Excellent ideas pertaining to building up political movements. Grassroots Movements 101.
With that said, AIPAC gets you 10-12 pts at most. Latimer won by 17+. No PAC can buy that many votes. Obviously, when you run in a district that is 30% Jewish and you choose to be rabidly Pro-Palestinian, deny that Jews were brutalized in the Hamas October attack, and vociferously demonize Israel, there will be political blowback. “From the river to the sea” simply doesn’t fly in Scarsdale. It never will. That’s a political reality that AIPAC doesn’t have to sell. Tip O’Neil 101- “all politics is local.” People always vote for in their own self-interest.
Combine this with the fire-alarm incident, the constant tirade of public F-bombs (On Camera!), and angry emotional rhetoric- all of which is fodder for made-for-TV political ads- and it wasn’t hard for NY16 to assume that Bowman was unhinged. All AIPAC had to do was put up a barrage of tv ads showing Bowman at his worst. (And man, did they!)
To borrow from Jesse Jackson, 2 years ago NY-16 voted in a Tree-Shaker, yesterday they voted in a Jam-Maker.
Good luck to you sir. I thoroughly enjoy your thoughtful and well-reasoned political writing.
Great stuff Waleed. Long, but I read this one to the end and I agree with a lot of it. I’m curious if you have what examples exist of membership drives for dues paying orgs when family wallets are tight, and examples of doing that among younger generations that have the values but define themselves as singular volunteers instead of members.
Also I want to plug Leadership for Democracy & Social Justice’s leadership development programs for the populations you name!
Excellent ideas pertaining to building up political movements. Grassroots Movements 101.
With that said, AIPAC gets you 10-12 pts at most. Latimer won by 17+. No PAC can buy that many votes. Obviously, when you run in a district that is 30% Jewish and you choose to be rabidly Pro-Palestinian, deny that Jews were brutalized in the Hamas October attack, and vociferously demonize Israel, there will be political blowback. “From the river to the sea” simply doesn’t fly in Scarsdale. It never will. That’s a political reality that AIPAC doesn’t have to sell. Tip O’Neil 101- “all politics is local.” People always vote for in their own self-interest.
Combine this with the fire-alarm incident, the constant tirade of public F-bombs (On Camera!), and angry emotional rhetoric- all of which is fodder for made-for-TV political ads- and it wasn’t hard for NY16 to assume that Bowman was unhinged. All AIPAC had to do was put up a barrage of tv ads showing Bowman at his worst. (And man, did they!)
To borrow from Jesse Jackson, 2 years ago NY-16 voted in a Tree-Shaker, yesterday they voted in a Jam-Maker.
Good luck to you sir. I thoroughly enjoy your thoughtful and well-reasoned political writing.
Great stuff Waleed. Long, but I read this one to the end and I agree with a lot of it. I’m curious if you have what examples exist of membership drives for dues paying orgs when family wallets are tight, and examples of doing that among younger generations that have the values but define themselves as singular volunteers instead of members.
Also I want to plug Leadership for Democracy & Social Justice’s leadership development programs for the populations you name!