i’m no mind reader, but the 93 reference in the context of the democratic party talks to the “republican lite” efforts of the democratic leadership council which backstopped clinton’s triangulations with very conservative policy recommendations indeed. i think the history of the last 25 years has demonstrated that if the choice boils down to an extremely conservative democrat and a republican the republican tends to win.
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I’ve seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the fair Deal, and says he really doesn’t believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don’t want a phony Democrat. If it’s a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don’t want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign.
— Harry S. Truman, Address at the National Convention Banquet of the Americans for Democratic Action (17 May 1952)
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It’s not about 100% agreement “around here”, it’s about acknowledging reality and not wasting yet another election cycle trying to solve a “mystery” when we know how it’ll turn out (hint: another greedy old white man pretending to be something else. And they do get away with it, again and again).
Around here the [sighs] come when someone says “golly me, how ever did this happen? We must understand why so many good, independent voters support such a terrible regime. We must determine what arcane magic the opposition is using to appeal to them and to push its programme forward.” That’s the hand-wringing of the “moderate centrist”, and I’m afraid that’s what those “around here” see in your comments above.
In my opinion, as informed by the study of history and current affairs. Meanwhile, you haven’t pointed us in the direction of this supposed terra incognita of the American electorate or GOP politicians that we need to understand.
As you’ll see from @navarro’s comment and the always relevant quote posted by @wanderfound, “around here” it’s not that vague. We also have the added urgency of having to deal with crises like global warming and growing economic inequality (both of which should have been addressed by the so-called duopoly party of the West back in 1993).
Part of that involves not wasting time and resources trying to understand an already well-understood opposition.
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It was not clear to me that it was “well-understood.”
But you’ve got it all figured out, so why waste time talking, eh?
That much is obvious. Consider yourself informed about what’s well understood “around here”.
Not all of it, but enough (more than enough) to move on to a plan of action instead of worrying about what still seem to be your unknown unknowns.
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For one last time: I am NOT worrying about “unknown unknowns” (say what?) I am not trying to understand the Trumpists. I am not being a Evil-Enabling Centrist.
I was trying to offer useful advice for people who don’t like the Senate’s non-proportional representation:
If you want to change that, whining about how unfair it is, how it’s 'broken" and needs to be “fixed”. won’t convince anyone who’s not already on your side, and if you want to pull this off, you’re gonna need some of those votes, those “Republican voters who can be swayed” that you mention above.
And that requires understanding the historical context, and the fact that many of those “persuadable Republicans” rightly consider it a feature, not a bug. You have to challenge that idea directly, and persuade them that your idea would be an improvement (for them, not just for you).
But as I said, I guess y’all have it all figured out already, and anyone who suggests otherwise is just obviously an Evil-Enabling Centrist or a fan of inequality, or a condescending historian, and just trying to distract and temporize, fretting uselessly about “unknown unknowns.”
So never mind. There’s no real room for discussion here. You’re not listening at all.
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