George Clooney is the Bravest Man in American Politics

And that's a problem

I just read the new New Yorker article How Joe Biden Handed the Presidency to Donald Trump and, let’s just say, I have thoughts. But first, everyone needs to READ IT.

For decades, wonks, politicos, and every day people have been begging the Democratic Party to change. Take a stand and hold it, stop giving away your position inch by inch in the futile hope that a Republican will join you, stop glorifying the oldest white men you can find while sidelining anyone who looks like the rest of the America, take some lessons from the party that roundly kicks your ass even when they lose.

Take the American Legislative Exchange Council, or, ALEC. ALEC was best explained by John Oliver but basically it is a think tank that comes up with sample legislation that is adopted, usually without much editing at all, by Republican legislators all over the country. That’s how we see laws like voter ID laws come out of nowhere and suddenly pass across the state seemingly overnight. The Alliance Defending Freedom (here’s a vid of John Oliver once again doing his best to save America) is doing the exact same thing right now. I have spent my entire adult life sitting in bars with other wonks ranting and raging about why the Democratic party doesn’t have an ALEC. I have watched people try to start an ALEC for Dems and be completely unable to get it funded. I have watched ALEC and the many Republican organizations like it completely and quietly change American life while Democrats sit around twiddling their thumbs and fighting internally over political correctness and hurt feelings.

When I lived in Washington, D.C. I noticed something. I was extremely active around the District, I ran a nonprofit and a Meetup for young entrepreneurs, I was involved in a lot of organizations and activities around town, Obama was in office so there were regular events at the White House, there was a lot going on. I had a lot of friends who were also young active Dems doing really good work in their communities. And yet, no matter how well we did or how much we were in the news or how many times we went to big or small political events, the Democratic Party had no idea we existed. They had their chosen few young Dems who got every opportunity, every fundraising dollar, every connection and the rest of us didn’t exist. And even the few chosen ones didn’t get that much in the way of real support.

But then I would look at my Republican friends, especially the Black Republicans. The amount of support they received was unreal. Even the ones who were only tangentially involved in politics! They were constantly being flown out to retreats and meetings in, I assume, extremely cool evil lairs. Their organizations were showered with funding and connections, they were always invited to speak at events or on the news and getting high paying consulting gigs, and when they left politics they were shepherded into lucrative careers in Hollywood, banking, wherever they wanted. I have friends who absolutely hate what the party has become but can’t fully disown them because they were so taken care of when they were younger that they still feel loyalty to the people who supported them. And this is the party of the literal KKK.

I’m not the only one who noticed this, it’s a common conversation point among progressive activists and org leaders. We kill ourselves serving the country in the ways the party claims they care about and yet never take action on, we support Democrats running for office, we say yes to everything they ask, and yet for the most part the party pretends we don’t exist. Unless we used to be speechwriters for Obama, we may as well be Libertarians for all they care.

Last year, left leaning organizations faced an epic fundraising crisis. The lack of enthusiasm about Biden left donors uninterested in supporting any election-focused organization and the nonprofits and PACs that usually ensure that people are getting to the polls, getting educated about elections, and supporting the candidates were left high and dry. The conversation was everywhere. There was a New York Times article. The party did nothing. The party did less than nothing. And then they wondered why we weren’t as actively engaged in getting out the vote as we usually are. We couldn’t be, we didn’t have any money. Meanwhile, the Republicans were throwing millions at every organization that even gave lip service to their principles, even when they didn’t end up getting their work off the ground.

I have said it one million times since November and I will say it again. Kamala Harris did a heroic, miraculous job with the extremely strict limitations that were thrown at her. She had one hundred and ten days to run against a man who has been running for President for a decade. She had to overcome the Mount Everest of hurdles that Biden left for her- complete mistrust in an administration that had clearly been lying to the American people for several years. She had to traverse the 4th largest country in the world to convince the third biggest population in the world to vote for her in a little over three months and she had to do it as a half Black half Indian WOMAN. And she almost did it. She convinced 75 million people to vote for her. Most of them still can’t even pronounce her name correctly, but they voted for her. Her opponent, a white(ish) man who has been running for office for a decade and had a gale force wind at his back only won 77 million votes. Kamala was extraordinary, but Kamala did not lose that election. The Democrats lost the election. Biden lost it, sure. But, more than that, Obama lost it. Schumer lost it. Pelosi lost it. Every single Governor, Senator, Representative, and major donor who didn’t speak up lost it. They all chose fear, cowardice, and deception. All but one.

Somehow, and it is so wrong and terrifying that this is the case, but somehow, George Clooney is the bravest man in American Politics.

If we are going to take our country back, we have to do better.

But also, thanks, George.

Kat