I know it wasn't implicit in this argument, but the theory also seems to explain MAGA's stubborn clinging to an alternate reality. We need a shared set of facts again, but their beliefs build an alternate reality. Faith in Trump creates new facts.
I believe that if we Democrats want to win any future elections we need to see MAGAs differently than you do. Many of their concerns and beliefs are, in fact, based upon facts. Plus, we need to be able to do some self-reflection that a lot of progressive beliefs are also based upon an alternative reality (e.g., DEI works and is valid, unlimited immigration is good for our country, it won't hurt girls' sports to allow trans girls to participate in them, the police need defunding, etc.)
Life isn't cut and dry..........e.g., MAGAs bad and live in an alternative reality vs. Progressives are good and live in a fact-based reality.
I agree with a lot of what you say. But the left at least tries to find truth or an objective reality. The media is largely focused on truth and balance. The right-wing has a huge media ecosystem of lies and misinformation. The election wasn't stolen, immigration has been foundational to our success, religious pluralism vs Christian Nationalism is the American ideal, cutting off access to the actual data is bad, the open corruption is not ok, tariffs are paid by importers and consumers, etc. Every media analysis shows right wingers are the least knowledgeable about real-world facts and issues. We need to get back to a shared set of facts!
I often say, Trump is offering fake solutions to real problems. Dems need to both offer real solutions to those problems, and figure out how to approach the media landscape such that those solutions get heard by a large-enough audience..
I agree with you, but I believe that is only a small part of the picture.
Democrats lost, and data show this, because of the party's identification with progressive ideas on police, identity, trans, climate, green, college loan payments, DEI, etc.
Data show that these were the issues that affected swing voters the most, and they swang (!) to Trump as a result.
People often argue "well, Harris didn't run on those issues," but that's missing the psychology of people. When you go to buy your home, the first thing you notice driving to the home is the neighborhood.....before you even see the house. That "neighborhood" for Harris is progressivism. It is what they emotionally "hear" and Harris was evaluated on that (plus, there is the fact that she had endorsed, in the past, a lot of progressive ideas.
The other thing is that progressives tear conservatives apart with insults:
In article after article for the past few years left-leaning publications have slammed men (the latest is "mankeeping"), white people (we are all racists), and baby boomers (who stole all of the younger peoples' wealth). And have characterized conservative voters as stupid, e.g., "low information voters," "voting against their own interests," "deplorables." Calling police and law enforcement Nazis, boot-strapping, Fascists.
These characterizations are what Trump/Kirk/Republicans went after....successfully. Reasonably so.
Progressives will refuse to see Trump voters in any other way. There has been zero effort to reform these awful views.
These are attitudinal aspects of peoples' experiences. Different from political areas.
Another dimension: Look at the comments to the article in WaPo this morning about the killings at the LDS church. They are by progressives, and are simply heartless. Instead of just sitting and being "with" those people who are experiencing profound grief, they have to go on and on about political issues.
All of this is why I am ashamed of my party....a party I voted for for 50 years.
That's not that hard. I'm more of a left-centrist. So I'm alienated by both extremes but identify more on the left. Lefty nimbyism, over-regulation, emphasis on identity politics, woke cancel culture, over-emphasizing DEI over credentials, and refusal to see where fiscal restraint is smart are top bogeymen on the left. And I identify relatively closely with what are now RINO Republican ideals of limiting regulation, market forces, emphasis on tradition and norms, strong foreign policy and alliances, and high standards in education. But I can't see the value in MAGA ideals of stopping immigration, believing the election was stolen, ending economic analysis because you don't like the results, cancelling comedians, going after enemies in hope of finding a crime, accepting open public corruption, having the military and ICE in our streets going after any opposition, etc. I can sympathize with their feeling left behind in globalization. But their enemy should be billionaires not brown, gay, trans people etc.
I know it wasn't implicit in this argument, but the theory also seems to explain MAGA's stubborn clinging to an alternate reality. We need a shared set of facts again, but their beliefs build an alternate reality. Faith in Trump creates new facts.
I believe that if we Democrats want to win any future elections we need to see MAGAs differently than you do. Many of their concerns and beliefs are, in fact, based upon facts. Plus, we need to be able to do some self-reflection that a lot of progressive beliefs are also based upon an alternative reality (e.g., DEI works and is valid, unlimited immigration is good for our country, it won't hurt girls' sports to allow trans girls to participate in them, the police need defunding, etc.)
Life isn't cut and dry..........e.g., MAGAs bad and live in an alternative reality vs. Progressives are good and live in a fact-based reality.
I agree with a lot of what you say. But the left at least tries to find truth or an objective reality. The media is largely focused on truth and balance. The right-wing has a huge media ecosystem of lies and misinformation. The election wasn't stolen, immigration has been foundational to our success, religious pluralism vs Christian Nationalism is the American ideal, cutting off access to the actual data is bad, the open corruption is not ok, tariffs are paid by importers and consumers, etc. Every media analysis shows right wingers are the least knowledgeable about real-world facts and issues. We need to get back to a shared set of facts!
I often say, Trump is offering fake solutions to real problems. Dems need to both offer real solutions to those problems, and figure out how to approach the media landscape such that those solutions get heard by a large-enough audience..
I agree with you, but I believe that is only a small part of the picture.
Democrats lost, and data show this, because of the party's identification with progressive ideas on police, identity, trans, climate, green, college loan payments, DEI, etc.
Data show that these were the issues that affected swing voters the most, and they swang (!) to Trump as a result.
People often argue "well, Harris didn't run on those issues," but that's missing the psychology of people. When you go to buy your home, the first thing you notice driving to the home is the neighborhood.....before you even see the house. That "neighborhood" for Harris is progressivism. It is what they emotionally "hear" and Harris was evaluated on that (plus, there is the fact that she had endorsed, in the past, a lot of progressive ideas.
The other thing is that progressives tear conservatives apart with insults:
In article after article for the past few years left-leaning publications have slammed men (the latest is "mankeeping"), white people (we are all racists), and baby boomers (who stole all of the younger peoples' wealth). And have characterized conservative voters as stupid, e.g., "low information voters," "voting against their own interests," "deplorables." Calling police and law enforcement Nazis, boot-strapping, Fascists.
These characterizations are what Trump/Kirk/Republicans went after....successfully. Reasonably so.
Progressives will refuse to see Trump voters in any other way. There has been zero effort to reform these awful views.
These are attitudinal aspects of peoples' experiences. Different from political areas.
Another dimension: Look at the comments to the article in WaPo this morning about the killings at the LDS church. They are by progressives, and are simply heartless. Instead of just sitting and being "with" those people who are experiencing profound grief, they have to go on and on about political issues.
All of this is why I am ashamed of my party....a party I voted for for 50 years.
Here's a fun experiment
Try and list five or ten things that your side is wrong
And another five or ten things that the other side is right about
If you have a hard time, then your partisanship is showing
That's not that hard. I'm more of a left-centrist. So I'm alienated by both extremes but identify more on the left. Lefty nimbyism, over-regulation, emphasis on identity politics, woke cancel culture, over-emphasizing DEI over credentials, and refusal to see where fiscal restraint is smart are top bogeymen on the left. And I identify relatively closely with what are now RINO Republican ideals of limiting regulation, market forces, emphasis on tradition and norms, strong foreign policy and alliances, and high standards in education. But I can't see the value in MAGA ideals of stopping immigration, believing the election was stolen, ending economic analysis because you don't like the results, cancelling comedians, going after enemies in hope of finding a crime, accepting open public corruption, having the military and ICE in our streets going after any opposition, etc. I can sympathize with their feeling left behind in globalization. But their enemy should be billionaires not brown, gay, trans people etc.
Tribalism binds and blinds us.
Democrats can site chapter and verse the many republican problems
Republicans can do the same for Democrats.
Both will be largely right
Why not make the entire plane out of the placebo?
Delightful essay. I expected to like it but not to come away so inspired.