Interesting about the Russian "anti grooming" laws. Did NOT know that. If the Dems were smart/knew how to fight in today's political climate, you'd think they would have run ads "DeSantis wants to be like Putin". But there goes my wish casting...that they were smart. Seems they only know how to win on the intellectual arguments/polic…
Interesting about the Russian "anti grooming" laws. Did NOT know that. If the Dems were smart/knew how to fight in today's political climate, you'd think they would have run ads "DeSantis wants to be like Putin". But there goes my wish casting...that they were smart. Seems they only know how to win on the intellectual arguments/policy, but no clue how to win by appealing to the emotions (positive and negative) of the electorate.
Perhaps one hazard the Democrats face is that while a majority of all voting-age Americans may be OK with LGBTQ+, gay marriage, Pride parades, a majority of older Americans, who tend to vote in higher %s than younger Americans, may prefer a return to the glorious past in which such people remained in the closet or faced serious consequences. That is, it's possible a majority of American adults prefer one thing, but a majority of likely voters prefers another. I'm nowhere near convinced Americans are as tolerant and socially liberal as many polls paint us to be.
In which case, Democrats pointing out to the American public that new anti-gay laws in the US are just following in Russia's autocratic shadow may do little more than spur the public to ask what took so long?
In short, I figure Republicans are more right than wrong about the electoral efficacy of Culture War issues. Definitely in a majority of states. In a sense, California is no longer a cultural bellwether, Florida is (God help us).
Until Trump, many of the current voters you speak of didn't vote. He changed the game and the public discourse/narratives. The Dems have not responded to that by changing the game/debate to their terms and getting new voters to the polls like Trump did.
The Dems need to decide if they want to continue to allow the Rep's to control/dictate the debates vs "spur the public". Right now the Dems are not dominating the public square and it feels like they have consciously or unconsciously let the Republicans drive discourse and as a result the Dems are losing the public narratives.
Personally, I'd like to see the Dems take the Reps on on topics from sensible immigration (legal immigration, secure borders AND immigration as vital to US economic growth), freedom of speech vs book banning, parental rights/input and the contradictory positions on parent's rights for input on books/FLs anti gay laws vs no parental rights for those with transgender kids, creating citizen vigilante/Gestapo cultures thru legislation, cruelty (vs compassionate conservatism) to women/trans/gays, climate change as a national security issue vs just a better environment and more. There just seems so many things to also call out as "conservatives used to believe x...now they believe the opposite"..as a lot of today's "conservatives" have no clue what traditional conservatives believe (or used to believe)
Unfortunately I seems like the Dems have 2 problems--no effective communicators for the party and a tendency to propose alternatives from the more progressive/noncentrist wing such that voters feel they're having to pick from two extremes. Wouldn't it be great if someone would argue for AND proposals (e.g. border security AND an immigration policy that encourages people to come to the US) vs OR proposals. TX is a classic example. The over reach of so many laws passed in TX you'd think would spur somebody to step up to call out the crazy and campaign on normalcy/centrist positions. But instead, there appear no such viable candidates for the top offices.
Interesting about the Russian "anti grooming" laws. Did NOT know that. If the Dems were smart/knew how to fight in today's political climate, you'd think they would have run ads "DeSantis wants to be like Putin". But there goes my wish casting...that they were smart. Seems they only know how to win on the intellectual arguments/policy, but no clue how to win by appealing to the emotions (positive and negative) of the electorate.
Perhaps one hazard the Democrats face is that while a majority of all voting-age Americans may be OK with LGBTQ+, gay marriage, Pride parades, a majority of older Americans, who tend to vote in higher %s than younger Americans, may prefer a return to the glorious past in which such people remained in the closet or faced serious consequences. That is, it's possible a majority of American adults prefer one thing, but a majority of likely voters prefers another. I'm nowhere near convinced Americans are as tolerant and socially liberal as many polls paint us to be.
In which case, Democrats pointing out to the American public that new anti-gay laws in the US are just following in Russia's autocratic shadow may do little more than spur the public to ask what took so long?
In short, I figure Republicans are more right than wrong about the electoral efficacy of Culture War issues. Definitely in a majority of states. In a sense, California is no longer a cultural bellwether, Florida is (God help us).
Excellent points...
Until Trump, many of the current voters you speak of didn't vote. He changed the game and the public discourse/narratives. The Dems have not responded to that by changing the game/debate to their terms and getting new voters to the polls like Trump did.
The Dems need to decide if they want to continue to allow the Rep's to control/dictate the debates vs "spur the public". Right now the Dems are not dominating the public square and it feels like they have consciously or unconsciously let the Republicans drive discourse and as a result the Dems are losing the public narratives.
Personally, I'd like to see the Dems take the Reps on on topics from sensible immigration (legal immigration, secure borders AND immigration as vital to US economic growth), freedom of speech vs book banning, parental rights/input and the contradictory positions on parent's rights for input on books/FLs anti gay laws vs no parental rights for those with transgender kids, creating citizen vigilante/Gestapo cultures thru legislation, cruelty (vs compassionate conservatism) to women/trans/gays, climate change as a national security issue vs just a better environment and more. There just seems so many things to also call out as "conservatives used to believe x...now they believe the opposite"..as a lot of today's "conservatives" have no clue what traditional conservatives believe (or used to believe)
Unfortunately I seems like the Dems have 2 problems--no effective communicators for the party and a tendency to propose alternatives from the more progressive/noncentrist wing such that voters feel they're having to pick from two extremes. Wouldn't it be great if someone would argue for AND proposals (e.g. border security AND an immigration policy that encourages people to come to the US) vs OR proposals. TX is a classic example. The over reach of so many laws passed in TX you'd think would spur somebody to step up to call out the crazy and campaign on normalcy/centrist positions. But instead, there appear no such viable candidates for the top offices.