So you want to pander to rich liberals, by promising them tax cuts? You are a smart guy, but you are too focused on winning elections. Maybe it would be a smart move, but taxes are already to low. How are we gonna pay for this. Should we become the party, which cuts medicare and takes away social security. Should we do all the horrific shit Republicans are doing, but be pro LGBTQ? Who are we helping by that? Why are we even winning elections, if we are doing the same shit Repulicans are doing. I am pretty wealthy, but I would not want to vote for a party, which is economically right wing. We should be standing for what is right and not what helps us winning elections. I know many WWC voters won´t appreciate policies, which are designed to help them, but it is still the right thing to do.
I'll tell you why: it's because the Socialists who rebranded themselves as "Democratic Socialists" in the 1980s, and who have been trying to hijack the Democratic Party ever since, still believe in "no struggle but class struggle". Nothing else really matters to them. Not LGBTQ+ rights, not women's rights, not BIPOC rights, not anyone else's rights. Only class struggle matters.
They've convinced themselves that defeating capitalism and putting billionaires to the sword will make everything else fall neatly into place anyway, even though the histories of several nations during the past two centuries show that this simply isn't true.
They also keep telling themselves that white people left the Democratic Party starting with the 1966 midterms because "Democrats sold out to the corporations" and not because LBJ signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. (Vietnam was still relatively popular at this time and the economy was in the best shape it would ever be, so those weren't negative factors.) They are nearly as allergic to the words "Southern Strategy" as are any Republican.
This is also why their mortal enemies in the Democratic Caucus are the Congressional Black Caucus and what is left of the Blue Dogs. Look at the incumbents they primary all the time, even when it costs the Democrats the general election as it did in swing districts like OR-05: CBCers and Blue Dogs. The idea of socially progressive and economically centrist candidates appealing to similar voters makes them vomit, which is why they keep running no-hopers like Paula Jean Swearengin in rural white and deeply bigoted places like West Virginia, and then blame "underfunding by the national party" when these people inevitably lose to Republicans in the general election.
Yeah, but they don't really hold enough sway in the Democratic Party for that to matter. Democratic Socialists in the USA just haven't proven to be electoral powerhouses, so the leadership doesn't kowtow to them.
It's a generational issue that will resolve itself quite soon. The leadership of the Democratic Party is rather old and just came of age when this coalition wasn't even a thing. The current voting coalition is barely 5 years old - it's going to take awhile for it to sink in. Hell, this is the first midterm where one could say, "huh, the Dems have the more-reliable coalition *for sure* - maybe 2018 wasn't a fluke!". We're learning a lot in a short period of time.
Oh, and American society has become MUCH more accepting in less than a decade. Gay marriage was basically illegal across the board less than 10 years ago. The Global Fucking Realignment is happening quite quickly, so it's going to take some time for it all to sink in and result in new political strategies. And they *will* be created.
So you want to pander to rich liberals, by promising them tax cuts? You are a smart guy, but you are too focused on winning elections. Maybe it would be a smart move, but taxes are already to low. How are we gonna pay for this. Should we become the party, which cuts medicare and takes away social security. Should we do all the horrific shit Republicans are doing, but be pro LGBTQ? Who are we helping by that? Why are we even winning elections, if we are doing the same shit Repulicans are doing. I am pretty wealthy, but I would not want to vote for a party, which is economically right wing. We should be standing for what is right and not what helps us winning elections. I know many WWC voters won´t appreciate policies, which are designed to help them, but it is still the right thing to do.
You don't get to make policy & law unless you win elections. I think Evan is impatient but he's not wrong on the merits.
I get that, but we won by running on left wing economic policy. We can win elections in this way, so why shouldn´t we govern like that
We did?
2018? 2020? 2022? Biden ran on repealing the Trump tax cut. He did cost his new voters massive amounts of money with this policy. He still won.
I'll tell you why: it's because the Socialists who rebranded themselves as "Democratic Socialists" in the 1980s, and who have been trying to hijack the Democratic Party ever since, still believe in "no struggle but class struggle". Nothing else really matters to them. Not LGBTQ+ rights, not women's rights, not BIPOC rights, not anyone else's rights. Only class struggle matters.
They've convinced themselves that defeating capitalism and putting billionaires to the sword will make everything else fall neatly into place anyway, even though the histories of several nations during the past two centuries show that this simply isn't true.
They also keep telling themselves that white people left the Democratic Party starting with the 1966 midterms because "Democrats sold out to the corporations" and not because LBJ signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. (Vietnam was still relatively popular at this time and the economy was in the best shape it would ever be, so those weren't negative factors.) They are nearly as allergic to the words "Southern Strategy" as are any Republican.
This is also why their mortal enemies in the Democratic Caucus are the Congressional Black Caucus and what is left of the Blue Dogs. Look at the incumbents they primary all the time, even when it costs the Democrats the general election as it did in swing districts like OR-05: CBCers and Blue Dogs. The idea of socially progressive and economically centrist candidates appealing to similar voters makes them vomit, which is why they keep running no-hopers like Paula Jean Swearengin in rural white and deeply bigoted places like West Virginia, and then blame "underfunding by the national party" when these people inevitably lose to Republicans in the general election.
Yeah, but they don't really hold enough sway in the Democratic Party for that to matter. Democratic Socialists in the USA just haven't proven to be electoral powerhouses, so the leadership doesn't kowtow to them.
It's a generational issue that will resolve itself quite soon. The leadership of the Democratic Party is rather old and just came of age when this coalition wasn't even a thing. The current voting coalition is barely 5 years old - it's going to take awhile for it to sink in. Hell, this is the first midterm where one could say, "huh, the Dems have the more-reliable coalition *for sure* - maybe 2018 wasn't a fluke!". We're learning a lot in a short period of time.
Oh, and American society has become MUCH more accepting in less than a decade. Gay marriage was basically illegal across the board less than 10 years ago. The Global Fucking Realignment is happening quite quickly, so it's going to take some time for it all to sink in and result in new political strategies. And they *will* be created.