Child castration and other bizarre culture war stuff.
General sense that Dems are elitist snobs who despise the working classes, talk down to regular people, and especially hate white working class men.
Inabilty to effectively govern those areas they do control, as exemplified by urban disorder and decay, real or perceived.
Zero message, policy proposals, or identity beyond "Boogeyman Trump Bad", in a really immature, offputting, hyperbolic way in which everything they don't agree with becomes FASCISM and anyone who doesnt 100% agree with 100% of everything you believe is a NAZI.
Perhaps we’re overlooking the possibility that most Americans want a narrowly defined narrative. Men. Women. Straight. Patriotic. A man in charge to tell them how to think so they don’t have to. Life is complex. The GOP makes it simple.
Honestly, I won’t say I give up but if most new voters think this shit is ok, I’m not sure how we turn that around.
Sorry, all, but I think we are generally at the point Carl Sagan predicted in the 90s. I think, in part, what Newsom is doing works because it's what many people want. Besides, Newsom's social media strategy (and *cable* media? - I don't watch cable TV) is what the electorate who voted for Trump and many of those who didn't have been Pavloved into responding to, at least online. Arguably, it actually makes the Democrats' jobs easier because they can just be creative, make some noise, and troll the right, maybe even using their own material, while inserting what Democrats usually do, here and there. Make the likes of Vance so triggered that they seem too crazy to be liked at all. I also think the online left should only talk about the right's leaders' crazy talk or actions, because it's the leaders who are driving the show. Right? So, for example, instead of writing or saying, "MAGA did this or MAGA is dumb," one would say, "Vance said or did this dumb or crazy thing," and leave the MAGA or whatever groups out so they don't feel attacked.
From The Demon‑Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan (1995)
"We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements – transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting – profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces."
"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness… The dumbing‑down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30‑second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest‑common‑denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance."
——————-
Carl Sagan's last interview from 1996 on the Charlie Rose show.
I understand fewer people registering as democrats, what I DON'T understand is: "Therefore republicans"
I just don't think enough blame is put at the feet of the electorate...The American public. There is PLENTY of blame to be had by party leadership. SO MUCH. A huge chunk of America ACTIVELY want what republicans are selling them
Where are these numbers coming from? Before the 2024 election we kept hearing how new voter registrations were through the roof! Remember, any numbers coming from this administration are immediately suspect. A study like this that's horribly depressing for Democrats? Should be twice as suspect.
1. Democrats are obnoxious and annoying while Republicans are fascists.
2. Are we believing polls now? It’s hard to keep up.
3. Republicans had the same reaction when Obama won. Then they ignored the hand-wringing pundits and doubled down on the racism and xenophobia. Not sure what the Democrats’ version should be. Maybe talk more about all the good things Republicans are destroying?
I’ve noted on this newsletter that Republicans in 93 and 09 changed their strategy and leadership (drastically so by 2010). Dems are still operating by the same outdated rules.
It is not stressed enough that post-2020, the average voter in many areas viewed Democrats as “fascists” because of covid shutdowns, etc
thanks, Stephen. question re the 2024 GOP registration surge among young voters: polling shows those gains have pretty much disappeared, that GOP gains in this demographic have been wiped out. how does this square with the higher GOP registrations, that is, did young voters sign up with the GOP but were quickly put off by his actions when he assumed power in January? just wondering if there's some effect that offsets the dire numbers. which, as all including you have pointed out, are...dire.
Polling is encouraging but political identity can have a long term effect. If you identify with a party, you are more likely to stick with them or forgive their blunders (look at my fellow Dems)
Yeah that's about what I expect. Well, we will see what happens in the midterms. I expect a number of voters on the other side are excited to smash the minorities they hate.
It definitely also helps to have not only a rightwing media human centipede, but also the inbuilt deference in the legal and political systems for your leaders. I'm sure it's demoralizing to see Dems taking losses in the courts too.
Maybe because of the groups Democrats represent too it's always just going to take really special circumstances of extreme charisma and Republicans driving the country into a ditch for Democrats to get the nod again. Newsom's already getting some negative left attention on Bluesky so we're going to see which way is going to prevail in the midterms for sure.
The panic about gerrymandering does give me pause though.
<< “So, your house got destroyed in a tornado? Well, you should’ve voted for Kamala!” (This is perhaps a good example of “annoying and obnoxious.”) >>
Yes, this. And beyond the bitter, I-Told-You-So schadenfreude, social media commenters regularly wish widespread death and natural disasters upon “all red states” and demand that everyone who’s true blue move to California, and then California secedes from the union, and then we set the rest of the US on fire. I think that’s the plan.
I understand that schadenfreude, but I’m once more going to be that person who murmurs “Not all red states …” because I don’t want to move to California, and I don’t want my state, nor any other, be abandoned to the flames. Or floodwaters, whichever comes first.
It’s like, yes, the RW is vile in their words and actions, but we expect that sort of thing from them. What’s “annoying and obnoxious” to me is the facile display of hate — call it regional bigotry — from those who I thought were our allies, even if we are only blue dots. “Red states” = MAGA to most people because it’s such an ready-made dichotomy to work with.
My beef is that right wingers say MUCH worse about us and yet they're not on the hook for any of it. What I'M sick of is the fucking double standard. Dems saying mean things about republicans drives people away from the democratic party, but republicans saying mean things about democrats doesn't drive people away from the republican party? Why is this double standard SO persistent when its SO goddamn OBVIOUS? That's why I don't entirely buy this reasoning...I just think that a LOT more Americans are fascist bigot shit stains than we want to admit...TRUMP IS WHAT THEY WANT. Dems don't push voters toward the republican party any more than flies have to be 'pushed' toward a pile of dog shit. The protestations of "You MADE me eat this shit" don't convince me
Right. The Republican party is acting like a greased validation machine, pushing crack to its base. Self-righteousness is one hell of a drug. And if you want to feel aproval for being a racist, misogynist, evangelical, bully wannabe, the GOP is there for you with dime bags galore. And 49.8% of voters bought that shit
Now where's our dealer network for those of us who want universal healthcare, housing, libraries, schools, parks....
Its all about 'right vs left' temperaments. The messages are different, the audiences are different, the 'messenger' is different, or more to the point the messenger is fundamentally better suited to delivering RW messages by the dint of its ethos. That's why the idea that we need a Joe Rogan on the left doesn't work. Its just not the way we consume media. That being said, we don't need to preach to the choir.
EDIT: just dawned on me. Dems have to DELIBERATELY and carefully craft multiple vectors of messaging to appeal to people not already in the coalition. To 'draw' them in. Appeal to them
OTOH, Republicans simply send out a unified message of hate and division that people are drawn TO. They don't 'craft' shit. Its just on all of the time. The content of their message is married to the message itself. Which to ME says more about the electorate than democratic messaging. Which again, needs fixing, but I'm beginning to believe its an intractable problem. The medium itself is dead set against us, much of it not even intentionally. Like trying to put on a production of La Traviata at the Talladega race track
This may come as a shock to you, but not all of us “rubes” and “hicks” have any desire to move into big cities, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with lack of ambition or imagination. Trying to typecast rural vs. urban residents as yet another voting-population schism only feeds us-vs-them resentment, and it’s harmfully reductive.
the solution is so simple its hardly worth mentioning. Look at who the most popular democratic leaders right now are and copy that. Or better yet ELECT more of them
a.) Consider the source of this "information" - America's Republican-owned "public media," the star of the GOP's propaganda machine being the NYT;
b.) The Democratic gerontocracy's utter lack of ANY effort to counter the Republican's incredibly blatant efforts to steal the upcoming elections; why would any American bother to register as a Dem under those circumstances?
I am blaming the lack of fight from many Dems, although that is changing, and Dems reliance on consistently wrong and expensive political consultants and focus groups.
It's interesting reading about those numbers, yet seeing TACO freak out about the midterms to such an extent that he's already gotten Texas to gerrymander their House seats even more in favor of the repubs. His "policies" are so unpopular (and Epstein continues to be an anchor around his neck, no matter what he does) that an unpopular party just might beat his party in the midterms.
If only all elected Dems would take up the fight, like Newsom, AOC, Warren, Sanders, Crockett, and Moore have done.
The thing is, many Democratic politicians are not interested in serving the public. Like, they like having a career in public service, but just because they like the feeling, not the service nor the people they serve. There are (were?) excellent public servants of all stripes filling in the rank and file posts of getting the work done, I'm not talking about them. It takes a special kind of person to want to run for office, and a special subset of THAT to say OH BOY I WANT MORE OF THIS!
The people in leadership at the highest levels love the power, love the sycophants, love the schedule, love the jetting around. They love their job benefits, abd why not, we provide them with the best!
Very few of them are interested in putting any of that on the line. We should not expect them to show up, because then we're just waiting for Godot.
We are the leaders, if we are willing to live as if we have nothing to lose.
So far, it seems like we all prefer to not put what we have on the line, just like Democratic leadership. You named some of the exceptions. Will I join their ranks?
True - he's even threatening Chris Christie because Christie was critical of him on national TV. But some Dems still act like he's just a crazier than most repub and things will get back to normal soon.
I sometimes wonder how this era would have gone if there was a functioning opposition party. The intraparty combat right now suggests this is a fight between Left and Center, as though we are turning off voters because we’re too far Left or not Left enough. I think the problem is more that we show constant weakness and convey the image of pampered elites—it’s galling because the Republicans are the ones actually serving the elite, but image can overcome reality. When our side gives focus grouped responses to everything, talks about class politics in a way that’s suited more for a college lecture hall than the lawn chairs outside a gas station, and responds to Trump’s WWE act with “we will fight back” but no follow-up, it’d be more surprising if we were popular.
I hope Democrats win the midterms by default because they’re sure not winning it on the merits.
I will say this, it is easier for Republicans to secure that branding with a pet rightwing media human centipede. So not just nominal MSM networks and assets, but also podcasters, influencers, think tanks, random cranks and troll farms (Not to mention influencers elected as politicians). So they can use things like the "patriot" and "moral" and "family values" and "strength" branding very easily. It's all funded by millionaire and billionaire pocket change
It's an article of faith now that Democrats (at least online) hate fundraising e-mails and all, and the expectation is that Dems need to do more with less. And so they will have to.
Democrats seem to have plenty of money to do big ad buys and billion dollar campaigns—they also have a target audience of about half he population. Yet they somehow cannot establish media/communication networks that can reach people with anything like the effectiveness of Republicans to shape popular narratives.
Considering the rank-and-file also don't share their social media hits I'm not surprised. A lot of liberals are like "You're not the boss of me" and are always freelancing. It took me actually digging to find Wes Moore's responses to the pricktator. There was very little (if any) discussion on that; instead people were farming outrage bait about Hakeem Jeffries.
Even then there's a VERY tight integration of the rightwing media human centipede with the Republican Party and that's a major difference. It's no surprise for example Faux News is considered state media. Such a system would never exist on a Democratic network because there would be a focus on ethics as these would be nominally journalistic enterprises. There would never be a top-down direction of talking points for this reason.
For all people like to say "Democratic Establishment" you ever notice that there is NEVER an alignment of talking points? Every single Dem is freelancing.
We should talk more about what we want when we do win. I want a lot of things. I want higher taxes on anyone making over say, 500K to strengthen the social safety net for all of us. How are they going to make them make that happen?
$500k in 2028+ income is fair. Biden administration's proposal for this year would have roughly been:
"The President's budget ensures that billionaires do not get special tax treatment and pay lower tax rates than hard-working American families. Specifically, it imposes a minimum tax on the wealthiest earners, meaning that billionaires must pay at least 25 percent in taxes of their full income, including unrealized appreciation. It applies to those in the top 0.01 percent of earners (those worth over $100 million), and most of the revenue comes from households worth more than $1 billion. This proposal alone raises $503 billion in revenue over the decade. The budget also asks the highest earners, or those earning more than $400,000 a year, to pay a top marginal tax rate of 39.6 percent – a policy that raises $246 billion over the decade and undoes one of the massive tax cuts for the wealthy in the 2017 tax law. The budget also taxes capital gains at the same rate as income for those making over $1 million a year while closing loopholes like the carried interest loophole, which allows wealthy investment fund managers to pay low tax rates. By closing those loopholes, the budget raises $63 billion over the decade."
Yeah that's part of the problem. If you set the figure at $500,000, then I assume you make around $400,000.
All the lawyers in all the land know all of the loopholes. Never mind that for the top 1% don't "make" money because they don't draw a paycheck- they live off of capital gains but even more- the truly wealthy? They actually take on debt through their lives and their estate settles it once their dead. During their lifetimes their capital churns more profit.
If we support a capitalist structure, I don't see any way to fund it except for transaction fees. Warren was all about this. Yes, everyone gets hit at the grocery store and atm. But those stocks are all owned for VERY short periods of time, the generation of revenue will come from Wall Street, just like they insist we rely on it for security, we must demand of it society's share of the pie.
And I'm talking fees of less than ten cents per transaction. No loopholes. No long lines of law. Just a fee on every transaction, everywhere.
Actually we are a two people household living in SoCal with under 100k. I just thought 500k was a good round number that everybody should be able to live comfortably on. But I agree on the transaction fees.
You do need a program—and to the extent different wings want different things, go with simple—“we will improve your quality of life, the enemy is ruining your life”. Deliver when you’re in power. But while out of power, attack relentlessly and pull no punches. People always gravitate towards strength and despise weakness.
The problems with Democrats are very simple:
Inflation
Immigration
Anti-white racism and identitarianism in general
Child castration and other bizarre culture war stuff.
General sense that Dems are elitist snobs who despise the working classes, talk down to regular people, and especially hate white working class men.
Inabilty to effectively govern those areas they do control, as exemplified by urban disorder and decay, real or perceived.
Zero message, policy proposals, or identity beyond "Boogeyman Trump Bad", in a really immature, offputting, hyperbolic way in which everything they don't agree with becomes FASCISM and anyone who doesnt 100% agree with 100% of everything you believe is a NAZI.
That's pretty much the whole list.
Perhaps we’re overlooking the possibility that most Americans want a narrowly defined narrative. Men. Women. Straight. Patriotic. A man in charge to tell them how to think so they don’t have to. Life is complex. The GOP makes it simple.
Honestly, I won’t say I give up but if most new voters think this shit is ok, I’m not sure how we turn that around.
Sorry, all, but I think we are generally at the point Carl Sagan predicted in the 90s. I think, in part, what Newsom is doing works because it's what many people want. Besides, Newsom's social media strategy (and *cable* media? - I don't watch cable TV) is what the electorate who voted for Trump and many of those who didn't have been Pavloved into responding to, at least online. Arguably, it actually makes the Democrats' jobs easier because they can just be creative, make some noise, and troll the right, maybe even using their own material, while inserting what Democrats usually do, here and there. Make the likes of Vance so triggered that they seem too crazy to be liked at all. I also think the online left should only talk about the right's leaders' crazy talk or actions, because it's the leaders who are driving the show. Right? So, for example, instead of writing or saying, "MAGA did this or MAGA is dumb," one would say, "Vance said or did this dumb or crazy thing," and leave the MAGA or whatever groups out so they don't feel attacked.
From The Demon‑Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan (1995)
"We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements – transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting – profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces."
"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness… The dumbing‑down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30‑second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest‑common‑denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance."
——————-
Carl Sagan's last interview from 1996 on the Charlie Rose show.
youtu.be/uJs5oTN60iw
I understand fewer people registering as democrats, what I DON'T understand is: "Therefore republicans"
I just don't think enough blame is put at the feet of the electorate...The American public. There is PLENTY of blame to be had by party leadership. SO MUCH. A huge chunk of America ACTIVELY want what republicans are selling them
100% agree. If they were registering as independents, I’d get that.
Where are these numbers coming from? Before the 2024 election we kept hearing how new voter registrations were through the roof! Remember, any numbers coming from this administration are immediately suspect. A study like this that's horribly depressing for Democrats? Should be twice as suspect.
Maybe this is obvious but I can't sort it... What's the name of the show you're collaborating on?
Oh, it’s only my fantasy!
Well now it’s OUR fantasy.
People don't like weakness in their leaders and the democratic party reeks of weakness and cowardice. Not very inspiring.
1. Democrats are obnoxious and annoying while Republicans are fascists.
2. Are we believing polls now? It’s hard to keep up.
3. Republicans had the same reaction when Obama won. Then they ignored the hand-wringing pundits and doubled down on the racism and xenophobia. Not sure what the Democrats’ version should be. Maybe talk more about all the good things Republicans are destroying?
I’ve noted on this newsletter that Republicans in 93 and 09 changed their strategy and leadership (drastically so by 2010). Dems are still operating by the same outdated rules.
It is not stressed enough that post-2020, the average voter in many areas viewed Democrats as “fascists” because of covid shutdowns, etc
thanks, Stephen. question re the 2024 GOP registration surge among young voters: polling shows those gains have pretty much disappeared, that GOP gains in this demographic have been wiped out. how does this square with the higher GOP registrations, that is, did young voters sign up with the GOP but were quickly put off by his actions when he assumed power in January? just wondering if there's some effect that offsets the dire numbers. which, as all including you have pointed out, are...dire.
Polling is encouraging but political identity can have a long term effect. If you identify with a party, you are more likely to stick with them or forgive their blunders (look at my fellow Dems)
Yeah that's about what I expect. Well, we will see what happens in the midterms. I expect a number of voters on the other side are excited to smash the minorities they hate.
It definitely also helps to have not only a rightwing media human centipede, but also the inbuilt deference in the legal and political systems for your leaders. I'm sure it's demoralizing to see Dems taking losses in the courts too.
Maybe because of the groups Democrats represent too it's always just going to take really special circumstances of extreme charisma and Republicans driving the country into a ditch for Democrats to get the nod again. Newsom's already getting some negative left attention on Bluesky so we're going to see which way is going to prevail in the midterms for sure.
The panic about gerrymandering does give me pause though.
<< “So, your house got destroyed in a tornado? Well, you should’ve voted for Kamala!” (This is perhaps a good example of “annoying and obnoxious.”) >>
Yes, this. And beyond the bitter, I-Told-You-So schadenfreude, social media commenters regularly wish widespread death and natural disasters upon “all red states” and demand that everyone who’s true blue move to California, and then California secedes from the union, and then we set the rest of the US on fire. I think that’s the plan.
I understand that schadenfreude, but I’m once more going to be that person who murmurs “Not all red states …” because I don’t want to move to California, and I don’t want my state, nor any other, be abandoned to the flames. Or floodwaters, whichever comes first.
Thank you!
It’s like, yes, the RW is vile in their words and actions, but we expect that sort of thing from them. What’s “annoying and obnoxious” to me is the facile display of hate — call it regional bigotry — from those who I thought were our allies, even if we are only blue dots. “Red states” = MAGA to most people because it’s such an ready-made dichotomy to work with.
My beef is that right wingers say MUCH worse about us and yet they're not on the hook for any of it. What I'M sick of is the fucking double standard. Dems saying mean things about republicans drives people away from the democratic party, but republicans saying mean things about democrats doesn't drive people away from the republican party? Why is this double standard SO persistent when its SO goddamn OBVIOUS? That's why I don't entirely buy this reasoning...I just think that a LOT more Americans are fascist bigot shit stains than we want to admit...TRUMP IS WHAT THEY WANT. Dems don't push voters toward the republican party any more than flies have to be 'pushed' toward a pile of dog shit. The protestations of "You MADE me eat this shit" don't convince me
Right. The Republican party is acting like a greased validation machine, pushing crack to its base. Self-righteousness is one hell of a drug. And if you want to feel aproval for being a racist, misogynist, evangelical, bully wannabe, the GOP is there for you with dime bags galore. And 49.8% of voters bought that shit
Now where's our dealer network for those of us who want universal healthcare, housing, libraries, schools, parks....
Its all about 'right vs left' temperaments. The messages are different, the audiences are different, the 'messenger' is different, or more to the point the messenger is fundamentally better suited to delivering RW messages by the dint of its ethos. That's why the idea that we need a Joe Rogan on the left doesn't work. Its just not the way we consume media. That being said, we don't need to preach to the choir.
EDIT: just dawned on me. Dems have to DELIBERATELY and carefully craft multiple vectors of messaging to appeal to people not already in the coalition. To 'draw' them in. Appeal to them
OTOH, Republicans simply send out a unified message of hate and division that people are drawn TO. They don't 'craft' shit. Its just on all of the time. The content of their message is married to the message itself. Which to ME says more about the electorate than democratic messaging. Which again, needs fixing, but I'm beginning to believe its an intractable problem. The medium itself is dead set against us, much of it not even intentionally. Like trying to put on a production of La Traviata at the Talladega race track
It’s just a numbers game — liberals are contemptuous of a larger number of Americans than right-wingers are, for good or for ill.
Disagree.
In my experience, republikkkans despise Dems. Rural and urban.
Dems are more interested in the social contract. It's why they make the mistake of uplifting nevertrumpers.
BTW, I would have included The Bulwark crew individually or in total.
Don't underestimate the independent voters. They were turned off by Liz Cheney, Kinzinger, et al, but will vote Dem.
City people have always been contemptuous of the self-satisfied rubes who lacked the ambition/imagination to move the hell out of the sticks?
The hicks in turn sneering at city slickers who can't tell a pig from a shoat?
Given President Pedo Pal's attacks on cities, maybe the next elections are going to be a test of rural vs urban voters?
This may come as a shock to you, but not all of us “rubes” and “hicks” have any desire to move into big cities, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with lack of ambition or imagination. Trying to typecast rural vs. urban residents as yet another voting-population schism only feeds us-vs-them resentment, and it’s harmfully reductive.
I would have thought it was the other way around. At least equal
Citation needed.
the solution is so simple its hardly worth mentioning. Look at who the most popular democratic leaders right now are and copy that. Or better yet ELECT more of them
a.) Consider the source of this "information" - America's Republican-owned "public media," the star of the GOP's propaganda machine being the NYT;
b.) The Democratic gerontocracy's utter lack of ANY effort to counter the Republican's incredibly blatant efforts to steal the upcoming elections; why would any American bother to register as a Dem under those circumstances?
I am blaming the lack of fight from many Dems, although that is changing, and Dems reliance on consistently wrong and expensive political consultants and focus groups.
It's interesting reading about those numbers, yet seeing TACO freak out about the midterms to such an extent that he's already gotten Texas to gerrymander their House seats even more in favor of the repubs. His "policies" are so unpopular (and Epstein continues to be an anchor around his neck, no matter what he does) that an unpopular party just might beat his party in the midterms.
If only all elected Dems would take up the fight, like Newsom, AOC, Warren, Sanders, Crockett, and Moore have done.
The thing is, many Democratic politicians are not interested in serving the public. Like, they like having a career in public service, but just because they like the feeling, not the service nor the people they serve. There are (were?) excellent public servants of all stripes filling in the rank and file posts of getting the work done, I'm not talking about them. It takes a special kind of person to want to run for office, and a special subset of THAT to say OH BOY I WANT MORE OF THIS!
The people in leadership at the highest levels love the power, love the sycophants, love the schedule, love the jetting around. They love their job benefits, abd why not, we provide them with the best!
Very few of them are interested in putting any of that on the line. We should not expect them to show up, because then we're just waiting for Godot.
We are the leaders, if we are willing to live as if we have nothing to lose.
So far, it seems like we all prefer to not put what we have on the line, just like Democratic leadership. You named some of the exceptions. Will I join their ranks?
Trump is a fascist who hates that anyone would dare challenge his rule.
True - he's even threatening Chris Christie because Christie was critical of him on national TV. But some Dems still act like he's just a crazier than most repub and things will get back to normal soon.
Lightning doesn’t have to strike twice — unless Democrats keep handing the monster the bolts.
I sometimes wonder how this era would have gone if there was a functioning opposition party. The intraparty combat right now suggests this is a fight between Left and Center, as though we are turning off voters because we’re too far Left or not Left enough. I think the problem is more that we show constant weakness and convey the image of pampered elites—it’s galling because the Republicans are the ones actually serving the elite, but image can overcome reality. When our side gives focus grouped responses to everything, talks about class politics in a way that’s suited more for a college lecture hall than the lawn chairs outside a gas station, and responds to Trump’s WWE act with “we will fight back” but no follow-up, it’d be more surprising if we were popular.
I hope Democrats win the midterms by default because they’re sure not winning it on the merits.
I will say this, it is easier for Republicans to secure that branding with a pet rightwing media human centipede. So not just nominal MSM networks and assets, but also podcasters, influencers, think tanks, random cranks and troll farms (Not to mention influencers elected as politicians). So they can use things like the "patriot" and "moral" and "family values" and "strength" branding very easily. It's all funded by millionaire and billionaire pocket change
It's an article of faith now that Democrats (at least online) hate fundraising e-mails and all, and the expectation is that Dems need to do more with less. And so they will have to.
Democrats seem to have plenty of money to do big ad buys and billion dollar campaigns—they also have a target audience of about half he population. Yet they somehow cannot establish media/communication networks that can reach people with anything like the effectiveness of Republicans to shape popular narratives.
Considering the rank-and-file also don't share their social media hits I'm not surprised. A lot of liberals are like "You're not the boss of me" and are always freelancing. It took me actually digging to find Wes Moore's responses to the pricktator. There was very little (if any) discussion on that; instead people were farming outrage bait about Hakeem Jeffries.
Even then there's a VERY tight integration of the rightwing media human centipede with the Republican Party and that's a major difference. It's no surprise for example Faux News is considered state media. Such a system would never exist on a Democratic network because there would be a focus on ethics as these would be nominally journalistic enterprises. There would never be a top-down direction of talking points for this reason.
For all people like to say "Democratic Establishment" you ever notice that there is NEVER an alignment of talking points? Every single Dem is freelancing.
We should talk more about what we want when we do win. I want a lot of things. I want higher taxes on anyone making over say, 500K to strengthen the social safety net for all of us. How are they going to make them make that happen?
$500k in 2028+ income is fair. Biden administration's proposal for this year would have roughly been:
"The President's budget ensures that billionaires do not get special tax treatment and pay lower tax rates than hard-working American families. Specifically, it imposes a minimum tax on the wealthiest earners, meaning that billionaires must pay at least 25 percent in taxes of their full income, including unrealized appreciation. It applies to those in the top 0.01 percent of earners (those worth over $100 million), and most of the revenue comes from households worth more than $1 billion. This proposal alone raises $503 billion in revenue over the decade. The budget also asks the highest earners, or those earning more than $400,000 a year, to pay a top marginal tax rate of 39.6 percent – a policy that raises $246 billion over the decade and undoes one of the massive tax cuts for the wealthy in the 2017 tax law. The budget also taxes capital gains at the same rate as income for those making over $1 million a year while closing loopholes like the carried interest loophole, which allows wealthy investment fund managers to pay low tax rates. By closing those loopholes, the budget raises $63 billion over the decade."
https://democrats-budget.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-budget.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/hbc-fact-sheet-2025-biden-budget-tax-policy.pdf
Yeah that's part of the problem. If you set the figure at $500,000, then I assume you make around $400,000.
All the lawyers in all the land know all of the loopholes. Never mind that for the top 1% don't "make" money because they don't draw a paycheck- they live off of capital gains but even more- the truly wealthy? They actually take on debt through their lives and their estate settles it once their dead. During their lifetimes their capital churns more profit.
If we support a capitalist structure, I don't see any way to fund it except for transaction fees. Warren was all about this. Yes, everyone gets hit at the grocery store and atm. But those stocks are all owned for VERY short periods of time, the generation of revenue will come from Wall Street, just like they insist we rely on it for security, we must demand of it society's share of the pie.
And I'm talking fees of less than ten cents per transaction. No loopholes. No long lines of law. Just a fee on every transaction, everywhere.
Actually we are a two people household living in SoCal with under 100k. I just thought 500k was a good round number that everybody should be able to live comfortably on. But I agree on the transaction fees.
You do need a program—and to the extent different wings want different things, go with simple—“we will improve your quality of life, the enemy is ruining your life”. Deliver when you’re in power. But while out of power, attack relentlessly and pull no punches. People always gravitate towards strength and despise weakness.