Thirty-eight years ago, the Republican Party staked out an extreme position on abortion. Overturning Roe was one of the results, but it's unlikely to be the last.
The abortion issue is a front for extreme White Christian Nationalism (WCN) .These people want to make the USA into a conservative Christian theocracy. Abortion is the first battle, but hardly the last. We have to get WCN out of our politics by showing how extreme, and un-American it is. When voting, make sure the candidates you support refute WCN positions.
The Democrats have to start meeting rural and non-college voters where they are at, and stop expecting voters to have some sort of epiphany that their views are wrong and that they should change their minds about peripheral issues like gender, policing, and abortion rights.
It is possible for parties to evolve over time--the Democrats have done it before, going from the rural white party to the party that it is today. And they have to be more willing to stop placating the outliers within the base. The attitude toward the "defund the police" and forgive student loan crowds should be, rather than doing backflips to accomodate them and explain away their destructive slogans, should be "screw 'em, who else are they gonna vote for? Republicans?"
I agree with that sentiment, but I wonder, and do not know, how much the “extreme” positions (defund the police, for example) actually reflects the D party and how much of it is media highlighting the most progressive elements of the D party’s increasingly broad coalition?
The feedback loop of Very Online Pols being covered by Very Online Journos absolutely plays a part in the furthering the idea that Democrats are the "Defund" party. However, that means the "Sensible Dems" need to be just as loud and adamant. I certainly understand why Democrats of a moderate disposition would be hesitant to jump into the deep end of our political media culture, but by not participating, they're yielding the field to their activist compatriots who simply do not represent the majority of Democratic voters. That's part of what Damon has argued--stop sopping to the activist bloc and prioritize beating back the bad press those pols create for the party.
That’s a great point. There seems to be a clear majority of Dems that are not now and never were for “Defund,” but media, “mainstream” and Fox et al, both shined a light on the defund message.
The abortion issue is a front for extreme White Christian Nationalism (WCN) .These people want to make the USA into a conservative Christian theocracy. Abortion is the first battle, but hardly the last. We have to get WCN out of our politics by showing how extreme, and un-American it is. When voting, make sure the candidates you support refute WCN positions.
The Democrats have to start meeting rural and non-college voters where they are at, and stop expecting voters to have some sort of epiphany that their views are wrong and that they should change their minds about peripheral issues like gender, policing, and abortion rights.
It is possible for parties to evolve over time--the Democrats have done it before, going from the rural white party to the party that it is today. And they have to be more willing to stop placating the outliers within the base. The attitude toward the "defund the police" and forgive student loan crowds should be, rather than doing backflips to accomodate them and explain away their destructive slogans, should be "screw 'em, who else are they gonna vote for? Republicans?"
I agree with that sentiment, but I wonder, and do not know, how much the “extreme” positions (defund the police, for example) actually reflects the D party and how much of it is media highlighting the most progressive elements of the D party’s increasingly broad coalition?
The feedback loop of Very Online Pols being covered by Very Online Journos absolutely plays a part in the furthering the idea that Democrats are the "Defund" party. However, that means the "Sensible Dems" need to be just as loud and adamant. I certainly understand why Democrats of a moderate disposition would be hesitant to jump into the deep end of our political media culture, but by not participating, they're yielding the field to their activist compatriots who simply do not represent the majority of Democratic voters. That's part of what Damon has argued--stop sopping to the activist bloc and prioritize beating back the bad press those pols create for the party.
That’s a great point. There seems to be a clear majority of Dems that are not now and never were for “Defund,” but media, “mainstream” and Fox et al, both shined a light on the defund message.