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Why the Democrats are Sailing Toward Their Doom
Discussion
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You are an incisive and rigorous thinker, so I make the following suggestion with due humility: Your are way to certain of your gloomy conclusions here. It is much too early for such a confident take (positive or negative). We aren’t even close to having a nominee! How do you know how he or she will run in the general? The politician who survives this very crowded primary is going to be a pretty good politician — which means a platform and theme in the general election that is optimized for contest and not the primary. Maybe I’m wrong, but… Read more »
I feel the same. Great comment.
What is bothering me about Martin’s posts of late is partly the negativity, but even more the unresponsiveness. It started with Boris Johnson’s win. Martin saw that as an omen of doom. People responded that there are aspects of British labor that are not the same as Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, and that Jeremy Corbyn was particularly bad. Maybe, maybe not, but it would have been nice to see some recognition of this view in Martin’s writing, saying why he doesn’t agree. Then, a post with a single poll showing Trump beating all of the Democratic candidates. A single… Read more »
Corbyn is uniquely bad but so is Boris Johnson and the entire concept of Brexit which is like committing national suicide because Putin told you to. But the UK is just one data point. The fascists are on the rise everywhere from Europe to Istanbul to New Dehli. And Trump is actually strengthening. He’s about at the high point of his presidency right now despite half the people thinking he should be in jail. The only way to lose this election is precisely how the Dems are going about it, which is to look at the states they need to… Read more »
That makes sense. The frustrating part is that nothing he does ever seems to phase about half the country.
So what do you propose to do? What is the remedy? Because it seems to me that if it’s true that he gets re-elected, assuming Republicans also keep the Senate, then there are dark times ahead and I’m not sure America as we know it will survive.
My worry about the gloomy posts as of late is the tendency to dampen enthusiasm among activist types – especially since that is likely the blog’s primary audience, and we’re the ones making donations and knocking on doors as primary season nears. If we’re already being told to barricade the fortress and drown our sorrows, what’s the point? I get having a realistic appraisal of the situation – there are no ideal candidates, 45 is going to do everything he can to rig an election with whatever foreign enemy help he can get, and we have no idea what black… Read more »
The GOP has no reason to compromise. They oppose using government to provide for the general welfare. So why discuss how to make it function beyond the bare minimum (no shutdowns)? If your position is that government is the problem why bother trying to make it work?
I suppose if I lived in Europe or the UK I could buy into something like centrism. But inequality here is far too severe and getting worse every year. Plus that Orange Turd just loves it, And our fucking betters couldn’t care less. So I’m going down with the ship, if that’s where it’s going. No votes for the conservidems unless it’s the last person standing.
How do the Democrats make a successful pitch based on anti-monopoly arguments that the billionaire and millionaire owners of media outlets are determined to thwart (see the absolute pile-on on Elizabeth Warren over the past few months for examples)?
She could have withstood that and even flourished because of it. But she got outside of her lane and went careening into suburban oblivion. I think it’s too much to piss off both the media (and their paymasters) and a huge chunk of your professional base, all while taking positions that a quarter of the party won’t defend let alone work to enact? It’s insane. I had most of my hope invested in her and that’s gone now.
Me too. She went off the track. I don’t know how she gets back,
This is the central logical fallacy that makes the whole argument collapse.