117th Congress: DEMS IN DISARRAY!!!111!!

[Slap Shot]

Some insight into why the GQP's 'platform' is able to reach so many people.

Mark Suckerberg remains part of the problem.

[ScoobyDoo]

Some insight into why the GQP's 'platform' is able to reach so many people.

Mark Suckerberg remains part of the problem.

We decided in the United States that monopolies are ok. It's like we traveled back to ~1900-1920 and decided, hey, let's forget about the laws we have.

[Kepler]

It's like we traveled back to ~1900-1920 and decided, hey, let's forget about the laws we have.

Working on 1850 now.

[aparch]

There are two different Americas, and Dems aren't very fluent in Ruralamerican.

[Hill I'm willing to die on]

Ruralamerican isn't voting Dem because of bad Dem messaging.

Ruralamerica votes the way they do because they see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. They're gonna soon be just like those fancy guys on teevee with the golden toilets and a middle name of Beauregard.

They've been sold a lie that the same social safety nets that they are "temporarily" relying on mean they're gonna rebound into elite status soon. And when they do, by gawd, those safety nets don't need to be there because "look at how I rebounded, you can too if you do like me and pull yourself up by the bootstraps."

Look at how many GQP "elites" can be found sucking off the teet of social safety nets merely years ago and now cry for the removal of those same net?

No amount of Dem messaging is going to convince these temporarily embarrassed millionaires differently, unless they start hearing it from their own kind.

[Kepler]

We can't shut up the Qtards and their media driven shrieking, but we can talk about things that matter.

Your statement here ignores the people in this room who are not criticizing the Dems for what they stand for but for being disorganized, lacking unity, and for failing to communicates a clear vision that resonates with the majority of Americans.

I understand the argument and I'm not ignoring those people. I think they are falling for a false narrative. I don't think the Dems lack unity when compared with most American ruling majorities in history. Do people think the Dixiecrats and the Ivy Intellectual of the 20th Century had unity? And yet, they controlled the House for 54 straight years.

Things that have changed to make it more difficult now: communications makes every election national. Tip O'Neil's apothegm is now exactly reversed. Also, the well-meaning removal of earmarks and other similar "smoke-filled room" practices gives leadership less ability to whip Members. Finally, cross-matrixed American politics no longer exists. It used to be both parties had racists and morons and evangelicals and terrorists, and the very fact that they were divided helped tamp down their influence (um, except the racism part). But now all of those critters have migrated to their natural home on the Right and into the GOP. So there is no possibility of reaching across the aisle and grabbing a few votes to compensate for Members who have to bow to their constituents and vote against our leadership.

We are blaming the Dems for stuff that isn't their fault. What is their fault is they are so beholden to the ruling economic elite that they will not move to restore economic equality. As long as that's the case they will never have a message that resonates the way Progressivism and the New Deal did. My solution is naively simple: just start saying the words. We need to raise taxes on the rich significantly not simply to gain revenue but also to erode their wealth which warps democracy. We need to become more of a nation of people who take care of each other rather than a nation of people fighting to be the last guy who gets onto the subway before the doors close.

[Kepler]

There are two different Americas, and Dems aren't very fluent in Ruralamerican.

That does not really matter. Rural people -- deep breath because people here aren't going to like this -- do not matter as much as everybody thinks they do.

Rural areas in the United States, often referred to as Rural America,^[1] consists of approximately 97% of the United States' land area. An estimated 60 million people, or one-in-five residents (19.3% of the total U.S. population), live in Rural America. Definitions vary from different parts of the United States government as to what constitutes these areas.

Rural areas tend to be poorer and their populations are older than in other parts of the United States, in part because of rural flight, declining infrastructure and economic prospects. This declining population also results in less access to services, such as high quality medical and education systems.

The rural percentage of the electorate is the same size as the Latino percentage of the electorate. They are more than overserved by the Dems, who stand in relation to them as Republicans stand to Latinos. You don't see every GOP political ad opening with a soft focus paeon to a quinceanera, so why does every Dem ad open with a craggy old white dude against an idyllic backdrop of amber fields of grain?

The problem is the Dems don't speak to the elephant (ahem) in the room: economic inequality. And they don't because their donors and their media conglomerates don't want them to.

[psych]

Um, again, earmarks have returned. They’ve been back for nearly a year.

https://rollcall.com/2021/07/02/sena...rt-rolling-in/

[burd]

[Hill I'm willing to die on]

Ruralamerican isn't voting Dem because of bad Dem messaging.

Ruralamerica votes the way they do because they see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. They're gonna soon be just like those fancy guys on teevee with the golden toilets and a middle name of Beauregard.

They've been sold a lie that the same social safety nets that they are "temporarily" relying on mean they're gonna rebound into elite status soon. And when they do, by gawd, those safety nets don't need to be there because "look at how I rebounded, you can too if you do like me and pull yourself up by the bootstraps."

Look at how many GQP "elites" can be found sucking off the teet of social safety nets merely years ago and now cry for the removal of those same net?

No amount of Dem messaging is going to convince these temporarily embarrassed millionaires differently, unless they start hearing it from their own kind.

Ruralamerican has 10 words for fear,: change generally, loss of hierarchical status, colored threat, thievery by poors, intellectual domination, etc.

Demamerican has only one or two words for fear but 10 for the concept of hope, which disappeared from the Ruralamerican lexicon generations ago. The most important things to each group just aren't translating.*

* applies to voters, not their controllers.

[psych]

That does not really matter. Rural people -- deep breath because people here aren't going to like this -- do not matter as much as everybody thinks they do.



The rural percentage of the electorate is the same size as the Latino percentage of the electorate. They are more than overserved by the Dems, who stand in relation to them as Republicans stand to Latinos. You don't see every GOP political ad opening with a soft focus paeon to a quinceanera, so why does every Dem ad open with a craggy old white dude against an idyllic backdrop of amber fields of grain?

The problem is the Dems don't speak to the elephant (ahem) in the room: economic inequality. And they don't because their donors and their media conglomerates don't want them to.

Because those rural white people still have that power. They live everywhere versus Latinos, who mainly stick to certain states and cities. It sucks, but that’s the ridiculous rules we’re currently living by. Your pragmatism seems to wander sometimes.

[burd]

Kep is right, but it seems those truths are nullified by the electoral college system and gerrymandering. Rural America matters way more than it should.

[psych]

Kep is right, but it seems those truths are nullified by the electoral college system and gerrymandering. Rural America matters way more than it should.

Having lived nearly my whole life in rural America, whether it be North or South, I couldn’t agree more. I’m voting and giving money to the people who want to better represent people who don’t look and live like me, while also supporting the changes that lessen my power. I’m fine with that. Let’s do it together. It’ll happen with a combination of getting non-voters to vote D, and R voters to stay home in places like Georgia, Texas, and Florida, but it can be done.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

[Hill I'm willing to die on]

Ruralamerican isn't voting Dem because of bad Dem messaging.

Ruralamerica votes the way they do because they see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. They're gonna soon be just like those fancy guys on teevee with the golden toilets and a middle name of Beauregard.

They've been sold a lie that the same social safety nets that they are "temporarily" relying on mean they're gonna rebound into elite status soon. And when they do, by gawd, those safety nets don't need to be there because "look at how I rebounded, you can too if you do like me and pull yourself up by the bootstraps."

Look at how many GQP "elites" can be found sucking off the teet of social safety nets merely years ago and now cry for the removal of those same net?

No amount of Dem messaging is going to convince these temporarily embarrassed millionaires differently, unless they start hearing it from their own kind.

Agreed and it's the same problem with the social conservative crap. You're dealing with people whose chief source of advice is the Bible and whose chief decision-making organ is anything but their brain. You can't fix stupid, the best you can hope to do is educate the derp out of their offspring. These people are why homeschooling is dangerous and should be severely restricted/regulated, or just outright outlawed.

[Slap Shot]

https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/stat...U-snKa74w&s=19

OMG. The mystery “surprise guest” at AFPAC tonight was Marge Greene. Here she is welcomed by their leader, white nationalist, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. Photo @nickmartin https://t.co/tMF1sU4une

If Democrats in Congress don’t take action against Greene, and if we in the media don’t hold Kevin McCarthy to account for this far-right caucus member of his, then we are all complicit in the mainstreaming of white supremacy, antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and more.

[psych]

Agreed and it's the same problem with the social conservative crap. You're dealing with people whose chief source of advice is the Bible and whose chief decision-making organ is anything but their brain. You can't fix stupid, the best you can hope to do is educate the derp out of their offspring. These people are why homeschooling is dangerous and should be severely restricted/regulated, or just outright outlawed.

A couple of the most educated, liberal people I’ve met were homeschooled. Outlawing is silly since it works for some people. Tightly regulate is fine.

[Slap Shot]

Shortly before bringing up MTG, the camera showed a sizeable and raucous crowd. Fuentes praised "our secret sauce...young white men." Fuentes then solicited a round of applause for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, and the groyper crowd chanted "Putin, Putin." https://t.co/I8BGH1TYGm

Sadly this is bow considered a good look.