"Over the weekend, I had breakfast with a smart Republican lawmaker who lamented the fact that politics was no longer about ideas or public policy. Now, he said, it was all about anger."
Do Democrats seem angry? This is only a problem in politics to the extent that politics in general is affected by Sarah Longwell's "Triangle of Doom:" …
"Over the weekend, I had breakfast with a smart Republican lawmaker who lamented the fact that politics was no longer about ideas or public policy. Now, he said, it was all about anger."
Do Democrats seem angry? This is only a problem in politics to the extent that politics in general is affected by Sarah Longwell's "Triangle of Doom:" GOP voters, politicians, and propaganda outlets. Anger is a problem, but problems can't be fixed unless they're clearly defined, and this problem has little to do with Democrats. Democratic voters didn't provide the Bolsinaristas the template they acted upon yesterday, and Democratic politicians didn't provide Bolsinaro the template he has used for the last 6+ years. Democrats care deeply about policy and ideas.
They just don't care deeply enough to fight for them when the need is there. I seldom disagree with Mrs Obama but, When the low are armed killers, the high are slaughtered. Sometimes being on the high road gets you crushed. Ask John Kerry how it works out to ignore the danger (as he did with the Vietnam swamp vets). This is probably also why so many of both parties have taken their handsome pensions and raced to the exits; just no stomach for ongoing blood and gore.
"Anger is a problem, but problems can't be fixed unless they're clearly defined, and this problem has little to do with Democrats."
In that case, the media isn't going to define it. Therefore, the problem won't be fixed. We all know that the problem is the anger of the median Republican voter, but there's not much the average sensible person can do about it alone. I'm tired of patiently talking people down from the ledge. "No, the military isn't banning the words mother and father." "No, my kids public school doesn't teach them that White people are evil." "No, the local public librarian isn't forcing books on children that teach them to be gay, and there's no book that can do that." "No, the CDC isn't trying to turn a profit on COVID drugs." "No, there's no such thing as after-birth abortion, that would be murder and doctors don't murder people." The same people just get riled up again 10 minutes later when they turn on their car radio or their TV. There has to be a systemic answer to this problem.
The answer is to fund and improve public education but since that take 20 years to begin to produce a properly-educated public, and that education is state funded and R states don’t want to tax to have adequate funds for a good education system - it ain’t gonna happen. So the problem won’t be fixed. It is highly probable it will get worse. btw - Happy New Year.
It's such an exhausting array of bullshit to have to refute over and over again, especially when you're refuting a lot of things that just seem too stupid to believe.
Given the effects of social media and 24 hour news cycles on the human brain - especially brains that did not grow up with them - I suspect one answer, sadly, is that matters will slowly improve over the next twenty years as the members of the angriest, most conspiracy-obsessed age groups naturally depart the world.
Let's not stigmatize older Americans. I turned 80 this year and don't watch Fox News, I am not angry, nor have I become susceptible to culture wars and conspiracy theories. In fact, many of my friends in the octogenarian and septuagenarian ranks are likewise, while many of our younger acquaintances are completely wacko. Perhaps the social media so popular among younger folks is their version of Fox! "Just sayin," don't judge us by the wrinkles and farts.
I'm not stigmatizing any group. I'm just reviewing the survey/polling evidence and voting patterns. The age cohort group which polls as the biggest "offender" in those aspects is the 50-64 age cohort.
Democrats don't have a 24/7 fear and rage machine as an information silo.
Sure there are plenty of more conventional alarmist headlines and amen chorus operations, but they're not designed to doomloop viewers into running all day and night the way Fox is.
Personally, I am angry and unforgiving on a variety of subjects. But it's anger aimed at specific people and ideologies and specific malfeasances against the country. And I try to understand, even with the people I'm angry at, what their actual motivations and drives are. There's a difference between a Crenshaw and a Gaetz and an MTG. I think Crenshaw is a turd, but in the right circumstances he could be worked with. Even McCarthy could be worked with, given that he's a spineless wuss.
MTG? I suppose if actual Satan was invading the planet and she somehow didn't end up immediately siding with the infernal we could be on the same side, but I'd watch her every friggin' minute.
It's what I've said for some time now- the Dems represent a small-c conservative minority with a greater stake in the well-being of the country, and tend to think in those terms.
Agree the Dems don't have a similar problem. But I wouldn't go easy on Crenshaw/McCarthy. One knows what Gaetz and MTG really stand for and they have repeatedly shown that they believe whatever they stand for 100%. If Crenshaws and McCarthys are the adults and know right from wrong, shouldn't they be using their power to sideline such crazies. But instead they pander, knowing fully well that the beast is going to consume not only them, but the country at some point. If anything they (McCarthy/Censhaw etc.) are the real problem, not Gaetz and MTG.
I'm not easy on Crenshaw at all. He's a POS who pandered to the MAGA crowd by depicting himself as doing combat against American citizens.
McCarthy is a weak little lickspittle who has no business being a representative, let alone the inheritor by default of one of the most important jobs in the country and worse yet in the line of succession.
But politics will always have slimy, suboptimal opportunists in positions of influence. Crenshaw at least seems to have pulled back from trying to grandstand for the MAGA, and McCarthy basically lacks any strong convictions. They're benign tumors compared to the metastasizing malignancy of an MTG or a Trump or a Kari Lake.
The latter three only speak the language of dominance and destruction. People like that burn the world down with their clumsy neediness and greed.
I was going to comment that "smart Repuplican lawmaker" is an oxymoron, but your comment is far more generous.
I am still frustrated by the lack of acknowledgement that the Republican Party has always been; a little bit wing nut, a little bit greedy asshole, and a little bit Christian Nationalist. How was it ever going to end any differently?
That bar graph of what most members of the Party of Gawd DON'T want to spend money on is sooo Christ-like. Apparently, the Christ in Christian Nationalism is branding, nothing more.
"Over the weekend, I had breakfast with a smart Republican lawmaker who lamented the fact that politics was no longer about ideas or public policy. Now, he said, it was all about anger."
Do Democrats seem angry? This is only a problem in politics to the extent that politics in general is affected by Sarah Longwell's "Triangle of Doom:" GOP voters, politicians, and propaganda outlets. Anger is a problem, but problems can't be fixed unless they're clearly defined, and this problem has little to do with Democrats. Democratic voters didn't provide the Bolsinaristas the template they acted upon yesterday, and Democratic politicians didn't provide Bolsinaro the template he has used for the last 6+ years. Democrats care deeply about policy and ideas.
They just don't care deeply enough to fight for them when the need is there. I seldom disagree with Mrs Obama but, When the low are armed killers, the high are slaughtered. Sometimes being on the high road gets you crushed. Ask John Kerry how it works out to ignore the danger (as he did with the Vietnam swamp vets). This is probably also why so many of both parties have taken their handsome pensions and raced to the exits; just no stomach for ongoing blood and gore.
"Anger is a problem, but problems can't be fixed unless they're clearly defined, and this problem has little to do with Democrats."
In that case, the media isn't going to define it. Therefore, the problem won't be fixed. We all know that the problem is the anger of the median Republican voter, but there's not much the average sensible person can do about it alone. I'm tired of patiently talking people down from the ledge. "No, the military isn't banning the words mother and father." "No, my kids public school doesn't teach them that White people are evil." "No, the local public librarian isn't forcing books on children that teach them to be gay, and there's no book that can do that." "No, the CDC isn't trying to turn a profit on COVID drugs." "No, there's no such thing as after-birth abortion, that would be murder and doctors don't murder people." The same people just get riled up again 10 minutes later when they turn on their car radio or their TV. There has to be a systemic answer to this problem.
The answer is to fund and improve public education but since that take 20 years to begin to produce a properly-educated public, and that education is state funded and R states don’t want to tax to have adequate funds for a good education system - it ain’t gonna happen. So the problem won’t be fixed. It is highly probable it will get worse. btw - Happy New Year.
It's such an exhausting array of bullshit to have to refute over and over again, especially when you're refuting a lot of things that just seem too stupid to believe.
Given the effects of social media and 24 hour news cycles on the human brain - especially brains that did not grow up with them - I suspect one answer, sadly, is that matters will slowly improve over the next twenty years as the members of the angriest, most conspiracy-obsessed age groups naturally depart the world.
Let's not stigmatize older Americans. I turned 80 this year and don't watch Fox News, I am not angry, nor have I become susceptible to culture wars and conspiracy theories. In fact, many of my friends in the octogenarian and septuagenarian ranks are likewise, while many of our younger acquaintances are completely wacko. Perhaps the social media so popular among younger folks is their version of Fox! "Just sayin," don't judge us by the wrinkles and farts.
I'm not stigmatizing any group. I'm just reviewing the survey/polling evidence and voting patterns. The age cohort group which polls as the biggest "offender" in those aspects is the 50-64 age cohort.
Note that I am in that age group. I was horribly offended to find out that the CDC considered 50+ to be “older” Americans.
I hope you were going for intentional funny irony there.
Democrats don't have a 24/7 fear and rage machine as an information silo.
Sure there are plenty of more conventional alarmist headlines and amen chorus operations, but they're not designed to doomloop viewers into running all day and night the way Fox is.
Personally, I am angry and unforgiving on a variety of subjects. But it's anger aimed at specific people and ideologies and specific malfeasances against the country. And I try to understand, even with the people I'm angry at, what their actual motivations and drives are. There's a difference between a Crenshaw and a Gaetz and an MTG. I think Crenshaw is a turd, but in the right circumstances he could be worked with. Even McCarthy could be worked with, given that he's a spineless wuss.
MTG? I suppose if actual Satan was invading the planet and she somehow didn't end up immediately siding with the infernal we could be on the same side, but I'd watch her every friggin' minute.
It's what I've said for some time now- the Dems represent a small-c conservative minority with a greater stake in the well-being of the country, and tend to think in those terms.
Agree the Dems don't have a similar problem. But I wouldn't go easy on Crenshaw/McCarthy. One knows what Gaetz and MTG really stand for and they have repeatedly shown that they believe whatever they stand for 100%. If Crenshaws and McCarthys are the adults and know right from wrong, shouldn't they be using their power to sideline such crazies. But instead they pander, knowing fully well that the beast is going to consume not only them, but the country at some point. If anything they (McCarthy/Censhaw etc.) are the real problem, not Gaetz and MTG.
I'm not easy on Crenshaw at all. He's a POS who pandered to the MAGA crowd by depicting himself as doing combat against American citizens.
McCarthy is a weak little lickspittle who has no business being a representative, let alone the inheritor by default of one of the most important jobs in the country and worse yet in the line of succession.
But politics will always have slimy, suboptimal opportunists in positions of influence. Crenshaw at least seems to have pulled back from trying to grandstand for the MAGA, and McCarthy basically lacks any strong convictions. They're benign tumors compared to the metastasizing malignancy of an MTG or a Trump or a Kari Lake.
The latter three only speak the language of dominance and destruction. People like that burn the world down with their clumsy neediness and greed.
I was going to comment that "smart Repuplican lawmaker" is an oxymoron, but your comment is far more generous.
I am still frustrated by the lack of acknowledgement that the Republican Party has always been; a little bit wing nut, a little bit greedy asshole, and a little bit Christian Nationalist. How was it ever going to end any differently?
That bar graph of what most members of the Party of Gawd DON'T want to spend money on is sooo Christ-like. Apparently, the Christ in Christian Nationalism is branding, nothing more.