Not sure why you refer to “punching down.” It presumes that the status quo Democrat is in an elevated position.
We are dead with the positions of either party. One might be more immediately cruel, but both are malignant. The love affair with private equity that the Clintons and Obama had is maybe more civil than the predations of the Trump looms (identical if you are Palestinian), but by no means are they less evil or destructive.
Folks who don’t understand why people wouldn’t vote for Harris should just talk to people who are to the left and didn’t vote for Harris. These folks in many cases are much smarter than centrists.
Oh I don't presume that but I agree with some of your other point.
My feeling is that there are many many quite comfortable people who simply do not want to talk to anyone to the left of them and who make their living punching down. In that case I'm not thinking of all Democratic voters per se but comfortable centrists who malign attempts to care for the poor, or the brutalized. Consider people like Yglesias or Gillibrand who reject out of hand the perspectives of people who are poor, or Palestinian, as simply unrealistic or evil and then pivot to whining that they did not vote for them.
One can punch down not only from wealth but from position within an organization (in the case of incumbents or well-placed talking heads), or from the moderate comfort of the middle class, adequately housed, or well-fed, when they sneer at calls for public grocery stores or free busses.
I wrote the article in large measure because I have had to painstakingly explain to people who are comfortable in one of these ways that they just have not experienced the kinds of things that others do and, particularly in the context of a campaign, telling people to shut up and "vote blue no matter who" is privilege.
As to being dead with either party I think that depends on which part of the Democrats you mean. Certainly people like Schumer and Gillibrand, or sadly now Fetterman, are not inclined to help us and do keep making the problem worse. Some others, notably AOC, Mandami, and aligned people like Sanders are pushing to make things better. The trouble is, they are not driving the bus and the same comfortable insiders are punching at them hard to try and throw them off.
I was a huge Berner, and he nailed the underlying problems so clearly (1%, Billionaires should not exist). The wrath that was unleashed upon him (and subsequently AOC) by the Dems was stunning, and, to my mind, sealed their fate. At that moment, it was all over but the shouting. And we can see it in the terrifying vapidity of the top Dem candidates (Newsom, Harris, Buttigieg) and the malignancy of the leaders (Pelosi, Schumer).
I want to believe that Hogg and/or AOC can destroy the malignancy from within, but I also understand how powerful the money is that supports the status quo. But we shall see!
Not sure why you refer to “punching down.” It presumes that the status quo Democrat is in an elevated position.
We are dead with the positions of either party. One might be more immediately cruel, but both are malignant. The love affair with private equity that the Clintons and Obama had is maybe more civil than the predations of the Trump looms (identical if you are Palestinian), but by no means are they less evil or destructive.
Folks who don’t understand why people wouldn’t vote for Harris should just talk to people who are to the left and didn’t vote for Harris. These folks in many cases are much smarter than centrists.
Oh I don't presume that but I agree with some of your other point.
My feeling is that there are many many quite comfortable people who simply do not want to talk to anyone to the left of them and who make their living punching down. In that case I'm not thinking of all Democratic voters per se but comfortable centrists who malign attempts to care for the poor, or the brutalized. Consider people like Yglesias or Gillibrand who reject out of hand the perspectives of people who are poor, or Palestinian, as simply unrealistic or evil and then pivot to whining that they did not vote for them.
One can punch down not only from wealth but from position within an organization (in the case of incumbents or well-placed talking heads), or from the moderate comfort of the middle class, adequately housed, or well-fed, when they sneer at calls for public grocery stores or free busses.
I wrote the article in large measure because I have had to painstakingly explain to people who are comfortable in one of these ways that they just have not experienced the kinds of things that others do and, particularly in the context of a campaign, telling people to shut up and "vote blue no matter who" is privilege.
As to being dead with either party I think that depends on which part of the Democrats you mean. Certainly people like Schumer and Gillibrand, or sadly now Fetterman, are not inclined to help us and do keep making the problem worse. Some others, notably AOC, Mandami, and aligned people like Sanders are pushing to make things better. The trouble is, they are not driving the bus and the same comfortable insiders are punching at them hard to try and throw them off.
Totally agree.
I was a huge Berner, and he nailed the underlying problems so clearly (1%, Billionaires should not exist). The wrath that was unleashed upon him (and subsequently AOC) by the Dems was stunning, and, to my mind, sealed their fate. At that moment, it was all over but the shouting. And we can see it in the terrifying vapidity of the top Dem candidates (Newsom, Harris, Buttigieg) and the malignancy of the leaders (Pelosi, Schumer).
I want to believe that Hogg and/or AOC can destroy the malignancy from within, but I also understand how powerful the money is that supports the status quo. But we shall see!