The Democratic Party didn’t help itself re: the above when it ignored AOCs call to reform re: self dealing stock trades. Nancy Pelosi wasn’t going to restrict those, it’s too lucrative.
Instead, AOC was quietly sidelined - Connolly was given the ranking position in oversight instead of AOC despite having terminal cancer. The democrats need a popular leader like AOC to spearhead the movement to retake the hearts and minds of the working class.
Democrats are also not helping themselves if they keep going after the same troughs of $$$ as the republicans, making it impossible for them to enact reforms around carried interest or the cap on social security payments. It makes it too easy for republicans to imply sleaze.
Never mind the incessant democratic focus “on a few key races” where billions are being spent on a handful of candidates while eschewing any support for the vast swathes of Midwest where no democratic opponents are even on the ticket. The only beneficiaries appear to be the consultant class on that one.
Etc. So lots of improvement opportunities. At the same time, folk who feel getting sneered at might do really well to stop being led around by nose by cultural war and like issues that have ZERO relevance or benefit to them in their daily lives.
For example, Brownback basically bankrupted Kansas yet got re-elected.
Much of the Republican base seems to be going along with spending cuts proposed in the current federal bill that will bankrupt their hospitals, cause widespread medical bankruptcies in their communities.
So many *shocked* folk re: long term, law-abiding, productive immigrant members in their communities being deported.
For all the talk about “her emails” no Republican made a peep about Hegseths widespread use of Signal or the dissemination of known secret and top secret information to folk without a need to know or a top secret clearance.
Never mind the glaring emolument issues going on. Etc.
Voting has become tribal, it’s all about it my team, ie “whatever wrongs have been committed by them I don’t care about and as long as we beat the other team, it’s all ok. “ … all likely deeply rooted in the fear of economic decline of one’s own family being exploited.
In other words, Republican voters have to start thinking in terms of their own economic self interest again and realize that Fox News, OAN, Newsmax, Sinclair, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all selling them a story that will only benefit a very small minority at the tippy top of the economy.
Good luck with reversing forty+ years of misinformation being baked into the minds of the electorate re: how great Reaganomics was even as it ballooned the deficit and disproportionally benefited the few at the expense of the many.
The few have ample pockets and now own so much of the media that overcoming that barrier will be a formidable challenge all by itself.
I’m still trying to figure out how staying behind the times would have been Beneficial for America because For one: Trickle Down Economics are a myth and were largely toothless and two, we couldn’t LIVE in the 70s Era of Complete Corporate and Fully Unionized Industrialization forever. It was TIME for America in the 80s to change with the times and it was right call Electing Reagan for that period. The Left before the 80s hated technology and didn’t trust it. They thought that Computers would make the world dystopian, disliked Foreign nations, had a Disdain for Asians, and believed that the ARPANET(Internet of the 70s) was a Government tool to spy on People. This is why the Unabomber became active. He declared himself a “Radical Left Wing Activist”.
If you want to know where things got Radicalized, it all begin after the 1992 Election. The Republicans expected Bush Sr to be Reelected and were shell shocked that WJB won in an upset. They gradually started pivoting to the Hard Right during 1993-1995 due to Talk Radio.
Democrats’ problems date back to 2010. Because they stopped appealing to the Middle and Working Class after Citizens United. They instead let the Hard Left SJWs control their messaging, and the first act of order was to throw Howard Dean out, the MAN who had given them the victories in the first place. Their Far Left pivot is also why the Tea Party Revolution started. They let it happen by Shunning President Obama for the ACA and showing absolutely NO appreciation for it. “It doesn’t go left enough.” Was their excuse.
A big hell yeah from me. This is a period that we are all, collectively, going to have to walk through. It's too late for a different present. But the future is something we can work on.
Thank you. This is wonderful.
The Democratic Party didn’t help itself re: the above when it ignored AOCs call to reform re: self dealing stock trades. Nancy Pelosi wasn’t going to restrict those, it’s too lucrative.
Instead, AOC was quietly sidelined - Connolly was given the ranking position in oversight instead of AOC despite having terminal cancer. The democrats need a popular leader like AOC to spearhead the movement to retake the hearts and minds of the working class.
Democrats are also not helping themselves if they keep going after the same troughs of $$$ as the republicans, making it impossible for them to enact reforms around carried interest or the cap on social security payments. It makes it too easy for republicans to imply sleaze.
Never mind the incessant democratic focus “on a few key races” where billions are being spent on a handful of candidates while eschewing any support for the vast swathes of Midwest where no democratic opponents are even on the ticket. The only beneficiaries appear to be the consultant class on that one.
Etc. So lots of improvement opportunities. At the same time, folk who feel getting sneered at might do really well to stop being led around by nose by cultural war and like issues that have ZERO relevance or benefit to them in their daily lives.
For example, Brownback basically bankrupted Kansas yet got re-elected.
Much of the Republican base seems to be going along with spending cuts proposed in the current federal bill that will bankrupt their hospitals, cause widespread medical bankruptcies in their communities.
So many *shocked* folk re: long term, law-abiding, productive immigrant members in their communities being deported.
For all the talk about “her emails” no Republican made a peep about Hegseths widespread use of Signal or the dissemination of known secret and top secret information to folk without a need to know or a top secret clearance.
Never mind the glaring emolument issues going on. Etc.
Voting has become tribal, it’s all about it my team, ie “whatever wrongs have been committed by them I don’t care about and as long as we beat the other team, it’s all ok. “ … all likely deeply rooted in the fear of economic decline of one’s own family being exploited.
In other words, Republican voters have to start thinking in terms of their own economic self interest again and realize that Fox News, OAN, Newsmax, Sinclair, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all selling them a story that will only benefit a very small minority at the tippy top of the economy.
Good luck with reversing forty+ years of misinformation being baked into the minds of the electorate re: how great Reaganomics was even as it ballooned the deficit and disproportionally benefited the few at the expense of the many.
The few have ample pockets and now own so much of the media that overcoming that barrier will be a formidable challenge all by itself.
Excellent essay. Thank you.
This is soooo correct.
I applaud both the sentiments here and your writing- your clear , calm positive delivery. I look forward to more of your take on things.
I’m still trying to figure out how staying behind the times would have been Beneficial for America because For one: Trickle Down Economics are a myth and were largely toothless and two, we couldn’t LIVE in the 70s Era of Complete Corporate and Fully Unionized Industrialization forever. It was TIME for America in the 80s to change with the times and it was right call Electing Reagan for that period. The Left before the 80s hated technology and didn’t trust it. They thought that Computers would make the world dystopian, disliked Foreign nations, had a Disdain for Asians, and believed that the ARPANET(Internet of the 70s) was a Government tool to spy on People. This is why the Unabomber became active. He declared himself a “Radical Left Wing Activist”.
If you want to know where things got Radicalized, it all begin after the 1992 Election. The Republicans expected Bush Sr to be Reelected and were shell shocked that WJB won in an upset. They gradually started pivoting to the Hard Right during 1993-1995 due to Talk Radio.
Democrats’ problems date back to 2010. Because they stopped appealing to the Middle and Working Class after Citizens United. They instead let the Hard Left SJWs control their messaging, and the first act of order was to throw Howard Dean out, the MAN who had given them the victories in the first place. Their Far Left pivot is also why the Tea Party Revolution started. They let it happen by Shunning President Obama for the ACA and showing absolutely NO appreciation for it. “It doesn’t go left enough.” Was their excuse.
A big hell yeah from me. This is a period that we are all, collectively, going to have to walk through. It's too late for a different present. But the future is something we can work on.
As we said the other day, it’s broken, so let’s take this opportunity to fix it.
Maybe some more Boomer Renaissance Fairs will convince MAGAs to switch sides.