Will the succeed in their agenda? Probably not, you have to flip actual Republican seats to do so. But dammit they’re gonna try.
I find this attitude defeatist. A not insignificant number of people who perennially vote for Republicans are in favor of a lot of Democratic socialist ideas. The problem to surmount is the decades of propaganda making the word socialism somehow demonic and evil. There is also the unholy marriage of the Christian church and republicans. Glued mostly together by the continual fight over abortion.
Conservatives do love to whip out the word “communist/socialist” whenever they can. Here in Missouri they’re trying to get rid of income tax and drastically raise sales tax. They saw it was losing steam fast with how they were initially pitching it so they’re now framing it as “Socialists like Mamdani, AOC, and Bernie always want your tax money!! Don’t give it to them so help us end income tax!!!”
Exactly. Their problem is becoming the fact that there is now at least 2 entire generations of people who have no idea what the “red scare” was. They have grown up knowing Russia as a capitalist country and now that capitalist country is the one that has attacked Ukraine with an eye for conquest. The modern red scare has become capitalists, or more precisely oligarchs like Putin and Trump/Bezos/Musk/et all.
I disagree heavily with the second part of your response. But to address the first part first.
No, this isn’t me being defeatist, it’s me being realistic.
If the senate is made up of 53 GOP and 47 moderate Dems. And the Dems want to pass Universal Healthcare, will it pass? NO!
If the senate is made up of 53 GOP and 47 PROGRESSIVE Dems. And the Dems want to pass Universal Healthcare, will it pass? ONCE AGAIN, NO!
It’s literally impossible to move this country left with any policy if you can’t flip Republican seats. This is a democracy, (that’s heavily rigged in favor of red states). Majorities are king. Not to defend Hakeem Jeffries, but it dosent matter if he, AOC or Karl Marx himself were speaker of the house, without a majority. You’re at the mercy of the party the American people elected over you.
I don’t know, becoming speaker of the House without a majority sounds like a pretty impressive feat. They could probably swing 3-4 votes with that kind of mojo.
You have forgotten that we actually have THREE parties in this country, and the silent third one is the biggest one.
No candidate can win an election in America with their party base alone. The Independents literally decide EVERY election in this country, without exception.
Indies may still have a general lean left or right, but they remain fluid, and will happily switch if they see something they like better. You don’t have to flip hard-core MAGAs, you just have to persuade a bunch of Indies, who have already rejected both parties, and are actively looking for a better idea, that Democratic Socialism is that better idea.
That shouldn’t be a hard job, since it is legitimately a better idea. Stop trying to convince Intransigent Dems or MAGAs, and concentrate on those who are already half way there. You know those people who voted “No Opinion?” That’s who they should concentrate on. Attract 10% of those people, and they’ll win every race.
I don’t know what point of mine you’re trying to rebuttal? None of what you said changes the fact you need majorities to move the country left. Indies have always been the biggest alignment demo, but are also the least reliable, not only can they not vote for you, they can vote against you. Election with good economies usually have less indies voting overall. These are not a demographic that want to be apart of any party.
But most importantly, this still dosent address the major issue. FLIPPING RED STATES. Indies are used to win battleground states, hence why they decide elections. But strong blue/red states are rarely flipped off indies, you’d need alignment shifts within the population. Virginia and Ohio are perfect examples of the population shifting towards and away from populism.
Many Red states aren’t as Red as many people think. They’re just really good at convincing weak Dems that they have no shot, so they give up and don’t bother to vote.
For instance:
Texas does not track official party registration, but modeling data and primary participation show about 46.5% lean Democratic, 37.5% lean Republican, and 16% are independent.
So if 46.5% are Dems, and only 37.5% are Republican, then why are Republicans running everything in the state? Clearly if Dems actually voted in Texas, theyd win every race. In addition, they have 16% independents, who are people who have decided to not align with Republicans, so presumably the Dems have a shot at them, if they can pitch them properly.
Yet when I hear people talking about how they don’t bother to vote because they are too outnumbered, they are often from Texas.
People need to stop listening to ANYTHING the MAGAs say. They talk a good game, but everything they say is a lie. They make it sound like they are unstoppable, and weak Dems believe them, but they are vulnerable in a lot more places than many think.
I find this attitude defeatist. A not insignificant number of people who perennially vote for Republicans are in favor of a lot of Democratic socialist ideas. The problem to surmount is the decades of propaganda making the word socialism somehow demonic and evil. There is also the unholy marriage of the Christian church and republicans. Glued mostly together by the continual fight over abortion.
Conservatives do love to whip out the word “communist/socialist” whenever they can. Here in Missouri they’re trying to get rid of income tax and drastically raise sales tax. They saw it was losing steam fast with how they were initially pitching it so they’re now framing it as “Socialists like Mamdani, AOC, and Bernie always want your tax money!! Don’t give it to them so help us end income tax!!!”
Exactly. Their problem is becoming the fact that there is now at least 2 entire generations of people who have no idea what the “red scare” was. They have grown up knowing Russia as a capitalist country and now that capitalist country is the one that has attacked Ukraine with an eye for conquest. The modern red scare has become capitalists, or more precisely oligarchs like Putin and Trump/Bezos/Musk/et all.
I disagree heavily with the second part of your response. But to address the first part first.
No, this isn’t me being defeatist, it’s me being realistic.
If the senate is made up of 53 GOP and 47 moderate Dems. And the Dems want to pass Universal Healthcare, will it pass? NO!
If the senate is made up of 53 GOP and 47 PROGRESSIVE Dems. And the Dems want to pass Universal Healthcare, will it pass? ONCE AGAIN, NO!
It’s literally impossible to move this country left with any policy if you can’t flip Republican seats. This is a democracy, (that’s heavily rigged in favor of red states). Majorities are king. Not to defend Hakeem Jeffries, but it dosent matter if he, AOC or Karl Marx himself were speaker of the house, without a majority. You’re at the mercy of the party the American people elected over you.
I don’t know, becoming speaker of the House without a majority sounds like a pretty impressive feat. They could probably swing 3-4 votes with that kind of mojo.
You have forgotten that we actually have THREE parties in this country, and the silent third one is the biggest one.
No candidate can win an election in America with their party base alone. The Independents literally decide EVERY election in this country, without exception.
Indies may still have a general lean left or right, but they remain fluid, and will happily switch if they see something they like better. You don’t have to flip hard-core MAGAs, you just have to persuade a bunch of Indies, who have already rejected both parties, and are actively looking for a better idea, that Democratic Socialism is that better idea.
That shouldn’t be a hard job, since it is legitimately a better idea. Stop trying to convince Intransigent Dems or MAGAs, and concentrate on those who are already half way there. You know those people who voted “No Opinion?” That’s who they should concentrate on. Attract 10% of those people, and they’ll win every race.
Ding ding ding. Trump: 77.3m, Harris: 75.0m, Population: 340m. That’s why even pissweak Dems win in landslides when there’s good turnout.
I don’t know what point of mine you’re trying to rebuttal? None of what you said changes the fact you need majorities to move the country left. Indies have always been the biggest alignment demo, but are also the least reliable, not only can they not vote for you, they can vote against you. Election with good economies usually have less indies voting overall. These are not a demographic that want to be apart of any party.
But most importantly, this still dosent address the major issue. FLIPPING RED STATES. Indies are used to win battleground states, hence why they decide elections. But strong blue/red states are rarely flipped off indies, you’d need alignment shifts within the population. Virginia and Ohio are perfect examples of the population shifting towards and away from populism.
Many Red states aren’t as Red as many people think. They’re just really good at convincing weak Dems that they have no shot, so they give up and don’t bother to vote.
For instance:
So if 46.5% are Dems, and only 37.5% are Republican, then why are Republicans running everything in the state? Clearly if Dems actually voted in Texas, theyd win every race. In addition, they have 16% independents, who are people who have decided to not align with Republicans, so presumably the Dems have a shot at them, if they can pitch them properly.
Yet when I hear people talking about how they don’t bother to vote because they are too outnumbered, they are often from Texas.
People need to stop listening to ANYTHING the MAGAs say. They talk a good game, but everything they say is a lie. They make it sound like they are unstoppable, and weak Dems believe them, but they are vulnerable in a lot more places than many think.
They’re saying the number of total votes cast isn’t zero-sum. Exciting former non-voters is generating “free” votes, and the DSA does precisely that.
It’s probably easier to change the party’s name. Lets just call it the Freedom party, because it is.
As someone who reads Harry Turtledove, just anything but that, please.
As someone who doesn’t read Turtledove, what does that mean?