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Dem Post Mortem

If the Dems had nominated a fighting, vociferous progressive like Bernie and he had lost, then I would give up on the country. I pretty much have anyway, but still hold out hope that someone like Sanders will grab the Dem nomination in 2028. I expect Sanders himself will be too old.
 
Unfortunately some corporate neo-lib will yet again be nominated by the Dems, probably Newsome or Shapiro. I don’t think they’ll try a woman again for another generation.
 
Brett Stephens is one of the idiots that The Times employs, along with horrific David Brooks and a couple of others, to give “balance” to its op-ed pages.

True enough. But that doesn’t make him wrong. He’s not telling the whole story, just parts he thinks “libs” are missing.

No, being a token conservative for “balance” on the Times op-ed page doesn’t make him wrong. What makes him wrongs is being wrong.
Which of his “three things” do you believe to be a non-factor?
 
I know you think that anyone who voted for Trump, or abstained from voting for Harris did so because of sexism or racism. It seems to be a very binary world out there in some parts of yankland. You can not comprehend the notion that perhaps neither candidate is acceptable for what ever reason. And funnily enough we can find a candidate unsuitable for reasons other misogny or racism.
It certainly isn't a binary world out there but perceiving it as so just makes it simpler and easier to accept.

Sexism and Racism are part of that non-binary world. Someone may be a sexist and a racist and may very well get my vote if such person is the lesser of two evils. I voted Harris simply because the Dems are the lesser of two evils wrt what my future human world looks like. Voting Harris accomplishes that world better than voting Trump. If I vote for neither I'm just floating along directionless. If we yanks were intelligent enough we would have ranked choice voting and maybe your suggestion would work so that neither of the two evils were elected. But the level of intellect and forward thinking in our population is so low that people still prefer traffic signals to roundabouts.

You didn't respond to how either candidate relates to your preferred future human conditions but thank-you for the response.
 
If the Dems had nominated a fighting, vociferous progressive like Bernie and he had lost, then I would give up on the country.
He would have lost worse than Kamala, let's be honest.
I pretty much have anyway, but still hold out hope that someone like Sanders will grab the Dem nomination in 2028.
Do you have anyone in mind? AOC is well-known but has only been elected congresswoman from a very lopsided district. Who else is there on the far left? Elizabeth "Fauxachontas" Warren? Also old, and she came in third in her own state in 2020. Who else?
I expect Sanders himself will be too old.
You don't say? He'd be 87 in 2028.
 
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Unfortunately some corporate neo-lib will yet again be nominated by the Dems, probably Newsome or Shapiro. I don’t think they’ll try a woman again for another generation.
It's Newsom, no second 'e'. I think it's more likely to be Shapiro, or somebody else not talked about widely yet.
Newsom will be hamstrung by being yet another Californian (like Harris) and the reparations bill he pushed in CA is also an albatross around his neck.

I also doubt that DNC will be pushing another woman on the party anytime soon like they did with Hillary and Kami. But a woman could win the primaries if she runs an exceptional primary campaign. Maybe Whitmer? Doubt somebody like AOC would gain traction outside of lefty bubbles.
 
If the Dems had nominated a fighting, vociferous progressive like Bernie and he had lost, then I would give up on the country.
He would have lost worse than Kamala, let's be honest.
Nope, I don’t think so. I think he would have won, The Dems have been paralyzed about candidates being “too far left” since McGovern, but that was during an entirely different time.
 
If the Dems had nominated a fighting, vociferous progressive like Bernie and he had lost, then I would give up on the country.
He would have lost worse than Kamala, let's be honest.
Nope, I don’t think so. I think he would have won, The Dems have been paralyzed about candidates being “too far left” since McGovern, but that was during an entirely different time.
I agree, but I think it’s not so much being left or right, but about simply being a strong leader. Someone who is a fighter. Not someone who sticks to a script, but comes across as authentic and passionate about his vision.
 
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The thing Popper apparently forgot about paradoxes is that paradoxes are self-contradictions, and when you admit a self-contradiction into your premises you render the entire structure built on those premises unfalsifiable. Popper of all people should have known better than to fall into that trap. "Paradox of Tolerance" is a cheap rhetorical cop-out that people who intend to censor their opponents use to kid themselves that they're liberals while they enthusiastically embrace authoritarianism. If a society extends tolerance to those who are intolerant, it risks enabling the eventual dominance of intolerance, sure -- but if a society does not extend tolerance to those who are intolerant, it guarantees bringing about the immediate dominance of intolerance.
 
If the Dems had nominated a fighting, vociferous progressive like Bernie and he had lost, then I would give up on the country.
He would have lost worse than Kamala, let's be honest.
Nope, I don’t think so. I think he would have won, The Dems have been paralyzed about candidates being “too far left” since McGovern, but that was during an entirely different time.
The Republicans have gotten away with nominating candidates 'too far Right' for two generations.
 
Nope, I don’t think so. I think he would have won, The Dems have been paralyzed about candidates being “too far left” since McGovern, but that was during an entirely different time.
Wishful thinking. The world is certainly a very different place than 52 years ago, but one thing that is still true is that USA is a center-right country.

And you didn't answer a question I posed: who do you think would be a Bernie-like figure that Dems might nominate in 2028?
Amen! He would definitely have won in 2016, and at that point, Trump would have disappeared. The Supreme Court would be radically different.
Bernie most likely wouldn't have, but Biden almost certainly would have. Too bad Obama pressured him not to run to pave the way for Hillary, whose "turn" it was.
 
We won 2020, 2022. The Democrats have been moving to the right since 1992.
Dems swerved hard to the left in recent years. Squad was elected by primarying more moderate congresscritters. Positions like reparations gain traction. Dem candidates for president were tripping over each other about who will be more permissive on mass migration.
Even Biden, who campaigned as a moderate was dragged to the left. That was a mistake. He was elected to restore sanity to the White House, not to push spending programs inspired by Bernie and AOC.
Are we suppose to start applauding 19th Century denigration of immigrants now?
We are supposed to be more realistic about immigration. It is no longer the 19th century at the end of which US population was 76M. The country and the world are very different now.
Trump flipped Starr Count, TX that did not go Republican since the 19th century. It's a border county, so migration concern were decisive in the flip.
Trump wins South Texas county that Democrats have won since 1896
Should the Democrats laugh at the transgendered, at the gays to keep trying to be "inclusive" with the far right?
No, but many of the activists deserve ridicule.
Harris lost 2024 in large part because of the economic consequences of the Pandemic and small part because of anti-transgender/immigration ads.
It was a combination of many factors. Economics/inflation was the big one. But so was mass migration. Excesses of transgender activism were less significant, but it contributed to the overall picture that the Dems were out of touch with many Americans. And I say that as somebody who is generally in favor of LGBT. But many activists are just insufferable, especially when they do intersectional bullshit, like linking it to other radical causes like Gaza or police abolition.
 
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Moderating effect? The Dems were going to sign off on immigration reform extorted out of them for Ukraine funding. And the GOP ended up dropping it at Trump's behest.
Without blue states, the red states would push for more radically right-wing policies, and vice versa. That's what I meant. Dems and Reps need each other.
 
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