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To be brief, it’s propaganda designed to keep rural voters red. Ie- "those big city folk don’t care about you."
Partly...
But also that the Dem party today is significantly more "conservative" economically than we used to be, as the article points out:
In 1910, Teddy Roosevelt thundered his warning that “a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power” could destroy US democracy. Roosevelt’s answer was to tax wealth. The estate tax was eventually enacted in 1916, and the capital gains tax in 1922.
In the 1912 presidential campaign, Woodrow Wilson promised “a crusade against powers that have governed us … that have limited our development … that have determined our lives … that have set us in a straitjacket to do as they please”. The struggle to break up the giant trusts would be, in Wilson’s words, a “second struggle for emancipation”.
Wilson signed into law the Clayton Antitrust Act, which strengthened antitrust laws and protected unions. He also established the Federal Trade Commission to root out “unfair acts and practices in commerce”, and created the first permanent national income tax.
Years later, Teddy Roosevelt’s fifth-cousin, Franklin D Roosevelt, attacked corporate and financial power by giving workers the right to unionize, the 40-hour workweek, unemployment insurance, and social security. FDR instituted a high marginal income tax on the wealthy – those making more than $5m a year were taxed up to 75% – and he regulated finance.
Plus, Teddy was the first presidential platform that used universal healthcare....
So part of it is that Republicans lie and propaganda
But if the modern Dem party didn't think the Dem party platform from a fucking century ago wasnt "too extreme" the modern Dem party would be as popular as it was with FDR.
I think that's more of a symptom than a root cause. republicans' goal since the 70's has been to pull the lower and middle classes to them with wedge identity issues like abortion. the whole "elitism" thing is a part of that too. So now the parties are competing on those wedge issues and identity more than economic progress, as they were in FDR's time.
Like, you understand that if the Dem party wanted to, they could still be that economically progressive, right?
And that in doing so it mitigate Republicans lying?
The Dem party becoming more economically conservative is solely the fault of the people choosing to do what donors want over what Dem voters want....
Both parties focusing on the "wedge issues" is by design, that way the wealthy who donate to both parties always win...
The only people who control the Dem.platform is Dem party leadership, them choosing wealthy donors over voters is literally no one's fault except the people running the party who keep repeatedly making that choice.
I get wanting to blame Republicans, but we can't on this one.
It's literally as easy as Kamala deciding to do so at this point, it's a month from election and she's the candidate. But she's not, instead she keeps moving to the right economically the closer we get to the election.
The Dem party becoming more economically conservative is solely the fault of the people choosing to do what donors want over what Dem voters want…
Do not make the mistake of thinking nerds on the Internet represent the Democratic Party rank and file. They like neoliberal economics.
I also wish the Dems would promote more progressive policies. At the same time, the media does not celebrate the wins for Dems, such as the creation of the CFPB that Elizabeth Warren established. They don't celebrate the response to oligopoly through review of mergers and acquisitions by the FTC under Lina Kahn. They don't celebrate the reduced child poverty rate under the expanded child tax credit. Positive progress doesn't make it to mass media even when it does happen, which isn't often enough.
Stop blaming the Dem leadership and look at the facts.
The voters heard Donald Trump say that he liked grabbing the pussy and that he didn't like soldiers who got captured.
People are choosing garbage because they'd happily eat a ton of manure if it meant they could blow stink in a Libs face.
Propaganda makes you believe that one of the two party is your fiend. Meanwhile for the past century both the red and blue party has served elites interests and fuck over everyone else (including the planet). The proof is that you are a peasants and it would take you a couple of minutes just to visualize how much a billion is.
To Democrats, "elites" mean your in some top percentile of wealth and income. To Republicans, "elites" means having a college degree.
This is the correct answer to the question the Guardian poses. I've lived among them and can 100% confirm this is how they think.
Elites is all about having a college degree and being "book smart" vs their "street smart" or "wise in the ways of man" sort of bullshit charlatans throughout history have used to make up for a lack of critical thinking skills.
It really is the right answer. But I think we can sharpen it if we look at how the media around Democrats elevates and highlights elitism as a quality to be pursued, for example, in a candidate.
A great example of this was the treatment of Pete Buttigieg, and specific media outlets elevation of him to a nationally relevant political actor. Harvard, then Oxford Rhodes scholar then a decade long McKinseyite (that alone should have disbarred him from running for president), then intelligence officer US Navy. He was the definition of "qualified" to the CNN and NPR editorial boards.
But how well had only political bonafides were a failed run for treasurer in Indiana, and a mayoral victory where he garnered all of 10k votes. So the guy has never actually won any significant state or federal elections. Yet in 2020, suddenly this guys is gets treated like a serious contender in the Democratic primary. Why?
Democratically aligned corporate press is obsessed with credentials, and specifically, the kind that comes from "elite" schools and organizations. Partially because they themselves also come from these elite schools and organizations.
We really have become addicted to certifications and tags and qualifiers for everyone because it's easier to "understand" them at a glance and that's decided as all you need.
On paper is good enough for far to many, it's just easier to categorize people and move on.
Being in your categories is the easiest way to automatically think of then as moral and good because they must be, you are. It's fucked up both parties. Look at Eric Adams and Marco Rubio.
So they basically turned anti elitism to anti intellectualism so they can fool their audience.
I mean, I thought we all knew that.
It means the nerds you shoved in lockers who learned to read and now have successful lives while you scrape by trying to make alimony at a job that would pay a living wage if you didn't live in a right to work state.
This is one of the greatest scams that conservatives get away with IMO, not just in the US but it happens in the UK and other places too. Conservatives get in, go hog wild cutting taxes, selling off public assets and throwing huge contracts to their friends, and then as soon as the other side gets back in they find that they have to now balance the books, the conservatives start complaining and saying they're the fiscally responsible ones.
It's literally happening right now in the UK - we just got rid of the Tories finally after about 15 years, and the new Labour government immediately found a £20 billion hole in the economy which they now have to make harsh cuts to sort out, and they're the ones getting criticized for it by the media.
We need a government report card.
At the end of every administration, we need to compare the national debt and all important factors.
It’s one thing people missed in coming up with democratic systems. If different people take turns to steer the ship then you need to define what their goal is so you can evaluate each.
I'd half agree; they could raise taxes instead of making cuts.
That generally also does not go over well in the media.
Conservatives make a mess to their advantage and win/win every time
Because the media continually accepts and perpetuates the right wing framing of everything.
Because the media is owned and operated by rich men who benefit from putting the blame on others and calling it "news."
Because rich Republicans also own the media.
Because it was always about projection.
Because the Democrats abandoned working class voters in the 80s and 90s to court the professional-managerial class in a pivot towards the center, and the Republicans were able to win over these disaffected blue-collar voters with resentment politics.
because US politics is center right vs far right
Why haven’t Democrats embraced economic populism? Because for too long they’ve drunk from the same campaign funding trough as the Republicans – big corporations, Wall Street, and the very wealthy.
US two-party sham needs replacing
Probably for the same kind of reason that "everyone knows" that the corporate media is a "liberal media".
"The media is liberal!"
"Who told you that?"
"The media."
Because it's convenient to have bad faith actors sowing discord before any election.
Tankies (sleeper conservatives that they are) can't rely on logic, merit or hope for a better tomorrow, so they cause as much chaos as possible to their perceived 'enemies'. This chaos includes the encouragement of unrealistic statements and general cognitive dissonance.
My true thoughts are that they went too far and started to believe their own drivel as generations of hexbears rose and fell and shit themselves into .ml
Projection.
Because projection, misinformation, disinformation, and political agendas.
Because democrats value egalitarianism and education. Good education is expensive. The businesspersons that have expended the most effort to offshore our jobs to the serious detriment of working-class America have had some of the most expensive and exclusive educations of all, and they are some of the wealthiest people on the planet… (conservatives fullstop here and ignore the rest: …who are also likely voting conservative). Couple that with the fact that expert (educated) advice and direction is often in direct conflict with the myopic goals and views of the uneducated. Don’t dump shit everywhere (but it’s cheap, easy, and fun to roll coal and pour used motor oil on the ground!), don’t cut down all the trees (but mah lumber is more expensive!), and maybe wear a mask (grandma was gonna die eventually anyways, at least I can bring her Covid from the Applebees take out!)
So it’s really easy for the conservatives to paint education = evil, and then of course they couple that with feel-good bullshit like “common sense” and small-town American wisdom that is completely meaningless but makes the uneducated feel smart or like they have control of their situation.
Elitism and wealth, though often linked, are not the same. The term nouveaux riche highlights this difference: it refers to those who have gained wealth but lack the cultural status of the traditional elite. One can be rich without being part of the elite, as elitism is more about attitudes of superiority tied to education or social influence than money alone.
In American politics, Democrats are often branded as elitist due to their perceived condescension towards certain demographics, such as rural communities or southern voters. Critics argue that some Democrats dismiss these regions as culturally or intellectually inferior, suggesting that rural areas offer little value or substance. This perception of elitism stems from more than just economic disparity; it reflects a cultural and ideological divide. The urban-rural schism is not simply about money, but about who holds the power to shape discourse, values, and the future of society. Such perceptions fuel populist resentment, where rural or working-class voters feel alienated or belittled by what they view as a metropolitan, highly educated, and culturally insulated elite.
You can see some of this elitism right here in the comments in fact.
They aren't. Republicans lie all the time and some people are stupid enough to believe them.
Because Republican voters never, ever seek evidence or utilize basic critical thinking when their hatred steeped biases are confirmed.
A sufficiently hatemongering, and therefore trusted conservative talking head could say "Kamala Harris is a secret Aids Virus in a skin suit made of harvested fetuses made human size by George Soros' double secret reverse shrink ray!"
And you'd cue thunderous Republican voter applause with shrieks of "I FUCKING KNEW IT!"
projection and propeganda, full stop.
Because it’s hard to think of a moron like Trump as elite at anything.
It's because Democrats are not willing to become anti-elite or anti-rich or anything like that, they'd piss off their donors. Only Trump was able to do this because everyone knows he's lying. His donors know it's all a show.