Some very good discussion points here, but I would add a couple of important ideas. First, populism is really just the act of appealing to the political instinct of the electorate. This idea is of course sneered at by educated elites, mostly on the left, who are convinced that the people aren't smart enough to take care of themselves. Which leads to the second under-discussed idea -- the deep state is real and people instinctively know it is a fundamental part of the problem in America and the West at large. Unelected bureaucrats have too much power, the people protest it but it's devilishly difficult to identify, politicians respond to the protest with sympathy and are called Populists. So although the word currently carries a negative connotation, I think populism is actually a healthy response by the people to governments that resolutely refuse to reflect the will of the people.
Bredesen has it exactly right, it’s an 80/20 problem, but the discussion glosses over the fact that today’s Democratic Party is the party of the 19% (20% - 1%) and Sanders and AOC unconvincingly pretend that the interests of someone making $300K are more aligned with someone making $30K than they are with someone making $600K.
I find it interesting that BOTH parties are profoundly unpopular. It's a time that's screaming out for a third party candidate. Yet here we all sit knowing that we're going to get stuck with two terrible candidates.
If I thought the Dems would nominate a Josh Shapiro, and the Republicans would nominate a Brian Kemp, it might be palatable. But we all know that the parties have become deeply untethered to the idea of centrism, and will only nominate someone that the other side loathes.
The fact that the very idea of a third party candidate isn't discussed shows that people have given up. They know the two parties have things so locked down that resistance is futile. The laws by the parties are codified around survival first and foremost, whereas the collective good and reflecting the will of the people is a long forgotten concept.
Here in MD, we are voting on Q3 to redistrict the 1 Republican representative (of 8 total) out of existence. I'm not affiliated (MD decertifies third party candidates every couple of years) and I wouldn't vote for the guy. But redistricting him away is EXACTLY the kind of thing that's put us in this place.
The disaffected, and there's a lot of them, elected Trump in 2016 when this attitude was still coalescing. I can't fathom what kind of decisions may get made after this anger has been simmering for 12 years.
Ruy has a good sense of liberals' problems, they can sense where the problems lie, but only allow themselves a highly curated version of events to explain it. We don't have enough money to fund our government programs, but we must ignore the grifters and illegals who are responsible for stealing it. Young people don't have good economic opportunities, but we must ignore that it's neoliberal laissez faire economic policies, the exact opposite of what Trump is trying to give us, that are almost entirely responsible for it. Housing costs are too high and life is too stressful, but we must ignore that it is government over-regulation and a massive, corrupt, schlerotic bureaucracy adding massive costs, discouraging building, growth, and new ideas, while burdening us all with mindless red tape and intrusive policies. And don't even get me started on Democrat run inner cities, is there any solution Democrats offer there that hasn't been done a million times already? Instead we have a billion dollar publishing cult complex suggesting a racist butterfly in Kansas flaps its wings, and somehow by the time it gets to Philadelphia there's just no controlling the gangs, it's as demented as it is future-less.
We can't feed our families or pay our bills with mindless leftwing ideology straight from a Communist overrun college humanities department. It's not that Democrats won't succeed politically, it's that they can't succeed politically. It would violate the laws of physics by this point.
I suspect the Democrats will do reasonably well... Though not the Blue Tidal wave people are predicting. The House is a sure thing pretty much... The Senate is more a toss-up... Too many candidates are alienating voters.
Reparations? That goes over well with most Voters even in the Democratic Party?
And how popular is the Open Borders call from the DSA wing even with Democratic Voter's?
And many of the Voters are smart enough that Taxing the rich will pay for every single thing is bovine residue? SO, they know the Democrats are lying... Which raises the question of what else they're lying about.
And I have to say that there has been an awful lot of bait switch from the Democratic Party recently. And how will that effect voting?
Bear in mind many candidates have underperformed the Polls... badly. Sayed was ahead by double digits in the polls for the primary and pulled it out by what... 1% I'd have to call that underperforming and he isn't unique. The Democrats assume Michigan is in the bag, me? I doubt it.
And then the Democrats will have the problem they will accomplish NOTHING in the next 2 years. Barring a total surprise? We're headed for 2 more years of gridlock. But since the Democratic party for all the pretty speeches has no intention or interest in passing M4A or even controlling Data Centers.
A question does anyone here HONESTLY believe that Democrats will bite the Healthcare Industry; Big Pharma, or the Health Insurance Industry that have contributed so much money to the Party & its candidates? It may smell of corruption but as far our leadership is concerned that smell will be smothered by so much money.
Honestly?
And you could say the same about the tech Industries...
As for populism? Let's be real EVERY Election is about populism... What else is winning the votes about? I always find the Left position s amusing on National Elections. One they ALWAYS forget it's fifty+ separate elections not one big one...
And secondly, they underestimate & misunderstand their opposition every time. They view any opposition has either stupid dupes who couldn't pour water out of a boot with directions on the heel or people who reek of sulfur and carry a pitchfork. Everyone who disagrees falls in one of those categories. There is no room for disagreement whatsoever. Nor realization that what is a good policy for the Upper Middle Class or the Brahmin left isn't necessarily a good policy for the Working Class... Globalization? Free Trade? I could go on but why bother?
One question What effect will the Voter's who have declared a plague on both houses and plan to stay home have on the election? I expect a significant percentage will stay home...
>>"I don’t see hardly anyone who’s saying something that sounds plausible on this. Both the Republicans and the Democrats are gleefully getting out their baseball bats and beating up on data centers."<<
All AI really consists of is giant dossiers of personal data being run through statistical algorithms--so the fight over datacenters is a distraction from what is going to become the labor struggle of the coming century, which is what rights you have to your data when data is the source of economic value. Solve that problem--very simply, (I) give people rights to their data, and the ability to sell it to AI companies for income, and then (II) build a payments system that will redistribute a percentage of AI-derived profits back to those who contributed data to it--and you solve 90% of the social problems AI brings up. But that requires politicians to actually understand the technology they're campaigning about, and requires them to fight the lie being forwarded by the tech oligarchs, which is "we don't need to pay you, because we're using AI to automate you away." It's a lie meant to conceal the more inconvenient truth, which is "In order to get AI to automate anything, we need data from you--but we don't want to pay you for it, so we're going to tell you you're 'no longer needed', and trick you into giving it to us for free."
Ruy always seems to understand. No privileges, no payoffs. Especially for literally being born a certain way. No one did anything to earn that. We have to move on and if you are tried in court in a place like DC -96% Democrat - you should either see as many guilty Dems as Reps, Blacks as Whites, etc. or places that heavily loaded should be automatically moved to a more even district anywhere. Stuff like that.
The Argument has polling data that argues that people think the elites are indeed the billionaires and not various cultural figures like university faculties. If their polls are biased, it is a left bias but the crosstabs show it across ideology. I would like to see discussion of this.
Some very good discussion points here, but I would add a couple of important ideas. First, populism is really just the act of appealing to the political instinct of the electorate. This idea is of course sneered at by educated elites, mostly on the left, who are convinced that the people aren't smart enough to take care of themselves. Which leads to the second under-discussed idea -- the deep state is real and people instinctively know it is a fundamental part of the problem in America and the West at large. Unelected bureaucrats have too much power, the people protest it but it's devilishly difficult to identify, politicians respond to the protest with sympathy and are called Populists. So although the word currently carries a negative connotation, I think populism is actually a healthy response by the people to governments that resolutely refuse to reflect the will of the people.
Bredesen has it exactly right, it’s an 80/20 problem, but the discussion glosses over the fact that today’s Democratic Party is the party of the 19% (20% - 1%) and Sanders and AOC unconvincingly pretend that the interests of someone making $300K are more aligned with someone making $30K than they are with someone making $600K.
I find it interesting that BOTH parties are profoundly unpopular. It's a time that's screaming out for a third party candidate. Yet here we all sit knowing that we're going to get stuck with two terrible candidates.
If I thought the Dems would nominate a Josh Shapiro, and the Republicans would nominate a Brian Kemp, it might be palatable. But we all know that the parties have become deeply untethered to the idea of centrism, and will only nominate someone that the other side loathes.
The fact that the very idea of a third party candidate isn't discussed shows that people have given up. They know the two parties have things so locked down that resistance is futile. The laws by the parties are codified around survival first and foremost, whereas the collective good and reflecting the will of the people is a long forgotten concept.
Here in MD, we are voting on Q3 to redistrict the 1 Republican representative (of 8 total) out of existence. I'm not affiliated (MD decertifies third party candidates every couple of years) and I wouldn't vote for the guy. But redistricting him away is EXACTLY the kind of thing that's put us in this place.
The disaffected, and there's a lot of them, elected Trump in 2016 when this attitude was still coalescing. I can't fathom what kind of decisions may get made after this anger has been simmering for 12 years.
Ruy has a good sense of liberals' problems, they can sense where the problems lie, but only allow themselves a highly curated version of events to explain it. We don't have enough money to fund our government programs, but we must ignore the grifters and illegals who are responsible for stealing it. Young people don't have good economic opportunities, but we must ignore that it's neoliberal laissez faire economic policies, the exact opposite of what Trump is trying to give us, that are almost entirely responsible for it. Housing costs are too high and life is too stressful, but we must ignore that it is government over-regulation and a massive, corrupt, schlerotic bureaucracy adding massive costs, discouraging building, growth, and new ideas, while burdening us all with mindless red tape and intrusive policies. And don't even get me started on Democrat run inner cities, is there any solution Democrats offer there that hasn't been done a million times already? Instead we have a billion dollar publishing cult complex suggesting a racist butterfly in Kansas flaps its wings, and somehow by the time it gets to Philadelphia there's just no controlling the gangs, it's as demented as it is future-less.
We can't feed our families or pay our bills with mindless leftwing ideology straight from a Communist overrun college humanities department. It's not that Democrats won't succeed politically, it's that they can't succeed politically. It would violate the laws of physics by this point.
I suspect the Democrats will do reasonably well... Though not the Blue Tidal wave people are predicting. The House is a sure thing pretty much... The Senate is more a toss-up... Too many candidates are alienating voters.
Reparations? That goes over well with most Voters even in the Democratic Party?
And how popular is the Open Borders call from the DSA wing even with Democratic Voter's?
And many of the Voters are smart enough that Taxing the rich will pay for every single thing is bovine residue? SO, they know the Democrats are lying... Which raises the question of what else they're lying about.
And I have to say that there has been an awful lot of bait switch from the Democratic Party recently. And how will that effect voting?
Bear in mind many candidates have underperformed the Polls... badly. Sayed was ahead by double digits in the polls for the primary and pulled it out by what... 1% I'd have to call that underperforming and he isn't unique. The Democrats assume Michigan is in the bag, me? I doubt it.
And then the Democrats will have the problem they will accomplish NOTHING in the next 2 years. Barring a total surprise? We're headed for 2 more years of gridlock. But since the Democratic party for all the pretty speeches has no intention or interest in passing M4A or even controlling Data Centers.
A question does anyone here HONESTLY believe that Democrats will bite the Healthcare Industry; Big Pharma, or the Health Insurance Industry that have contributed so much money to the Party & its candidates? It may smell of corruption but as far our leadership is concerned that smell will be smothered by so much money.
Honestly?
And you could say the same about the tech Industries...
As for populism? Let's be real EVERY Election is about populism... What else is winning the votes about? I always find the Left position s amusing on National Elections. One they ALWAYS forget it's fifty+ separate elections not one big one...
And secondly, they underestimate & misunderstand their opposition every time. They view any opposition has either stupid dupes who couldn't pour water out of a boot with directions on the heel or people who reek of sulfur and carry a pitchfork. Everyone who disagrees falls in one of those categories. There is no room for disagreement whatsoever. Nor realization that what is a good policy for the Upper Middle Class or the Brahmin left isn't necessarily a good policy for the Working Class... Globalization? Free Trade? I could go on but why bother?
One question What effect will the Voter's who have declared a plague on both houses and plan to stay home have on the election? I expect a significant percentage will stay home...
>>"I don’t see hardly anyone who’s saying something that sounds plausible on this. Both the Republicans and the Democrats are gleefully getting out their baseball bats and beating up on data centers."<<
All AI really consists of is giant dossiers of personal data being run through statistical algorithms--so the fight over datacenters is a distraction from what is going to become the labor struggle of the coming century, which is what rights you have to your data when data is the source of economic value. Solve that problem--very simply, (I) give people rights to their data, and the ability to sell it to AI companies for income, and then (II) build a payments system that will redistribute a percentage of AI-derived profits back to those who contributed data to it--and you solve 90% of the social problems AI brings up. But that requires politicians to actually understand the technology they're campaigning about, and requires them to fight the lie being forwarded by the tech oligarchs, which is "we don't need to pay you, because we're using AI to automate you away." It's a lie meant to conceal the more inconvenient truth, which is "In order to get AI to automate anything, we need data from you--but we don't want to pay you for it, so we're going to tell you you're 'no longer needed', and trick you into giving it to us for free."
Ruy always seems to understand. No privileges, no payoffs. Especially for literally being born a certain way. No one did anything to earn that. We have to move on and if you are tried in court in a place like DC -96% Democrat - you should either see as many guilty Dems as Reps, Blacks as Whites, etc. or places that heavily loaded should be automatically moved to a more even district anywhere. Stuff like that.
The Argument has polling data that argues that people think the elites are indeed the billionaires and not various cultural figures like university faculties. If their polls are biased, it is a left bias but the crosstabs show it across ideology. I would like to see discussion of this.