12-30-2016, 03:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-30-2016, 03:12 PM by Eric the Green.)
(12-30-2016, 11:12 AM)David Horn Wrote:(12-28-2016, 05:59 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:(12-28-2016, 03:04 PM)David Horn Wrote:(12-26-2016, 03:08 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: No, Eric's enlightened idiots are not the problem. They support the right causes all up and down the line. Those who are deceived by Republicans are the problem. The Democrats need to organize to fight back, not call each other the problem.
No Eric, the UC/UMC-wing of the Democratic Party is the entire problem. You can't win general elections by just being sensitive to LGBTGA rights, and by opposing every energy project, no matter how benign. Worse, all these issue groups reuse to support one another, so no one wins.
I don't know what UC/UMC wing refers too, but in any case, the social justice and the economic concerns are fused together, and all these issues and those concerned about them must be seen together, if the progressive side is to win. I don't know if they will, but I am predicting that they will by the 2020s, FWIW.
FWIW, UC = Upper Class, UMC = Upper Middle Class. And no, there is no fusion and no indication of fusion in the offing. Every special pleader still frames the world as it relates to his or her own special cause, guaranteeing that unity on the left will never happen. No one likes to genuflect before the altar of a cause they care little about, yet that is the strategy of the left: "Let a hundred lights shine, each into its own special place --- and only there".
Eric Wrote:The pipelines must be opposed; they are not benign. Nuclear energy must be safe, with recycling of waste, or it's not benign either. We can't do without energy, though, so all sides must be allies in the general fight against the owners of our country and their neo-liberal philosophy. That is the common enemy to all these groups within the progressive movement and the Democrats. It must be defeated so that alternative energy can be supported.
You'll never get there by being hysterical and 100% oppositional. The only viable solution that creates a wave of support is one that focuses on finding solutions for the many, and then works to implement them.
Eric Wrote:This common enemy is summed up in the slogan, "I oppose giving my tax money to X-groups (blacks, women, Hispanics, lazy people) who don't work." That meme is out of date in the age of outsourcing and automation, wage/salary gross inequality, and refusal to use government to tackle any issue no matter how threatening to the environment and the people. "The government is not the solution; government is the problem." THAT'S the meme, the slogan, that must be replaced. It's "I refuse to allow the government to steal my money and give it to lazy people." It's the common enemy to ALL the groups and issues of concern among progressives, liberals, Democrats, etc. We must focus on ending neo-liberalism, or we must die.
40 years of great marketing can't be overcome by shaking your fist and calling people ignorant. The correct approach includes the Reagan catch phrase, "Are you better off." In 2020, that will either be winning argument, or the Trump plan will have succeeded, all expectations to the contrary.
Eric Wrote:Look at that picture of Reagan and Thatcher at the White House, and their look and attitude. That's the common enemy. Trump is their new face.
They were the culmination of decades of prep work. Get busy.
It's true, but the argument must necessarily include busting neo-liberal free-market economics and the appeal of "less government." That is the meme that people need to get out of their heads, if any progress is to be made ever again. It crops up all the time in peoples' thinking, and needs to go away. That's job 1.
Since I "call people ignorant," maybe I'm not the best messenger. After all, I only score about 11-18 on the candidate horoscope point system
About the same as Bill Maher. Imagine if HE ran! We have others who are better at this.One question is whether liberals and progressives could get behind Terry McAuliffe, if he runs. He seems to have the best chance, from my studies of the data so far. He's very good at speaking and appealing to people. But we know he's in the Clinton mold. He's your governor, what do you think David?