ACA Repeal/Replace: Progressives Face Moral Dilemma

[David Horn]

(09-13-2017, 05:23 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(09-13-2017, 12:48 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: It is just the fact that Republicans represent these elites. Democrats may compromise too much with them, but that is because they have to take account of Republican power. That makes them too cautious to turn left. But if Republican power is reduced, or if the Party crumbles, then the pressure on politicians to conform to the desires of the wealthy elite will be reduced. So yes, as a matter of strategy, focusing on the division of wealth leads inexorably to the fact that Republican policies of the last 40 years have created this inequality that Piketty documents, and so the answer is to dethrone them. You can call that vile partisanship; I just call it realistic strategy.

And that should be obvious from everything I write on this subject.

Noted.

CNN has posted a main stream version of it, how Bannon with his GOP populist unraveling memes and Sanders with his lately surging Medicare for all plan are personifying the divide.

I think it encouraging that the populists are surging over the establishment in both parties.  I do think a great deal of the problem is that too many politicians serve the elites rather than the people.  The Democrats are not immune.  If one of the two populist messages, though, is to catch hold and defeat the other, listening and respecting where the others have valid concerns remains important.

I would try to shift your attention more to the division of wealth, less to the rural - urban divide.  Trying to shift the rural culture will not be easy.  Convincing them that the traditional Washington politicians are corrupt and beholden won't be any trouble at all.

While I agree with your point, the urban/rural divide is almost synonymous with the wealth divide, so the two are almost interchangeable.  I also agree that changing the views of rural Americans will be extremely hard, if doable at all.  Its a less extreme version of the resentments we see in parts of the Middle East: cultural norms that are self supporting.