2022 Midterm Elections

[Jolene Benoir]

But what are you registered as? I got the same flow of material, but I'm a registered Democrat.

I an mot. In MN you do not need to register with a party. However, you do have to pick one party's primary to vote in that primary.

Who voted in what given primary is passed up to the chair of a given party.

 

[Sovereignty]

Thanks for taking all the joy from the win today...

The most joy I felt was on Wednesday when I checked and Wisconsin had returned from the grave. Resurrection really does happen.

After that, it was apparent that there was no blue wave and the R's, if anything, had been fairly successful especially in state elections. Quoting Forrest Gump, have a nice day.

A sweep of the Georgia senate races may improve my mood.

 

[Free]

Quoting Forrest Gump, have a nice day.

 

[Ashiri]

The survey responses in this thread seem to exemplify this point -- the survey is of white voters' attitudes, and subsequent slides show that a majority of them (a smaller majority than urban areas, to be sure, but still a sizeable majority) have pretty progressive social values.

I wonder how much of

Only 34% of rural White voters think
@JoeBiden
cares about them. But, 59% of rural White voters think Donald Trump cares about them.

is because they've always identified as Republican and seek to rationalise the choice.

I've come across similar rationalisation in my own country.

 

[Sovereignty]

Let me know how everything comes out.

 

[Free]

Let me know how everything comes out.

 

[Tracer]

 

[Free]

I could certainly see it selling well for a backdrop creator in Second Life.

 

[Sovereignty]

Going forward, keep in mind:

Trump Is an Authoritarian. So Are Millions of Americans

One of the important lessons Americans learned from Donald Trump’s election in 2016—and one still difficult for some of us to process almost four years later—is just how many of our fellow citizens are predisposed to authoritarianism.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Only 34% of rural White voters think @JoeBiden cares about them. But, 59% of rural White voters think Donald Trump cares about them. This is why Democrats lose.

So Democrats lose because Biden has somehow failed to show his concern in a more convincing fashion than Donald Trump has done.

It's a messaging problem.

Right.

Well, it's obvious that Joe Biden just needs to start mocking disabled people, inciting violence against reporters, ignoring the coronavirus, throwing people off healthcare, and advocating for the end of social security. Those rural White voters will fall in love with us then!

 

[Beebo Brink]

I wonder how much of is because they've always identified as Republican and seek to rationalise the choice.

My own theory is that rural White voters don't think we care about them because we're paying too much attention to blacks, Latinos, gays, atheists, communists, socialists, climate scientists, loose women, and people who think the world is round.

The OBVIOUS way to prove that Democrats care about rural White voters is to stop paying attention to everyone else. That's what Donald Trump did, that was HIS message. And it's a very good message if you're a rural White. Gosh, I can't imagine why Democrats didn't think of that first.

 

[Ashiri]

My own theory is that rural White voters don't think we care about them because we're paying too much attention to blacks, Latinos, gays, atheists, communists, socialists, climate scientists, loose women, and people who think the world is round.

I would think that there is that "us and them" mindset happening as well. How much that and how much "always voted republican, always will" is always going to be a matter of debate (or study).

 

[Casey Pelous]

My own theory is that rural White voters don't think we care about them because we're paying too much attention to blacks, Latinos, gays, atheists, communists, socialists, climate scientists, loose women, and people who think the world is round.

The OBVIOUS way to prove that Democrats care about rural White voters is to stop paying attention to everyone else. That's what Donald Trump did, that was HIS message. And it's a very good message if you're a rural White. Gosh, I can't imagine why Democrats didn't think of that first.

I'm afraid your plan is too modest.

The model we need to adopt is to actively incite hatred of all those groups. And murder a few, just to prove we mean it.

THEN rural White voters will love us. If they don't, we'll murder a few of them. That'll get 'em into line.

 

[Essence Lumin]

If they don't, we'll murder a few of them. That'll get 'em into line.

That plan is already in place, with covid and where ignorance about masks is most prevalent.

 

[Sovereignty]

The idea that Republicans are authoritarian is nothing new.

New York Times, 1994
Newt Gingrich, Authoritarian

But this race-based, anger-charged politics mutated in Mr. Gingrich and some others of his generation into a more generalized moral authoritarianism. Mr. Gingrich wants to be obeyed, both within a Republican majority that exists mainly to rubber stamp his legislative menu and within a country where behavior would be regulated by a "society that is emphatic about right and wrong."

 

[Sovereignty]

From that same NY Times article:

Because authoritarian moralists have often been identified as rubes, they tend to be underestimated. That would be a mistake with Mr. Gingrich, as the White House and the Democratic campaign committees just learned. In his years on the sidelines, he developed into one of the best strategic thinkers in American politics. His "Contract With America," laughable as economics and sinister as social policy, was a brilliant tactical device.

Unfortunately, Mr. Gingrich learned something besides campaign science in his years on the sidelines. He learned how to invoke a fictionalized vision of the American past and how then to whip the nostalgia for that nonexistent past into voter anger. Mr. Reagan first perfected this trick, but somehow with Mr. Gingrich, it has a meaner, more intolerant edge. Democrats have felt the edge; so in due time will the Republican legislators who are about to be called upon to stand and deliver for their new boss. [emphasis added]

Doesn't the emphasized part sound familiiar? Seems I heard it ... somewhere.

What I remember most about Gingrich back then was how the Contract with America was used to force Republicans to kowtow to him.

 

[Sovereignty]

Republicans’ 2020 Gains In The House Set Them Up Well For 2022

ETA:

Republicans are well positioned to take the House in 2022

 

[Sovereignty]

While we indulge in fantasies to compensate for our feelings of loss of control over elections (control we never had), we should also be thinking about what might possibly influence the outcomes of the next election and make that a higher priority than a lot of the policy implementation we dream about.

Policy implementation will be a moot issue if we lose elections. Meanwhile, if we start as soon as possible, we might exert some influence (not control) on the elections.

It's a sad place to be, but I think it is realistic.

Note: "as soon as possible" means today, now.

 

[Sovereignty]

Throwing out an idea to influence voters, one could vigorously publicize the idea that belonging to hate groups is a public health problem.

Saw this article on CNN, Former White supremacist: This is how to tackle hate and bigotry.

Treating the causes of hate requires youth resilience, community-based counternarratives and education and deradicalization programs. To be effective, the programs should be available to schools, first responders and community leaders.

It gets a bit into the deprogrammer realm of changing people's ideas, but I suspect it could be put on a firmer basis than what happened decades ago, and surely still happens, with deprogrammer types.

In the quote above I like the phrase "community-based counternarratives".

Just trying to do this could have some influence. Of course, the groups mentioned in the article are already trying. If they are legit, then they need support.

 

[Eunoli]

I could certainly see it selling well for a backdrop creator in Second Life.

.... I could make that.