Bolsheviks, Left and Right

I don’t have much to contribute to the conversation going on at Outside the Beltway, first from James Joyner, then from Stephen Taylor. I can’t help but think that it’s mostly breastbeating about the Trumpification of the Republican Party, a subject in which I have little interest.

Why isn’t it interesting to me? My city councilman is a Democrat, the mayor of my city is a Democrat, the president of the county board is a Democrat, the governor of my state is a Democrat, the leadership of both houses of the state legislature are Democrats, and there are Democratic supermajorities in both houses of the legislature. Is it any wonder I’m more interested in Democrats than Republicans?

I do disagree with one point James makes repeatedly first here:

But, unlike Sullivan, I also think “the left” is too small a force in American politics to do more than marginal harm.

then here

I’m much less tempted since, again, I think the left far less powerful than Sullivan suggests.

What’s missing from both Dr. Joyner’s piece and Dr. Taylor’s is most of the American electorate. Most are not intensely interested in politics, strong committed partisans, or comfortable with either political party. Yes, Trump’s approval rating is low but the Congress’s is even lower. Support for one’s own Congressman while not at an historic low, is phlegmatic.

What I see is in our politics is a small group of left Bolsheviks punching far above their weight, to the extent that they’re dominating the debate in the Democratic presidential debates, and a small group of right Bolsheviks, also punching far above their weight, with most of the American people left out of the discussion.

What I would remind everyone of is that the original Bolsheviks never comprised a majority in Russia and were unimportant until, suddenly, they were very important, indeed.

6 comments… add one
  • Guarneri Link

    Their essays are overwrought and banal. Overwrought for the reasons you cite; most people don’t care. Banal in that they are reflective of the typical tripe in media commentary and bear little resemblance to reality.

  • Andy Link

    I didn’t want to wade into those too far, particularly Dr. Taylor’s claims about how it’s all (or mostly) about white men.

  • steve Link

    “What I see is in our politics is a small group of left Bolsheviks punching far above their weight, to the extent that they’re dominating the debate in the Democratic presidential debates, and a small group of right Bolsheviks”

    But at least so far, the right wing Bolsheviks have turned their rhetoric into policy. That hasn’t happened on the left, at least not yet.

    Steve

  • Andy Link

    “But at least so far, the right wing Bolsheviks have turned their rhetoric into policy. That hasn’t happened on the left, at least not yet.”

    In an earlier thread on OTB, I put forth the opinion that I would not want to see the day when our election choice is between those two extremes. Impossible, I was told, the Democrats are more moderate than ever, there is no trend toward the left, there is no way what happened to the GOP could happen to the Democrats.

  • steve Link

    Andy- It could, but it hasn’t happened yet. Let me offer some metrics that would suggest that the Bolsheviks really have taken over.

    1) The Dems conduct 7 more collusion investigations, each one finding the same as the first. Wasting taxpayer money, but keeping the base and donors riled up.

    2) They go ahead and impeach Trump. The GOP impeached Trump over lying about sex and obstructing justice. Trump lied about Stormy Daniels. He has probably broken the emoluments clause. They still shouldnt do it as there is no way the Senate would not support Trump.

    3) We see Congress voting 40-50 times to repeal the same GOP legislation they dont like, while proposing none of their own.

    4) The Dems cant pass any legislation because the far left controls the party. (Remember the Tea Party and poor Boehner?)

    5) They actually propose and vote for radical left bills like the GND.

    Steve

  • Andy Link

    As I wrote then, we shall see.

    I’m not making hard predictions about the future, just worrying about extrapolated trends. The logical end-state of hyper-partisanship and the current course is a choice between uncompromising extremes. Establishment Republicans laughed at Trump and now he is President and they are in the political wilderness. I think it’s foolish for Democrats to believe something similar can’t happen to their party given the reality of how the nomination process actually works.

    As I’ve been saying for a long time, the GoP is the Vanguard for these changes in our political system, but the Democrats are following along the same trend-line.

    I remember several years ago, I think after the tea-party surge, Democrats making fun of the GoP for all the primary challenges. Well, now some Democrats are doing the same thing.

    I think we’ll get a better idea of where the Democratic party actually sits as this cycle progresses. Key will be who the Democrats nominate and what their reaction will be if they should lose to Trump again.

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