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.
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.
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.