OK last comment, but I really think this article captures a lot of my frustrations with the party (maybe the median voter too idk) But if they ran on packing the courts, being a 'dictator on day 1', green new deal, tough on monopolists , doing whatever needs to be done - basically everything Trump's promising to do but instead of for massively unpopular niche issues for stuff people actually like. I genuinely don't care with what means they want to do it. People say- Trump will destroy democracy! And all I can hear is that maybe he's going to actually do something. (The tragedy is that all of the somethings he's going to do are Bad) but imagine! If our side had 1/16th the gumption. It would be heaven on earth I barely even trusted Kamala to have the political will to get Roe v Wayde passed tbh. The dems have been punting on that one for decades
I think it's fair to say that the enthusiasm behind Bernie Sanders was because of the idea that he'd 'fucking do something.' I think people over 30 were jaded about that because the dude has been in government his whole fucking life and has yet to fucking do something. It's been interesting to watch AOC turn from firebrand to wallflower. Maybe she's biding her time. Maybe she's been subsumed by the system. It's also abundantly clear that the politicians we see the most are the ones who aren't doing their fucking jobs - MTG, Gaetz, etc. IF: you get into government because you want to 'fucking do something' BUT: nothing can actually be done THEN: (gestures vaguely everywhere) Jimmy Carter was a populist. Then he got to government and nothing happened. Schwartzenegger was a populist. Then he got to government and nothing happened. FDR came into power by basically taking the wind out of Huey Long's sails; by adopting 70% of the crazy socialist policies Long wanted and dragging them into the mainstream, FDR got four frickin' terms out of it. But that was what, 80 years ago? The green new deal was a layup. Fuckin' legalized marijuana was a layup. Student loan forgiveness was a layup. Price controls on groceries could have been a goddamn executive order. And yet.
Democrats are not doing anything because they’re captured. They take money from the same business interests and banks that the Republicans do. It’s almost a controlled opposition party— they exist to hold things in place until the next republican term. They aren’t there to do things, they barely bother to pretend to be interested in that. In fact, I’d say they’re not even really an “ideas” party. If they had ideas, they’d want to get them out. They don’t, which is why Heritage Foundation can spend millions on Right Wing media outlets, radio, TV (multiple channels), websites, and so on. Democrats had Air America, but didn’t really invest in it. So now it’s NPR, MSNBC, and Bread Tube. That’s how into getting things done they are. Podcasters, Vaush, and MSNBC and the three political shows on NPR. They don’t even believe in their message enough to bother getting it out there. The way most people find out about anything the democrats actually want to do is republicans telling them it’s bad. Completely rearguard action.
I think I would temper this by arguing there's no real alternative. The 2024 elections cost $16b. Bill Gates gave $100m, Elon Musk gave $150m. Kamala Harris got 74m votes; in order to counterbalance Elon Fucking Musk every Harris voter would have needed to chip in $2. In order to counterbalance Musk & Gates, they needed to chip in 68 cents. But now we're talking campaign finance reform and we're both already asleep with boredom.Democrats are not doing anything because they’re captured. They take money from the same business interests and banks that the Republicans do.
Honestly I think part of the problem is how long the campaign is. It takes several years to run for president, and the formal kickoff is often more than a year out. People in formally elected offices basically spend 70% of their time in office preparing to campaign and actively campaigning for office. Of course they need that much money.
Danielle Allen did a series of ten pieces for the WaPo but they didn't exactly set the world afire. I'll say this: WA state does jungle primaries, which helped contribute to outcomes like this: Our Trump-annointed gubernatorial candidate was Semi Bird, who walked out of the primary with 11% of the vote (even though the Republicans had registered five candidates with the same name as the Democratic candidate). The most contentious and expensive race in Washington was for Commissioner of Public Lands, primarily because the Republican who was running was a big timber shill who got primaried for impeaching Trump. EDIT: hot off the presses
I do not trust Gluesenkamp Perez. I can't remember what she did or said years ago that first raised my warning flags, but the recent banana peeling claims are another questionable installment. Honestly I get Paulina-Luna vibes from her. If you have to be a pandering liar to get elected, again, curtains for democracy. Speaking of which, I'll get back to you about the information environment in that other thread soon. Have a good Monday bro(s).
I genuinely don't know what the Dems want to do. Kamala's climate change policy was some of the most baffling word salad I've ever had to read. It seemed like every week they shifted positions or compromised on something I figured was a core Dem value. Doesn't matter either way cuz they lost in a landslide lol
I think the first step to getting the party back on track is to invest in getting the message out there. Have a network or three on the radio or TV, have news sites, etc that can explain what the ideas are and why they work and where they’ve actually done good things. Start talking about your ideas. And when you do something TELL THE PEOPLE. It’s like the democrats almost want it to be top secret. I’ve had this conversation a few times with conservatives convinced there’s a conspiracy to poison Americans with additives in foods. Exhibit A is that a lot of things that are common in American food are not in European foods. So the government is obviously trying to kill us, population control and so on. No, the European Union is simply much more willing to ban poison from their foods than our FDA is. So this would be an excellent thing for democrats to be actually talking about and making the case for smart regulations to protect people. They’re generally MIA. And the same is true of other things. The infrastructure bill Biden passed is building lots of highways. Not one will have any sort of signage telling people that this is the infrastructure bill at work making roads better.
I agree. But until you have a message you believe in and are willing to put out far and wide without apologizing for having an agenda. Look at the GOP — they believe in stupid things, but I guarantee you that everyone reading my words can absolutely tell you what the6 want to do and why they want to do that. The words are repeated in every organ of the GOP, every radio show, every news organ, every podcast, every white paper issued by a GOP think tank all have a message. And because they have that message and actually not only believe in that vision but are absolutely committed to it. I don’t think I could make the same bet on the democratic side. They have no vision of government, of culture, or why they think that. The democratic organs of culture mostly document GOP bad and snipe at other democrats. There’s nothing really to hold people to doing.
The basic issue, as I see it, is that the Republicans can pander to divisive social issues (because they don't cost anything) and then give money away to business in the Name of Freedom™. Democrats can be liberal AF about social issues (because they don't cost anything) and then ask for a whole bunch of big government projects that cost a fuckton and interfere with big business. Spitballing, I'd say Democrats (the voters) care about health insurance, social welfare, global warming, reduced police militarization, cheaper college and cheaper housing. And I would say that for every one of those concerns there's a billion dollar lobbying machine hell-bent on the destruction of anyone who poses even a vague threat to them. Republicans? When there's money involved it's invariably takes the form of Give Tax Revenue To Crony Capitalists. Any democrat who actually runs on doing what democrats want is going to get creamed.
Other problem is, unless you're willing to let the president be a tyrant, one person with integrity in government is barely going to help at all. You'd need to kick out all the existing corporate dems first before anything could get accomplished.
this is hitting the nail so square on the head that it splinters. half of the oligarchy can't even put out a good liar except maybe Pete, who is phenomenal, and secretly a radical socialist. just believe me, i will repeat it a lot, for effectivity. "Mayor" Pete Buttigieg is secretly a radical socialist hey man what do you think about Pete (some people call him "Mayor" Pete) Buttigieg? no but fantastic comment, I am trying to give you a rhetorical treat I guess Elect Mayor Pete for socialism edit mk: the SOROSBUX pay interface is broken there is nothing in my account for this
Yeah my enthusiasm for Bernie is more the symbolism of someone with at least passably good values in office. No pretense that he could get anything done. Which is another baffling thing about the Dems- if you're going to do literally nothing, why compromise all your values? Why have a stupid hedged weaksauce plan that you don't do instead of an exciting cool plan that you don't do. Honestly the IRA passing at all was a shock to me, weaksauce as it was. My only hope from the Trump admin is that the Dems exploit all the broken norms to 'fucking do something' but god knows they haven't ever in my lifetime, idk about yours but sounds like not then either. At this point I kinda want to see America fall before I do, just for the schadenfreude