/u/ZombiFrancis can correct me if I’m wrong but I think what they’re saying is that the DNC was unable to redefine what is perceived as electable; tha tis, the stale notion that progressivism is not palatable to rural working class voters despite evidence to the contrary. Instead, we fall for the same old trope of watering down OUR vision and OUR policy platform that we KNOW must be done (e.g., climate change as just one), and end up just looking bland to these voters. We don’t stand for anything, except for the progressive caucus of this party.
So in short, we need a 50 state strategy; but a national vision that brings that all together and is adapted to modern times. Not this incessant pivot to the “center” that is arbitrarily defined by Republican lines in the sand.
It was a conversation from a year ago, so without context I believe I was speaking then about a viable strategy that worked: bringing a left wing policy (at the time healthcare reform) to the conservatives and red states.
The Democratic Party abandoned that strategy since. They still made overtures to appeal to conservatives and red states, but they’ve done it through adopting rightwing, divisive policies. And then they don’t even run a US Senate race is Nebraska.
/u/ZombiFrancis can correct me if I’m wrong but I think what they’re saying is that the DNC was unable to redefine what is perceived as electable;
That would contradict their statements in response to my criticism
And yeah, I still support my own point, now and from a year ago, because I don’t dismiss the support as empty land.
At any rate the criticism in both cases is the rejection of those ‘empty land’ folks. It is consistent. I supported it then and I support it now. What I don’t support is then turning around and dismissing those people and states as empty land. This isn’t rocket surgery.
the stale notion that progressivism is not palatable to rural working class voters despite evidence to the contrary.
It’s literally not, though. As I’ve said numerous times before, the “Do you want [GOOD THING]?” polling that people so often point to ignores that a very large proportion of the people who respond positively to that will walk it back the moment you introduce any sort of the things that conservatives hammer as a downside.
The answer is, mind you, not to water down progressivism - it’s to stop trying to fucking bend over backwards for areas that vote 95%+ (not joking, I lived near districts with those numbers) GOP every fucking election. While going immediately full-throttle far-left on every issue may not be ideal, Clintonesque ‘triangulation’ is a clear and distinct failure, and needs to be abandoned, despite the DNC’s reluctance to let it go. We do, as you said, need a coherent and firm vision we can push going forward.
But don’t be fooled into thinking there’s some easy way to reach out and ‘convert’ these rural working class voters. They have fundamentally different values than progressives.
/u/ZombiFrancis can correct me if I’m wrong but I think what they’re saying is that the DNC was unable to redefine what is perceived as electable; tha tis, the stale notion that progressivism is not palatable to rural working class voters despite evidence to the contrary. Instead, we fall for the same old trope of watering down OUR vision and OUR policy platform that we KNOW must be done (e.g., climate change as just one), and end up just looking bland to these voters. We don’t stand for anything, except for the progressive caucus of this party.
So in short, we need a 50 state strategy; but a national vision that brings that all together and is adapted to modern times. Not this incessant pivot to the “center” that is arbitrarily defined by Republican lines in the sand.
It was a conversation from a year ago, so without context I believe I was speaking then about a viable strategy that worked: bringing a left wing policy (at the time healthcare reform) to the conservatives and red states.
The Democratic Party abandoned that strategy since. They still made overtures to appeal to conservatives and red states, but they’ve done it through adopting rightwing, divisive policies. And then they don’t even run a US Senate race is Nebraska.
That would contradict their statements in response to my criticism
It’s literally not, though. As I’ve said numerous times before, the “Do you want [GOOD THING]?” polling that people so often point to ignores that a very large proportion of the people who respond positively to that will walk it back the moment you introduce any sort of the things that conservatives hammer as a downside.
The answer is, mind you, not to water down progressivism - it’s to stop trying to fucking bend over backwards for areas that vote 95%+ (not joking, I lived near districts with those numbers) GOP every fucking election. While going immediately full-throttle far-left on every issue may not be ideal, Clintonesque ‘triangulation’ is a clear and distinct failure, and needs to be abandoned, despite the DNC’s reluctance to let it go. We do, as you said, need a coherent and firm vision we can push going forward.
But don’t be fooled into thinking there’s some easy way to reach out and ‘convert’ these rural working class voters. They have fundamentally different values than progressives.