2022 Midterms

[Houngan]

Problems don’t go away unless you fix them, and if you don’t fix them they get worse as time passes, so yeah, each election matters a little bit more.

[legowarrior]

Somebody made the point that every election is the most important because that’s the nature of democracy. It’s 1 decision we make once or twice a year that has a significant impact on all our lives.

Honestly, if an election isn’t important, why have a democracy?

[ooomalley]

Did my part, here in MA. Dropped the ballot off Sunday, remembered to check the website this morning and it’s accepted. Not that it will make any difference, except maybe for the propositions. We might get a millionaire’s tax!

[drflounder]

I just talked to one of my coworkers who is a fairly solid Democrat. She told me all about Asheville, NC and how it’s overrun with crime and homelessness because the Democrats defunded the police, it’s going to be burned down just like Seattle and Portland, and it’s a base for Antifa. We are so fucked.

[Timex]

The whole “Defund the police” movement was not well conceived.

[Aleck]

@Charlatan

Republican candidates in Northern VA have been aggressively pulling out the “democratic candidate says parents shouldn’t be involved in their kids education” and “democratic candidate supports sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants” topics that worked so well for Youngkin. I’d like to think people aren’t stupid enough to keep falling for it, but I’m not so sure.

Narrator: Unfortunately, people are that stupid.

[Enidigm]

@drflounder

who is a fairly solid Democrat.

@drflounder

and it’s a base for Antifa

One of these things is not like the other. I just don’t associate “solid Democrat” with “Antifa conspiracy theories”, but what do I know?

[drflounder]

That’s why it’s so scary. She’s not a Fox News viewer. It’s metastasizing.

I feel like Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It’s just one person after another getting sucked up in the craziness.

[Enidigm]

Dude, Democrats need to stop treating voters like adults, I’ve been saying this over and over. Republicans win because they think the voter is so stupid they’ll believe whatever they’re told… and they’re proven right over and over again. There’s a real “narrative building” about staying on message and never changing tune that’s important as well.

Stop trying to win elevations by showing Laffer Curves and go full President Camacho.

[Enidigm]

@drflounder

That’s why it’s so scary. She’s not a Fox News viewer. It’s metastasizing.

I don’t really want to make extrapolations about one data point. I do think Democrats need to sit down nationally and create a few things:

1. Aa National Consensus about what Democrats stand for, so there’s a sense of belonging. Go full Crying Bald Eagle but make it a “big tent” thing like everyone is invited but the GOP prefer to do their own thing, because they’re assholes.

2. Have pat answers in every state for universal problems. Like, we all agree the answer to homelessness is X, crime is Y, economy is A, trade is B, then stay on f’ing message.

3. make those messages broad enough so local Dems can adjust to their particulars.

Crap like “Dems are soft on crime” work because Dems need a f’ing plan - and then when they get one, everyone stick to the plan. Remember when Leeroy Jenkins didn’t stick to the plan?

[DoubleG]

@Timex

The whole “Defund the police” movement was not well conceived.

The idea that 70% of a town’s budget shouldn’t be spent on the police can win elections, though. I think the issue is more that the Democrats have no ability to combat mass media messaging from the right. So many Americans think the country is in the middle of an unprecedented crime wave, which isn’t true at all.

[Telefrog]

@Enidigm

There’s a real “narrative building” about staying on message and never changing tune that’s important as well.

Absolutely. I don’t see how anyone who lived through the Trump presidency doesn’t understand this is true. If you keep braying something, no matter how provably false, people will absorb, believe, and propagate it.

[Matt_W]

@Enidigm

Stop trying to win elevations by showing Laffer Curves

It’s… it’s Republicans who show Laffer curves.

[Enidigm]

Ha, fair, I just reached into “stop trying to explain economics bin” to ordinary people and that’s what the magic claw grabbed.

[Houngan]

They also can’t get out of their own way. We’ve had this argument over and over and over on this very forum, where it’s considered an affront to question or suggest that “Defund the Police” was and is a stupid phrase. The left gets so wrapped up in symbols and phrasing and then dies on the hill as the first salvo.

[Matt_W]

@Enidigm

I do think Democrats need to sit down nationally and create a few things:

I don’t think this will work. I actually don’t think most voters are particularly stupid. The conclusion I come to more and more is that what Americans really want in their heart of hearts is “fuck you i got mine”, “my cock is bigger than yours”, “america, fuck yeah.”