LogFAQs > #962706664

Mr Lasastryke posted...

perhaps you could post what your point is instead of contentless bullshit.

First, what was the content of YOUR post bitching about me defending liberals?

Second, my point is this: HDT is correct in that everyone on both sides (which I hate having to type outright, because the second you say both sides in a political argument, it comes across as a cop out) of the Democratic Party suck at the political side of politics. Governing? Hard to say, since politicking kneecaps the party before they ever take power.

I think the following facts about America need to be acknowledged, because denying them leads to an idyllic worldview that is divorced from reality. One: America is an extremely conservative country, especially by Western standards. Our origin story is one of religious conservatives fleeing England because the Anglican Church was too liberal for them. We, a predominantly white colony at the time, fought for our independence because we didnt like the tax situation. America was one of the last holdouts (I believe) of the slave trade, to the point where we waged a civil war over to right to continue owning slaves. You had isolationism throughout the 20th century that only ended when the Japanese attacked us directly. Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan saw absolutely massive electoral blowouts, with Reagan specifically campaigning on killing progressive social programs. And that doesnt even consider our media, which worships the police, the military, gun culture, and even the most vapid of millionaires. America is conservative.

Second, lets briefly touch on the fact that Donald Trump, after four years of virulent racism and outright incompetence (including the complete mismanagement of a pandemic during the election year), gained ten million MORE votes than his previous electoral win. Biden won by a SMALLER margin than Trump got to beat Hillary. So thats half the country thats just against even MODERATE Democratic policies, right off the bat. Then, you have to look at the Democratic Party itself, and Id say its 70-75% moderate, and 25-30% progressive.

With those baselines established, I acknowledge that moderates fucking suck at marketing themselves. Thats inevitable, when you have the majority of the partys voters are people who perhaps dislike how far-right the GOP is (though theyre becoming increasingly susceptible to GOP culture war bullshit), but ultimately are largely happy and secure, and want things to stay MOSTLY the same, with maybe MINOR changes.

I FULLY acknowledge that these moderate voters are infuriating for progressives, because Im considered a far-left radical to my moderate Democrat parents whenever I try to explain basic progressive concepts to them (eg. college tuition nowadays is exponentially higher than what they had to pay in their youth, there is a greater societal pressure to attend college nowadays in order to gain a job, and there are fewer available high-paying jobs because people retire much later).

On the other hand though, the progressive minority oftennot always, but oftencomes at politics from a perspective of anger. And I get that. society has fucked the younger generations over since the Reagan Era particularly. But the progressive movement is a minority in the Democratic Party, and is an EXTREME minority in the country as a whole. And when your movement becomes tied to rabid voices that snarl about how liberals and moderates suck and ruin the country, it makes it much harder to get that moderate majority to take you seriously and elect you into positions of power.

From my perspective, progressives need to stop tailoring their message to their left-wing base (who are already onboardif they actually turn out to vote in primaries, let alone the general election) and market your policies in a way that appeals to the majority of voters in your party. What Elizabeth Warren did with free childcare should be a baseline. Universal healthcare? Find a way to say taxes will raise by a penny (because Bernie got tripped up when people started questioning whether his plan would increase taxes for middle class families), and with just that SMALL amount, we can pay for healthcare for everyone!