Weekend amusement

[George Christiansen]

But activism is successful when the activists actually get into office.

This wrongly assumes that what was promised and claimed before being elected has much of anything to do with the actions of someone after they get elected.

Most activism is dealing with already elected officials at various levels and is very effective because most politicians are more afraid of disapproval than anything else.

One could argue that they have re-election in their sights, but that doesn't explain a lot of it where they either cannot or do not run again.

[Pluripotent]

But activism is successful when the activists actually get into office. The left has Bernie and that's about it. The Tea Party and some libertarians have gotten involved in local and state politics in a way which puts the left to shame. And to your point, leftists who aren't content with voting for Hillary in the general aren't talking about voting for Jill Stein. They're talking about sitting out the election! Maybe it's a case of the grass being greener on the other side, but right now I would rather have the organization of conservative activists than leftist activists.

You don't think Obama fits this bill? He's been organizing activist groups since he became president: Acorn, which because of scandal had to become Organizing for America, Occupy Wall Street, BLM, virtually every government employee through the unions...this is just a short list.

[thedude47111]

You don't think Obama fits this bill? He's been organizing activist groups since he became president: Acorn, which because of scandal had to become Organizing for America, Occupy Wall Street, BLM, virtually every government employee through the unions...this is just a short list.

I'm not saying it's black or white. I'm saying that if I had to choose between controlling the presidency and some activist groups vs. controlling the senate, the U.S. house, and a huge majority of state and local officials, I'd choose the latter.