The Democrats would help their case if they would refrain from the doubletalk which instantly raises voters' suspicions. As it is, they say "reproductive health care" when they mean abortion. When they mean illegal aliens, they say "undocumented, unauthorized, Dreamers, irregular immigrants", or just "immigrants" as if illegal immigration were the same as legal immigration. When they say "justice involved individuals" they mean criminals who got caught. When they say "returning citizens" they mean ex-convicts. They say "transwomen" when they mean female impersonators. They say "troubled youths" when they mean young hoodlums. When they say "diversity, equity and inclusion", it always boils down to racial quotas. None of this tap-dancing fools anybody.
The converse of the gassy euphemisms the Democrats use to denote their policies is the inflammatory hyperbole they apply to the Republicans: "deplorable, irredeemable, not American. Racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, transphobic. Neo-Nazi, white nationalist, fascist." All this vitriol makes me want to cling bitterly to my religion, my guns, and my anti-trade sentiment but it sure doesn't make me want to vote for Democrats. I know they hate my guts because they have so frequently told me so.
Here's another one: "enslaved persons". How is this different from just "slaves"? I was watching an archaeology show about Roman life and there were a lot of references to slaves because of the findings at the site that was being excavated. I got really tired of the narrator repeating "enslaved people" instead of "slaves". There was no moral dimension to slavery in the ancient world, it was merely a condition of life for one of the social classes.
Hard to say if they can turn it around, given that "progressives" are in charge of the Democratic Party machinery both in D.C. and within the states. In '92, Clinton came along after 12 straight years of Republican presidencies. It was impossible to avoid the implications of another term for Bush Sr.; the moderates of the Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute had spent the prior four years working to pull the party back to the center.
I am not seeing that now. Kudos for the Liberal Patriot's efforts, but in the main I think the Democrats haven't been beaten up enough to really get it. I think the "progressives" who run the party see Trump as an aberration, and that once he's gone they can continue as before. A defeat in the '26 mid-terms might scare them, but I doubt there'd be enough time to turn the ship around by '28.
In short, the Democratic Party badly needs to be scared straight. If I were in any position of influence, my scare line would be this: "Think it's bad now? How would you like to see an 8-1 Supreme Court?" I would say it over and over and over and over to every group of Democrats everywhere from sea to shining sea. And I would pray for it to work.
But would it? Not sure I'd bet the ranch on it. If there's one thing we know about the "progressives," it is that they think they are better and smarter than everyone else. Smugness and unearned intellectual superiority oozes from every pore. Will they bother to even listen, let alone change? I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it. The "progressives" are never, ever wrong about anything. They are some of the most arrogant people in America; as someone who lived in Seattle for 20 years, I saw it up close and personal. Now they'll change? Good luck!
True enough, but I give him lots of credit for giving it the ol' college try. It's what we do in America even when it looks hopeless. All I think I know, and only from his name, is that Ruy Teixeira is probably of Mexican descent. He is a damn good American in my book, following in a well-worn positive path established by many other succeeding generations of other ethnic groups that make this country what it is. Keep on keepin' on, Mr. Teixeira.
p.s.: In case that sounds condescending, I'm second-generation. The story of America is immigrants' children and grandchildren bettering themselves.
I wonder if he would consider becoming a Republican and helping pull my party back toward the center. Not only would I be in favor of that, I think it would be an easier job. I honestly believe that there are fewer doctrinaire rockheads running the Republican party today than there are doctrinaire rockheads running the Democrats.
I don't think the Republicans are NEARLY as stupid, complacent, puritanical, and nasty as they once were. But hey, they are still kinda sorta the underdogs in a big way, so they're pretty much (with the usual exceptions) minding their Ps and Qs. If and when they gain suzerainty, well, human nature being what it is, they'll be just as lazy and corrupt as the Democrats of NY, NJ, DC, IL, WA, OR, and CA.
Alas, it's the eternal struggle to remind anyone in power that they are EMPLOYEES. The Democrats sorely need to get their sorry asses kicked as a reminder, but the Republicans are going to need it when the time comes. No illusions on that.
I think maybe Portuguese, the X is like an SH or something. I'm married to an immigrant and my kids are so American they are woke college students, hoping it's a phase.
Why concentrate on defeating right populism? Why not join with it on issues of common interest. The right populists have no more love for the banksters than Bernie Sanders does. Given all the water under that bridge, it would have to be selected issues at first until some level of trust was built but it has the potential for remaking the partisan map/divide. If Ruy's advice is followed some of the cultural divides could turn into unifying issues. Toning down some of the disdain for normies wouldn't hurt either. Not sure how you get the media and AWFLs to do this but it is needed. Sadly, most of the Democratic activists weren't even born in 1992 so have no notion of what Ruy is talking about.
Toning down “some” of the disdain sort of misses the mark. It’s probably not what you meant but i’ll use it to make my point so forgive me. :) The problem is the ACTUAL disdain for tradition and normalcy entrenched in so many D voices. You can’t just say “well I truly hate you but i’ll tone it down.” You have to stop hating for real.
Moreover, anti-normie left is not self-evidently creating a better or more healthy society than the one they are trying to raze to the ground. This is the open secret that everyone knows. They are making things worse not better over all.
They have abandoned live-and-let-live and want their turn as oppressors. There might be something to the “my turn” argument - but the biggest question is “to what end”. What kind of society will emerges from the other end of the anti-normie gauntlet? Dramatically worse outcomes for children, education, mental health … these seem the most likely in my view.
And of course it’s a moot point. Normalcy wins. The ability to be radically non-conformist is a luxury of affluent societies. But the truth is most people are in the “normie” camp and they always will be. That’s why I expect the epidemic of trans identifying teenagers in the last decade to result in an epidemic of buyers remorse adults at some point.
The disdain has a long history. It has just changed targets. It used to be directed at certain ethnic groups (No dogs or Irish allowed). Those who disdain, however, haven't changed all that much since Puritan days. Interestingly, the Irish, Italians, Jews and blacks took over big city Democratic politics but now The Groups are preventing a similar revolution inside Democratic politics. Irish and Italians have accordingly left the coalition. Support by Jews and blacks is eroding.
The big change is with Mexican-Americans. Now the Republicans need to work on immigration reform that would legalize the WORKING people here illegally before 2020 -- with appropriate conditions. If the Rs deploy the third digit of their I.Q. and marry it to long-term political acumen, they'll be looking at 50 years of dominance. The magnitude of the opportunity is hard to overstate.
To me, what I have suggested (not for the first time here and elsewhere) is a political I.Q. test, not get all peachy about how it's the right thing to do. Heaven forbid that. Republicans can do this solely out of political self interest. On this one, the "why" is secondary to the "what."
The immigration system is a rat's nest, and has needed reworking for at least 60 years. If the Rs have a god damn brain they will hop to it right away, and run on it for the next 15 years. They will get millions and millions of votes from, current Mexican immigrants and their children and grandchildren.
The distain is justified when the other side consist of either people who are too stupid to see what Trump is really like, or people willing to pretend to be that stupid in order to advanced themselves. When Trump is gone, it will be a lot easier to talk about the actual issues.
The people who see Trump as he really is, a complex human being as we all are, some like him some don't but they see that he is authentic and is trying to do what he said he would do to fix some very serious problems in America. Enough people agreed with him about the problems to put him in office regardless of whether they liked him or not. Half of the country isn't stupid. But what do you call the people who believe the crazy caricature of Trump that the leftist Dems and their media sycophants have created? No actual real-life human could possibly be that person. If they would stand back and think for a few seconds, they'd realize that nobody is the racist Nazi sexist whatever-else monster the Dems say Trump is, it's just too silly to believe. You don't have to like or agree with Trump, but he's not a monster. The real reason leftist Dems hate and fear him is that he is taking away their power over the culture and the government and shutting down the federal money that used to flow to their pet projects.
This is an essential point, Richard. Democrats make it a point to oppose EVERYTHING Trump and Republicans want, regardless of intrinsic merit, and it puts them on the losing side of many common sense issues, to their detriment.
Perhaps counterintuitively, a winning strategy for a major Democratic candidate would be to lead with areas of agreement with Republicans. These might include balancing the budget, the need for immigration reform and better outcomes for K-12 education. Surely Democrats can embrace such common sense goals.
Such a candidate could then pivot to areas of divergence. These might include tariffs, firing the BLS director and insulting long time allies like Canada and Denmark.
As Ruy infers, if Democrats cannot embrace a strategy along these lines, party loyalists need to prepare for a long cold march in the political wilderness.
An area that seems to be overlooked except by the masses, the Dems say they want the bad illegals deported, yet when they have a proven one in their custody, they ignore ICE detainers and let them go. The obvious conclusion is, the Dems could care less, no matter how depraved the actions of the criminal, about deporting the bad guys and no problem sacrificing innocent American citizens to prove their point.
"a winning strategy for a major Democratic candidate would be to lead with areas of agreement with Republicans." Biden and the Democrats did exactly that with immigration policy, once it was clear they had gone too far in relaxing immigration restrictions. They created a bipartisan bill with the Republicans which Trump instructed his minions to veto, even though it gave the Republicans essentially everything they had asked for. That's because Trump was more interested in creating chaos that would get him elected then actually making the country work. One of the many examples showing that the current split between the parties rest not on issues, but on Trumps complete lack of principles and moral character.
Biden’s immigration bill allowed for ALL illegal immigrants under his watch to become citizens within 8 years. That’s 10.5 million people who came here without the slightest authorization. I would’ve voted against that as well.
That immigration bill the Dems wrote was about the continued unchecked flow of illegals over the border and mass citizenship. They called it "immigration reform" because they knew the Republicans would veto it and provide the Dems with a talking point about how the Republicans rejected a "bipartisan" reform bill. It was not serious legislation, it was political theater and it was quite rightly voted down. And we get it, you don't like Trump.
It was a pretty horrible bill Teed. It would have legalized everyone to work as fast as possible. Competition for jobs is about the only reason I'm for a drastic slowdown in all types of low wage immigration. There was no section in the bill for deportation, without deportation you have open borders. It was a fake bill, written so Democrats could tell themselves they already caved on immigration.
This is a good plan. But there is a problem with salience right? Agreeing on immigration but differentiating on firing the BLS director or tariff policy might not be enough contrast. It’s kind of a catch 22.
Non-Orthodox Jews are pretty secular and don't really practice the religion much. But the rising definition of Jews as a race rather than a religion undermines this identity.
To Hamas and their supporters this distinction doesn’t really matter right? The more the Ds are pro-hamas the more they drive away Jews of all stripes - nuances be damned. And drive away folks like me as well. it’s unconscionable.
The increase -- becoming almost routine -- of "Sister Souljah moments" within the Democratic Party is further evidence of a dying party desperately embracing identity politics over virtually all other considerations; including, especially, civility, law and order and the winning necessity of coalition building.
When you permit a radical but loud minority of a diminished party to define that party, there may be no slowing its downward trajectory into obsolescence.
The social media environment increases the degree of difficulty delivering a Sister Souljah message. The internet/social media ecosphere will melt down. Cable TV pundits will go berserk. The socialist wing vs (what's remains) of the blue dog wing will have a cage match. The distance between centrist (sic) voters and the political activists will be reinforced, demonstrating how out of touch the pols are with the people.
These are the people who used to be the docents at art museums until those positions were quota-ized. Someone needs to invent a new feedlot, maybe out West on the cattle ranches?
I believe that biden will go down as the president who laid the ground work so that sanity could return to so many institutions and policies they bastardize. Granted, Trump was the right president at the right time to start correcting these injustices, fraud and malfeasance. If joe hadn't hired such incompetent clowns, actually if the Dems hadn't nominated such an obvious incompetent clown, and their over reach progressed more slowly, we could have been so much worse off today.
I live near Omaha NE. We have a perennial top five, two?, zoos in the nation. You can go and many of the apes, monkeys and gorillas will entertain you by mimicking the humans on the other side of the glass. I see no difference between them and Gavin. Except they know that it is an act and will go quickly back to being themselves. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
The voters wanted Trump and voted for him. Newsome is not a Trump, not even close. The next Republican candidate for president will be a lot like Trump. If Gavin is still playing that game, he'll get killed at the polls. I'm rooting for Gavin to be the next Dem candidate for president. He's the worse I believe, but the most subtle of all the outrageous fake leaders the Dems have out there.
I also hope and pray Mamdani gets elected. No offense against all the good coastal folks but the best thing that happens to the middle of the country is watching the Dems screw up the coasts so badly. No better example of who not to vote for and tie local Dems to than those on the coasts.
Vance will be the '28 R candidate, and I'd bet Rubio as running mate because he could campaign in Spanish in key places. TX, FL, AZ and NV are obvious, but then there will be NY, PA, CO, NJ, and even IL and GA. The Democrats are going to rue the day that they did a "people of color" thing and combined blacks and Hispanics in a single category, ignoring ground-level realities.
I disagree on wanting Mamdani to be elected. No matter how favorable that might seem on the surface, I don't think it's ever a good idea to want an extremist to be elected. People should put success and good government before partisan tactical advantage.
I agree. But which candidate running against Mamdani one who will bring good governance? Sliwa at first glance maybe. Until factoring in all the rest of city govenrment is controlled by the Democrats.
As said by Winston Churchill, never waste a good crisis.
This may be the best chance to come along in a long time that could help save the Chicagos, LAs, Bostons etc.
A lot of minority voters registered as Dems left the [arty to vote for Trump. One of the main reasons I heard of, is they finally woke up to the fact that in 60 years, they gave their votes to the democrats and got nothing but misery in return. Mamdani to me is little more than NYC making a conscience to take the bullet for the rest of the nations.
I keep seeing the images of Curt Russell, aka Snake Plissken, from
Escape from New York. A realistic look into a real possible future.
Oh, I look at the NYC situation and see a train wreck. Still, though, Mamdani is a real nutcase. I don't wish failure on NYC, but if he gets elected that's going to be the result for the ordinary people. I'm very much on the side of the ordinary people, even when they elect idiots.
I agree. But the issue to me is, the ordinary people who don’t vote so a few zealots can run the govenrment. A lesson that should have been learned long ago. Maybe having a colossal failure in NYC will prevent in other parts of the country. some humans have always been sacrificing themselves for the betterment of the whole. Although never in such numbers as 11 million. The question is, is the sacrifice in vain?
Here's the thing. There are all kinds of reasons why people vote for whom. You and I watch closely and analyze. Most people not nearly as closely. Past that, there are people who vote against that shit, both in cities and in states. I find it intolerably smug for anyone to sit back and say, "If you don't like it, move."
There are all kinds of damn good reasons why people can't or don't pull up stakes and leave. Do I really have to make a list? I hope not. So, in the end, I am on the side of the misgoverned.
Will a colossal failure in NYC be salutary elsewhere? I strongly doubt it. All that will do is give some people indulgence in schadenfreude. This is human nature and I'd be lying if I were to claim that I've never done it myself, but as I accumulated more miles on the tires, I didn't do nearly as much of it.
If only the perpetrators of mayhem suffered, it'd be one thing. But that's not what happens in real life. Maybe the differences between us are that I am older and that I've been just about everywhere in this country, and cannot wish bad fortune on ordinary people anywhere simply for not voting for the right candidate or for not "escaping."
I’m 73. What I would love to see is if you vote for them then only you will pay for policies. But living in NE we have one district, Omaha, that is more liberal. Fine for them. But I have most blocked in comments because if you read one you’ve pretty much have read them all.
While you’re generally correct I think it’s going to take more than words this time, due to the massive bait and switch from Biden. I.e. A politician is going to need to both rhetorically take the woke wing out behind the woodshed and have a proven track record of casting votes and enacting policies that live up to the rhetoric.
The other thing that this piece misses is that in 92 the Democrats were convinced that Bush was going to cruise to reelection so the usual candidates that would have shut an outsider like Clinton down were on the sidelines. The current Dems are convinced that they are just one Trump embarrassment away from getting back in power. What they miss is that plenty of Trump voters know how bad he is. We just think the current Democrats are far worse.
I quote this from the article because I have been saying this forever--- I hope the democrat party DOES NOT change from it's current course because I am hoping for a bigger republican majority after the 2026 mid terms ! I would like to see the democrat party trashed to pieces ! "[W]hat liberals need to do to defeat right-wing populism…[is] to moderate on culture. That means on policies and moral stances wrapped up with the old culture war (like trans and other gender-related issues) as well as in other areas of policy that have a strong cultural valance—like crime, immigration, and DEI. This isn’t just necessary because Democratic positions on these issues are unpopular at the moment. It’s also crucial because culture is more fundamental than politics: It sends a signal to voters about where a politician or party stands on base-level moral questions. When voters become convinced that a specific politician or party has bad (or just sufficiently different) moral judgment, they lose trust in that politician or party. And then other, more superficial policy commitments don’t matter…"
Ruy, I do not believe your advice is falling on deaf ears. I think it is early. Not wishing for anyone's demise, but Biden is in his 80s with late stage cancer. It will not take long after his funeral, for some 2028 Presidential contender to calculate, they cannot win a Primary as a Progressive, but they might have a shot, running to the Right, regardless of Trump's outcomes. When even the NY Times notices millions of new registered Reps, at least one Dem Presidential contender is going to move Right.
A month after Joe is gone, Dem pundits will begin mentioning while well intended, the border was a disaster. Dems who privately advised Biden to stop the onslaught in 2021 and 2022, will crawl out of the walls. A WH seeker will propose millions of new arrivals be granted legal status, short of citizenship, in exchange for 4 more years of reduced asylum applications.
Likewise, Dems, both pundits and pols, will insist they must fight Climate Change in a smarter and more targeted manner. Not with a trillion dollars tossed at the wall, to see what sticks. Child social engineering will become " no irreversible actions" before a kid's 18th birthday, with States regulating schools and other treatments.
Housing affordability and subsidized childcare will replace student debt forgiveness as the Dem cause of the hour. Whether anyone would actually mean what they are saying, remains to be seen, but someone is going to move Right. Especially if Trump avoids an economic meltdown, ends a couple more wars, and would happen to hold onto the House and Senate, after the Midterm.
While what you say would be good for the Dem party, I disagree that a presidential candidate can't win the primaries as a progressive, I believe that in the current Dem party, no one but a true blue progressive can win the primaries. Look at how the screaming cancel warriors instantly dive bomb anyone who deviates even mildly from the progressive party line. They control a lot of the leadership, money, and energy in the party, as well as a large reliable voting block. They do not believe in keeping quiet to let the moderate lie his/her way to the nomination, waiting for the inner Progressive to emerge after they have duped the voters. They want affirmation and allegiance from their candidates, now, loud and proud. A few candidates (Newsom?) are saying a few things that aren't hard Left, and getting a lot of flak for it, but it's just fake pandering. For example, he said in his podcast he thought boys competing in girl's sports was unfair, but a few weeks later did nothing to prevent a biological boy from winning all his events against actual girls in the state championships. Pure hypocrisy.
The left is now the party of cultural issues; it needs to return to its traditional economic issues. For example, DEI ignores the need for good jobs for all Americans by focusing only on good jobs for Black Americans.
We don't have to attack wokeness in general to create these moments. Almost every one says in polls that "wokeness has gone too far" AND that human rights need to be protected. Trump's stand on Transgender issues, for example, clearly violates the rights of trans people by firing people just because they are trans. But human rights are also violated by requiring women to accept Trans gender people in women's locker rooms, and firing anyone who says that Trans women are not women. My Moderate Gender Manifesto is an attempt to articulate a position which protects the rights of both sides. I have been banned from Daily KOS, and threatened with expulsion on Medium, for expressing these kind of ideas. I have also been verbally attacked by TERFs and other Gender Critical people, so I think I must be doing something right. https://teedrockwell.substack.com/p/a-moderate-gender-manifesto?r=l7a9l
Ruy is of course correct that the woke lunacy on cultural issues badly hurts the Democratic brand. When people think you're crazy on culture it's almost impossible for them to regard you as rational on other issues.
But...this aversion to the Democrats' cultural lunacy will only hold as long as the economy is widely perceived to be in reasonably good shape. On economic policies Trump is operating on a high wire with no net below to catch him. He is trying to browbeat the Fed to lower its short-term rate by 3 points - all economists see this as jacking up inflation.
That's bad enough, but I assume this demand to lower rates by 3 points also applies to residential fixed rate mortgages. Those rates are largely influenced by the 10 year U.S. Treasury Bond rates. The only way for the Fed to force 10 year bond rates down is to make massive purchases of those bonds in the open market, mostly from commercial banks. The bottom line result of such actions is to greatly expand the money supply - i.e. create more money digitally. Forcing massive amounts of new money into the econmy would result in the classic definition of inflation: too much money facing too few goods. High inflation = Bye to MAGA and hello to Wokeism on steroids: open borders, trans craziness, extreme DEI, a packed SCOTUS, two new left-wing states, etc. The Secretary of the Treasury has to exert maximum energy to restrain Trump's economically nutty ideas from becoming policy.
I would not use Clinton as a model for anything. And I would argue had we gotten honest about race then, we'd be past it now. He took the low cowardly road and pushed the can down the road. Only to see white supremacy and anti government right wing extremism rise on his watch. Post 9/11 we ignored that rise to our peril. Blame the extremists on the right sometime .
That said, on the trans and a few other things Dems really need to get normal. The trans supporters feel as much like a cult as maga. I've been an Indy since and because of Clinton. Economically left and moderate on many cultural issues. Criminal justice in this country is extreme and cruel and a violation of decency and civil rights and had we gone libertarian and race neutral (although racist it is) progress could have been made toward taking power back from a bloated, expensive and militarized police. Poor and rural white peoples aren't any more in love with police and government over reach than black people. Qualified immunity? Assist seizure? War on drugs and patriot act are horseshoe issues that went ignored.
When the left is right it gets bullied into silence and when it is wrong it bullies everyone away.
No doubt. When they are good it's good. But police have been empowered to violate civil liberties and that happens most in low income communities. Other countries do not work this way. Citizens have the default right if respect. I'm a criminal justice major from decades ago and worked in the corrections side of the system fyi. .
Not an expert, but I lean the other way. I am constantly amazed at the previous arrest records of people, whose arrests are publicized. For instance, a Biden migrant, dwelling illegally in the US for a few years, killed a Mother in Wisconsin and himself last week, driving drunk. He had 3 previous DUIs, with never more than a night in jail. Nor was he deported. I had no idea a wealthy US citizen could have 3 DUIS and avoid jail time, let alone someone in the US illegally, likely with limited financial resources.
It seems to be the norm, priors a mile long and twice as wide, and with no previous serious jail time. Not just shoplifters , but people who are charged with horrendous violations of children, allowed to walk out of jail sans bond, only to be arrested for committing the same crime, a week or 2 later.
Until Trump took over DC policing, I had no idea in DC, people well into their 20s are sent to the juvenile system, unless charged with murder or a violent rape. Years past being a legal adult, and 22 year old repeat offenders are being treated like 12 year olds smashing mailboxes for kicks? And what the heck is a non violent rape? I have a dusty law degree and I have no idea what that means.
We have plenty of low-income people here, and I don't hear any tales of our L.E. people acting badly. What I think you're doing is substituting "low income" for "black inner city," whose putative representatives are forever accusing the police of racism. It's a dodge at best.
Uh, no. I was born low income white. From a blue collar family. I'm the first to go to college and did after serving six years in the USMC. I then went on to have biracial children. So I can tell the difference between black and white. I also worked in prisons. Where everyone is low income.
out west here we strongly support our municipal police and especially county deputies who are the really big force. They do their part too by being professional and uncorrupted. They also solve crimes to an amazing rate.
That’s the best version. Community policing is great. The law enforcement issue is as much or more the laws that are written. People like reasonable responsive and respectful police. Nobody commando police that trample civil liberties and are not helpful.
The Democrats would help their case if they would refrain from the doubletalk which instantly raises voters' suspicions. As it is, they say "reproductive health care" when they mean abortion. When they mean illegal aliens, they say "undocumented, unauthorized, Dreamers, irregular immigrants", or just "immigrants" as if illegal immigration were the same as legal immigration. When they say "justice involved individuals" they mean criminals who got caught. When they say "returning citizens" they mean ex-convicts. They say "transwomen" when they mean female impersonators. They say "troubled youths" when they mean young hoodlums. When they say "diversity, equity and inclusion", it always boils down to racial quotas. None of this tap-dancing fools anybody.
The converse of the gassy euphemisms the Democrats use to denote their policies is the inflammatory hyperbole they apply to the Republicans: "deplorable, irredeemable, not American. Racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, transphobic. Neo-Nazi, white nationalist, fascist." All this vitriol makes me want to cling bitterly to my religion, my guns, and my anti-trade sentiment but it sure doesn't make me want to vote for Democrats. I know they hate my guts because they have so frequently told me so.
Here's another one: "enslaved persons". How is this different from just "slaves"? I was watching an archaeology show about Roman life and there were a lot of references to slaves because of the findings at the site that was being excavated. I got really tired of the narrator repeating "enslaved people" instead of "slaves". There was no moral dimension to slavery in the ancient world, it was merely a condition of life for one of the social classes.
Hard to say if they can turn it around, given that "progressives" are in charge of the Democratic Party machinery both in D.C. and within the states. In '92, Clinton came along after 12 straight years of Republican presidencies. It was impossible to avoid the implications of another term for Bush Sr.; the moderates of the Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute had spent the prior four years working to pull the party back to the center.
I am not seeing that now. Kudos for the Liberal Patriot's efforts, but in the main I think the Democrats haven't been beaten up enough to really get it. I think the "progressives" who run the party see Trump as an aberration, and that once he's gone they can continue as before. A defeat in the '26 mid-terms might scare them, but I doubt there'd be enough time to turn the ship around by '28.
In short, the Democratic Party badly needs to be scared straight. If I were in any position of influence, my scare line would be this: "Think it's bad now? How would you like to see an 8-1 Supreme Court?" I would say it over and over and over and over to every group of Democrats everywhere from sea to shining sea. And I would pray for it to work.
But would it? Not sure I'd bet the ranch on it. If there's one thing we know about the "progressives," it is that they think they are better and smarter than everyone else. Smugness and unearned intellectual superiority oozes from every pore. Will they bother to even listen, let alone change? I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it. The "progressives" are never, ever wrong about anything. They are some of the most arrogant people in America; as someone who lived in Seattle for 20 years, I saw it up close and personal. Now they'll change? Good luck!
Poor Ruy - he's been preaching some version of this message for at least two years now but his party refuses to listen.
True enough, but I give him lots of credit for giving it the ol' college try. It's what we do in America even when it looks hopeless. All I think I know, and only from his name, is that Ruy Teixeira is probably of Mexican descent. He is a damn good American in my book, following in a well-worn positive path established by many other succeeding generations of other ethnic groups that make this country what it is. Keep on keepin' on, Mr. Teixeira.
p.s.: In case that sounds condescending, I'm second-generation. The story of America is immigrants' children and grandchildren bettering themselves.
I wonder if he would consider becoming a Republican and helping pull my party back toward the center. Not only would I be in favor of that, I think it would be an easier job. I honestly believe that there are fewer doctrinaire rockheads running the Republican party today than there are doctrinaire rockheads running the Democrats.
I don't think the Republicans are NEARLY as stupid, complacent, puritanical, and nasty as they once were. But hey, they are still kinda sorta the underdogs in a big way, so they're pretty much (with the usual exceptions) minding their Ps and Qs. If and when they gain suzerainty, well, human nature being what it is, they'll be just as lazy and corrupt as the Democrats of NY, NJ, DC, IL, WA, OR, and CA.
Alas, it's the eternal struggle to remind anyone in power that they are EMPLOYEES. The Democrats sorely need to get their sorry asses kicked as a reminder, but the Republicans are going to need it when the time comes. No illusions on that.
The political pendulum swings left and right and never comes to rest in the middle.
I think maybe Portuguese, the X is like an SH or something. I'm married to an immigrant and my kids are so American they are woke college students, hoping it's a phase.
Why concentrate on defeating right populism? Why not join with it on issues of common interest. The right populists have no more love for the banksters than Bernie Sanders does. Given all the water under that bridge, it would have to be selected issues at first until some level of trust was built but it has the potential for remaking the partisan map/divide. If Ruy's advice is followed some of the cultural divides could turn into unifying issues. Toning down some of the disdain for normies wouldn't hurt either. Not sure how you get the media and AWFLs to do this but it is needed. Sadly, most of the Democratic activists weren't even born in 1992 so have no notion of what Ruy is talking about.
Toning down “some” of the disdain sort of misses the mark. It’s probably not what you meant but i’ll use it to make my point so forgive me. :) The problem is the ACTUAL disdain for tradition and normalcy entrenched in so many D voices. You can’t just say “well I truly hate you but i’ll tone it down.” You have to stop hating for real.
Moreover, anti-normie left is not self-evidently creating a better or more healthy society than the one they are trying to raze to the ground. This is the open secret that everyone knows. They are making things worse not better over all.
They have abandoned live-and-let-live and want their turn as oppressors. There might be something to the “my turn” argument - but the biggest question is “to what end”. What kind of society will emerges from the other end of the anti-normie gauntlet? Dramatically worse outcomes for children, education, mental health … these seem the most likely in my view.
And of course it’s a moot point. Normalcy wins. The ability to be radically non-conformist is a luxury of affluent societies. But the truth is most people are in the “normie” camp and they always will be. That’s why I expect the epidemic of trans identifying teenagers in the last decade to result in an epidemic of buyers remorse adults at some point.
The disdain has a long history. It has just changed targets. It used to be directed at certain ethnic groups (No dogs or Irish allowed). Those who disdain, however, haven't changed all that much since Puritan days. Interestingly, the Irish, Italians, Jews and blacks took over big city Democratic politics but now The Groups are preventing a similar revolution inside Democratic politics. Irish and Italians have accordingly left the coalition. Support by Jews and blacks is eroding.
The big change is with Mexican-Americans. Now the Republicans need to work on immigration reform that would legalize the WORKING people here illegally before 2020 -- with appropriate conditions. If the Rs deploy the third digit of their I.Q. and marry it to long-term political acumen, they'll be looking at 50 years of dominance. The magnitude of the opportunity is hard to overstate.
That is a damn fine point Jim. Similar to LBJ signing the Civil Rights Act and the results that came from that.
To me, what I have suggested (not for the first time here and elsewhere) is a political I.Q. test, not get all peachy about how it's the right thing to do. Heaven forbid that. Republicans can do this solely out of political self interest. On this one, the "why" is secondary to the "what."
The immigration system is a rat's nest, and has needed reworking for at least 60 years. If the Rs have a god damn brain they will hop to it right away, and run on it for the next 15 years. They will get millions and millions of votes from, current Mexican immigrants and their children and grandchildren.
The distain is justified when the other side consist of either people who are too stupid to see what Trump is really like, or people willing to pretend to be that stupid in order to advanced themselves. When Trump is gone, it will be a lot easier to talk about the actual issues.
When Trump is gone you will show disdain for Vance. When Vance is gone you will show disdain for Rubio.
The people who see Trump as he really is, a complex human being as we all are, some like him some don't but they see that he is authentic and is trying to do what he said he would do to fix some very serious problems in America. Enough people agreed with him about the problems to put him in office regardless of whether they liked him or not. Half of the country isn't stupid. But what do you call the people who believe the crazy caricature of Trump that the leftist Dems and their media sycophants have created? No actual real-life human could possibly be that person. If they would stand back and think for a few seconds, they'd realize that nobody is the racist Nazi sexist whatever-else monster the Dems say Trump is, it's just too silly to believe. You don't have to like or agree with Trump, but he's not a monster. The real reason leftist Dems hate and fear him is that he is taking away their power over the culture and the government and shutting down the federal money that used to flow to their pet projects.
Thanks for making my case.
This is an essential point, Richard. Democrats make it a point to oppose EVERYTHING Trump and Republicans want, regardless of intrinsic merit, and it puts them on the losing side of many common sense issues, to their detriment.
Perhaps counterintuitively, a winning strategy for a major Democratic candidate would be to lead with areas of agreement with Republicans. These might include balancing the budget, the need for immigration reform and better outcomes for K-12 education. Surely Democrats can embrace such common sense goals.
Such a candidate could then pivot to areas of divergence. These might include tariffs, firing the BLS director and insulting long time allies like Canada and Denmark.
As Ruy infers, if Democrats cannot embrace a strategy along these lines, party loyalists need to prepare for a long cold march in the political wilderness.
An area that seems to be overlooked except by the masses, the Dems say they want the bad illegals deported, yet when they have a proven one in their custody, they ignore ICE detainers and let them go. The obvious conclusion is, the Dems could care less, no matter how depraved the actions of the criminal, about deporting the bad guys and no problem sacrificing innocent American citizens to prove their point.
"a winning strategy for a major Democratic candidate would be to lead with areas of agreement with Republicans." Biden and the Democrats did exactly that with immigration policy, once it was clear they had gone too far in relaxing immigration restrictions. They created a bipartisan bill with the Republicans which Trump instructed his minions to veto, even though it gave the Republicans essentially everything they had asked for. That's because Trump was more interested in creating chaos that would get him elected then actually making the country work. One of the many examples showing that the current split between the parties rest not on issues, but on Trumps complete lack of principles and moral character.
Biden’s immigration bill allowed for ALL illegal immigrants under his watch to become citizens within 8 years. That’s 10.5 million people who came here without the slightest authorization. I would’ve voted against that as well.
That immigration bill the Dems wrote was about the continued unchecked flow of illegals over the border and mass citizenship. They called it "immigration reform" because they knew the Republicans would veto it and provide the Dems with a talking point about how the Republicans rejected a "bipartisan" reform bill. It was not serious legislation, it was political theater and it was quite rightly voted down. And we get it, you don't like Trump.
it was co-written with top Republicans, all of whom we’re going to vote for it until Trump told them not to.
It was a pretty horrible bill Teed. It would have legalized everyone to work as fast as possible. Competition for jobs is about the only reason I'm for a drastic slowdown in all types of low wage immigration. There was no section in the bill for deportation, without deportation you have open borders. It was a fake bill, written so Democrats could tell themselves they already caved on immigration.
This is a good plan. But there is a problem with salience right? Agreeing on immigration but differentiating on firing the BLS director or tariff policy might not be enough contrast. It’s kind of a catch 22.
I concur.
Yes - hard to see how they keep Jewish support in the near future.
Non-Orthodox Jews are pretty secular and don't really practice the religion much. But the rising definition of Jews as a race rather than a religion undermines this identity.
To Hamas and their supporters this distinction doesn’t really matter right? The more the Ds are pro-hamas the more they drive away Jews of all stripes - nuances be damned. And drive away folks like me as well. it’s unconscionable.
I have a lot less complaints about right wing populism than I do "abundance" which is a new way to say neoliberal.
I'm no longer tethered to a party, Democrats need to compete for my vote. Vance and his buds have some compelling arguments.
There is a perfect opportunity for a Sister Souljah right now with the New Yorker dust up. https://www.city-journal.org/article/new-yorker-doreen-st-felix-sydney-sweeney I'm not as concerned about race as I am economics but I see no movement anywhere by Democrats.
The increase -- becoming almost routine -- of "Sister Souljah moments" within the Democratic Party is further evidence of a dying party desperately embracing identity politics over virtually all other considerations; including, especially, civility, law and order and the winning necessity of coalition building.
When you permit a radical but loud minority of a diminished party to define that party, there may be no slowing its downward trajectory into obsolescence.
The social media environment increases the degree of difficulty delivering a Sister Souljah message. The internet/social media ecosphere will melt down. Cable TV pundits will go berserk. The socialist wing vs (what's remains) of the blue dog wing will have a cage match. The distance between centrist (sic) voters and the political activists will be reinforced, demonstrating how out of touch the pols are with the people.
Yes - this does make it more difficult. Unlike Clinton’s effort in the 90s the blast radius of the maneuver is unpredictable.
So we need to kick upper-class white women out of upper echelon posts in the Democratic Party?
These are the people who used to be the docents at art museums until those positions were quota-ized. Someone needs to invent a new feedlot, maybe out West on the cattle ranches?
At least you didn't say to send them back to their kitchens.
These people don't cook. They hire housekeepers for that.
I believe that biden will go down as the president who laid the ground work so that sanity could return to so many institutions and policies they bastardize. Granted, Trump was the right president at the right time to start correcting these injustices, fraud and malfeasance. If joe hadn't hired such incompetent clowns, actually if the Dems hadn't nominated such an obvious incompetent clown, and their over reach progressed more slowly, we could have been so much worse off today.
I live near Omaha NE. We have a perennial top five, two?, zoos in the nation. You can go and many of the apes, monkeys and gorillas will entertain you by mimicking the humans on the other side of the glass. I see no difference between them and Gavin. Except they know that it is an act and will go quickly back to being themselves. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
The voters wanted Trump and voted for him. Newsome is not a Trump, not even close. The next Republican candidate for president will be a lot like Trump. If Gavin is still playing that game, he'll get killed at the polls. I'm rooting for Gavin to be the next Dem candidate for president. He's the worse I believe, but the most subtle of all the outrageous fake leaders the Dems have out there.
I also hope and pray Mamdani gets elected. No offense against all the good coastal folks but the best thing that happens to the middle of the country is watching the Dems screw up the coasts so badly. No better example of who not to vote for and tie local Dems to than those on the coasts.
Vance will be the '28 R candidate, and I'd bet Rubio as running mate because he could campaign in Spanish in key places. TX, FL, AZ and NV are obvious, but then there will be NY, PA, CO, NJ, and even IL and GA. The Democrats are going to rue the day that they did a "people of color" thing and combined blacks and Hispanics in a single category, ignoring ground-level realities.
I disagree on wanting Mamdani to be elected. No matter how favorable that might seem on the surface, I don't think it's ever a good idea to want an extremist to be elected. People should put success and good government before partisan tactical advantage.
I agree. But which candidate running against Mamdani one who will bring good governance? Sliwa at first glance maybe. Until factoring in all the rest of city govenrment is controlled by the Democrats.
As said by Winston Churchill, never waste a good crisis.
This may be the best chance to come along in a long time that could help save the Chicagos, LAs, Bostons etc.
A lot of minority voters registered as Dems left the [arty to vote for Trump. One of the main reasons I heard of, is they finally woke up to the fact that in 60 years, they gave their votes to the democrats and got nothing but misery in return. Mamdani to me is little more than NYC making a conscience to take the bullet for the rest of the nations.
I keep seeing the images of Curt Russell, aka Snake Plissken, from
Escape from New York. A realistic look into a real possible future.
Oh, I look at the NYC situation and see a train wreck. Still, though, Mamdani is a real nutcase. I don't wish failure on NYC, but if he gets elected that's going to be the result for the ordinary people. I'm very much on the side of the ordinary people, even when they elect idiots.
I agree. But the issue to me is, the ordinary people who don’t vote so a few zealots can run the govenrment. A lesson that should have been learned long ago. Maybe having a colossal failure in NYC will prevent in other parts of the country. some humans have always been sacrificing themselves for the betterment of the whole. Although never in such numbers as 11 million. The question is, is the sacrifice in vain?
Thanks also for the rational discussion.
Here's the thing. There are all kinds of reasons why people vote for whom. You and I watch closely and analyze. Most people not nearly as closely. Past that, there are people who vote against that shit, both in cities and in states. I find it intolerably smug for anyone to sit back and say, "If you don't like it, move."
There are all kinds of damn good reasons why people can't or don't pull up stakes and leave. Do I really have to make a list? I hope not. So, in the end, I am on the side of the misgoverned.
Will a colossal failure in NYC be salutary elsewhere? I strongly doubt it. All that will do is give some people indulgence in schadenfreude. This is human nature and I'd be lying if I were to claim that I've never done it myself, but as I accumulated more miles on the tires, I didn't do nearly as much of it.
If only the perpetrators of mayhem suffered, it'd be one thing. But that's not what happens in real life. Maybe the differences between us are that I am older and that I've been just about everywhere in this country, and cannot wish bad fortune on ordinary people anywhere simply for not voting for the right candidate or for not "escaping."
I’m 73. What I would love to see is if you vote for them then only you will pay for policies. But living in NE we have one district, Omaha, that is more liberal. Fine for them. But I have most blocked in comments because if you read one you’ve pretty much have read them all.
While you’re generally correct I think it’s going to take more than words this time, due to the massive bait and switch from Biden. I.e. A politician is going to need to both rhetorically take the woke wing out behind the woodshed and have a proven track record of casting votes and enacting policies that live up to the rhetoric.
The other thing that this piece misses is that in 92 the Democrats were convinced that Bush was going to cruise to reelection so the usual candidates that would have shut an outsider like Clinton down were on the sidelines. The current Dems are convinced that they are just one Trump embarrassment away from getting back in power. What they miss is that plenty of Trump voters know how bad he is. We just think the current Democrats are far worse.
I quote this from the article because I have been saying this forever--- I hope the democrat party DOES NOT change from it's current course because I am hoping for a bigger republican majority after the 2026 mid terms ! I would like to see the democrat party trashed to pieces ! "[W]hat liberals need to do to defeat right-wing populism…[is] to moderate on culture. That means on policies and moral stances wrapped up with the old culture war (like trans and other gender-related issues) as well as in other areas of policy that have a strong cultural valance—like crime, immigration, and DEI. This isn’t just necessary because Democratic positions on these issues are unpopular at the moment. It’s also crucial because culture is more fundamental than politics: It sends a signal to voters about where a politician or party stands on base-level moral questions. When voters become convinced that a specific politician or party has bad (or just sufficiently different) moral judgment, they lose trust in that politician or party. And then other, more superficial policy commitments don’t matter…"
Ruy, I do not believe your advice is falling on deaf ears. I think it is early. Not wishing for anyone's demise, but Biden is in his 80s with late stage cancer. It will not take long after his funeral, for some 2028 Presidential contender to calculate, they cannot win a Primary as a Progressive, but they might have a shot, running to the Right, regardless of Trump's outcomes. When even the NY Times notices millions of new registered Reps, at least one Dem Presidential contender is going to move Right.
A month after Joe is gone, Dem pundits will begin mentioning while well intended, the border was a disaster. Dems who privately advised Biden to stop the onslaught in 2021 and 2022, will crawl out of the walls. A WH seeker will propose millions of new arrivals be granted legal status, short of citizenship, in exchange for 4 more years of reduced asylum applications.
Likewise, Dems, both pundits and pols, will insist they must fight Climate Change in a smarter and more targeted manner. Not with a trillion dollars tossed at the wall, to see what sticks. Child social engineering will become " no irreversible actions" before a kid's 18th birthday, with States regulating schools and other treatments.
Housing affordability and subsidized childcare will replace student debt forgiveness as the Dem cause of the hour. Whether anyone would actually mean what they are saying, remains to be seen, but someone is going to move Right. Especially if Trump avoids an economic meltdown, ends a couple more wars, and would happen to hold onto the House and Senate, after the Midterm.
While what you say would be good for the Dem party, I disagree that a presidential candidate can't win the primaries as a progressive, I believe that in the current Dem party, no one but a true blue progressive can win the primaries. Look at how the screaming cancel warriors instantly dive bomb anyone who deviates even mildly from the progressive party line. They control a lot of the leadership, money, and energy in the party, as well as a large reliable voting block. They do not believe in keeping quiet to let the moderate lie his/her way to the nomination, waiting for the inner Progressive to emerge after they have duped the voters. They want affirmation and allegiance from their candidates, now, loud and proud. A few candidates (Newsom?) are saying a few things that aren't hard Left, and getting a lot of flak for it, but it's just fake pandering. For example, he said in his podcast he thought boys competing in girl's sports was unfair, but a few weeks later did nothing to prevent a biological boy from winning all his events against actual girls in the state championships. Pure hypocrisy.
The left is now the party of cultural issues; it needs to return to its traditional economic issues. For example, DEI ignores the need for good jobs for all Americans by focusing only on good jobs for Black Americans.
We don't have to attack wokeness in general to create these moments. Almost every one says in polls that "wokeness has gone too far" AND that human rights need to be protected. Trump's stand on Transgender issues, for example, clearly violates the rights of trans people by firing people just because they are trans. But human rights are also violated by requiring women to accept Trans gender people in women's locker rooms, and firing anyone who says that Trans women are not women. My Moderate Gender Manifesto is an attempt to articulate a position which protects the rights of both sides. I have been banned from Daily KOS, and threatened with expulsion on Medium, for expressing these kind of ideas. I have also been verbally attacked by TERFs and other Gender Critical people, so I think I must be doing something right. https://teedrockwell.substack.com/p/a-moderate-gender-manifesto?r=l7a9l
Ruy is of course correct that the woke lunacy on cultural issues badly hurts the Democratic brand. When people think you're crazy on culture it's almost impossible for them to regard you as rational on other issues.
But...this aversion to the Democrats' cultural lunacy will only hold as long as the economy is widely perceived to be in reasonably good shape. On economic policies Trump is operating on a high wire with no net below to catch him. He is trying to browbeat the Fed to lower its short-term rate by 3 points - all economists see this as jacking up inflation.
That's bad enough, but I assume this demand to lower rates by 3 points also applies to residential fixed rate mortgages. Those rates are largely influenced by the 10 year U.S. Treasury Bond rates. The only way for the Fed to force 10 year bond rates down is to make massive purchases of those bonds in the open market, mostly from commercial banks. The bottom line result of such actions is to greatly expand the money supply - i.e. create more money digitally. Forcing massive amounts of new money into the econmy would result in the classic definition of inflation: too much money facing too few goods. High inflation = Bye to MAGA and hello to Wokeism on steroids: open borders, trans craziness, extreme DEI, a packed SCOTUS, two new left-wing states, etc. The Secretary of the Treasury has to exert maximum energy to restrain Trump's economically nutty ideas from becoming policy.
I would not use Clinton as a model for anything. And I would argue had we gotten honest about race then, we'd be past it now. He took the low cowardly road and pushed the can down the road. Only to see white supremacy and anti government right wing extremism rise on his watch. Post 9/11 we ignored that rise to our peril. Blame the extremists on the right sometime .
That said, on the trans and a few other things Dems really need to get normal. The trans supporters feel as much like a cult as maga. I've been an Indy since and because of Clinton. Economically left and moderate on many cultural issues. Criminal justice in this country is extreme and cruel and a violation of decency and civil rights and had we gone libertarian and race neutral (although racist it is) progress could have been made toward taking power back from a bloated, expensive and militarized police. Poor and rural white peoples aren't any more in love with police and government over reach than black people. Qualified immunity? Assist seizure? War on drugs and patriot act are horseshoe issues that went ignored.
When the left is right it gets bullied into silence and when it is wrong it bullies everyone away.
I live in a rural county, and we hold our police and sheriff's deputies in high regard.
No doubt. When they are good it's good. But police have been empowered to violate civil liberties and that happens most in low income communities. Other countries do not work this way. Citizens have the default right if respect. I'm a criminal justice major from decades ago and worked in the corrections side of the system fyi. .
Not an expert, but I lean the other way. I am constantly amazed at the previous arrest records of people, whose arrests are publicized. For instance, a Biden migrant, dwelling illegally in the US for a few years, killed a Mother in Wisconsin and himself last week, driving drunk. He had 3 previous DUIs, with never more than a night in jail. Nor was he deported. I had no idea a wealthy US citizen could have 3 DUIS and avoid jail time, let alone someone in the US illegally, likely with limited financial resources.
It seems to be the norm, priors a mile long and twice as wide, and with no previous serious jail time. Not just shoplifters , but people who are charged with horrendous violations of children, allowed to walk out of jail sans bond, only to be arrested for committing the same crime, a week or 2 later.
Until Trump took over DC policing, I had no idea in DC, people well into their 20s are sent to the juvenile system, unless charged with murder or a violent rape. Years past being a legal adult, and 22 year old repeat offenders are being treated like 12 year olds smashing mailboxes for kicks? And what the heck is a non violent rape? I have a dusty law degree and I have no idea what that means.
We have plenty of low-income people here, and I don't hear any tales of our L.E. people acting badly. What I think you're doing is substituting "low income" for "black inner city," whose putative representatives are forever accusing the police of racism. It's a dodge at best.
Uh, no. I was born low income white. From a blue collar family. I'm the first to go to college and did after serving six years in the USMC. I then went on to have biracial children. So I can tell the difference between black and white. I also worked in prisons. Where everyone is low income.
I don't see how that changes anything.
oh well.
out west here we strongly support our municipal police and especially county deputies who are the really big force. They do their part too by being professional and uncorrupted. They also solve crimes to an amazing rate.
That’s the best version. Community policing is great. The law enforcement issue is as much or more the laws that are written. People like reasonable responsive and respectful police. Nobody commando police that trample civil liberties and are not helpful.