Neoliberalism is a wounded, dying animal. America is returning to populism, whether our politicians want it or not: the big question is will it be progressive or fascist populism?
If you are a progressive, talk to the voters about progress. Come to the podium at your event or debate prepared to avoid as much negativity as possible. It's obvious people have been stressed to the max, need to hear it will be alright, and that we can and will move forward despite the pandemic. An example might be about how the workforce has been empowered. From there you can point out how you and the Dems have been fighting for those wages, workplace safety, and worker's rights for decades.
The school issue and that stupid CRT lie was the hill McCauliffe died on. Youngkin ran a classic rope-a-dope campaign: let your opponent talk about the details, especially the negative ones, while you, the unknown quantity, talk about being with the people. You know, populism.
Representative Bob Good (R) Virginia just now, 5:50 EST, admitted on the House floor that the real CRT isn't what is being taught, but he thinks some form of the ideology is. Our candidates need to say loudly that they understand parents are stakeholders in their child's education, and they need to MEAN it. Their taxes pay for public education, and it's the parents' responsibility. Acknowledge their participation and urge them to work with teachers, districts, and boards in a civil manner. Having a dialogue about our history and what it meant and how it will affect future generations is a good thing. Assure people they are heard. If you are a progressive, talk about progress, progress, progress.
And, at the risk of sounding too pedantic, we need to start with the purpose of our government and why “progress” is a requirement for success. First, for the purpose of discussion, let’s assume that the purpose of our government is to collaborate with our citizens to promote our general welfare and protect us from evil doers using best practice-based solutions (I assume this covers the 6 goals in the Preamble). Best practices require that our general welfare gets better over time or makes “progress.” I regard “Progress” as a more succinct descriptor of the first goal in the Preamble, so rather than “in order to form a more perfect union,” instead it could read “in order to progress” and carry the same intent (and, yes, I know it’s not what they actually meant, but who cares?). If you assume this interpretation of our government’s purpose, any of our public sector decision-makers who are not making progressive choices are not meeting their purpose and the oath they took to the Constitution. You could call them the “Regressives,” and they are in the majority.
Good comment, and I appreciate those quote marks. We need to use every synonym known instead of the word progress. The other thing I would add is there is no majority; according to latest from Gallup there is a 29/29 split with 41% keeping their counsel. That's who Terry lost by not being prepared to show his concern. The breakdown for the Virginia independent vote was 54/45.-CBS
People have been bitching for years that they want other parties. They just don't realize we already are dealing with something like that.
An excellent analysis. Unfortunately most of the people who should read it probably won't--too long, too intellectual, too disturbing. But keep getting things like this out to the public, some will catch on.
There is another issue too. America is in decline. Domestically you've covered a lot about the shrinking of the middle class and the squashing of those who are trying to reach that level. Destroying the ability of many to be independent workers--pharmacists, farmers, truck drivers, physicians, etc.--didn't help either. But beyond that our weight in the world, militarily or economically, simply isn't what it was a generation ago. Some of this is the natural shift in influences, such as Germany's powerhouse economy, the rise of China and so on, some we did to ourselves such as losing two hopeless wars as well as a lot of our industrial capacity. Everybody seems to know something is going wrong here, but except for Obama's putdowns of "declinists" nobody wants to talk about it. Naturally a man who blames foreigners and says we'll be a great nation again gets a lot of public support. After all, that worked fine for Mussolini. But then history is littered with loud mouthed dictators who appeal to the emotions.
If you are a progressive, talk to the voters about progress. Come to the podium at your event or debate prepared to avoid as much negativity as possible. It's obvious people have been stressed to the max, need to hear it will be alright, and that we can and will move forward despite the pandemic. An example might be about how the workforce has been empowered. From there you can point out how you and the Dems have been fighting for those wages, workplace safety, and worker's rights for decades.
The school issue and that stupid CRT lie was the hill McCauliffe died on. Youngkin ran a classic rope-a-dope campaign: let your opponent talk about the details, especially the negative ones, while you, the unknown quantity, talk about being with the people. You know, populism.
Representative Bob Good (R) Virginia just now, 5:50 EST, admitted on the House floor that the real CRT isn't what is being taught, but he thinks some form of the ideology is. Our candidates need to say loudly that they understand parents are stakeholders in their child's education, and they need to MEAN it. Their taxes pay for public education, and it's the parents' responsibility. Acknowledge their participation and urge them to work with teachers, districts, and boards in a civil manner. Having a dialogue about our history and what it meant and how it will affect future generations is a good thing. Assure people they are heard. If you are a progressive, talk about progress, progress, progress.
And, at the risk of sounding too pedantic, we need to start with the purpose of our government and why “progress” is a requirement for success. First, for the purpose of discussion, let’s assume that the purpose of our government is to collaborate with our citizens to promote our general welfare and protect us from evil doers using best practice-based solutions (I assume this covers the 6 goals in the Preamble). Best practices require that our general welfare gets better over time or makes “progress.” I regard “Progress” as a more succinct descriptor of the first goal in the Preamble, so rather than “in order to form a more perfect union,” instead it could read “in order to progress” and carry the same intent (and, yes, I know it’s not what they actually meant, but who cares?). If you assume this interpretation of our government’s purpose, any of our public sector decision-makers who are not making progressive choices are not meeting their purpose and the oath they took to the Constitution. You could call them the “Regressives,” and they are in the majority.
Good comment, and I appreciate those quote marks. We need to use every synonym known instead of the word progress. The other thing I would add is there is no majority; according to latest from Gallup there is a 29/29 split with 41% keeping their counsel. That's who Terry lost by not being prepared to show his concern. The breakdown for the Virginia independent vote was 54/45.-CBS
People have been bitching for years that they want other parties. They just don't realize we already are dealing with something like that.
Thank you Thom for all the ammunition you provide helping us save Democracy
An excellent analysis. Unfortunately most of the people who should read it probably won't--too long, too intellectual, too disturbing. But keep getting things like this out to the public, some will catch on.
There is another issue too. America is in decline. Domestically you've covered a lot about the shrinking of the middle class and the squashing of those who are trying to reach that level. Destroying the ability of many to be independent workers--pharmacists, farmers, truck drivers, physicians, etc.--didn't help either. But beyond that our weight in the world, militarily or economically, simply isn't what it was a generation ago. Some of this is the natural shift in influences, such as Germany's powerhouse economy, the rise of China and so on, some we did to ourselves such as losing two hopeless wars as well as a lot of our industrial capacity. Everybody seems to know something is going wrong here, but except for Obama's putdowns of "declinists" nobody wants to talk about it. Naturally a man who blames foreigners and says we'll be a great nation again gets a lot of public support. After all, that worked fine for Mussolini. But then history is littered with loud mouthed dictators who appeal to the emotions.
Great analysis of contemporary populism, and best use of cow and pig imagery this side of Animal Farm.
We don't have enough time to fiddle around with them anymore.
*bear* responsibility.