Democratic Self-Destruction
Friends and Constituents,
I hope you’re well. I’ve returned from my week off - I was able to both rest, recenter myself, and accomplish a few longstanding needs around the house. It only took one call to a plumber and three trips to the hardware store, and I now have a mostly-functional kitchen sink faucet again.
I had very intentionally kept off of social media and only kept a very high-level awareness of the news this last week. So last night when I spent a few minutes catching up, I got to see a condensed, epic tale of Marion County Democratic Party leader Myla Eldridge destroying her own base for no reason. Watch today’s video and then keep reading.
Right now, opinion polls and focus groups all over the country very clearly show that voters in the United States want progressive fighters. Voters are disappointed and disgusted with Chuck Schumer and the Congressional Democrats. People see the dark turn our country is taking and want to get involved in fighting back - but they don’t know how.
For nearly a full year, a group of grassroots volunteer leaders in Marion County formed The PC Project. These volunteers, with support from MADVoters, the Progressive Democrats of America, and other grassroots groups, put together intro sessions, call-out meetings, and training workshops all over the county. They did not ask for, nor receive, money or assistance from the State or County parties - this was all organic, grassroots energy.
The entire time they were working, Marion County Democratic Party Chair Myla Eldridge stood aside, not helping get new people involved or training them. At a party event last month, I watched her throw shade at the leaders of this project in the guise of a shoutout.
And now, she has put her thumb on the scale in order to abuse her power as County Chair in order to absolutely reject and squash as many new recruits into the Democratic Party as possible.
On Friday, Chair Eldridge presided over a massive public hearing which challenged the candidacies of roughly 100 people in an attempt to keep them off of the ballots and away from the chance for voters to select them.
During a four-hour meeting in the middle of a workday, dozens and dozens of people who had given of their time and energy to learn more about the Democratic Party and put their names out as potential champions of the party in their neighborhood were challenged and removed from the ballot. This, despite the fact that we are hundreds of volunteers short of a fully-staffed precinct committee structure for the county.
It’s hard to imagine a greater self-inflicted wound to the Democratic Party.
Donald Trump is massively underwater in public opinion polling. Mike Braun is massively underwater in opinion polling. People are crying out for new leadership and new voices in politics.
And yet, over and over again we see Democratic Party insiders absolutely refusing to allow new leaders to emerge.
My friend Ron Newlin described the meeting best in a well-publicized Facebook post:
“Why? Why, you must be asking! County chairs all over the state (I know many of them) have used Rule 8c2 to welcome a wave of energized activists into the party. Why is Marion County turning them away?
I believe it is because the MCDP, and the Hogsett administration with which it is intertwined, DOES NOT WANT THE PUBLIC ELECTING OUR OWN ELECTED OFFICIALS. YOU should get to choose your precinct chair and your state convention delegate (who will choose your Secretary of State candidate) in the May primary. The MCDP wants those spots to be vacant on the May primary ballot, so they can APPOINT people who are accountable to THEM and not to YOU, and who will do as they are told.
They do not want new independent voices with new ideas in the party. They want to hold on to their dwindling power in their safe seats in an increasingly irrelevant blue enclave in an increasingly red state. They want to protect incumbents. They want to coronate Beau Bayh.
Today was one more step toward the eradication of democracy in America. Today the Marion County Democratic Party joined Trump and Putin in the march toward oligarchy.”
Trump is rapidly pushing towards open dictatorship.
Trump is gearing up for massive slaughter in Iran.
Trump is pulling out all the stops to protect the Epstein class from justice.
The old guard opposition party leadership has failed to stop Trump.
The only solution remaining is political revolution: organizing collectively to put regular people in charge of our government and economy. People must organize into alliances and parties in order to be more effective.
Over and over again, Democratic Party leaders are showing us that they do not think the Democratic Party is a site for regular people to organize to try to take down the billionaire pedophile warmongers.
At some point, the people will either demand different leaders or look elsewhere for their organization.
Either way, I'll be here fighting alongside all of you.
In love and solidarity,
Jesse