Enjoyed your letter, but I look at the mission of The Bulwark entirely differently. The Bulwark focuses almost entirely on the politics of issues rather than on issues themselves. And I believe they are right to do so. Why? Look no further than the beginning of Charlie's newsletter today where he details the threat one …
Enjoyed your letter, but I look at the mission of The Bulwark entirely differently. The Bulwark focuses almost entirely on the politics of issues rather than on issues themselves. And I believe they are right to do so. Why? Look no further than the beginning of Charlie's newsletter today where he details the threat one party is to constitutional and democratic governance. The Republican Party as it is now constituted needs to be soundly defeated for the American experiment to even continue.
I'll illustrate what I mean with an example. We've had this phrase "defund the police" floating around our politics for a few years now. There is a policy debate to be had here about the proper amount of funding for police and the funding of other institutions that impinge on police work like public mental health work and drug addiction treatment. I don't come to The Bulwark for that debate. I come for insights into how our problems around policing can be leveraged into a winning political strategy. It pisses off Progressives when people are dismissive of the "defund the police" idea because Progressives are acutely alive to all the issues that come in under that phrase. But if The Bulwark can help Progressives learn how to speak to more centrist voters in a manner that does not drive them away, that is all to the good in my opinion.
"But if The Bulwark can help Progressives learn how to speak to more centrist voters in a manner that does not drive them away, that is all to the good in my opinion."
I'm not sure how spending 4 days out of 7 talking about how Democrats need to "tack back to the center or be destroyed," usually without explaining what that means with any deeper level of engagement than "it's the economy, stupid" does any of that. A discussion with someone who advocates for the policies would at least open up the potential to discuss who is being messaged to and how.
To Mary McKim-
Enjoyed your letter, but I look at the mission of The Bulwark entirely differently. The Bulwark focuses almost entirely on the politics of issues rather than on issues themselves. And I believe they are right to do so. Why? Look no further than the beginning of Charlie's newsletter today where he details the threat one party is to constitutional and democratic governance. The Republican Party as it is now constituted needs to be soundly defeated for the American experiment to even continue.
I'll illustrate what I mean with an example. We've had this phrase "defund the police" floating around our politics for a few years now. There is a policy debate to be had here about the proper amount of funding for police and the funding of other institutions that impinge on police work like public mental health work and drug addiction treatment. I don't come to The Bulwark for that debate. I come for insights into how our problems around policing can be leveraged into a winning political strategy. It pisses off Progressives when people are dismissive of the "defund the police" idea because Progressives are acutely alive to all the issues that come in under that phrase. But if The Bulwark can help Progressives learn how to speak to more centrist voters in a manner that does not drive them away, that is all to the good in my opinion.
"But if The Bulwark can help Progressives learn how to speak to more centrist voters in a manner that does not drive them away, that is all to the good in my opinion."
I'm not sure how spending 4 days out of 7 talking about how Democrats need to "tack back to the center or be destroyed," usually without explaining what that means with any deeper level of engagement than "it's the economy, stupid" does any of that. A discussion with someone who advocates for the policies would at least open up the potential to discuss who is being messaged to and how.