That’s a myth. People tend to be stable in their positions as society trends left, so the position held at 20 is more “conservative” at 60, even if it is the same position.
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And presumably income. Manchin’s no longer a one-stop shop for oil companies buying a veto.
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Ok, late to the party here, but I proclaim both whew and hallelujah!
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My Midwestern brother wrote a ton of postcards.
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Which does not explain the rise - and success - of right-wingish populists (like Nigel Farage as one local example). External events and trends (like large-scale immigration to the UK at the same time as the economy sought to immiserate the average Joe) lead to some very right-wing shifts on key electoral topics.
I don’t want to get into an argument about this - I suspect we are pretty aligned in our views (and I have some deadlines looming!) but I do not think it as simple as your statement - or my earlier one for that matter - and Beau’s argument seems in part at least to in effect be saying ‘the Overton window moves left over time’ and I think that is simplistic and too much of a generalisation, too. The Overton window can get dragged in both directions, and it may get bigger in either or both directions.
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Over short periods of time, this is true. In the history of most of the world, I think most would agree that things are shifting left. Not left enough, no, but look at things like LGBTQ+ rights, marriage equality, racial equality. Since the 1900’s these have all made strides to the just side. And the reactionary right gets more and more incendiary as that happens. Having a Black president caused a huge backlash, arguably leading directly to Il Douche and the rise and mainstreaming of white supremacy. At this point, the right is no longer even pretending to put forth a coherent position. It’s all hate and fear. Because they know their time is short, and it’s all they have.
“The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Toward Justice.” – Martin Luther King Jr
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He knows exactly what he’s doing. He closes that out with reality as a big ole proviso. “we can’t really say for sure” because big democratic counties are still outstanding, most of the votes aren’t counted etc.
He’s just telling people what they want to hear. It’s messaging, not a prediction and he knows it’s bullshit.
“It’s really amazing that Walker is winning, and Brian Kemp is really a rock hard powerful politician. But we can’t really call it yet because of all these factual reasons that Walker has already lost”.
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That quote by MLK is true, but timescales matter. We can ignore climate change and the planet will find a new equilibrium for a while, but we will be either gone or in straightened circumstances. Our society shouldn’t have to wait centuries to be better than it is.
One thing about the whole “conservatives are dying off” idea is that nothing needs be done but wait for their extinction. I’d rather stampede them over the cliff.
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OK - I’ll concede the point in the very long term. The arc bends towards justice - but it ain’t a plottable, consistent curve. It’s not even a non-constant radius bend. It has kinks in it.
So on a timescale that matters to most in their lifetimes, the movement is often insufficiently fast and oscillates in both directions. That hate and fear on the wrong end of the spectrum, when the world is moving to the other end of the spectrum, is always there and always will be. It is more virulent right now and because it may wane in the fullness of time is not sufficient comfort when its virulence threatens lives right now.
Again, I suspect we probably agree on this.
And what @BakerB said.
(And back to the deadlines!) 
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Yes. That’s because it doesn’t just happen. It has to be made to bend. History is not shit happening, it’s the study of human action over time. We are the ones that make the change. So anyone who wants to see the moral arc bend towards justice, has to be an active participant.
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This is unquestionably true. No one is going to wake up tomorrow in an idyllic nirvana. Working to change things is how it is done, and there will always be opposition. This is why it is slow. This is not a reason to throw up our hands and moan, though. Lots of shoulders to wheel, and it moves. We want it to go faster, but what we want most of all is for it to move.
(Or what @anon61221983 said better.)
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A true, living example of a practicing Christian has triumphed. The GOP will rejoice!!
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The Mansema dynamic has fundamentally changed, though. It’s no longer really as relevant, since the Dems lost the House. There’s probably no point in busting the fillibuster fro the next two years in order to approve legislation, since no legislation will be coming from the House, and any legislation going to the House is going there to die.
This is what we needed from 2021 to 2023. It’s worth a great del less now.
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I maintain some hope that the new NY republican reps will be less MAGA than the run-of-the-mill crowd over there. We’ll find out soon enough, I guess.
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…and margarine traitor green & bobo the kkklown, too.
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