to the political woodshed for the better part of four decades. And until progressives become the ascendant faction in the party, expect the same story that we saw this past weekend in California to play out over, and over, and over again.

See more here:
Can the Progressive/Centrist Split in Democratic Party Politics Ever Be Resolved? - Paste Magazine