I read JVL's piece in the Bulwark and, your piece is a good companion. My only quibble is about the Electoral College. We all know that if that shoe were on the other foot and the EC overweighted liberal cities and gave Dems a +4 handicap at every national election, Republicans would have tossed that thing in the dustbin of history years ago. So while I'm more center left than "progressive" anyway, I won't stop complaining about the unfair advantages the Electoral College system gives Republicans. I would expect nothing less from them, and in fact would expect FAR more whining!
Thank you for reading, and I appreciate the praise!
The "problem" with the electoral college is that it doesn't reward running up the score in some states, but rather requires one to spread support across a multitude of states.
The only reason liberals are disadvantaged is that they choose to increase their appeal in coastal states at the expense of states in the middle of the country they need to win. Many of the items I wrote about in this piece outline issues they would have to temper to win there. It requires compromise and moderation, something progressives don't seem to understand and Democrats are having a harder time doing of late in the Social Media Era.
I appreciate that perspective, but I don't think it changes my original point. If the Republicans were losing elections because of a structural disadvantage that would require them to moderate to reach a wider group of voters, OR they could just chuck the whole structural disadvantage, I'm pretty darn sure what they would do. You may say that the EC on its face does not confer automatic structural advantage or disadvantage, or was intended to balance rather than aggravate differences, but I'm looking at how it works in practice today. I agree that Dems should focus on reaching every persuadable voter, but when I look at some of the lopsided Trump-Biden spreads in so many of these rural areas, I can't imagine what the Dems would have to do to move the needle enough to hand a win to Biden. The Social Media Era seems to work against the Dems as well in another example of assymetry. Trump, who for all intents and purposes is the leader of the Republican Party, can echo language from the speeches of fascist dictators, call for the execution of his former staff, call for shutting down TV networks, call for mass deportations, what have you, and the NYT and WaPO will write headlines to the effect of "Trump, Biden offer different approaches to Presidency." Republican politicians can align with Trump or not by their choice, but we are constantly told by "the media" that the people who vote for Trump aren't voting for him because of any of that stuff and only want to be heard and understood. Meanwhile the shrillest, most extreme Democratic surrogate on Twitter/X gets construed to represent the thinking of not only the entire Democratic Party but every person in this country who votes for Democratic candidates. It's frustrating and depressing.
Great piece. I’ve been getting yelled at in comments In Mary Trump’s Substack by the super wokers who just don’t fucking get it. It drives me insane. If anyone should get the threat that Trump poses it should be them! Another group that annoys me are the defeatist democrats like TYT. Just shut the fuck up PLEASE!
This drives me crazy!
The number of people willing to let their emotions undermine their own interests blows my mind.
Good effort, but alas, I fully expect the progressive wing to fuck this up, and hand us Trump.
Yeah. The pushback I'm getting already is not promising. They genuinely don't get the stakes nor the impact on their own interests.
I read JVL's piece in the Bulwark and, your piece is a good companion. My only quibble is about the Electoral College. We all know that if that shoe were on the other foot and the EC overweighted liberal cities and gave Dems a +4 handicap at every national election, Republicans would have tossed that thing in the dustbin of history years ago. So while I'm more center left than "progressive" anyway, I won't stop complaining about the unfair advantages the Electoral College system gives Republicans. I would expect nothing less from them, and in fact would expect FAR more whining!
Thank you for reading, and I appreciate the praise!
The "problem" with the electoral college is that it doesn't reward running up the score in some states, but rather requires one to spread support across a multitude of states.
The only reason liberals are disadvantaged is that they choose to increase their appeal in coastal states at the expense of states in the middle of the country they need to win. Many of the items I wrote about in this piece outline issues they would have to temper to win there. It requires compromise and moderation, something progressives don't seem to understand and Democrats are having a harder time doing of late in the Social Media Era.
I appreciate that perspective, but I don't think it changes my original point. If the Republicans were losing elections because of a structural disadvantage that would require them to moderate to reach a wider group of voters, OR they could just chuck the whole structural disadvantage, I'm pretty darn sure what they would do. You may say that the EC on its face does not confer automatic structural advantage or disadvantage, or was intended to balance rather than aggravate differences, but I'm looking at how it works in practice today. I agree that Dems should focus on reaching every persuadable voter, but when I look at some of the lopsided Trump-Biden spreads in so many of these rural areas, I can't imagine what the Dems would have to do to move the needle enough to hand a win to Biden. The Social Media Era seems to work against the Dems as well in another example of assymetry. Trump, who for all intents and purposes is the leader of the Republican Party, can echo language from the speeches of fascist dictators, call for the execution of his former staff, call for shutting down TV networks, call for mass deportations, what have you, and the NYT and WaPO will write headlines to the effect of "Trump, Biden offer different approaches to Presidency." Republican politicians can align with Trump or not by their choice, but we are constantly told by "the media" that the people who vote for Trump aren't voting for him because of any of that stuff and only want to be heard and understood. Meanwhile the shrillest, most extreme Democratic surrogate on Twitter/X gets construed to represent the thinking of not only the entire Democratic Party but every person in this country who votes for Democratic candidates. It's frustrating and depressing.
Great piece. I’ve been getting yelled at in comments In Mary Trump’s Substack by the super wokers who just don’t fucking get it. It drives me insane. If anyone should get the threat that Trump poses it should be them! Another group that annoys me are the defeatist democrats like TYT. Just shut the fuck up PLEASE!