dagblog - Comments for "Interview with the Umpire"

It's not Trump's coalition.

Michael Wolraich — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:28:00 +0000

It's not Trump's coalition. George W. was elected by the same coalition, as was the Republican majority that has dominated Congress for 18 of the last 22 years. The relative strength of the various factions has shifted over years, but this coalition has been operative since the 1960s and ascendant since the 1990s. The 2016 presidential election is just its latest and most stunning victory. After Trump, there will be more--until the coalition is diminished or broken.

It is the framing of the

Obey — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 13:07:26 +0000

In reply to "Like things can get this bad

It is the framing of the problem and hence the solution that I would disagree with. I don't necessarily see Trump's coalition as divisible into those three parts. We like to reduce Trump's core support to white nationalism. Irrespective of the causes of the economic worries, he addressed and formulated those worries and offered a convenient set of scapegoats - anyone non-white or foreign. Meanwhile the democrats just ceded the field, not offering an alternative definition and diagnosis of their problems, at least not in any cogent manner. If you offer just *some** kind of responsiveness to the economic worries, then that will you get traction without necessarily having to demonize any particular groups. Except the banks. always demonize the banks! ;0)

It's instructional to

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 16:31:00 +0000

In reply to "Like things can get this bad

It's instructional to remember that contraception wasn't controversial for Protestants a generation ago. Much re-education went into that shift. Weirdly, everything's fungible but we don't seem to get people to shift with logic. In the good ol' white south, I fired a gun twice growing up (1 time felt like the shotgun almost took my shoulder off...) and *nobody* outside that single skeet outing showed any interest whatsoever in guns or hunting. - fast cars, booze & grass, loud music and getting laid - the movie Dazed & Confused nails it. How 40 years of propaganda turned stoners into straight-laced Jesus freaks clinging to guns and religion is a tale worth telling (and reversing).

"Like things can get this bad

Michael Wolraich — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 16:18:33 +0000

In reply to Stimulating read guys. Thanks

"Like things can get this bad and we can claw our way back from the brink of the abyss." That was part of my point in writing the book, to understand how the corrupt, dysfunctional Gilded Age regime gave way to the dynamic achievements of the Progressive Era. The good news is that the tide can change more quickly than anyone expects. The bad news is that achieving such changes is wrenching. As Wells put it, "Only a great educated, trained, and sustained agitation can bring about so fundamental a political revolution."

As for splitting the right-wing coalition, I don't think it means luring entire factions. Rather you appeal to sympathetic members by emphasizing common ground. For example, you might appeal to evangelicals and Catholics by focusing on compassion and humility and downplaying the sex stuff. (It's worth remembering that before the rise of the religious right, Catholics were overwhelming Democratic, and evangelicals had no clear affiliation.) Of course, many sex/abortion-obsessed Christians will be deaf to such appeals, but you don't need to reach everyone. You just have to divide the vote. Similarly, not all "nationalists" are hard-core white-supremacists, and you can address this group's patriotism and fear of globalism without demonizing non-white immigrants. Sanders attempts to do that that by denouncing free trade and challenging the H1-B program. I'm not necessarily advocating these tactics, just pointing out how it might be done without sacrificing core principles.

Stimulating read guys. Thanks

Obey — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 14:42:44 +0000

In reply to Interview with the Umpire

Stimulating read guys. Thanks for taking the time!

The Wells quote I find oddly reassuring. Like things can get this bad and we can claw our way back from the brink of the abyss. It may have taken a world war and a full-blown depression, but it is possible. Can't wait to read the details of La Follette, sounds amazing. I particularly love how his name connotes the-little-crazy-girl in French.

Michael's last conclusion about having to hive off one part of the right-wing coalition - bible-thumpers, white nationalists, or movement conservatives sounds really depressing. I've always suspected that Ryan-style movement conservatism has no real backing to it. No one outside of CNBC has any desire to destroy SS and Medicare. Bible-thumpers I have long suspected only care about the vagina-related and butt-related parts of the bible, and appeals to any other parts of the bible about loving thy neighbor and compassion and charity is just jibberish to them. And white nationalists are, well, just pure evil through and through. So I don't see a solution there. Not framed in that way anyway.

Thanks. In this time of

Flavius — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 01:54:48 +0000

In reply to Interview with the Umpire

Thanks. In this time of intense feelings it´s a delight to read such a sensible exchange.

Thank you both for this!

artappraiser — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 23:38:25 +0000

In reply to Interview with the Umpire

Thank you both for this!