31st March 2017, 5:22 PM
(This post was last modified: 31st March 2017, 5:47 PM by A Black Falcon.)
Quote: You think the true liberal goals need to be covered up or coated in a layer of old time country boy in order for the public to swallow it, and we think such disguises aren't fooling anyone, and never really did, and the key isn't to focus on winning over republicansIf elected, Hillary would have been the most liberal president... maybe ever, and certainly in a very long time. I know Bill's thing was triangulation, but Hillary always was to his left, and she's to Obama's left too at least on many domestic issues. Sometimes politicians in both parties hide their real goals behind a centrist-sounding screen, but most of the time that doesn't change the actual effect of the policy. Hillary would be no centrist!
Quote: but in winning over the left-leaning non-voter who's disenfranchised with the whole system.If there really were as many people like that as you think, Bernie would have won the primaries, you know. That was a huge part of his appeal and it worked to a degree, but there isn't some 'hidden majority' of nonvoting liberals out there, or rather, there probably is but they can't be bothered to vote. A lot of them live in very liberal areas anyway, but there are some parts of the country that would be very competitive if liberals or potentially liberal voters actually voted -- Texas, for one of the best examples. It's really frustrating stuff, and we badly need strategies to get people to vote, I strongly agree on that point... but I don't know if your strategy will work. I don't think it has so far, at least not enough to actually turn elections.
Oh, and I don't know about turning Republicans for now, the core of their party is pretty far gone.... as I've said many times we badly need a Republican Party that believes in democracy and voting, but we don't have it now, for sure. For now the best we can do is appeal to the left and center, the right has gone kind of crazy. That doesn't mean centrist policies of course, it is possible to make a very good case to the middle for liberal policy, you just need centrist voters and legislators to support you. I do not believe that there are enough people out there who are liberal, don't vote because they hate the Democratic Party for reasons you describe, and live in the right areas to turn elections our way for your plan to be the answer to the party's problems. You need to win to get your agenda enacted, and between geographic party self-sorting, how more dems in small urban areas versus R's scattered around the countryside; gerrymandering and the greatly enhanced power that has given the Republican Party particularly in recent years; and how many potentially Democratic demographics rarely vote, such as Hispanics in the South and young people, we need all the help we can get to try to overcome those issues and actually win elections in congress instead of only in the popular vote.