With the Georgia special election a couple of days away, what do recent elections tell us about progressive chances in the near and long term future?
1) Progressive Ideas are ascendant.
2) Progressive/Democratic Candidates are winning in places like Mississippi and running competitive races in solidly Republican areas like Kansas.
3) Right wing populism seems to be losing favor as evidenced in elections in France, Austria, and the Netherlands and protest movements are rising against authoritarian regimes in Russia and Turkey.
4) Candidates that are flawed are probably not fated to lead their candidates over the finish line. Britain would probably have a Labor Government if a different candidate carried the same message of the party to the British people. If people bring up the fact that President Trump was a flawed candidate, remind them that the electoral college made him President, not the popular tally where he lost to Hillary Clinton by close to three million votes.
5) With respect to the Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi and judging from the results of both the Virginia and New Jersey Gubernatorial Primaries, there is a place for pragmatic progressive centrism. Both primary winners look like they are going to win in November. Remember we need officials that support progressive agendas. Progressives are not going to get anywhere if they adopt an all or nothing approach.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-goodbye-and-good-riddance-to-centrism-w487628
https://www.thenation.com/article/a-progressive-electoral-wave-is-sweeping-the-country/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/was-defeat-of-sanders-backed-candidate-in-va-a-loss-for-progressives-not-quite/2017/06/16/5f9ea30c-4f97-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html?utm_term=.2e908fd60d3e
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/nyregion/democrats-new-jersey-governor-philip-murphy.html?_r=0
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