I wanted to bring an article by Perry Bacon at FiveThirtyEight to your attention. In the article the author examines ten “increasingly influential on the left”. The ideas include a rejection of American exceptionalism, systemic racism, skepticism about capitalism, systemic sexism, and cash reparations for blacks. A table they display shows how these ideas are picking up steam in the Democratic Party:
I don’t believe that it’s a coincidence that in the week of January 21 of this year the Gallup poll of party affiliation found that 50% of those surveyed identified as independents, the highest percentage since they’ve been asking this question. If you scroll a little further down in that poll to “leaners”, it’s also clear that Democratic leaners were what made the difference. My view of what’s happening politically in the country is that both the Democratic and Republican Parties are leaving considerable fractions of their voters out in the cold. That’s real disenfranchisement.
To expand on some of the issues gaining ascendancy in the Democratic Party, I think that many are born of ignorance and propaganda. Take capitalism, for example. There are only two known ways of allocating resources: markets and a command economy. Most national economies including the U. S. economy are hybrids. Our problem is not too much capitalism; it’s too little. What we have now is highly financialized crony capitalism, barely recognizeable as capitalism at all. Giving politicians and bureaucrats more power in the economy won’t improve things.
I think that “systemic racism” has no referent. AFAICT all it means is that blacks are not a majority in the U. S., a fact I will concede. For me the question is how can the circumstances of blacks, the descendants of American slaves, be improved? I believe that’s going to take a combination of policy changes and social changes among blacks themselves. It can’t be accomplished through preferences, set-asides, or patronization.
And cash reparations? It’s a nonsensical idea, unsupported by most Americans, and unjust to boot. That it is taken seriously at all is not a mark of contrition but one of opportunism.
The Democrats are so full of shit that it is not funny.
No white Democrat is going to pull money out of his wallet and give it to a black person. Ain’t never gonna happen – Zuckerberg or Buffet.
Systemic racism means that every white person has a job that a black person is not allowed to have. Unless there is no qualified black person, the white person has the job because of racism, and since they refuse to allow a qualified black person to have that job, they are racist.
Start turning billionaires into millionaires and watch the Democrats squeal like rich pigs.
Put me in charge, and I will make their wish list a reality. When I am finished, the @FamousFictionWriter will make @Drew sound like a socialist.
Little known is that St Patrick was actually of Scottish descent, later enslaved by the Irish.
As such, and being a proper Scot, I informed my Irish wife this morning that I will be seeking reparations. It is, after all, an obvious and the only just, action to be taken in today’s woke world.
I’m sure you will all agree. My suffering must end.
You know how writers on the left said horrible things would happen with Trump as president? The KKK would set up office in the White House? The economy would fall apart? Didnt happen. Like a lot of us thought he couldn’t handle a crisis but before that he mostly was just inept and didnt get stuff done, partially because the Democrats tried to make he did not succeed. Now we are seeing the sea thing directed towards Biden. Expect the WSj to keep pumping out articles about how awful things will happen, but they wont.
Steve
Blacks can forget it. Woke has moved on and further off rail. Enjoy;
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/leyna-bloom-black-asian-transgender-sports-illustrated/index.html
@Grey Shambler
The most beautiful girls are boys.