Until Democrats---including insightful, heterodox thinkers like these men---understand that the issue being contested is whether women and girls have rights as a class under the law (and whether being lesbian or gay is based on sexual orientation or inner gendered souls) not "the trans issue," we will get nowhere.
"Trans" is the only cause I can think of in which members of a historically and presently dominant class have sought to redefine a subordinate class to include themselves, thereby destroying all protections that subordinate class had managed to carve out for itself.
As we have seen across the US and the globe, when "woman" and "girl" are redefined to mean "anyone who says 'I'm a woman' or 'I'm a girl'" instead of 'female human being,' female human beings lose EVERY hard-fought protection: women's prisons now house male rapists and murderers of women; girls face male opponents in every sport and are forced to undress with male teammates in their locker rooms; flashing and voyeurism have been effectively decriminalized in every previously female-only private space, so long as the perp speaks the magic words 'I am a woman.'
Like something out of the 1950s, young lesbians and gay men are being told their exclusive same-sex orientation is wrong and shameful. They face enormous pressure to date and have sex with people of the opposite sex. Even worse, they are often told their same-sex attraction (and, frequently, non-conformity to sex stereotypes) could be a sign that they are not in fact gay or lesbian, but instead a heterosexual soul born into a body of the wrong sex. Counselors and clinics have proliferated to enact grievous medical harm on these and many other young people.
I'm in my forties and I still remember when the Democratic Party was the one that defended women's rights and told young gay men and lesbians that there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. Our candidates need to grow some spines and stand up for those values again.
Senator Ossoff, specifically, made a big mistake when he and his staff refused even to meet with a feminist constituent and Martina Navratilova ahead of the Protect Women and Girls in Sports Act vote. He and other potential presidential candidates have been pretty successful so far in ignoring women, but by 2028 that strategy won't cut it any more. Women and LGB advocates will make sure of it.
For the Democrats to emerge as popular again, they would need to jettison their radical left Critical Theory / Woke disciples and basically adopt Trump's platform.
But so addicted to their Trump Derangement Syndrome dog food, and also addicted to their left media gaslighting machine, they will never make that turn.
Oligarchy is a perfectly good word and further it represents the current state of play in both politics and economics. And people do understand it. When you look at a lot of the rhetoric coming out of MAGA world, you will see that theme. Consider the they/them ad that was so influential in the last election. Seeing that as being about just the trans issue is wrong. It was a people vs the ruling class theme. The problem for the Democrats is that they (including Bernie) are deeply intertwined with the oligarchy. Pity really about Bernie. If the nomination hadn't been stolen from him, it would be a different world. I think what motivated him to name his tour was the $2 trillion row at the Trump inauguration. That was disturbing whether you are a Democrat or MAGA. But what were they all doing there? My theory is that they were afraid of something but whether that was what Trump might do, what a Democratic return might do or what the EU is actually doing, I can't say.
Bernie is why Trump got elected. 12% of his supporters switched to Trump, and another 12% stayed home. He also held out endorsing Clinton, making her look week and demanding she change her positions (which were not popular with the public).
It was completely visible in 2020. Everyone except Biden was pressured to drop out after Bernie started winning primaries. Eventually Bernie did too. 2016 was more subtle but that was what the DNC leaks were about. It wasn't a hack, is was an internal leak from a Bernie Bro, Seth Rich. The FBI continues to conceal what was on his laptop. One known incident was Donna Bazzile leaking the debate questions to the Hillary campaign.
The DNC is or should be about having a fair nomination process without having their finger on the scale. This is why they just canned Hogg. Impossible to say if Bernie would have lost in 2016 but it is fact that Hillary did. And rigging the process in 2020, paved the way for Trump 2.0. And there was no process at all for 2024. How did that work out?
Until Democrats---including insightful, heterodox thinkers like these men---understand that the issue being contested is whether women and girls have rights as a class under the law (and whether being lesbian or gay is based on sexual orientation or inner gendered souls) not "the trans issue," we will get nowhere.
"Trans" is the only cause I can think of in which members of a historically and presently dominant class have sought to redefine a subordinate class to include themselves, thereby destroying all protections that subordinate class had managed to carve out for itself.
As we have seen across the US and the globe, when "woman" and "girl" are redefined to mean "anyone who says 'I'm a woman' or 'I'm a girl'" instead of 'female human being,' female human beings lose EVERY hard-fought protection: women's prisons now house male rapists and murderers of women; girls face male opponents in every sport and are forced to undress with male teammates in their locker rooms; flashing and voyeurism have been effectively decriminalized in every previously female-only private space, so long as the perp speaks the magic words 'I am a woman.'
Like something out of the 1950s, young lesbians and gay men are being told their exclusive same-sex orientation is wrong and shameful. They face enormous pressure to date and have sex with people of the opposite sex. Even worse, they are often told their same-sex attraction (and, frequently, non-conformity to sex stereotypes) could be a sign that they are not in fact gay or lesbian, but instead a heterosexual soul born into a body of the wrong sex. Counselors and clinics have proliferated to enact grievous medical harm on these and many other young people.
I'm in my forties and I still remember when the Democratic Party was the one that defended women's rights and told young gay men and lesbians that there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. Our candidates need to grow some spines and stand up for those values again.
Senator Ossoff, specifically, made a big mistake when he and his staff refused even to meet with a feminist constituent and Martina Navratilova ahead of the Protect Women and Girls in Sports Act vote. He and other potential presidential candidates have been pretty successful so far in ignoring women, but by 2028 that strategy won't cut it any more. Women and LGB advocates will make sure of it.
For the Democrats to emerge as popular again, they would need to jettison their radical left Critical Theory / Woke disciples and basically adopt Trump's platform.
But so addicted to their Trump Derangement Syndrome dog food, and also addicted to their left media gaslighting machine, they will never make that turn.
Oligarchy is a perfectly good word and further it represents the current state of play in both politics and economics. And people do understand it. When you look at a lot of the rhetoric coming out of MAGA world, you will see that theme. Consider the they/them ad that was so influential in the last election. Seeing that as being about just the trans issue is wrong. It was a people vs the ruling class theme. The problem for the Democrats is that they (including Bernie) are deeply intertwined with the oligarchy. Pity really about Bernie. If the nomination hadn't been stolen from him, it would be a different world. I think what motivated him to name his tour was the $2 trillion row at the Trump inauguration. That was disturbing whether you are a Democrat or MAGA. But what were they all doing there? My theory is that they were afraid of something but whether that was what Trump might do, what a Democratic return might do or what the EU is actually doing, I can't say.
Bernie had the election "stolen" from him?
Bernie is why Trump got elected. 12% of his supporters switched to Trump, and another 12% stayed home. He also held out endorsing Clinton, making her look week and demanding she change her positions (which were not popular with the public).
And it was 'stolen?"
Bernie was the left wing of the populists. Those who defected were populists over being Democrats. And yes the DNC stole the nomination, twice.
You have now said this twice, as being incontrovertibly factual. With no proof.
It was completely visible in 2020. Everyone except Biden was pressured to drop out after Bernie started winning primaries. Eventually Bernie did too. 2016 was more subtle but that was what the DNC leaks were about. It wasn't a hack, is was an internal leak from a Bernie Bro, Seth Rich. The FBI continues to conceal what was on his laptop. One known incident was Donna Bazzile leaking the debate questions to the Hillary campaign.
That's evidence for you?
Bernie cost Democrats that election. And progressives cost us the 2024 election.
You really think Bernie would have won a general election? Isn't that what the DNC is all about?
The DNC is or should be about having a fair nomination process without having their finger on the scale. This is why they just canned Hogg. Impossible to say if Bernie would have lost in 2016 but it is fact that Hillary did. And rigging the process in 2020, paved the way for Trump 2.0. And there was no process at all for 2024. How did that work out?