Liberals have been trounced over the past decade in both
national and local elections. As a party, Democrats haven’t been in such bad
shape since the 1920s. So what have they proposed recently to reverse this
trend?
There is the movement to abolish the electoral college, so
that the winner of the popular vote would become the president. First of all,
that does nothing to address the Congressional elections or the state and local
elections, which are far more important in the long run. Second, you have a
majority of fly-over country already pissed off at the big city coastal elites –
do you really think proposing to disenfranchise all those states by arranging that presidential elections are essentially settled by a few big liberal states
– primarily New York and California – will fly? Do you really think a majority of states will
vote for a constitutional change that reduces their influence? Do you think
pushing for it is going to win you elections? Get real!
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are pushing far left
soft-socialist ideas like free college for everyone. Just what does free
college do for a 50 year old machinist outside of Detroit who has been laid off,
or for an unemployed 20 year old who had trouble getting through high school?
What is this liberal fascination with getting everyone through college? Much,
perhaps even most, of the nation has no interest in spending four years
studying English literature or academic economics or batting their brains
trying to understand calculus. Get real!
Then there is the Sanders/Warren proposal for free medical
care for everyone. Notice the word “free”. Didn’t anyone ever teach liberals
that there is no free lunch? In fact
their proposal would require either incurring a massive additional federal
debt, which would soon sink the economy, or just about doubling income tax rates.
Think that will fly? Do you think that will win you elections? Get real!
Hillary lost the last election partly because of
immigration. She (and Obama) essentially wanted to give the country open
boarders, where anyone could come in. Oh, they didn’t phrase it that way, but
if you aren’t going to prosecute and deport illegal immigrants, that is
essentially what you have – open borders. So you have a large segment of the
middle of the country already uneasy and unhappy about the number of new
immigrants moving into their cities and neighborhoods. Do you think proposing to
increase this problem is going to win you elections? Do you think lecturing
those people - telling them, from your holier-than-thou elite liberal ivory
tower - that they shouldn’t feel that way, is going to win you elections? Get real!
Finally there is the liberal outrage over any accommodation to
religious voter’s concerns about issues like contraceptives and abortions and gay
marriage. As it happens I agree with the liberals on these issues, but the
reality is that most of the country has religious beliefs of one sort or
another, and liberals, whatever their own personal views on religion, are never
going to win elections by ignoring those beliefs, or even worse, by disrespecting
those who hold strong religious beliefs. Get real!
The theory is that the liberal elite is better educated than
the rest of the country. Apparently that better education didn’t include enough
psychology to teach them that looking down your nose at a group, or calling
them names doesn’t win their votes. Apparently that better education didn’t
include enough history to teach them that ignoring the economic desperation of a
large segment of the population doesn’t win them votes, and breeds revolutions.
Apparently that better education didn’t teach them enough political science to
understand that candidates have to offer voters something they care about to
win their votes. Apparently that better education didn’t include enough sociology
to teach them that they need to get out of their own isolation bubble if they
want to see the world the way it really is, instead of the way all their peers
see it.
What I see is a bunch of proposals that appeal ideologically
to the existing liberal base – that will get votes from the liberal elites who
already vote for Democrats. I don’t see
anything that will bring in new voters, especially new working class voters. I don’t
see anything that shows the slightest understanding of why Democrats have been
losing so badly all across the nation over the past decade or two. I don’t see anything
that addresses the very real angst and worries of the working class voters who
used to be a reliable Democratic base. I don’t see any evidence that liberals
are getting real!
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