Somewhere along the line Dems seem to have forgotten that politics is about wielding power, not about being policy wonks obsessed with compromise. They beg for Republicans to be a reasonable opposition party that they can work with rather than seeing them as embodying a dangerous political movement that needs to be defeated.
I'm reminded that, as much as I admire Barack Obama, I fault him for beginning negotiations with the Republicans from a position of compromise. We coulda had single-payer!
And we stopped with regular elections on 2016. From here on out, it's democracy versus fascism. GQP is whole hog on the "infinite power forever" thing. Think The Party a la Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Perhaps if we get more viable political parties, actual reasonable opposition may exist again. Pretty big if and I wish you luck with it.
Me? I'm leaving this warmongering slave labour camp.
Dems are still riding that “when they go low, we go high” business. They are winning elections by virtue of enough people realizing how horrific Trump & his admin were & will be.
If Repubs had any sense, they would’ve dumped Trump, united around a less controversial, less criminal Repub & could’ve likely beat Dems easily. That’s how bad Dems are with messaging and marketing.
The crazy thing is Dems are doing some decent work & getting good measurable results - but they market so poorly they 1) don’t really tell anyone what they’ve done except a few individual posts & 2) they don’t call out or stop Repubs from taking credit for their work & 3) they don’t use Repubs own words against them. It’s insanity.
This is spot on. Democrats don’t message to people unless isn’t near an election. By then, we’ve had two years of republican messaging and the media has spread it endlessly to fill the lack of messaging from democrats. Worse, democrats are bad at governing too, which means people don’t think democrats work for them. It’s why republicans, who harm voters endlessly, keep getting reelected.
It would be really fab if the Democrats could teach my Liberal government to govern? You know, like passing laws and stuff like that? Things people really need. Not inviting fascists to Canada to wine and dine them, and ignore the disgusting anti-semitism and Islamophobia going on, or the healthcare system coming apart, or the housing crisis not being worked on.....
Somewhere along the line Dems seem to have forgotten that politics is about wielding power, not about being policy wonks obsessed with compromise. They beg for Republicans to be a reasonable opposition party that they can work with rather than seeing them as embodying a dangerous political movement that needs to be defeated.
I'm reminded that, as much as I admire Barack Obama, I fault him for beginning negotiations with the Republicans from a position of compromise. We coulda had single-payer!
And we stopped with regular elections on 2016. From here on out, it's democracy versus fascism. GQP is whole hog on the "infinite power forever" thing. Think The Party a la Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Perhaps if we get more viable political parties, actual reasonable opposition may exist again. Pretty big if and I wish you luck with it.
Me? I'm leaving this warmongering slave labour camp.
Dems are still riding that “when they go low, we go high” business. They are winning elections by virtue of enough people realizing how horrific Trump & his admin were & will be.
If Repubs had any sense, they would’ve dumped Trump, united around a less controversial, less criminal Repub & could’ve likely beat Dems easily. That’s how bad Dems are with messaging and marketing.
The crazy thing is Dems are doing some decent work & getting good measurable results - but they market so poorly they 1) don’t really tell anyone what they’ve done except a few individual posts & 2) they don’t call out or stop Repubs from taking credit for their work & 3) they don’t use Repubs own words against them. It’s insanity.
Well spoken and very POINT ON Oliver.
Thank you!
This is spot on. Democrats don’t message to people unless isn’t near an election. By then, we’ve had two years of republican messaging and the media has spread it endlessly to fill the lack of messaging from democrats. Worse, democrats are bad at governing too, which means people don’t think democrats work for them. It’s why republicans, who harm voters endlessly, keep getting reelected.
With JVL (Johnathan V Last) and Heather Cox Richardson, you write the most on-point Substacks. Thanks for your brilliant insight.
It would be really fab if the Democrats could teach my Liberal government to govern? You know, like passing laws and stuff like that? Things people really need. Not inviting fascists to Canada to wine and dine them, and ignore the disgusting anti-semitism and Islamophobia going on, or the healthcare system coming apart, or the housing crisis not being worked on.....