Yo, Chairman Dickey: "It is crucial that our cultural elite, most of it aligned with the New Democrats, not be allowed to shirk their responsibility for Trump’s success."

But Uncle Walt typically had better years.

It starts right here, at the grassroots, and the Floyd County Democratic Party, the only entity hereabouts with an existing structure capable of being retrofitted for some semblance of a purpose, might actively seize this revolutionary moment by initiating dialogue aimed at the future.

So here is our silver lining. This is a revolutionary moment. We must not allow them to shift the blame on to voters. This is their failure, decades in the making. And their failure is our chance to regroup. To clean house in the Democratic party, to retire the old elite and to empower a new generation of FDR Democrats, who look out for the working class – the whole working class.

To be blunt, in the three weeks since the New Democratic Order had its clocked clean locally, regionally and nationally, our Floyd County Democratic leadership cadre (with apologies to leaders who actually heed the literal definition stipulating "one who leads") has emitted little more than the whimpering of lashed curs, a few stray platitudes, and the stench of utter bullshit.

Whether one is inside the local party or outside it, and assuming that the party itself lacks the chutzpah to gift party chairman Adam Dickey with a pink slip, it's obvious that Dickey must resign. Mayor Jeff Gahan is the highest ranking Democrat left woozily wobbling. He actually has a record of winning elections, and so it's his party now -- not that he has any idea what to do with it, just that this is the way politics works following a debacle like 2016.

It is doubtful that more than a handful of local DemoDisneyDixiecrats grasp the immensity of the task ahead.

(Bill Clinton's triangulation) heralded the Obama years, as the New Democrats continued to justify their existence through a focus on social causes that do not threaten corporate power. Or as Krystal Ball put it so powerfully: “We lectured a struggling people watching their kids die of drug overdoses about their white privilege.” Add to this that we did it while their life expectancy dropped through self-destructive behaviors brought on by economic distress.

Nevertheless, the window is cracked open. Can a local political party that finds competitive discourse so highly distasteful that it rigidly censors its own social media platform, thus all but ensuring a culture of losing, look deeply into the mirror and commence the 12-step program for reversing rot and recapturing roots?

It's doubtful. Is there a doctor in the house to check the corpse for a pulse?

Clinton & co are finally gone. That is the silver lining in this disaster, by Hazem Salem (The Guardian)

... Hillary Clinton has given us back our freedom. Only such a crushing defeat could break the chains that bound us to the New Democrat elites. The defeat was the result of decades of moving the Democratic party – the party of FDR – away from what it once was and should have remained: a party that represents workers. All workers ...

Lest we forget:

In a capitalist democracy, the party of the left has one essential reason for existing: to speak for the working class. Capitalist democracies have tended towards two major parties. One, which acts in the interest of the capitalist class – the business owners, the entrepreneurs, the professionals – ensuring their efforts and the risks they took were fairly rewarded. The other party represented workers, unions and later on other groups that made up the working class, including women and oppressed minorities.

This delicate balance ended in the 1990s. Many blame Reagan and Thatcher for destroying unions and unfettering corporations. I don’t. In the 1990s, a New Left arose in the English-speaking world: Bill Clinton’s New Democrats and Tony Blair’s New Labour. Instead of a balancing act, Clinton and Blair presided over an equally aggressive “new centrist” dismantling of the laws that protected workers and the poor.

Responsibility? What a seldom-seen concept locally:

This is not to deny the reality of structural racism or xenophobia or the intolerance shown to Muslims or the antisemitic undertones of Trump’s campaign. I am myself a person of color with a Muslim-sounding name, I know the reality and I am as frightened as everyone else. But it is crucial that our cultural elite, most of it aligned with the New Democrats, not be allowed to shirk their responsibility for Trump’s success.

So let us be as clear about this electoral defeat as possible, because the New Democratic elite will try to pin their failure, and keep their jobs, by blaming this largely on racism, sexism – and FBI director Comey. This is an extremely dangerous conclusion to draw from this election.

I love the smell of purge in the morning. Now, please.

Bernie Sanders: It looks as if an Independent is the current leader of a rudderless Democratic Party.

In the sense of an adaptive reuse borne of expedience, the Democratic Party's nuts and bolts might be useful in the short term. However, they'll need to be configured in a vastly different way pending an upgrade, and the leadership purge must be vast.

ON THE AVENUES: Don't be a Dickey, local Democrats. The verdict is in, and it's time for a change.

Thanks, Adam. There’ll be a little something extra in your pay packet. By the way, it’s a pink slip, and so very sorry about that exit door’s nasty overbite; the building commissioner should have made your landlord Warren Nash fix it, but well, you know how things like that work around here.

It's revealing that Bernie Sanders, an Independent, steps forward with a road map for the Democratic Party. Let the falling on swords begin.

Bernie Sanders: Where the Democrats Go From Here, by Bernie Sanders (New York Times)

Millions of Americans registered a protest vote on Tuesday, expressing their fierce opposition to an economic and political system that puts wealthy and corporate interests over their own. I strongly supported Hillary Clinton, campaigned hard on her behalf, and believed she was the right choice on Election Day. But Donald J. Trump won the White House because his campaign rhetoric successfully tapped into a very real and justified anger, an anger that many traditional Democrats feel.

I am saddened, but not surprised, by the outcome. It is no shock to me that millions of people who voted for Mr. Trump did so because they are sick and tired of the economic, political and media status quo ...

ON THE AVENUES: Don't be a Dickey, local Democrats. The verdict is in, and it's time for a change.

ON THE AVENUES: Don't be a Dickey, local Democrats. The verdict is in, and it's time for a change.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

On a foggy and crisp post-cataclysmic Thursday morning, I lovingly cradled my jet black espresso like a long-lost friend and began perusing social media.

Surely there’d be some sort of a clear sign that our local Demo-Disney-Dixiecratic Party was about to undertake something almost as rare as a Chicago Cubs world championship – namely, a nice, deep, restorative and preferably savage purge of its leadership cadre.

Alas, all I got was this predictably lousy, boilerplate evasion from the reigning kingpin, a guy whose “Boy Wonder” sobriquet has soured so far past its recommended use-by date that downtown alley cats won’t even touch it.

A Message from the District Chair

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, it just isn't in the cards. Last night, we came up short in a number of races.

Despite the result, we're proud of the hard work of our Democratic candidates, volunteers and supporters. You are the true heart and spirit of our party and we deeply appreciate the faith you've shown in us this election cycle. Together, we continue to believe in what Hoosiers can accomplish with a good education, a good-paying job, and stronger communities. Whether standing with workers, improving education, or fighting to ensure equality for all citizens, the focus of our party will remain on issues that make a positive difference in the lives of ordinary Hoosiers.

Today, we are proud to call ourselves Democrats. We want to congratulate last night's winners on both sides of the aisle. We will work with you for the benefit of our communities. In the words of Ted Kennedy, "The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Sincerely,

Adam Dickey

Good grief.

“In a number of races,” or as we might say out here in the real world, damned near all of them.

Our cherished serial collector of appointed committee assignments writes here in the capacity of 9th District Chair, a job that simultaneously confirms and disproves the Peter Principle, although we must assume the stale perfume being sprayed is intended to mask the manure’s vile odor right here in Floyd County.

Lipstick, I have a pig over yonder that you really need to meet -- just step right through this door, into the Magic Kingdom.

Mr. Disney will be right with you.

---

In Floyd County, purported Democrats (it remains so very hard to tell) managed to win all of three races.

Circuit Court Judge Terry (also known as Terrance, but only during election years) Cody narrowly retained his longtime sinecure, primarily because Keith Henderson’s record of nonchalant ethics is so transparently obvious that even Republicans can’t ignore it.

Brad Striegel kept his county council seat; he’s honest and innocuous, but you’d be hard-pressed to discern left-of-center policy planks comprising the floor of his tree stand.

Then there’s a Knable, newly elected to county council, who apparently has legally changed her first name to “Doctor” in order to be confused with another, more illustrious family member on the opposite side of the aisle.

Apart from these three, everyone else identified as a “Democrat” on the Floyd County ballot was crushed, from Hillary Clinton through “No Candidate Filed” (surveyor). Henderson was a GOP albatross, Striegel a previous candidate with name recognition, and Knable largely aggrandizing the populace entirely on her own.

Can Dickey’s sputtering “machine” take genuine credit for any of them?

Probably not, and as such, the pattern continues. The last county election cycle was in 2014, and it was just as catastrophic for the Democrats as Tuesday. In 2015, the New Albany city council lost its Democratic majority, and 12 percentage points came off Mayor Jeff Gahan’s big 2011 total, bringing him within easy reach of the GOP in 2019, assuming the latter can locate a man or woman with the minimum requirement of a pulse.

At this juncture, let’s turn to Indiana Public Media for a post-mortem of the Democratic Party in statewide terms.

In his concession speech for the governor’s race, Democrat John Gregg pledged his party would, quote - “live to fight again.” To do it, Indiana legislative analyst Ed Feigenbaum says Dems will need to think a little younger.

“You have to appeal to a younger crowd now, in Indiana, and I think Democrats are going to understand this going forward, but whether they can find anything other than re-tread candidates right now is going to be very difficult for them, because they do not have a bench,” Feigenbaum says.

He says it’s not necessarily bad for a candidate be familiar – but he says it’s not ideal that most of the party’s current and presumptive nominees are pushing 60.

That’s instructive, isn't it?

Back here in Floyd County, the only warm body Chairman Dickey could find for State Representative was Steve Bonifer, a 66-year-old teacher. Charitably, Bonifer may have taken one for the team, but have the Democrats already forgotten the lessons of geriatric Bill Cochran’s loss to Ed Clere?

Ironically, the one instance of Dickey scrounging a youthful candidate came in the wrong race and resulted in a gunshot foot.

Dickey rejected lifelong Democrat Dennis Roudenbush for District 3 Commissioner; unlike the untested Gahan toady Bonifer, Roudenbush had at least conducted two previous campaigns for commissioner, and surely would have given Billy Stewart a better run than Josh Williams, Dickey’s handpicked candidate, who annoyed party activists by refusing to campaign door-to-door and introduce himself to the wider community.

Here is documentarian Michael Moore to deliver the conclusion, applicable to the Democratic Party at all levels in this nation:

Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They have failed us miserably … We live in a country where the majority agree with the "liberal" position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen.

Thanks, Adam.

There’ll be a little something extra in your pay packet.

By the way, it’s a pink slip, and so very sorry about that exit door’s nasty overbite; the building commissioner should have made your landlord Warren Nash fix it, but well, you know how things like that work around here.

All too well, in fact, and that’s why it’s time for a round of political hari-kari.

Act now, and we’ll give you a plaque somewhere, perhaps on a street tree in the act of being felled.

---

World turning
I gotta get my feet back on the ground
World turning
Everybody's got me down
-- Fleetwood Mac

That the perennially ineffectual Dickey should resign as party chairman is obvious to apathetic observers on Jupiter, but let’s not be churlish toward the candidates themselves.

Speaking personally, allow me to convey sincere congratulations to all candidates who stood for elected office in Floyd County, winners and losers alike.

At the local level, in spite of Dickey’s manifest failures, it's less about party affiliation and more about getting things done. I remain convinced that it isn’t an impossible dream, this notion of working together to better this precise spot on the map where we spend most of our lives.

As always, I encourage readers to engage local officeholders. Ask them questions. Most of the time, you'll receive an answer, although perhaps my persistence has rendered me an exception to this rule. You can do very little to change Washington D.C., but you can do quite a lot to change your own neighborhood, so start there.

For many, Wednesday morning proved the granddaddy of all hangovers, but this too shall pass. The electorate has spoken, and while I disagree with the verdict, I accept it, and while we’re at it, stop the Electoral College lamentations, please.

We all knew the rules going in, didn’t we?

Assuming my friends on the Left aren't dispersing to their pre-arranged armed resistance cells to begin the Double Secret Counter Revolution -- nope, didn't think so -- I'd recommend they all begin their mornings these next few days (months?) by taking a good, hard look directly at the faces staring back at them in the mirror. You can bet I am, and also that I understand it's going to take a while for the pieces to fall back into place.

But they will.

Throughout history, the vast majority of human beings have endured far worse, and are doing so as you’re reading this column, but as 'Muricans with short memories, we're entering uncharted waters, so insert a favored cliche here; mine is "nothing good comes easy," or perhaps “no one ever said it would be easy.”

Change always is a grassroots thing, and it happens by engaging other people, listening to them and actually stepping outside your social media silo (the horror) to influence hearts and minds. In fact, ch-ch-change is a two-way street.

HA, gotcha, Irv. Is your lawsuit ready?

Our immediate future is a challenge. It’s also an opportunity. How we react to it is what matters. In the end, I can speak and act only for myself, and the change must begin with me. It's the only way it ever was, and it's the only way it can be.

This process is going to be difficult.

So it goes.

---

November 3: ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

October 27: ON THE AVENUES: It's NAC's 12th birthday, and the beatings will continue until morale improves.

October 20: ON THE AVENUES: Key events in the New Albanian rebirth, but first, a piccolo of grappa, per favore.

October 13: ON THE AVENUES: They're coming to take me away.

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 92: "It's not an option" for the Bored of Works -- unless you're a dump truck.

Recently we considered the urgent need for a freshening of the bureaucratic gene pool.

Seattle alleys, New Albany street pianos and the overdue purging of bureaucrats.

As Hannegan Roseberry's experience with our gatekeepers at the Board of Works earlier this week illustrates, the cultural asphyxiation starts at the very top. Hannegan had an idea, and the bored's political appointees could barely stifle their yawns while flashing the usual reply: "It's not an option."

But enough of that. Let's get straight to the dumb truck porn.

New hope for the riverfront: Thousands gather downtown to toast Trinkle’s departure.

Okay, perhaps they were in streaming through the streets for Harvest Homecoming, but a boy can dream, right?

33 years ago, Richard M. Nixon recorded his greatest achievement in a lifetime of public service by leaving the White House in disgrace.

In October, 1994, the Peter Principle was turned upside down when Eddie Laduke received his pink slip and was dismissed from the editor’s chair of the New Albany Tribune.

Someday, sooner or later, councilman Dan Coffey will no longer hold an elected office in the city of New Albany, and his neighborhood can finally emerge from captivity and turn its calendar pages forward.

Meanwhile, all the imagery this weekend is joyful:

New Albany City Wrap: Riverfront Director Bob Trinkle resigning, by Eric Scott Campbell (News and Tribune).

Bob Trinkle, director of riverfront programming under Mayor James Garner, announced Thursday that he’ll step down Dec. 31, the end of Garner’s term.

Trinkle told mayoral candidates Doug England and Randy Hubbard about his plans to resign, “and both of them concur,” Trinkle said in a media statement. He told the candidates he is willing to help in a transitional capacity or to return to the part-time post.

On the campaign trail, England and Hubbard have expressed the desire to improve and expand the use of the Riverfront Amphitheatre.

For the remainder of the year, Trinkle will plan next year’s spring and summer events. He thanked Garner for his “unqualified support within the constraints of a city budget with many priorities.”

Trinkle who couldn’t find his way out of the conventional thinking box with a Saturn rocket bungeed to his back side, was undoubtedly James Garner’s single worst appointment as mayor.

Throughout his career, Trinkle has gazed in fear upon multi-generational diversity and artistic creativity and always -- always -- he has seen only encroachments and dire threats to the suffocating limitations of his own preferred monocultural milieu. Never has it occurred to him that these offer virtually limitless possibilities for circumventing the “constraints of a city budget with many priorities," which he now predictably cites as an excuse upon exiting the scene.

Trinkle's tenure on the waterfront was a pathetic failure. Perhaps, for once, the city will learn something from the experience. I, for one, am learning not to hold my breath.

Previously at NAC:

On the merits of Boblessness: Inject entrepreneurialism into New Albany’s Riverfront Amphitheater, and restore value to a mismanaged community asset.

On the waterfront: Same old song and dance .

Not spectacular enough? Maybe they should play some Zappa, instead.

If he's not going to use the Riverfront Amphitheater, would Bullet Bob mind if we borrowed it and made some money?