The war economy is unwarrantedly popular across much of the US population. It connects so directly to fear-based voting that it's a consistent vote winner.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 20 December 2017 21:29 (six years ago) link
Franken uses his final speech to lay out his core political values. In a country that believes in pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, he said, the federal government can give families the boots."That's why I'm a Democrat," he said. "That's why I'm a Democrat." pic.twitter.com/XAEn1tfB7B— Jennifer Brooks (@stribrooks) December 21, 2017
― j., Thursday, 21 December 2017 16:57 (six years ago) link
Bear in mind that the war economy is one of the only industries where we actually still make the shit here. tanks, submarines, destroyers and fighter jets are still handcrafted and assembled in the USA. The DoD budget has become the most straightforward and uncontroversial way to preserve jobs in your community and it's been going for so long it's not even seen as corrupt. On the other hand, a scientific research or infrastructure investment is a significant political risk with almost no upside. There's a reason Reid put a $22M UFO pork project through under the banner of DoD instead of using NSF or NASA etc.
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 21 December 2017 17:05 (six years ago) link
did someone post that UFO pork project NYT story? cuz holy shit
it's too bad some of those missiles wind up w/ ISIS tho
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 21 December 2017 17:50 (six years ago) link
how is there not a thread for the US DoD’s latest UFO program
― sleeve, Thursday, 21 December 2017 17:50 (six years ago) link
Come next NovemberBe sure to rememberRepublican treasonous plots.
I see no reasonRepublican treasonShould ever be forgot.
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 21 December 2017 18:33 (six years ago) link
unless you want to actually connect with voters
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 21 December 2017 18:35 (six years ago) link
Yup, "the other guys are horrific" is not a compelling reason to vote if you can't prove you are just are horrific. You have to offer something positive to look forward to.
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 21 December 2017 19:17 (six years ago) link
what's the frequency thomas
http://deadline.com/2017/12/donald-trump-tweets-fox-friends-to-brokaw-newt-gingrich-at-war-1202231049/
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 21 December 2017 19:17 (six years ago) link
xp -aren't as horrific
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 21 December 2017 19:18 (six years ago) link
It's still empirically untrue. As long as you are in the opposition, that is.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 21 December 2017 19:20 (six years ago) link
donald trump is the soviet union's revenge
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 21 December 2017 20:58 (six years ago) link
Qualmsley, drop the Russia stuff for a little while, please
― Google Murray Blockchain (kingfish), Thursday, 21 December 2017 21:16 (six years ago) link
I thinks it’s cool that we have a celeb like Eric Garland posting here.
― louise ck (milo z), Friday, 22 December 2017 03:31 (six years ago) link
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/26/off-message-bill-de-blasio-216168
― j., Wednesday, 27 December 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link
That piece‘s central argument is that the Mayor is supported and even admired by a majority of his voters and many fellow Democratic progressives who are willing to to go on the record, BUT... “they” think he’s smug, and “they” talk all kinds of smack off the record, and “they” are lots of people in the Democratic Party. Strong journalism.
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 27 December 2017 15:53 (six years ago) link
still waiting for evidence that de blas belongs among the set "Democratic progressives" though. on housing, development and transit - perhaps the critical issues of inequality in NYC at this date - he has been barely distinguishable from bloomberg, with a focus on developer-friendly schemes and shiny toys at all levels.
― Newb Sybok (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 27 December 2017 16:39 (six years ago) link
People I know who work in planning/transit HATE Di Blasio for his positions on those. Especially the latter, where he has no problem with hard crackdowns on turnstile jumpers and bicycles but won't give a thought to congestion pricing.
― Monster fatberg (Phil D.), Wednesday, 27 December 2017 16:53 (six years ago) link
also: vaporware light rail and real, expensive ferries for developers in north brooklyn, mysteriously impossible to spend money or time on anybody else's needs
― Newb Sybok (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 27 December 2017 17:04 (six years ago) link
https://theoutline.com/post/2783/democrats-need-to-move-farther-left
― j., Thursday, 28 December 2017 18:05 (six years ago) link
^^^ some good stuff there! always encouraging to hear the face-to-face stuff with actual progressive candidates. rooting for all of them.
― Newb Sybok (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 28 December 2017 18:54 (six years ago) link
I'm standing on my chair yelling HAM HAM HAM HAM
Outside of major cities, it can be shockingly easy to take effective political action. In many small towns, a little handful of committed people willing to make phone calls and mail fliers and knock on doors and wave signs and write letters and attend public meetings and generally make a very visible ruckus can get a lot of things done, because the competition for attention is not so great. Much of the actual work of politics is this sort of mundane, labor and resource-intensive stuff. Money helps, yes, but on a local level, what you really need is a band of committed people, a useful list of contacts, and a name recognizable enough for people to pay attention.If you can bring the committed people, you can plunder your local Democratic Party for the rest.
If you can bring the committed people, you can plunder your local Democratic Party for the rest.
https://splinternews.com/the-democratic-party-is-yours-take-it-1821647051
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 29 December 2017 23:12 (six years ago) link
hell yeah
At @MoonPalaceBooks and I just found the book that strike fear in the heart of @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/r81nYoeqpL— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) January 3, 2018
― I want to change my display name (dan m), Wednesday, 3 January 2018 22:25 (six years ago) link
!
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 3 January 2018 22:49 (six years ago) link
hello there, keith.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 3 January 2018 22:51 (six years ago) link
Newsweek def clinging to ThirdWayism
http://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-rich-700-jacket-billionaires-768739
America needs to get back to normal so it must elect Joe Biden to a single term in 2020 | Opinion https://t.co/WkTsSeo150 pic.twitter.com/1vicX6MIWe— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 3, 2018
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 4 January 2018 17:55 (six years ago) link
Biden-curious
― deez nuts roasting on an open fire (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 4 January 2018 17:57 (six years ago) link
Bidenfluid
― flappy bird, Thursday, 4 January 2018 18:03 (six years ago) link
ew
― garden of earthly deletes (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 4 January 2018 18:24 (six years ago) link
Lol, surely a $700 jacket can't seriously be extravagant by Capitol Hill standards?
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 4 January 2018 18:42 (six years ago) link
I hope his response is to show up on the Senate floor in one of Liberace's old minks.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 4 January 2018 18:43 (six years ago) link
if this is really the best line of attack people have he's doing a fine job
― Simon H., Thursday, 4 January 2018 18:54 (six years ago) link
tbf i was a bit disappointed that Sanders agreed to function as a sort of inaugural prop for Mayor de Blasio, whose progressive bonafides are very flimsy until he gets me a cheaper apartment.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 4 January 2018 19:16 (six years ago) link
wtf is happening in the tone of that newsweek bernie tweak, is that breitbartian breathlessness actually how they write now
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 4 January 2018 21:03 (six years ago) link
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/will_bunch/trump-make-america-great-again-mount-airy-germantown-will-bunch-20180104.html
― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, 4 January 2018 21:13 (six years ago) link
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, January 4, 2018 10:42 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
a gift from his step-son who works at the company in vermont which makes the jackets.
― khat person (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 4 January 2018 23:01 (six years ago) link
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/if-you-want-to-know-whos-running-in-2020-watch-capitol-hill-not-iowa/
― j., Friday, 5 January 2018 05:39 (six years ago) link
From the late 1980s to 2016, neoliberal ideas held hegemonic sway among the Democratic elite. But the economy created by this ideology — and the ensuing crises — is a major reason why Clinton lost to Trump and the party is completely out of power today. This obvious failure has provided an ideological opening that the American left has been eager to fill.Yet even the left-wing is divided about the best way forward. Should it follow Elizabeth Warren's lead and promise a return to the trust-busting ways of the early 20th century? Or should it emulate the more sweeping, Nordic-style politics of Bernie Sanders? Or perhaps the Democratic Socialists of America are right and something even more extreme is needed.
Yet even the left-wing is divided about the best way forward. Should it follow Elizabeth Warren's lead and promise a return to the trust-busting ways of the early 20th century? Or should it emulate the more sweeping, Nordic-style politics of Bernie Sanders? Or perhaps the Democratic Socialists of America are right and something even more extreme is needed.
i like cooper, this'll be a decent series
http://theweek.com/articles/725419/decline-fall-neoliberalism-democratic-party
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 8 January 2018 15:45 (six years ago) link
Well organized summary thx- very shareable for some relations who need it.
― Hunt3r, Monday, 8 January 2018 16:10 (six years ago) link
It's really good, especially including an analysis of the seventies crisis. I need to read more than that, since that's obviously what created the opening for Neo-liberalism. Slightly marred by the typical problem, that it only allows agency to Dems and none to the GOP. Wondering why Dems 'doubled down' on neoliberalism after neoliberal GOP crushed them in 2010 is for example an amazingly stupid trope which is repeated over and over and over.
― Frederik B, Monday, 8 January 2018 16:32 (six years ago) link
pumped to read the rest of the series. this, however:
Now, it must be admitted that Obama is a magnificent political talent, the finest national politician in terms of raw ability since FDR. As long as he was at the top of the party, his sheer charisma and moderately good policy record allowed him to get re-elected — especially against a tone-deaf aristocrat like Mitt Romney, who had advocated that Detroit be allowed to go bankrupt.But Hillary Clinton, by her own admission, is not very good at retail politics. She has neither the cool, effortless charisma of Obama, nor the warm human touch of her husband. Worse, she is accurately perceived as being firmly ensconced in the political and economic elite — made worse still by a (partly unfairly) awful relationship with the press, and a lingering miasma of scandal and corruption. But fundamentally, Clinton — virtually handpicked by the party elite, and promising to continue and build on the accomplishments of Obama — was the candidate of Democratic Party neoliberalism, for better and worse. And she lost to Donald Trump.All this has profoundly discredited neoliberalism within the Democratic Party.
But Hillary Clinton, by her own admission, is not very good at retail politics. She has neither the cool, effortless charisma of Obama, nor the warm human touch of her husband. Worse, she is accurately perceived as being firmly ensconced in the political and economic elite — made worse still by a (partly unfairly) awful relationship with the press, and a lingering miasma of scandal and corruption. But fundamentally, Clinton — virtually handpicked by the party elite, and promising to continue and build on the accomplishments of Obama — was the candidate of Democratic Party neoliberalism, for better and worse. And she lost to Donald Trump.
All this has profoundly discredited neoliberalism within the Democratic Party.
has it? i hope they're right, but you could also argue that neoliberalism was profoundly discredited back in late 2008/early 2009. and yet it seemed to bounce back, with predictably dismal consequences.
― Karl Malone, Monday, 8 January 2018 16:47 (six years ago) link
I think it's too early to know that for certain but it does seem like potential candidates have been getting a harder time for even appearing to be more of the same
― Simon H., Monday, 8 January 2018 16:50 (six years ago) link
Afaict Neoliberalism mostly bounced back because the GOP long ago married it to racism, and therefore benefited from the racist backlash to Obama.
― Frederik B, Monday, 8 January 2018 16:55 (six years ago) link
Dems lost in 2010 cos when they finally had the car keys they proved to just be hot air and not give a shit about equality when it comes to actually making policy. the ACA had no public option. they did little to help with the banking/housing crisis. the foreclosure crisis in fact removed struggling voters from the voter rolls, so there's another instance where they shot themselves in the foot by not actually helping the people they are always going on about helping.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 8 January 2018 17:42 (six years ago) link
and on foreign policy front by 2010 Obama had proved that he either really couldn't do anything about drones/gitmo/etc. or he could and he just didn't care, both of which are pretty demoralizing
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 8 January 2018 17:43 (six years ago) link
I feel like people are forgetting that the Republicans had the votes to prevent any more meaningful health reform. In some now-long-gone post Karl broke down the whole sordid history of the 2000's that resulted after Kennedy died, the Dems never had the votes so blaming them for "no public option" seems off.
― sleeve, Monday, 8 January 2018 17:47 (six years ago) link
Dems lost in 2010 because of a massive tea party backlash against perceived 'overreach'. They lost because they did too much, not too little. That they still should have done much much more is true, but let's not distort history.
― Frederik B, Monday, 8 January 2018 18:34 (six years ago) link
well they didn't actually do 'too much,' that was just the perception of tea party people. 'too much' = electing a black president. they should've recognized early on that compromise would be impossible and just be craven about it as the GOP are doing now
― flappy bird, Monday, 8 January 2018 18:37 (six years ago) link
idk about Obama being "magnificent" either
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 8 January 2018 19:10 (six years ago) link
nor the warm human touch of her husband.
#ustoo
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Monday, 8 January 2018 19:13 (six years ago) link