There is another dimension: Human beings adapt to change at different speeds. Some can adapt right away and enjoy doing that, others take time.
And a resistance to rapid change is probably built into our DNA. Cultures probably existed for hundreds or thousands of years by not adapting to rapid change, but instead by working to keep things "just the way they are."
Progressives want and expect rapid change. That once they have adapted to it, then everyone else should also. So they have pushed and pushed. Well, the recent election shows that they have pushed too far and people are saying "SLOW DOWN!"
Voters have resisted these constant demands to "change" because, for one big reason, "progressives" have been wrong on so many issues. OOPs. yes we do need more police. oooops. Maybe puberty blockers haven't been proven scientifically to work. ooooops. Maybe our open border polices weren't such a hot idea. ooops. Maybe DEI programs have had a bad effect, not a good one. ooooops ooooops ooooops
So, maybe it is not the "resisters to change" who are unenlightened, but instead it is the people who are getting high on pushing other people to change who are "unenlightened" and "deplorable."
The election was a psychological test. "Progressives" failed it.
Ok, I have been reading you for a year or so but decided to subscribe so I can comment on what I don't understand about you.
I find your analysis to be first rate but it tracks with former Democrats like Tulsi Gabbard and Sasha Stone and for that matter Ronald Reagan ( I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.)
So why do you persist in trying to Make the Democratic Party Great Again. I spent the day wallowing in left wing sites and they are mostly doubling down on crazy. You at least observe that the Republicans may become the party of the working/middle class while worrying that the Wall Street faction may reassert control when Trump is gone. That is a legitimate concern given that the GOPe still lurks. So why not come over and help the Republicans that support your policy preferences fight against the Wall Street faction. JD Vance and Owen Cass come to mind.
Beyond this, while the neocon influence on the Republicans wanes, it waxes for the Democrats. Do we really want to be an Empire engaged in endless wars. My political awakening was opposing a crazy war and it appears that I will end up that way. I am more confident that Trump won't blunder into a nuclear war over Ukraine than Biden/Harris or Romney.
This column reminds me of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, which depicted the cigar-smoking fat cats opposed to the idealistic Smith as a cabal of industrialists, financiers, and union bosses. The Democratic Party at one time represented working people, but over time it determined that it OWNED working people and could rely on their votes without having to represent their interests in earnest. Instead, it focused on the union bosses to deliver the members' votes and funnel their dues to Democratic campaigns.
The same pattern held for minorities and women. The party went from championing their interests to taking their votes for granted, using slogans and empty promises to keep them on the Democratic side and away from the Republican side.
The true passions of the new leaders of the party had to do with remaking society and its values to match those they learned in elite educational institutions. They assumed that their "owned" constituencies - working people, women, minorities - would unquestioningly follow along without noticing that their interests were being harmed by the party's new priorities.
I think the two biggest wake-up calls for the voters who switched to Trump were transgender ideology and illegal immigration. These voters were asked to accept the irrelevance of biology to gender roles or be branded transphobic outcasts - even losing their jobs for questioning pronouns. They were also told to accept public benefits and accommodations being stripped away from them and their families and reassigned to undocumented immigrants, often with a concomitant degradation of the quality of life in their cities and neighborhoods.
I predict the autopsy of the Harris campaign and the soul-searching by the Democratic Party will result in the obvious but entirely wrong conclusion: Bernie, Liz Warren, AOC and the Squad were right, the party needs to take a hard Left turn into Democratic Socialism, and trying to appeal to the wishy-washy middle is a sucker's game.
1) Hope you remember that for several weeks prior to the election I told you it would end at 312 EVs, Trump leading the popular vote (actually, I had it LESS than where it is now, by 2 points), and the Rs taking net three in the Senate (again, may be low).
2) The reason for this is simple. voter registrations for the GOP have gone crazy. If you look at pop vote in the last four elections something interesting stands out: Democrats' share really hasn't moved at all . . . except for 2024. We can go into whether than was a legitimate election or not, but a more troubling sign for Demcrats is that without Covide, their turnout has been about the same for the other THREE presidential elections, while Rs have gained in every single election.
]3) A look at a PA map shows it is virtually all red now, except for Philly and Pittsburgh. The last # I saw was that Trump was winning 23% of black men. That should be a four alarm for the Democrats. Once those "firewalls" in inner cities are gone, there are no other non-urban firewalls at all. But . . .
it's much worse in Texas. Remember when "Texas is in play?" Yeah. Good times. Every single county in TX moved to the right. Counties that had gone blue years ago, such as Tarrant, are back red. But the margins are truly horrific. If I'm a GOP consultant, I'm stealthily begging Democrats to pour more money into Texas and Florida senate races.
4) Probably the most concerning thing of all is that New Jersey was almost within the margin of error, and Virginia won't last another cycle as a sure thing.
5) This has mostly stemmed from Ruy's correct identification of the loss of the working class, but the techhies are waiting in the wings to bail because AI and "green" DO NOT MIX. And idealistic techhies will opt for the near-term feel good of AI over the centuries-long "investment" in green.
6) Ruy's column last week on the "terrible ideas" was excellent but incomplete. At some point, all the venom poured into the abortion issue will abate. Then Democrats are in very, very deep doo.
Perhaps it would have read better if it had been done over two or three issues of the Liberal Patriot. It read somewhat like a forced march in double time.
There is another dimension: Human beings adapt to change at different speeds. Some can adapt right away and enjoy doing that, others take time.
And a resistance to rapid change is probably built into our DNA. Cultures probably existed for hundreds or thousands of years by not adapting to rapid change, but instead by working to keep things "just the way they are."
Progressives want and expect rapid change. That once they have adapted to it, then everyone else should also. So they have pushed and pushed. Well, the recent election shows that they have pushed too far and people are saying "SLOW DOWN!"
Voters have resisted these constant demands to "change" because, for one big reason, "progressives" have been wrong on so many issues. OOPs. yes we do need more police. oooops. Maybe puberty blockers haven't been proven scientifically to work. ooooops. Maybe our open border polices weren't such a hot idea. ooops. Maybe DEI programs have had a bad effect, not a good one. ooooops ooooops ooooops
So, maybe it is not the "resisters to change" who are unenlightened, but instead it is the people who are getting high on pushing other people to change who are "unenlightened" and "deplorable."
The election was a psychological test. "Progressives" failed it.
Ok, I have been reading you for a year or so but decided to subscribe so I can comment on what I don't understand about you.
I find your analysis to be first rate but it tracks with former Democrats like Tulsi Gabbard and Sasha Stone and for that matter Ronald Reagan ( I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.)
So why do you persist in trying to Make the Democratic Party Great Again. I spent the day wallowing in left wing sites and they are mostly doubling down on crazy. You at least observe that the Republicans may become the party of the working/middle class while worrying that the Wall Street faction may reassert control when Trump is gone. That is a legitimate concern given that the GOPe still lurks. So why not come over and help the Republicans that support your policy preferences fight against the Wall Street faction. JD Vance and Owen Cass come to mind.
Beyond this, while the neocon influence on the Republicans wanes, it waxes for the Democrats. Do we really want to be an Empire engaged in endless wars. My political awakening was opposing a crazy war and it appears that I will end up that way. I am more confident that Trump won't blunder into a nuclear war over Ukraine than Biden/Harris or Romney.
This column reminds me of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, which depicted the cigar-smoking fat cats opposed to the idealistic Smith as a cabal of industrialists, financiers, and union bosses. The Democratic Party at one time represented working people, but over time it determined that it OWNED working people and could rely on their votes without having to represent their interests in earnest. Instead, it focused on the union bosses to deliver the members' votes and funnel their dues to Democratic campaigns.
The same pattern held for minorities and women. The party went from championing their interests to taking their votes for granted, using slogans and empty promises to keep them on the Democratic side and away from the Republican side.
The true passions of the new leaders of the party had to do with remaking society and its values to match those they learned in elite educational institutions. They assumed that their "owned" constituencies - working people, women, minorities - would unquestioningly follow along without noticing that their interests were being harmed by the party's new priorities.
I think the two biggest wake-up calls for the voters who switched to Trump were transgender ideology and illegal immigration. These voters were asked to accept the irrelevance of biology to gender roles or be branded transphobic outcasts - even losing their jobs for questioning pronouns. They were also told to accept public benefits and accommodations being stripped away from them and their families and reassigned to undocumented immigrants, often with a concomitant degradation of the quality of life in their cities and neighborhoods.
I predict the autopsy of the Harris campaign and the soul-searching by the Democratic Party will result in the obvious but entirely wrong conclusion: Bernie, Liz Warren, AOC and the Squad were right, the party needs to take a hard Left turn into Democratic Socialism, and trying to appeal to the wishy-washy middle is a sucker's game.
1) Hope you remember that for several weeks prior to the election I told you it would end at 312 EVs, Trump leading the popular vote (actually, I had it LESS than where it is now, by 2 points), and the Rs taking net three in the Senate (again, may be low).
2) The reason for this is simple. voter registrations for the GOP have gone crazy. If you look at pop vote in the last four elections something interesting stands out: Democrats' share really hasn't moved at all . . . except for 2024. We can go into whether than was a legitimate election or not, but a more troubling sign for Demcrats is that without Covide, their turnout has been about the same for the other THREE presidential elections, while Rs have gained in every single election.
]3) A look at a PA map shows it is virtually all red now, except for Philly and Pittsburgh. The last # I saw was that Trump was winning 23% of black men. That should be a four alarm for the Democrats. Once those "firewalls" in inner cities are gone, there are no other non-urban firewalls at all. But . . .
it's much worse in Texas. Remember when "Texas is in play?" Yeah. Good times. Every single county in TX moved to the right. Counties that had gone blue years ago, such as Tarrant, are back red. But the margins are truly horrific. If I'm a GOP consultant, I'm stealthily begging Democrats to pour more money into Texas and Florida senate races.
4) Probably the most concerning thing of all is that New Jersey was almost within the margin of error, and Virginia won't last another cycle as a sure thing.
5) This has mostly stemmed from Ruy's correct identification of the loss of the working class, but the techhies are waiting in the wings to bail because AI and "green" DO NOT MIX. And idealistic techhies will opt for the near-term feel good of AI over the centuries-long "investment" in green.
6) Ruy's column last week on the "terrible ideas" was excellent but incomplete. At some point, all the venom poured into the abortion issue will abate. Then Democrats are in very, very deep doo.
Kudos to you Larry. You got it right!
Thanks John. Out there for all to see.
Perhaps it would have read better if it had been done over two or three issues of the Liberal Patriot. It read somewhat like a forced march in double time.