In their infinite elitism, they consider their world view to be the “legitimate” one and the others to be “radicals” and fringe. “We are centrists,” they say, “and everyone who disagrees with us is, by definition, not in the center.” How grotesquely arrogant and patronizing.
Of course, the most infuriating part is that they are wrong — factually, empirically wrong. Dozens of polls show that, on almost every issue, the country is nearly two-thirds progressive.Misinforming Americans is what many Democrats do, too.
In 2016, some Democrats blamed “economic anxiety” for their losses, instead of admitting that racist ideas,
more than any other factor, distinguished Trump voters.
It was politically sound for Democrats to dismiss the racist ideas of voters they hoped to win over in 2018. In 2020, they are blaming progressives, for much the same reason.
For Trump, the misinformation started long before Election Day. For Democrats, it started two days after Election Day.
Neither moderate nor progressive candidates generally ran on socialism or defunding the police. Republican candidates, though, commonly ran attack ads declaring that all Democrats from Biden to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were far-left socialists seeking to defund the police. But instead of uniting with progressives to attack Republican misinformation after the election, some moderate Democrats attacked progressives, thereby spreading Republican misinformation.
If the main line of Republican misinformation right now is voter fraud, then the main line of Democratic misinformation is that progressive policies are unpopular. Just as Donald Trump’s claims of fraud have proved to be a self-soothing delusion, moderates’ attacks on progressives are untethered from the reality of increasing support for progressive policies.
Progressive policies succeeded in swing states and red states during this election cycle. Florida voters
passed a $15 minimum wage. Voters in
Arizona,
South Dakota, and
Montana legalized recreational marijuana. Arizona
raised taxes on the rich to fund public schools. Colorado voters
instituted 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.
The
majority of Americans and the
majority of low-income Republicans favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15. The majority of respondents to
an Ipsos poll this year, including 46 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of Democrats, said a $1,000-a-month “universal basic income” would make a difference in “their community in building a strong economy that gives everyone a chance to succeed.” A Fox News
poll conducted the week before Election Day found that 70 percent of respondents were concerned about the effects of climate change; 77 percent said racism is a serious problem in U.S. society; 72 percent said racism in policing is a serious problem; and 67 percent said the criminal-justice system needs major changes or a complete overhaul. According to a Fox News
exit poll, 70 percent of voters favored changing the health-care system to allow Americans to buy into a government-run plan. In
another poll, by Climate Nexus, 59 percent of respondents supported the Green New Deal, while only 25 percent opposed it. Two out of three respondents
in yet another recent poll supported some form of widespread student-loan forgiveness, including 58 percent of Republicans.
candidates in swing districts supporting progressive policies
did win.. In the House, California’s
Katie Porter, Josh Harder, and Mike Levin; Pennsylvania’s Matt Cartwright and
Susan Wild; Oregon’s Peter DeFazio; and Arizona’s Ann Kirkpatrick all supported Medicare for All in swing districts and prevailed.
* None of the Democrats who lost their reelection bids for the House
supported Medicare for All. Among the 93 co-sponsors of the Green New Deal in the House,
only one lost reelection. Four co-sponsors who represent
swing districts ranging from very slightly Democrat to moderately Republican won reelection.
neither Republican misinformation nor progressive policies were universally fatal for Democrats. If it continues, though, Democratic misinformation
will be fatal for Democrats.
I expected GOP misinformation to portray moderate and progressive Democrats as anti-American extremists—which GOP operatives are
doing now to the Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia.
I didn’t expect moderate Democrats to first decry GOP misinformation and then turn around and misinform Americans about progressives. I didn’t expect moderate Democrats to contribute valiantly to the remarkable campaign to eject Trump from the White House, then follow that up with a postelection misinformation campaign that could cause a recurrence of Trumpism in the House in 2023, and of Trump himself in 2025.
Re: President-Elect Biden Begins Naming Appointees
Originally Posted by pacifism
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