tl;dr: Eyes versus ears. What you're looking at doesn't match the way the people organizing around the progressive identity describe it to you. You can see the mismatch.
The people of which you speak are all emotionally driven. They feel, therefore they are right and their feelings are superior to everything else. They haven’t had a thought or action based on facts or intellect in forever. Because of their inability to process facts/data there isn’t much chance of honest engagement with them.
You have defined cognitive dissonance- feelings over facts. In my observations, most are frozen in their beliefs and only when they hit tock bottom, they flip for some personal reason.
I believe you, Barry, but I’m the only person I’ve known to flip so far. After being inundated with the self righteous indignation of the rabid left I realized that conservative voices were talking common sense. But the dim-dems persist in their astonishing capacity for self validation and will never accept responsibility for their own evils.
The left is functionally illiterate. They talk incessantly, without saying much at all. They use few words, and understand fewer still. So, they employ spoons and metal pans.
Chris, are you aware of the Japanese theory of ‘crazy eyes’? I’m sorry I don’t remember the specific term for it, but if they have a certain look, be ready to fight or flee. It goes way way back in their ancient culture.
One of the reasons, I believe, bounced back so quickly ~80 years ago goes back to the strength of their centuries of self and post isolation. There’s something there!
Adding that I think Gavin Newsom has become a genuinely shameful figure, and he has to be treated that way. He is disgraced, and has to be spoken to, and of, as a disgraceful person.
He was on the podcast “diary of a CEO” or something like that. I can’t even bring myself to hate watch it. I was really embarrassed that host would have Newsom on. He must be running out of options for interviews
California's political class constantly crowing about having the "world's fourth-largest economy" is like the rich kid who always talks about how his dad has more millions than any of the other parents—neither of them did anything to earn a single cent, this wealth-creation has nothing to do with them, they are simply the spoiled beneficiaries of other people's brilliance and effort and investment.
All of California's wealthiest industries were funded and started in the prior century, tech (in 60s Palo Alto and also large infusions of govt cash), aerospace (rooted in the postwar economic explosion and Cold War funding) and of course Hollywood, started a century ago by various enterprising Jewish men. California would be the "world's fourth-largest economy" if either me or my dog were governor because all this wealth (natural and manmade) has barely anything to do with anyone still alive and would be here even if we hadn't been blessed with the sleazy charm of our Governor.
The problem with our leaders here is that they've all lived their entire lives at the apex of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, meaning that politics for them is about personal growth and fulfillment, about parading the most pristine, actualized and "compassionate" Self, with all the negative consequences outsourced and socialized, hidden by our supine media class and hard to see in the glare of constant sunlight. Thus we have flooded the state with impoverished migrants and street-sleeping drug zombies and refuse to say NO to any of them, because this would hurt various feelings and make you seem like an icky conservative (yuk). Here "compassion" means the victim and their savior are always right, as this symbiotic relationship provides the former with cash and dependency and the latter with the illusion of being an altruistic benefactor of humanity. "It is forbidden to forbid" is the offical California motto.
Just like the national Democrats recently re-enacted "The Emperor's New Clothes", the California Democrats are re-enacting Aesop's "The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs", where a fabulous gift is ruined by reckless greed and vanity. But remember, no matter how rotted out the state becomes, our leaders were "trying to make the world a better place" and pursue Social Justice DEI etc, so they will never admit failure and will die imagining their upcoming flight to Heaven aka the Right Side of History™.
Yes, and Newsom swaggered out a victory lap, during his debate with Ron DeSantis, over the presence in California of Stanford and Berkeley. His doing, more or less. He is the creator.
Democrats allied themselves with their far left elements: socialists, BLM, woke ideology, trans activists, anti-police and anti-ICE activists. Unfortunately for them, all those groups together represent a minority of voters, and a minority that actively repels the vast majority.
And now Democrats are stuck. If they stay with their coalition of the fringes, they stay unpopular and don’t win the presidency anytime soon. But if they abandon the fringes and move towards the center, they become “Republicans Lite” and lose many of their activists and donors. I have no idea how they can square that circle.
The DNC isn’t concerned with primaries. Win it, lose it, get zero votes, none of it matters. They appoint there leaders, ask Bernie about that. Also see Kamala Harris.
Fair point, but it really doesn’t change anything. IMO what they did in 2016 and 2020 anointing non-socialist Hillary and “moderate” Joe Biden they would be unable to pull off again.
And in 2024 with Kamala, while it’s true they ousted Biden, they clearly did NOT put in someone with the best chance of winning, did they? They stayed with the identity candidate.
IMO the only person whom they could have gotten away with replacing Kamala with, given their base, was Michele Obama. Because same intersectionality points. Once Michele chose not to run, they stuck with Kamala despite her being a terrible candidate because the base would have screamed bloody murder if they replaced her with a white guy.
Recall that Bill Clinton only barely won both elections, but you’re right about the primary voters, who overlap with what I called their activists. They won’t be giving up on trans ideology or “social justice” anytime soon.
Yes because back then relatively large majorities of the college educated upper middle class voted GOP. Sadly, this is no longer the case. The college miseducated (along with blacks) ARE the Dem base, and are happy to vote for socialist policies that don’t work, and are THE base of activists that want the cultural Marxism Dems are pushing.
Agreed 1000%. That they are not *entirely* extinct given Dem policies and rhetoric is the more inexplicable fact.
But yours is precisely my point. The Dems could get back a huge portion of the center if they returned to their policies and rhetoric of the late 90s. Their college miseducated voters would be unlikely to leave and vote GOP if they did that.
But mine is decidedly NOT a prediction. It’s clear things will go in the opposite direction for a while longer - and perhaps a *lot* longer. Nor is it clear that merely moving back a little towards the center will help them. And the chances they will do as I suggest at least over the next 6 years are imo near zero.
Only if they lose badly in 2028 do I think there is any real chance they will “get religion” (and move away from their current oppressor-oppressed religion) for 2032.
“I don’t think this is true at all. Neoliberalism is what led us to where we are now, including bill clinton.”
I actually mostly agree with this 2nd statement, but not at all in the way you intend.
Where you use “Neoliberalism” as a slur, and focus on the negatives we face as a society, in fact neoliberalism - a.k.a the return to classical liberalism, a.k.a the free market limited government principles on which this country was founded - is the primary cause of our immense wealth and the reality that we are the richest country in the world, with the highest living standards.
Our problems are not caused by neoliberalism directly, they are mostly caused by reactions to / against neoliberalism by those who have other, selfish and/or idiotic motivations and ideas.
Not that I would expect someone who used the term “neoliberalism” as a slur to understand, much less agree.
Possibly the only place that you and I - and Bernie and Trump for that matter - would agree is that crony capitalism (“the system is rigged”) is unabashedly bad. But that to me is not neoliberalism, that is in fact crony capitalism, and I denounce it wholeheartedly.
Spoiler alert: crony capitalism is just capitalism. There is no other kind.
Neoliberalism outsourced all the jobs, and hacked border enforcement to defacto open borders in order to flood the country with illegal aliens to be used as cheap scabs to undermine labor. This was in fact very bad for most people. “The economy” usually just means GDP, which fails to measure how people are doing.
Since Reagan kicked neoliberalism into gear, American standards of living have gone into steep decline.
Yes, I was pretty sure from your OG comment that you were clueless.
Some of what you state is a matter of opinion and values. So I will simply not bother to engage on either of those.
This statement, however, is just HUGELY ridiculously wrong:
“Since Reagan kicked neoliberalism into gear, American standards of living have gone into steep decline.”
The idea that the standard of living of the median American (or the American at the 10th/90th percentile for that matter) is steeply lower than it was in 1979 shows such a complete disconnect with reality that there is simply no point engaging further.
So I will not.
For your sake, and society’s, maybe you will eventually learn about reality, and about what enables the standard of living we enjoy.
But I cannot say I’m hopeful this will occur any time soon.
The Republicans have the same problem. The best candidates in a general election can’t survive the primary.
The primary system is probably the biggest issue in American politics. It selects for fringe candidates and prevents compromise in Congress because compromise leads to primary challenges.
“The Republicans have the same problem. The best candidates in a general election can’t survive the primary.”
Sorry, you can claim this, but that doesn’t make it true. It’s not nearly the problem on the right today as it is on the left. Not even close.
Separately, I’ll point out that it turned out in 2024 that for President, Trump was indeed (unlike in 2016) the “best candidate” - in terms of chances of winning the general election - as evidenced by the fact that he outperformed Senate candidates in every single swing state (and almost all other states, for that matter).
And don’t forget agriculture, run on the backs of migrant workers. And now, “Who’s gonna pick your f@<€ing food?!!” sez former prez’ rehabilitated son.
“…because all this wealth (natural and manmade) has barely anything to do with anyone still alive..”
I disagree strongly that all the wealth has barely anything to do with anyone still alive.
I reject that slight variant on the Elizabeth Warren/Obama “You didn’t build that” claim.
But I agree *wholeheartedly* that the wealth exists DESPITE the governance of CA, and not in ANY way because of any positive governance (at least for the past 30 years anyway, and arguably longer than that).
As accurate as this is, there is still 35% of the population that will vote for Democrats, no matter how fuxked up their policies are! It’s mind boggling. Total morons. AWFLs and their luxury beliefs. It is absolutely maddening.
Just putting it out there, I don't think it matters what percentage votes for Democrats in California. I think the only thing that truly matters is who counts the votes. I believe the votes are always going to fall in the democrats favor regardless, because I believe the system is broken and corrupt. and until we get back to paper ballads, one day voting, mandatory voter ID, and hand counted ballots. nothing will change.
Unofficial spokesman for Florida man here. glad you're in Florida Andy,I hope you have learned and you are no longer voting for vile and filthy Democrats. please don't bring your California Wasteland politics to the Glorious state of Florida. California politics suck ,we don't want them here. if you seen the light please stay, if you are still voting Democrat pack your shit and get the hell out. other than that have a great day.
The only ‘given’ for their maniacal signifying habits is that they are told with certainty who butters their white jam sandwiches, two slices meaning twice the lack of nutritional value. But it’s filler for an empty stomach, and pacifying for an empty brain. Basically, plantation slaves subsidized by non-plantation co-dependents, both exploited for the benefit of the ‘master class’ — radical Left elites — who know absolutely without doubt how delicious gefilte and cream cheese on a salt bagel will satisfy hunger. And we get the lecture on keeping the bonded masses fed.
Interesting how these elite land/business owners have scammed the American people, the insurance industry, and the people supported by their grift (politically, but minimally) — and yet they have white-washed propaganda polishing the luster of their racism. The best most vile example of this reality is the George Floyd ‘Summer of Love’ destruction of big, ‘struggling’ cities. And now, they’re spoiling desperately to set the fires in front of apparently ‘extreme nature’ Santa Ana winds that will roar through our civilization, mercilessly, engineered by default.
Everyone is pointing at the disintegration of the Democratic Party, speculating on its demise. Let’s take the Fake News at face value though. The definition of ‘fake’ shifts slightly here, but when one of their demonically brilliant Field Marshalls finds the trip wire, or engineers the meltdown for anarchy, it will be a moment of Constitutional truth.
My belief is that the deception about ‘who they are’ will be so powerful that only those who would re-establish the Founding documents as the Founders did, pledging life, wealth, and sacred honor are capable, CAN, save our Republic.
Sweet talk, soft soap, play nice will all be like June 6 at Normandy. Inotherwords, if anyone thinks heat will make a difference, you’ll have maybe one second to light it up.
Let's hope that is 35% of the "voting" population, which would be well under 35% of the total population. This doesn't necessarily help California or New York. Their big cities overwhelm the "red" within their states. This interactive map shows the red/blue relationship in every US county and is fun to play with:
If you spent the last 5 years supporting the mutilation of mentally ill kids' genitals, mandating a dangerous medicine on people (including kids and the ethnic minorities you purport to love so much), supporting the weaponization of the *fucking national security apparatus* against people who you disagree, ginning up race riots, and on and on, you're just too far gone.
These people would not face reality even when they had no incentive (other than virtue signaling) to avoid it. Now there are hundreds of reasons to avoid looking in the mirror.
Any organization that has a bunch of Mrs. DiNovos running around is going to sink, because there is zero chance - none - that these people will face the music. Zero discernment. Zero accountability.
CS Lewis wrote in *The Abolition of Man* about 'men without chests'. I argue that he meant people who are not anchored internally inside themselves. The have no moral ballast, no keel. The ship of their life will not go any direction on it its own. When you are a meat sack with nothing meaningful inside, you must reference something completely outside yourself to live. And the easy way is to virtue signal-embrace categorical thinking as Chris so clearly articulated..
El gato malo has a lot of excellent posts about libs not being able to change course because the locus of their identities is external. It’s also why they can change course to another batcrap crazy idea without missing a beat when the herd does. It’s their only sense of self. Profoundly dangerous…
I agree that the chances are pretty low in the short-medium term.
But there is in fact *one* incentive - and pretty much only one - for them to change.
Power.
If they don’t change, they will continue to lose most national elections and many Senate elections.
So the ones who care about power the most - and almost ALL Dems care about power - do have some incentive.
But for most individual leftists secure in their personal positions, that might not be enough to get them to change.
Which as I’ve noted elsewhere, will be good for the rest of us most of the time (since they will lose most national elections), but disastrous for those occasions when they win anyway - usually because the right screwed up somehow.
If a Big Chief picked up the freakin’ water fountain and threw it through their mind’s windows, they’d line up for lobotomies instead of taking an honest look around…
Thank you so much for shining a much needed light on what is going on in Canada. Our media is 24/7 on Orange man bad, Trump is evil, blah blah blah which enough liberal voters eat up and elect another Liberal government which are gradually eroding our freedoms, as they seek to decouple us from our U.S. allies, and partner with the EU, UN, and WEF who will suck all our resources and wealth out of Canada and with a cut of the riches for them and support to hold on to power. God Bless you and your loved ones. 🙏
Canadian voters have determined the decline and corruption of what once was a respectable country. I can tell you: I never voted for the Liberals (or the NDP).
To be fair, Isreal is doing horrendous, vile things to Palestinians. Shooting people for sport, rape, having different days focused on shooting different body parts ... taking pictures with lingerie of dead Palestinian women ... going for Greater Isreal, thinking they're entitled to whatever land they want, regardless of who has to die ..
Videos of people being shot when Hamas is nowhere in sight, the "Human shield" thing may be true sometimes, but is a way overused excuse ...
But when progressives who advocate for mutilating children and calling it "care", and manipulate compassion to push vaccine mandates, scream FREE PALESTINE while in the midst of multiple unhinged tantrums ... It really does not help a cause that actually is worthy and should be taken seriously ...
https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/please-look-at-what-is-happening-in-gaza - Mark Crispin Miller is not a narrative believing pot-banger. He has way more integrity than any Democrat in Congress .. there are testimonies and pictures showing immense cruelty that is not because Hamas is using innocent people as human shields and the IDF tries so hard to not kill civilians, but once in awhile they make mistakes .. its much much darker than that ...
Yes, the folks who invaded Israeli communities and murders teens at a concert, gang raped to death girls and women, burned families alive, put babies in ovens, and beheaded children and elderly, it was the Israeli Defense Force! They took videos and pretended to be Palestinians. You see deeply. Now, if only there were a final solution to the Jewish problem.
A common mistake is to believe that the difference between the tight and left is values.
It is ability to think.
If you can think, you can see both sides of the equation and reject the left as irrational and disingenuous. If you cannot, and can only "feel" you can engage in the "we are the good people" smugness and play along.
The issue is irrelevant. It can go from "I am not taking that Trump Vaccine!" To OMG, I am first in line for vaccines, #doing my part!" The only consistency is that the narrative setters say things that are beneficial for the public to believe, and since there is money in conning people to believe lies, not truths, well...
The left could LOVE Trump tomorrow, if they were told to do so. (like The Cheneys, McCain etc.).
They cannot make an argument about hating trump other than #russia, #Steele Dossier, #Fine people etc. You are not talking to a person. You are not listening to an Opinion. You are listening to a person who has been programmed to obey, and chant narratives. (even if they are reasonably sound in other fields). No one who can see both sides of the equation EVER decides the narrative. Ever.
Really, after all of this, the approval rating is still 35% (50 Million voters?)
I would love to see if the regime could make these people love Trump. That would be the ultimate proof of total and complete brainwashing. It took them more than a decade to create the TDS, but to turn it around quickly, well that would be something amazing.
great example, but it's easier to turn someone from the good guy to the villain than the other way around. Also, the feelings aren't as strong as with a decade of smear vs Trump.
Maybe the conspiracy theorists were right about Bill Gates supplying chips to Pfizer. That could explain why the word “trump” triggers such otherwise inexplicable reactions. The narrative setters got them, too. /s/
I lived in downtown Oakland in early 2000's to 2012 when it was revitalizing and I worked at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco...I walked, traveled by Bart and Muni without feeling any threats at all and if I did I knew to stay clear. Downtown Oakland was changing, for the most part you could walk on the streets at night without too much worry. Looking at the video of Oakland just makes you want to cry and thinking how far California has fallen...when did the democrats become so insane and out of touch to see what destruction they have brought onto people...you have said everything so well, thank you!
I spent a year working in a state psych hospital when I was in grad school. Everyone there had been involuntarily committed by the state or by their families. 99% of them would look sane compared to the progressives, esp in CA.
Some take aways that I learned at 23 - 100% of them lied. They’d go to group therapy, talk about all the changes they were making and how their lives would be better, and then immediately go sit in the smoke room and talk about the drugs they were going to do the second they got out or the crazy stuff they thought that they didn’t tell the therapists. They were manipulative as an art form, esp the addicts or the ones with severe anorexia. Sociopaths will tell you anything, be 100% believable, smile and laugh with everyone, and stab you in the hallway if criticize their choice of jello flavor.
Everyone who worked at that hospital was either a super skinny chain smoker or obese - back in the 80s when there were a lot fewer fat people. Turnover was incredibly high. It was a terrible, thankless job, and depressing as hell. But boy did it prepare me for life since Obama came on the scene.
There is absolutely no one living in the streets of any blue hell-hole who wants to be anywhere else other than where they are. You can't "take care" of someone who chooses slow suicide to deal with the chain of bad choices they've made, or were made for them.
Anyone by accident or fate or bad choices ending up homeless because of drug addiction and/or mental illness have a multitude of taxpayer funded resources that will help them if they want it. They don't want that. They want the freedom to destroy themselves. Let them have it.
Enough with the lack of housing excuse. That's not it. Round them up and segregate them far away from civilized society. Provide the bare necessities and leave them to their demise. That sounds harsh to you, but get over it. Let them die in peace.
When he was mayor of San Francisco he was seen as something of a moderate Democrat. His “Care Not Cash” policy ended the *insane* policy of handing out hundreds of dollars to the homeless. People were making monthly trips from Nevada for the handouts. These days, though, he seems to be spending his energy attacking Trump, subsidizing and protecting illegals, and transing kids (whether their parents approve or not).
If I saw the Newsoms in my southern California neighborhood on my middle-class street that hasn’t been paved in over 20 years, it would be hard to resist the urge to spit in their faces.
Or a stronger reaction. As H. L. Mencken put it, "Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats".
I'm glad Ms. (not Rev.) DiNovo has been fully briefed on all of the details, including the mindcrimes, of the Canadian truckers. If she's that clairvoyant can she pick a dozen stocks for me?
I'd also like to know what kind of Christian bears false witness.
She's a long-standing communist in downtown Toronto with a *very* sketchy past. I think she's a member of one those non-"Churches" that value everything except...Christianity (The United Church of Canada, or some Anglican branch).
tl;dr: Eyes versus ears. What you're looking at doesn't match the way the people organizing around the progressive identity describe it to you. You can see the mismatch.
The people of which you speak are all emotionally driven. They feel, therefore they are right and their feelings are superior to everything else. They haven’t had a thought or action based on facts or intellect in forever. Because of their inability to process facts/data there isn’t much chance of honest engagement with them.
Great comment. They function similarly to a “psycho ex-girlfriend”. Cut your losses / move on is the only strategy in dealing with them.
They’re not even “Crazy/Hot,” if they ever were.
(Apologies if this double posts—interweb issues)
You have defined cognitive dissonance- feelings over facts. In my observations, most are frozen in their beliefs and only when they hit tock bottom, they flip for some personal reason.
I believe you, Barry, but I’m the only person I’ve known to flip so far. After being inundated with the self righteous indignation of the rabid left I realized that conservative voices were talking common sense. But the dim-dems persist in their astonishing capacity for self validation and will never accept responsibility for their own evils.
Happy to hear that you did it. The indoctrination by schools from elementary through university works on many personalities.
Excellent way to explain it. Well done.
The left is functionally illiterate. They talk incessantly, without saying much at all. They use few words, and understand fewer still. So, they employ spoons and metal pans.
Chris, are you aware of the Japanese theory of ‘crazy eyes’? I’m sorry I don’t remember the specific term for it, but if they have a certain look, be ready to fight or flee. It goes way way back in their ancient culture.
One of the reasons, I believe, bounced back so quickly ~80 years ago goes back to the strength of their centuries of self and post isolation. There’s something there!
Sanpaku eyes. Yep.
Correction: self imposed, not ‘self and post’
You can click on the three dots on the upper right side of the comment to edit typos.
100%
They literally can’t see who they are or the actual results of their policy choices.
The idea of what the policy will lead to is all that matters
The intention not the result, and the intention is always pure (in their minds).
EXACTLY
"Are you gonna believe me, or your lying eyes?"
Adding that I think Gavin Newsom has become a genuinely shameful figure, and he has to be treated that way. He is disgraced, and has to be spoken to, and of, as a disgraceful person.
Imagine being Chris Murphy, the wannabe beta version of disgraced Newsom.
He's a Godless ghoul. American Psycho personified.
Flim-flam man. Archetype from forever.
He was on the podcast “diary of a CEO” or something like that. I can’t even bring myself to hate watch it. I was really embarrassed that host would have Newsom on. He must be running out of options for interviews
Why do I see Gordon Gekko every time I see Newsom?
California's political class constantly crowing about having the "world's fourth-largest economy" is like the rich kid who always talks about how his dad has more millions than any of the other parents—neither of them did anything to earn a single cent, this wealth-creation has nothing to do with them, they are simply the spoiled beneficiaries of other people's brilliance and effort and investment.
All of California's wealthiest industries were funded and started in the prior century, tech (in 60s Palo Alto and also large infusions of govt cash), aerospace (rooted in the postwar economic explosion and Cold War funding) and of course Hollywood, started a century ago by various enterprising Jewish men. California would be the "world's fourth-largest economy" if either me or my dog were governor because all this wealth (natural and manmade) has barely anything to do with anyone still alive and would be here even if we hadn't been blessed with the sleazy charm of our Governor.
The problem with our leaders here is that they've all lived their entire lives at the apex of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, meaning that politics for them is about personal growth and fulfillment, about parading the most pristine, actualized and "compassionate" Self, with all the negative consequences outsourced and socialized, hidden by our supine media class and hard to see in the glare of constant sunlight. Thus we have flooded the state with impoverished migrants and street-sleeping drug zombies and refuse to say NO to any of them, because this would hurt various feelings and make you seem like an icky conservative (yuk). Here "compassion" means the victim and their savior are always right, as this symbiotic relationship provides the former with cash and dependency and the latter with the illusion of being an altruistic benefactor of humanity. "It is forbidden to forbid" is the offical California motto.
Just like the national Democrats recently re-enacted "The Emperor's New Clothes", the California Democrats are re-enacting Aesop's "The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs", where a fabulous gift is ruined by reckless greed and vanity. But remember, no matter how rotted out the state becomes, our leaders were "trying to make the world a better place" and pursue Social Justice DEI etc, so they will never admit failure and will die imagining their upcoming flight to Heaven aka the Right Side of History™.
Yes, and Newsom swaggered out a victory lap, during his debate with Ron DeSantis, over the presence in California of Stanford and Berkeley. His doing, more or less. He is the creator.
He really is an 80s movie villain!
American Psycho.
Democrats allied themselves with their far left elements: socialists, BLM, woke ideology, trans activists, anti-police and anti-ICE activists. Unfortunately for them, all those groups together represent a minority of voters, and a minority that actively repels the vast majority.
And now Democrats are stuck. If they stay with their coalition of the fringes, they stay unpopular and don’t win the presidency anytime soon. But if they abandon the fringes and move towards the center, they become “Republicans Lite” and lose many of their activists and donors. I have no idea how they can square that circle.
There IS a way that would likely work.
Return to 90s Bill Clinton rhetoric and policies.
That would likely win general elections in landslide percentages.
But it will be a very long time from now before such people/policies can win in Dem primaries almost anywhere.
The problem is no longer the donors or the activists. The problem is the base primary voters.
What the majority of primary voters want doesn’t work, has never worked and can’t possibly work.
You can blame the mindset of primary voters on the activists and the donors (and academia, and the MSM), and that’s probably correct.
But the genie is out of the bottle and likely cannot be put back in by donors or party leadership even if they had the will.
Look at the recent NYC mayoral primary if you doubt me.
The DNC isn’t concerned with primaries. Win it, lose it, get zero votes, none of it matters. They appoint there leaders, ask Bernie about that. Also see Kamala Harris.
Fair point, but it really doesn’t change anything. IMO what they did in 2016 and 2020 anointing non-socialist Hillary and “moderate” Joe Biden they would be unable to pull off again.
And in 2024 with Kamala, while it’s true they ousted Biden, they clearly did NOT put in someone with the best chance of winning, did they? They stayed with the identity candidate.
IMO the only person whom they could have gotten away with replacing Kamala with, given their base, was Michele Obama. Because same intersectionality points. Once Michele chose not to run, they stuck with Kamala despite her being a terrible candidate because the base would have screamed bloody murder if they replaced her with a white guy.
And in 2028 they will anoint whomever they decide has the best shot of winning. The votes won’t matter.
Why are you so confident of this in 2028 when they utterly failed to do it in 2024?
Recall that Bill Clinton only barely won both elections, but you’re right about the primary voters, who overlap with what I called their activists. They won’t be giving up on trans ideology or “social justice” anytime soon.
Yes because back then relatively large majorities of the college educated upper middle class voted GOP. Sadly, this is no longer the case. The college miseducated (along with blacks) ARE the Dem base, and are happy to vote for socialist policies that don’t work, and are THE base of activists that want the cultural Marxism Dems are pushing.
True, but on the other hand lots of voters are leaving the Democratic Party. E.g. blue dog Democrats are almost extinct.
Agreed 1000%. That they are not *entirely* extinct given Dem policies and rhetoric is the more inexplicable fact.
But yours is precisely my point. The Dems could get back a huge portion of the center if they returned to their policies and rhetoric of the late 90s. Their college miseducated voters would be unlikely to leave and vote GOP if they did that.
But mine is decidedly NOT a prediction. It’s clear things will go in the opposite direction for a while longer - and perhaps a *lot* longer. Nor is it clear that merely moving back a little towards the center will help them. And the chances they will do as I suggest at least over the next 6 years are imo near zero.
Only if they lose badly in 2028 do I think there is any real chance they will “get religion” (and move away from their current oppressor-oppressed religion) for 2032.
I don’t think this is true at all. Neoliberalism is what led us to where we are now, including bill clinton.
“I don’t think this is true at all. Neoliberalism is what led us to where we are now, including bill clinton.”
I actually mostly agree with this 2nd statement, but not at all in the way you intend.
Where you use “Neoliberalism” as a slur, and focus on the negatives we face as a society, in fact neoliberalism - a.k.a the return to classical liberalism, a.k.a the free market limited government principles on which this country was founded - is the primary cause of our immense wealth and the reality that we are the richest country in the world, with the highest living standards.
Our problems are not caused by neoliberalism directly, they are mostly caused by reactions to / against neoliberalism by those who have other, selfish and/or idiotic motivations and ideas.
Not that I would expect someone who used the term “neoliberalism” as a slur to understand, much less agree.
Possibly the only place that you and I - and Bernie and Trump for that matter - would agree is that crony capitalism (“the system is rigged”) is unabashedly bad. But that to me is not neoliberalism, that is in fact crony capitalism, and I denounce it wholeheartedly.
Spoiler alert: crony capitalism is just capitalism. There is no other kind.
Neoliberalism outsourced all the jobs, and hacked border enforcement to defacto open borders in order to flood the country with illegal aliens to be used as cheap scabs to undermine labor. This was in fact very bad for most people. “The economy” usually just means GDP, which fails to measure how people are doing.
Since Reagan kicked neoliberalism into gear, American standards of living have gone into steep decline.
This must be reversed by any means necessary.
Yes, I was pretty sure from your OG comment that you were clueless.
Some of what you state is a matter of opinion and values. So I will simply not bother to engage on either of those.
This statement, however, is just HUGELY ridiculously wrong:
“Since Reagan kicked neoliberalism into gear, American standards of living have gone into steep decline.”
The idea that the standard of living of the median American (or the American at the 10th/90th percentile for that matter) is steeply lower than it was in 1979 shows such a complete disconnect with reality that there is simply no point engaging further.
So I will not.
For your sake, and society’s, maybe you will eventually learn about reality, and about what enables the standard of living we enjoy.
But I cannot say I’m hopeful this will occur any time soon.
The Republicans have the same problem. The best candidates in a general election can’t survive the primary.
The primary system is probably the biggest issue in American politics. It selects for fringe candidates and prevents compromise in Congress because compromise leads to primary challenges.
“The Republicans have the same problem. The best candidates in a general election can’t survive the primary.”
Sorry, you can claim this, but that doesn’t make it true. It’s not nearly the problem on the right today as it is on the left. Not even close.
Separately, I’ll point out that it turned out in 2024 that for President, Trump was indeed (unlike in 2016) the “best candidate” - in terms of chances of winning the general election - as evidenced by the fact that he outperformed Senate candidates in every single swing state (and almost all other states, for that matter).
yes yes yes
And don’t forget agriculture, run on the backs of migrant workers. And now, “Who’s gonna pick your f@<€ing food?!!” sez former prez’ rehabilitated son.
Great comment
“…because all this wealth (natural and manmade) has barely anything to do with anyone still alive..”
I disagree strongly that all the wealth has barely anything to do with anyone still alive.
I reject that slight variant on the Elizabeth Warren/Obama “You didn’t build that” claim.
But I agree *wholeheartedly* that the wealth exists DESPITE the governance of CA, and not in ANY way because of any positive governance (at least for the past 30 years anyway, and arguably longer than that).
As accurate as this is, there is still 35% of the population that will vote for Democrats, no matter how fuxked up their policies are! It’s mind boggling. Total morons. AWFLs and their luxury beliefs. It is absolutely maddening.
Just putting it out there, I don't think it matters what percentage votes for Democrats in California. I think the only thing that truly matters is who counts the votes. I believe the votes are always going to fall in the democrats favor regardless, because I believe the system is broken and corrupt. and until we get back to paper ballads, one day voting, mandatory voter ID, and hand counted ballots. nothing will change.
YES. Election cheating and general rigging is a HUGE problem in California and has been for decades.
“… until we get back to paper ballads…”
The ballads of the 70s - ”Stairway to Heaven”, “Beth” or “Desperado” anyone? - were indeed awesome.
I’m not sure they have to be on paper for us to best enjoy them, though.
Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube help me more easily enjoy them today…
😁😏
Well done Andy. Welcome to the Sunshine State, always room for people with a good sense of humor.
Yes! yes! yes!
Unfortunately, in California that '35%' spproaches '50%'.
No, in CA it exceeds 50%, sadly
[speaketh this former long-time CA, now FL, resident]
Unofficial spokesman for Florida man here. glad you're in Florida Andy,I hope you have learned and you are no longer voting for vile and filthy Democrats. please don't bring your California Wasteland politics to the Glorious state of Florida. California politics suck ,we don't want them here. if you seen the light please stay, if you are still voting Democrat pack your shit and get the hell out. other than that have a great day.
lol.
I have not voted for a Dem for national office for about 30 years now.
Good man ,welcome to Florida.
Amen
The only ‘given’ for their maniacal signifying habits is that they are told with certainty who butters their white jam sandwiches, two slices meaning twice the lack of nutritional value. But it’s filler for an empty stomach, and pacifying for an empty brain. Basically, plantation slaves subsidized by non-plantation co-dependents, both exploited for the benefit of the ‘master class’ — radical Left elites — who know absolutely without doubt how delicious gefilte and cream cheese on a salt bagel will satisfy hunger. And we get the lecture on keeping the bonded masses fed.
Interesting how these elite land/business owners have scammed the American people, the insurance industry, and the people supported by their grift (politically, but minimally) — and yet they have white-washed propaganda polishing the luster of their racism. The best most vile example of this reality is the George Floyd ‘Summer of Love’ destruction of big, ‘struggling’ cities. And now, they’re spoiling desperately to set the fires in front of apparently ‘extreme nature’ Santa Ana winds that will roar through our civilization, mercilessly, engineered by default.
Everyone is pointing at the disintegration of the Democratic Party, speculating on its demise. Let’s take the Fake News at face value though. The definition of ‘fake’ shifts slightly here, but when one of their demonically brilliant Field Marshalls finds the trip wire, or engineers the meltdown for anarchy, it will be a moment of Constitutional truth.
My belief is that the deception about ‘who they are’ will be so powerful that only those who would re-establish the Founding documents as the Founders did, pledging life, wealth, and sacred honor are capable, CAN, save our Republic.
Sweet talk, soft soap, play nice will all be like June 6 at Normandy. Inotherwords, if anyone thinks heat will make a difference, you’ll have maybe one second to light it up.
Know your enemy. For Real.
Let's hope that is 35% of the "voting" population, which would be well under 35% of the total population. This doesn't necessarily help California or New York. Their big cities overwhelm the "red" within their states. This interactive map shows the red/blue relationship in every US county and is fun to play with:
https://engaging-data.com/county-electoral-map-land-vs-population/
They're in too deep now.
If you spent the last 5 years supporting the mutilation of mentally ill kids' genitals, mandating a dangerous medicine on people (including kids and the ethnic minorities you purport to love so much), supporting the weaponization of the *fucking national security apparatus* against people who you disagree, ginning up race riots, and on and on, you're just too far gone.
These people would not face reality even when they had no incentive (other than virtue signaling) to avoid it. Now there are hundreds of reasons to avoid looking in the mirror.
Any organization that has a bunch of Mrs. DiNovos running around is going to sink, because there is zero chance - none - that these people will face the music. Zero discernment. Zero accountability.
CS Lewis wrote in *The Abolition of Man* about 'men without chests'. I argue that he meant people who are not anchored internally inside themselves. The have no moral ballast, no keel. The ship of their life will not go any direction on it its own. When you are a meat sack with nothing meaningful inside, you must reference something completely outside yourself to live. And the easy way is to virtue signal-embrace categorical thinking as Chris so clearly articulated..
El gato malo has a lot of excellent posts about libs not being able to change course because the locus of their identities is external. It’s also why they can change course to another batcrap crazy idea without missing a beat when the herd does. It’s their only sense of self. Profoundly dangerous…
I agree that the chances are pretty low in the short-medium term.
But there is in fact *one* incentive - and pretty much only one - for them to change.
Power.
If they don’t change, they will continue to lose most national elections and many Senate elections.
So the ones who care about power the most - and almost ALL Dems care about power - do have some incentive.
But for most individual leftists secure in their personal positions, that might not be enough to get them to change.
Which as I’ve noted elsewhere, will be good for the rest of us most of the time (since they will lose most national elections), but disastrous for those occasions when they win anyway - usually because the right screwed up somehow.
"She's ignorant noise, and infinite sanctimony, with a pair of legs to carry it around"...... absolutely, awesomely perfect!!!
If a Big Chief picked up the freakin’ water fountain and threw it through their mind’s windows, they’d line up for lobotomies instead of taking an honest look around…
Thank you so much for shining a much needed light on what is going on in Canada. Our media is 24/7 on Orange man bad, Trump is evil, blah blah blah which enough liberal voters eat up and elect another Liberal government which are gradually eroding our freedoms, as they seek to decouple us from our U.S. allies, and partner with the EU, UN, and WEF who will suck all our resources and wealth out of Canada and with a cut of the riches for them and support to hold on to power. God Bless you and your loved ones. 🙏
Focused on Trump while Canada burns around them.
And vote liberal again.
Honestly, as a Canadian, we deserve everything we have coming to us.
Canadian voters have determined the decline and corruption of what once was a respectable country. I can tell you: I never voted for the Liberals (or the NDP).
We don’t, they do.
The banging on the pot thing was hilarious. If you look at her face, I don’t think even she knows why the hell she was doing it.
It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
To be fair, Isreal is doing horrendous, vile things to Palestinians. Shooting people for sport, rape, having different days focused on shooting different body parts ... taking pictures with lingerie of dead Palestinian women ... going for Greater Isreal, thinking they're entitled to whatever land they want, regardless of who has to die ..
Videos of people being shot when Hamas is nowhere in sight, the "Human shield" thing may be true sometimes, but is a way overused excuse ...
But when progressives who advocate for mutilating children and calling it "care", and manipulate compassion to push vaccine mandates, scream FREE PALESTINE while in the midst of multiple unhinged tantrums ... It really does not help a cause that actually is worthy and should be taken seriously ...
https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/please-look-at-what-is-happening-in-gaza - Mark Crispin Miller is not a narrative believing pot-banger. He has way more integrity than any Democrat in Congress .. there are testimonies and pictures showing immense cruelty that is not because Hamas is using innocent people as human shields and the IDF tries so hard to not kill civilians, but once in awhile they make mistakes .. its much much darker than that ...
To be fair, consider that much of this may be propaganda too. Gell Mann amnesia.
Libel
Yes, the folks who invaded Israeli communities and murders teens at a concert, gang raped to death girls and women, burned families alive, put babies in ovens, and beheaded children and elderly, it was the Israeli Defense Force! They took videos and pretended to be Palestinians. You see deeply. Now, if only there were a final solution to the Jewish problem.
Libel
still thinks that gets her fb likes and shares even though that was so 2020
A common mistake is to believe that the difference between the tight and left is values.
It is ability to think.
If you can think, you can see both sides of the equation and reject the left as irrational and disingenuous. If you cannot, and can only "feel" you can engage in the "we are the good people" smugness and play along.
The issue is irrelevant. It can go from "I am not taking that Trump Vaccine!" To OMG, I am first in line for vaccines, #doing my part!" The only consistency is that the narrative setters say things that are beneficial for the public to believe, and since there is money in conning people to believe lies, not truths, well...
The left could LOVE Trump tomorrow, if they were told to do so. (like The Cheneys, McCain etc.).
They cannot make an argument about hating trump other than #russia, #Steele Dossier, #Fine people etc. You are not talking to a person. You are not listening to an Opinion. You are listening to a person who has been programmed to obey, and chant narratives. (even if they are reasonably sound in other fields). No one who can see both sides of the equation EVER decides the narrative. Ever.
Really, after all of this, the approval rating is still 35% (50 Million voters?)
I would love to see if the regime could make these people love Trump. That would be the ultimate proof of total and complete brainwashing. It took them more than a decade to create the TDS, but to turn it around quickly, well that would be something amazing.
i'm sure moderna could concoct a vaccine for that
Elon musk
great example, but it's easier to turn someone from the good guy to the villain than the other way around. Also, the feelings aren't as strong as with a decade of smear vs Trump.
Maybe the conspiracy theorists were right about Bill Gates supplying chips to Pfizer. That could explain why the word “trump” triggers such otherwise inexplicable reactions. The narrative setters got them, too. /s/
I lived in downtown Oakland in early 2000's to 2012 when it was revitalizing and I worked at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco...I walked, traveled by Bart and Muni without feeling any threats at all and if I did I knew to stay clear. Downtown Oakland was changing, for the most part you could walk on the streets at night without too much worry. Looking at the video of Oakland just makes you want to cry and thinking how far California has fallen...when did the democrats become so insane and out of touch to see what destruction they have brought onto people...you have said everything so well, thank you!
I spent a year working in a state psych hospital when I was in grad school. Everyone there had been involuntarily committed by the state or by their families. 99% of them would look sane compared to the progressives, esp in CA.
Some take aways that I learned at 23 - 100% of them lied. They’d go to group therapy, talk about all the changes they were making and how their lives would be better, and then immediately go sit in the smoke room and talk about the drugs they were going to do the second they got out or the crazy stuff they thought that they didn’t tell the therapists. They were manipulative as an art form, esp the addicts or the ones with severe anorexia. Sociopaths will tell you anything, be 100% believable, smile and laugh with everyone, and stab you in the hallway if criticize their choice of jello flavor.
Everyone who worked at that hospital was either a super skinny chain smoker or obese - back in the 80s when there were a lot fewer fat people. Turnover was incredibly high. It was a terrible, thankless job, and depressing as hell. But boy did it prepare me for life since Obama came on the scene.
There is absolutely no one living in the streets of any blue hell-hole who wants to be anywhere else other than where they are. You can't "take care" of someone who chooses slow suicide to deal with the chain of bad choices they've made, or were made for them.
Anyone by accident or fate or bad choices ending up homeless because of drug addiction and/or mental illness have a multitude of taxpayer funded resources that will help them if they want it. They don't want that. They want the freedom to destroy themselves. Let them have it.
Enough with the lack of housing excuse. That's not it. Round them up and segregate them far away from civilized society. Provide the bare necessities and leave them to their demise. That sounds harsh to you, but get over it. Let them die in peace.
This is a really interesting comment—thank you for sharing this
Maybe it's the hairstyle, but Gavin Newsom makes me think of a vampire.
He makes you think of a vampire because he IS a vampire.
He sucked the lifeblood out of the formerly Golden State of California and left it writhing in pain on its deathbed, for starters.
When he was mayor of San Francisco he was seen as something of a moderate Democrat. His “Care Not Cash” policy ended the *insane* policy of handing out hundreds of dollars to the homeless. People were making monthly trips from Nevada for the handouts. These days, though, he seems to be spending his energy attacking Trump, subsidizing and protecting illegals, and transing kids (whether their parents approve or not).
If I saw the Newsoms in my southern California neighborhood on my middle-class street that hasn’t been paved in over 20 years, it would be hard to resist the urge to spit in their faces.
Or a stronger reaction. As H. L. Mencken put it, "Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats".
Every time I get on the 210 I’m afraid I’m going to blow a tire or break an axle.
I was on the 210 in Pasadena yesterday, and it’s like dirt-biking.
I'm glad Ms. (not Rev.) DiNovo has been fully briefed on all of the details, including the mindcrimes, of the Canadian truckers. If she's that clairvoyant can she pick a dozen stocks for me?
I'd also like to know what kind of Christian bears false witness.
She's no Christian
Cosplay 101
She's a long-standing communist in downtown Toronto with a *very* sketchy past. I think she's a member of one those non-"Churches" that value everything except...Christianity (The United Church of Canada, or some Anglican branch).
She seems to be one who consistantly checks all
The boxes.
I didn't just "like" this piece, I LOVED this piece.