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posted at 1:21 pm on March 31, 2017 by John Sexton

It has been something of a mystery why Democrats are driving so hard toward a filibuster that seems destined to result in the GOP going nuclear but a report today at the Hill suggests an answer. Progressives think Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is bluffing.

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee,called the premise of not filibustering Gorsuch to preserve the filibuster in the future absurd.

Going along with a right-wing justice so later on you have the right to block a right-wing justice is ridiculous, he said. Thats why were urging Democrats to filibuster.

Green added that said its not clear Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) actually has the votes to go nuclear.

It will be a challenge for McConnell to get the votes and we cant let him win something as important as a Supreme Court seat on a bluff, he said. Thats crazy.

Lets just review the facts here.On Tuesday, McConnell said flatly that Judge Neil Gorsuch would be confirmed to a seat on the Supreme Court next Friday. McConnell said this despite the fact that Democrats have organized a serious filibuster effort which, as of this morning, has 37 Senators saying they will oppose Gorsuch. Theres really only one way to interpret McConnells certitude that Gorsuch will be confirmed: Hes prepared to go nuclear. And the fact that Senators Orrin Hatch and Lindsay Grahamhave both indicated they are ready to push the button suggests McConnell already has some Senators eager to go along.

Ed touched on this yesterday but even Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill realizes this filibuster is likely to drive the GOP to go nuclear. Theyre not going to let us do that too long before they move it to 51 votes, McCaskill told a group of Democratic donors. She added, God forbid, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies, or (Anthony) Kennedy retires or (Stephen) Breyer has a stroke or is no longer able to serve. Then were not talking about Scalia for Scalia, which is what Gorsuch is, were talking about Scalia for somebody on the court who shares our values.

Thats a pretty good summary of what could very well happen here before Trump leaves office. And yet, from the excerpt above, its clear progressives dont really believe it. As Adam Green says, they dont want to lose to McConnell on a bluff.

What I dont think Green and others realize is that efforts to paint Gorsuch as a right-wing extremist havealready failed. A plurality of Americans believes he should be confirmed despite the low approval ratings for the President who nominated him. This is a losing battle.

In addition, Democrats really would have an easier time making the case against a conservative judge who was replacing a progressive on the court. Most Americans cant even name a single sitting Justice. So this battle is not about Americans detailed knowledge of the Court and its decisions. Its much simpler than that. Most people are basing their judgment about these nominees on something like what sounds fair. It sounds fair to most Americans to replace Justice Scalia with a similarly conservativejudge. But it will sound less fair to replace, say, Justice Ginsburg with a very conservative judge.

But none of that will matter if the nuclear option has already blown away the filibuster. Democrats are taking a huge gamble here that McConnell is bluffing. Theres a very good chance it could backfire on them in a spectacular way.

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Progressives think McConnell is bluffing on the nuclear option - Hot Air

Progressives to DSCC: Don't Fund Senate Dems Who Help Confirm Gorsuch Common Dreams WASHINGTON - Progressive leaders will deliver a petition Monday urging the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to publicly announce that it will not allocate campaign funds to any Democratic senator who votes for or strikes a deal to advance the ...

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Progressives to DSCC: Don't Fund Senate Dems Who Help Confirm Gorsuch - Common Dreams

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Is the American Dream dead? Has that shining promise that hard work will bring prosperity and a better life been snuffed out?

It's tempting to think this might be the case. It seems that America is sliding towards a division between a coastal plutocracy and everyone else, and that for those who are born in America's ever-growing and ever-worsening underclass, everything is destined to keep them stuck treading water, if not forcing their heads down.

But, according to a new, well-reported article from Bloomberg's Megan McArdle, there is one place where the American Dream is alive and well: Utah. In Salt Lake City, the likelihood of moving from the poorest quintile to the richest is 10.8 percent, an upward mobility rate much higher than the 4 percent found in other cities, like Charlotte, North Carolina.

This kind of upward mobility is the stuff progressives' dreams are made of. But it's how Utah has accomplished this that progressives might find interesting, if not infuriating.

What is Utah's secret? Mormons.

That's the short answer, at least. In reality, Utah is different in a lot of ways, as McArdle explains. First, its government is very effective. But it is also cheap. Utah is one of the reddest states in the country, but its conservatism is of the compassionate kind. The state recently led a successful "war on homelessness" and is currently engaged in a massive effort to fight intergenerational poverty. "During the week I spent in Utah," McArdle writes, "I was astonished at how cheerful the civil servants were." This probably raises the eyebrows of anyone who is familiar with how government works. Then, she drops the bombshell: "No one I talked to, even off the record, said they needed bigger budgets or more staff."

But it doesn't stop with Utah's government. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the de facto state church of Utah, and it shoulders many of the responsibilities that we traditionally associate with the welfare state, and seems to do a better job at it. The LDS Church's social services agency, called Welfare Square, seems well-funded and efficient. Mormons volunteer with Welfare Square, and informal church networks help people find jobs or work through marriage difficulties. What's more, while Welfare Square is generous when it comes to giving people the necessities of life, McArdle writes that "the church is quite clear that the help is a temporary waypoint on the road to self-sufficiency, not a way of life. People are asked to work in exchange for the help they get. [...] The two phrases I heard over and over were 'individual' and 'self-reliant.'" Someone who relies too much on handouts will get "a verbal kick in the pants." As McArdle notes, in the U.S., government social services are no longer allowed to do that because of the potential for racial discrimination.

Finally, the state is steeped in a general bourgeois ethos. People get married young and stay married. Churches provide the sort of informal social networks that help people build what economists refer to as human and social capital, which helps them lead healthier lives, find and keep jobs, and so forth.

In the end, Utah represents a unique experiment, "something a bit like [what] Sweden might be, if it were run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce," McArdle says. It is low-tax, small-government, and business-friendly, but also strongly committed to caring for the under-privileged.

In other words, Utah is everything conservatives would expect it to be.

Yes, there are a few things that might make Utah's success a little bit cringe-worthy for conservatives: Some might not like the idea that, along with an emphasis on self-reliance, social policy also needs a bleeding heart. More profoundly, conservative wonks like me enjoy touting policy ideas like child tax credits and wage subsidies, but Utah suggests that what America more fundamentally needs is a religious revival, and nobody knows how to engineer that.

Then there's the fact that the state is one of the least racially diverse in the country. The LDS Church banned blacks from the priesthood until 1978, and though now the church is open, "the church's racist past still lingers," McArdle writes. No doubt conversations around poverty that happen in Utah would be much more difficult in more diverse settings, especially those still struggling with the legacy of slavery. Certainly, very few would be comfortable with the idea that less diversity might mean higher social trust, as the sociologist Robert Putnam has famously argued, which in turn might be the only way to get things like efficient government and a mobile society.

But it's progressives not conservatives who ought to make note of what is happening in Utah thanks to a religiously-soaked culture, a strong marriage and bourgeois ethos, and the use of private initiative and civil society to help put the underprivileged on their feet. Progressives say they want the kind of social welfare, equal opportunity, and high social mobility found in this state, but are they willing to accept that those goals might best be accomplished through conservative means?

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Utah has an important lesson for progressives on upward mobility - The Week Magazine

Thursday, Mar 30, 2017, 12:51 pm BY Cynthia Phinney, Peter Kellman and Julius Getman

Only when liberals recognize the importance of labor, and when a progressive labor movement returns to its historic roots, will the battle against right-wing demagogues and zealots be won. (Maine AFL-CIO/ Facebook)

Progressives are finally energized. Millions of young people became politically active through the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders and several million more joined the women-led solidaritymarches of the inaugural weekend. Many of the recently activated are seeking to channel their enthusiasm into effective political resistance. These are heartening developments. But it is far too early to declare victory over those who seek to make America great by returning it to a less tolerant, less progressive past.

A dismayingly large share of the white working class, including union members that once supported liberal candidates and causes, remains supportive of President Donald Trump and his agenda. Only when liberals recognize the importance of labor,and when a progressive labor movement returns to its historic roots, will the battle against right-wing demagogues and zealots be won.

What we are calling for is an active alliance between progressives and organized labor. For progressives and intellectuals, organized labor has much to offer: a rich history, seasoned leaders and, most significantly, an immediate connection to workers. For organized labor, the potential of such an alliance is equally significant. It can renew the commitment to social and political change, reminding workers and their leaders that unions are far more than just vehicles for economic gain.

Historically, alliances between workers and intellectuals have proven enormously powerful. They were central to the New Deal in the 1930s and were at the heart of Polands Solidarity movement in the 1970s. The early days of the Solidarity movement are an inspiring illustration of the power for change that can be harnessed when workers and intellectuals combine. The movement, led by workers, was sparked by intellectuals who risked prison to circulate in factories and shipyards a pamphlet setting forth the need for a workers bill of rights. And when the workers at the Gdansk shipyards rose up in a strike that shook the Soviet empire and inspired workers throughout the world, their demands went well beyond their own economic interests to include broad demands for free speech, religious freedom and the freeing of political prisoners.

How could such an alliance come about in this moment and how would it function? Progressives must make clear their willingness to actively support strikes and organizing drives, to take part in labor education programs, to show up at rallies and to help organize coalition groups for political action.Labor, in turn, must welcome new ideas and broad alliances. Its leaders must see activists from other organizations not as intruders but as key to labors future. Labor unions must also become clear, consistent and committed in its support for racial justice and immigrant rights.

The first steps to a broader movement are already being developed through concrete actions in specific locations.For example,the Maine AFL-CIO (a federation of 160 local labor organizations representing approximately 40,000 workers) and the Maine Peoples Alliance (a citizen-action organization with 32,000 members) have come together to promote progressive causes. Last year, they spearheaded a coalition that utilized the citizen initiative processto raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour in 2017 and then by a dollar a year until it reaches $12 in 2020. The initiative, which also links future increases to the cost of living after 2020 and brings restaurant tipped workers up to the same minimum wage over a longer period, passed by a wide margin.Interestingly, it passed even in counties and communities where Trump won.

The battle for Maines political future continues. Maine has its own Rust Beltalthough in Maine it is a "Paper Mill Belt." The paper mill towns were union towns that generally voted for Democratic candidates, at least until the mills closed. Starting in 2014, they moved to the Republican column and voted for the sitting governor, Maines version of Trump, Paul LePage.The Maine story is similar to what has happened in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, where once thriving union towns are now wastelands and where desperate citizens feel let down, ignoredby the Democratic Party elite and have switched their politicalallegiancein desperation. They can be won back by candidates who demonstrate concern about the state of workers in America.During the primary campaign, union activists regularly encountered conservative union members who were supporting Sanders but who said that if Sanders lost they would go for Trump.

Also last year, leaders of the Maine Labor Federation decided to make their annual summer institute more than a one-off event. Through the institute, they were able to contact andactivate many members whose connection to the labor movement had become dormant and to deepen the process of forming coalitions with other progressive groups. New committees were formed that actively seek to focus the work of the state federation on issues such as economic equality, basic human rights and universal healthcareissues that are of broad interest to workers and progressives across the state.

This new focus has rich potential for the union movement.It will provide opportunities for workers to learn how specific issues are related to labor history, and to their fundamentaleconomic and political concerns. Such work will also provide opportunities for union leaders to identify new leaders and activists both in unions and in the other organizations members belong to.The results of the new approach, thus far, include a growing sense of optimism and a feeling that labor and the broader community will face the future trials of the Trumppresidency and the LePage governorship in solidarity with each other.

We believe that as labor becomes more active and more open, its appeal will spread and a broader coalition, politically attractive to workers, will arise. This is a lesson not only for Maine, but for progressive activists and workers nationwide.

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We Need To Restore the Frayed Alliance Between Unions and ... - In These Times

In rural communities and small cities across the bellwether state, local politicians are trying to rebuild the party from the ground up.

Jeremy Blake (right) canvasses in Newark, Ohio, in March 2017. (Photo by Jack Shuler)

Jeremy Blake nervously shuffled papers as he sat on the Newark, Ohio, city council dais. The room was packed; people were standing along the aisles and spilling into the hallway outside. Blake, 38, first became involved in local politics when he was a teenager, but back then, he would never have imagined that this moment would arrive.

In about 30 minutes, the council would vote on legislation to ban discrimination against people for being gay, bisexual, or transgender legislation that Blake had proposed and shepherded.

After testimony from supporters and opponents, and before the vote, Blake spoke, a serious expression replacing his near-permanent grin. Its not like I woke up one morning and chose to be a black, gay man in Newark, Ohio, he said. We are who we are. I dont want you to tolerate me. I want you to accept me for who I am.

The legislation passed unanimously a surprising thing in a Rust Belt red city in a red county. Its approval underscored bipartisan support and the respect council members have for Blake, who is a Democrat.

BY Astra Taylor | March 24, 2017

But that was last July, before a polarizing presidential campaign heated up and before President Trump won the national election, the state of Ohio and Blakes home county by about 23,000 votes.

That was a wake-up call for Ohios Democrats. Trumps election has propelled many young progressives into the political fray for the first time. Jen House, president of Ohio Young Democrats, says that at a recent statewide new-candidates training, dozens of people showed up more than ever before.

Jeremy Blake might be a useful model for some of these new candidates, many of whom seek success in apparent Republican strongholds.

Blakes hometown, Newark, was once a manufacturing hub, and a transforming downtown shows both recent growth and relics of that past. On the outskirts of town theres an empty seven-story building in the shape of a basket, the former headquarters of the Longaberger Basket Company. The city is grappling with the drug epidemic that has slammed small town America and, Blake points out, must do so with fewer resources than it once had, in part because of budget cuts under Republican Gov. John Kasichs administration.

Last summer, Longaberger moved employees out of the basket-shaped building. Its still empty and is about to go into foreclosure. When Michael Moore was looking for a site to tape a one-man show that would be part of his 2016 film TrumpLand, he considered Newark because of the basket, which he could link to Clintons quip about a basket of deplorables. However, the theater where he planned to film denied him access, saying he was too controversial.

It takes a skilled politician to succeed in a place like this, especially when youre a member of the other party.

Blake says that a politician representing the opposition party must listen and talk to constituents. Its not magic, he says, Its about being able to talk to people and relate to them.

If people trust you, they might come along with you when you propose legislation that seems outside their wheelhouse. People listened to Blake when he proposed potentially controversial legislation like the LGBT anti-discrimination law. They also listened in 2015, when he helped write a proposal to ban-the-box on city employment applications in an effort to help those with felony convictions find jobs. The proposal passed and the city became a model for private employers in the community to follow.

Jeremy Blake in March 2017. (Photo by Jack Shuler)

Blake frames these two initiatives as being part of an effort to make Newark more welcoming for employee and employer alike. Making the community a better place to live in, Blake says, helps boost the economy. Hes supported or driven efforts to pave streets, replace water and sewer lines, support parks and the arts, and to rethink how the community addresses the drug epidemic. As a member of the council Blake has supported local efforts to treat addicts as patients and not criminals by championing a police department program that allows addicts to turn in their drugs in exchange for placements in detox and, hopefully, rehab.

Some of these approaches might be controversial to a typical Republican but to Blakes Republican neighbors, they arent. Thats because they know, and trust, him.

People here know my grandma. They know my people. I have, he chuckles, a reputation.

Its a reputation that developed through years of civic engagement. As a teenager Blake served on the mayors youth council. Later, while working as a staffer for the Ohio Democratic Caucus, he was elected to the Newark school board, and soon became board president at the age of 25. The bulk of his time in politics has been spent working with South Newark Civic Association. The local nonprofit began as a block watch and is now solely focused on building relationships between neighbors.

All Im doing is coalition building, Blake says. For progressives to make real and sustainable inroads in rural and Rust Belt America, this would be a good place to start.

Mobilizing versus Organizing

Harry Boyte, a veteran community organizer and co-director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College, says Democrats have been too focused on mobilizing rather than the kind of organizing Blake champions.

For Boyte, organizing is an open and evolving process with no predetermined script. It involves talking to people and learning what their needs are.

There might be some issue theyre working on, he says, but the focus is on developing peoples capacities. Organizing is about building relationships and can foster a politics that pays close attention to the needs of the people on the ground, he says.

That strategy has worked for Ohio progressives. Mayor Luke Feeney of Chillicothe, Ohio, says, If youre elected locally and can show youre delivering basic services, that will build credibility.

Feeney has been in Chillicothe for a little over 10 years; in a place like this, it means hes still a newcomer. But the young attorney bonded quickly with this community through his work at Southeastern Ohio Legal Services, where he served mostly elderly and low-income people. In 2013 he became city auditor, and two years later, ran for mayor.

I think that after last November, more rural areas are going to have to get more attention from the Democrats. I dont know what thats going to look like, but I think it will happen.

With just over a year in office, Feeney has helped the city increase police and fire department staffing, paved roads, brought back curbside recycling and worked to develop a rainy day fund. Hes also started holding Neighborhood Office Hours in order to listen to constituents directly.

Folks in Chillicothe, he says, can and will make connections between local outcomes and national politics. Last July, when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention, he mentioned a Chillicothe entrepreneur named Courtney Lewis, who had opened a thriving store selling locally themed gifts three years ago. Lewis is still a success story, but Feeney worries about her future under an administration that he believes caters only to big business.

I havent heard how Trump will help Courtney, Feeney says.

In many ways, he adds, it feels as if small towns like Chillicothe are on their own as well. Like Blake, Feeney is concerned about the drug epidemic it has hit families in his area hard and stretched his towns resources. So Feeney is working with data analysts from the University of Cincinnati to find correlations between overdose statistics and other city data, like that from schools and public utilities.

Im not a policing expert, he says, but I think we can learn a lot from data. If we can find the hottest spot, then we can help the people in that area.

Chillicothe, a city of about 22,000 in Ross County, Ohio just on the western edge of the Appalachians went for Trump. There are fewer Democrats in this part of the state than there are in Newark, but Feeney says his party is making inroads. I think that after last November, more rural areas are going to have to get more attention from the Democrats. I dont know what thats going to look like, but I think it will happen.

Jen House of the Ohio Young Democrats the official youth arm of the Democratic Party says she is focused on supporting campaigns and potential candidates through training and strategizing. She is also working to identify people who want to run especially those with local experience.

Redistricting has made finding potential candidates a challenge for Democrats on the state and congressional level, but she has already seen several young Democrats exploring bids in Republican-held house districts. On a local level, she points to two young Democrats Sarah Schregardus and Chad Queen who are running in Hilliard, Ohio, where a Democrat hasnt run for council since 2009.

Schregardus and Queen both say they are running, in part, because of the outcome of the presidential election.

I felt like I wanted to help my community with what I could bring to the table, Schregardus says. As an attorney I deal with people who disagree with me all the time. Im effective at coming to solutions, to agreements. Shes raising a family in Hilliard and, she says, wants to see council members who reflect progressive values. She could be one of them.

House believes that the key now is to take this current momentum from progressives and put it to good use. Her peers in other states, she says, are hoping to do the same.

Can we turn this into boots on the ground? That remains to be seen, she says. If it doesnt work, then well find another way. We have no choice.

The Ground Game

Jeremy Blake bristles at the suggestion that theres a fixed party dichotomy among local voters. Hes sure some folks who voted for him also voted for Trump.

If youre going into this situation already having this division in your mind, then youre not going to succeed. Youre starting off from the wrong place.

Blake admits his is an optimistic approach, but he says he doesnt want to repeat the failings of the Hillary Clinton campaign. From his vantage point, the campaign didnt relate to the working-class people who are more interested in raising wages than they are in social issues. It makes sense, he says, that some people would support Bernie Sanders but not Clinton, and then ultimately cast a vote for Trump.

I still live in a community where people think if you work hard, youll achieve, says Blake, who was raised by a single mother who was a proud union member. They dont want to look at the systemic barriers that hurt people. They want to believe that dream that if I work hard Ill be able to succeed in this life. They want to go to work. Provide for their families.

That fed Trumps appeal: They saw a businessman who said he was going to stir things up in Washington and so they voted for him.

Most Ohio progressives, Blake says, believe that government has a role in education, health and well-being, environment, regulations for commerce and financial institutions, social safety net, protections for marginalized citizens, science and organized labor.

When Republicans attribute problems to the government, theyre telling the wrong story, Blake says. When people say, The government this or The government that! well, thats you! You are voting for people to represent you but you ultimately have a say.

But theres a disconnect between the Democratic Party leadership and places like Newark. The Ohio Democratic party offers little financial support to politicians running in small towns and rural areas; Blake says theyve never wrote him a check when he ran for city council. Theyre focused on the cities because thats their base, and I get that. They do, however, offer training and strategic support.

Jeremy Blake sorts through materials promoting Sean Fennells candidacy in March 2017. (Photo by Jack Shuler)

But even without Democratic Party financial support, Blake is making sure locals in his party get organized. Currently, he is helping two young Newark Democrats 34-year-old Sean Fennell and 20-year-old Seth Dobbelaer navigate their first city council elections. Thats why on a bright Sunday in March, Blake is among volunteers gathered to canvass for Fennell.

Around a dining room table littered with bumper stickers that read #NewarkProud and flyers promoting a meet-the-candidate event, Fennell, a cheery technology specialist for the local library, lays out his platform to a handful of volunteers.

When Fennells done, Blake pipes up and tells folks that as they go door to door, its best to keep it short. On a Sunday, he says, People dont want you to get all detailed. Were probably interrupting them. This is about building awareness. Thats it.

As he leaves the house with volunteer Molly Pancini, the two quickly form a plan as they walk. Pancini carries a clipboard with a list of addresses. Blake carries a stack of flyers and stickers.

If you tell us where to go, Ill do all the talking, Blake offers. Pancini agrees.

Blake knocks on the door of the first house, a yellow Victorian with a wrap-around porch. Theres no response. He waits. And then, a dog barks. The dog got started, he says matter-of-factly. Dog gets moving and maybe the people will! He waits patiently.

No one is home. He leaves a sticker and a flyer.

At the next house on the list, a man comes to the door in a jeans and a T-shirt, looking a bit like hed just woken from a nap. But he greets Blake and Pancini with a demure Midwestern politeness. Blake informs the man that his neighbor, Sean Fennell, is running for city council, and is having folks over next Wednesday for a meet-the-candidate event.

Hes just up the block, Blake says. You should come by.

Okay, thank you, the man says.

Blake hands him a flyer, shakes his hand and keeps moving. There are a lot of houses on the list.

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Small-Town Progressives Pick Up the Pieces of Ohio's Democratic Party - BillMoyers.com