Quote:
Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall
That's because people in this country cannot hear a fucking thing beyond:
- Respect the flag
- Love it or leave it
- Muslims are dangerous
- Immigrants are dangerous and are taking our jobs
- Taxes suck
- Black people are dangerous
- All politicians are equally bad and are responsible for everything
- Obamacare sucks
Any argument that is as nuanced as "Republicans are blocking bills that will help you, you fucking idiot," is translated into the seventh bullet point above. There is no such thing as an effective message outside of the bullshit I've just listed because our electorate is made up of small-minded, uneducated, idiots who aren't interested in facts at all.
TM |
There is an old and difficult tension in union and Democratic party circles that is easiest to see in the statement "X are taking our jobs". It's number 4 on your list, but it hasn't just been immigrants - it's also African-Americans, the south, the Chinese, really anyone other than whites, and the presupposition is that those jobs somehow below to certain people and not others.
The other side of the argument is pretty simple: "workers of the world unite". Simple and catchy but doesn't have a big following these days.
For the most part, Bernie was closer to the first category in his economics and social policy, Hill the second.
These tensions will never be resolved and will always cost Dems votes. Over many, many years, with a lot of tension and a lot of work, Dems and unions developed a sort of consensus compromise that worked, but most of the working class is no longer unionized and doesn't buy into that consensus any more.
