By

Dianne Anderson  // —

Laughing in the face of adversity is sometimes better than the alternative, which is probably why so many civic activists are turning to political satire to cope with the reality that everything they thought could go wrong has gone wrong.

The trust factor is extremely low for Republicans and the White House, and many Americans long for the day when politics was significantly less bizarre.

“It was only five to six months ago that we had a president that spoke in complete coherent sentences, who actually cared about fixing things instead of getting headlines,” said John Vigna, spokesperson for the California Democratic Party.

From corruption to calls for impeachment to insider dealing, he said lack of accountability sums up the current Administration, so much so that seniors aids have turned to sending messages through Morning Joe on MSNBC.

“If this was happening in another country, there would be talk about us going in and sending observers,” Vigna said.

However, the strange national discourse has opened the door for the parody of SNL, Steven Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, which aren’t far off the mark in presenting the issues.

“They are moralizing the argument,” he said. “People responded to him [Trump Administration] because he connected in a raw and visceral way. He connected to the worst impulses in people.”

From now until 2018 elections, probably the single top driver for mobilizing California and the Democratic Party is the fight for Single Payer and access to healthcare for all. In the coming months.

Given the continuing low approval numbers for the Trump Administration, Vigna feels that Democrats have a decent chance of regaining seats in next year’s election.

“I think we have a shot at taking back the house, we’re probably going to go seven for seven taking out Republican members of Congress, who never faced a serious threat in the state,” he said.

One example is Orange County where the entire congressional delegation is getting challenge after challenge. Recently, 48th District Democratic contender Harley Ruda shook things up as the preferred choice against Rep. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and has already called for the FBI to investigate Rohrabacher’s possible ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Democratic congressional candidate Phil Janowicz is holding up against Republican Ed Royce for the 39th District seat.

“And there’s a slew of people lining up to take out Mimi Walters (R-Irvine),” he said. “It was triggered a lot [with the] defund and repeal of Obamacare,” he said.

There is room for hope. People are now engaging on a level like he’s never seen before. They’re quoting facts and figures on healthcare and climate change. They are talking about the Paris climate accords, and goals 1.5 Centigrade to keep global temperatures down. People are becoming more alert and informed.

As challenging as the times have been, he feels the nation is probing the issues, and strengthening up for the important months ahead.

“Everyone is becoming an expert on the issues,” he said. “People are arriving at the same conclusion, that its’ time for single payer. The attack on Obamacare will set the stage for a single payer future.”

Another reason for California to stay progressive is because so many states in the nation are looking to the Blue state for help. He said a progressive agenda is critical to 2018, and beyond.

“Especially in California,” he said. “We know other states are depending on us to be the resistance. anyone that has friends or family in red states are [under] pressure. Resistance is important because other deep Red states are depending on Dems.”

But the Party first has to deal with some loose ends.

Last month, the new state Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman brought out an activist base, but with many more demanding a recount of votes, having won the post with just over 60 votes against contender, Democratic organizer Kimberly Ellis.

In a recent statement, the California Young Democratic Black Caucus expressed their support for the third party audit, as an example of the full transparency that the Party represents.

“Although Eric Bauman has served as an amazing mentor to many of us, due to the longstanding tradition of African Americans – especially African American women’s allegiance to the party – we believe a request for an independent audit cannot be ignored,” the CYDBC stated.

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