If we gaslight ourselves hard enough, maybe we'll be happy.
You're gaslighting yourself in the other way. There are two kinds of low information voters. The first kind uncritically worship their "side" because they're misinformed about the vices. The second kind are cynical and critical no matter what, even when policies help them, because they're misinformed about the virtues. The right tends to do the first, the left tends to do the second.
There's a reason why the most informed left leaning people are the most strongly in support of Biden. Including people like Bernie Sanders and AOC, both of who have praised him for governing progressively.
Im a low information voter because my information comes from sources that arent propaganda?
Meanwhile you're a high information voter because you accept articles such as this one at face value as well as the opinions of politicians saying their side is doing a good job?
Look, I don't think there's anything wrong with being a low information voter. People are busy, and reading endlessly about politics is an unproductive hobby, just one of many out there.
But it is absolutely true that the most critical people on the left tend to be extremely vague on the specifics. Because they don't know the specifics. And being baseline critical allows them to protect their ego. "Those powerful elites won't fool me!" And don't get me wrong, powerful elites are trying to fool you. But one of the ways they do that is by convincing you that nothing ever gets better. Nothing is worth supporting. That every policy is as bad as any other. Everything that looks good is actually secretly bad.
Here's an example. Lack of competition and enshittification is frequently in the news. Inevitably, someone will comment that "both sides" are corporate shills, and it'll get a ton of upvotes. Anyone who knows anything about the current FTC knows that that's insane. In a shocking move, Biden appointed a young progressive firebrand as the head of the FTC, Lina Khan. She literally wrote the academic article starting the super progressive New Brandeis school of anti-trust. This new FTC has been sometimes clumsy, but super aggressive against corporations. This was an olive branch to the far left. And it's one of the many reasons why progressives who are paying attention begrudgingly appreciate Biden.
That's nice and shows that we should continue to apply pressure so that they continue to put more progressive people and policies into practice.
Totally agree. But pressure is both positive and negative. It means rewarding good policy, not just criticizing everything. Biden has made many moves to satisfy progressives. But if none of it matters electorally, why even try? Why not go back to pandering to centrists and conservatives?
I reward them with my guaranteed vote, which happens to be guaranteed because the alternative is worse.
The progressive vote is hardly guaranteed. It's fickle, hyper critical, divided, which enervates us as a voting bloc. Conservatives are the most reliable voters, and, surprise surprise, they wield outsized political power.
The progressive vote would be guaranteed if democrats would push progressive policies in earnest instead of constantly trying to be republican-lite.
Exhibit A. That is exactly what they are not doing. Anyone who thinks they are Republican lite is not paying attention.
Oh really? So what do you think all that pandering to "centrists" makes them? After republicans have pushed so far to the right and with democrats following after them for so long, insisting that "we must work with republicans" (while republicans are free to obstruct and undermine), republican-lite is an accurate description.
This shows you don’t understand the US political system at all. The US system is intentionally designed to require compromise. The US also has extremely weak party discipline. Voting against your own party is unheard of in most parliamentary systems, but it’s normal in the US. That means there needs to be compromise even within a single party. If you want progressive policies, more progressive Dems need to be voted in.
There are people like you on the Republican side too. People who would rather the government shut down than compromise with Democrats.
Edit: if you seriously think a president Bernie Sanders wouldn’t also compromise with Republicans, then you don’t know the first thing about how legislation is passed.
You mean like when the republicans compromised with the democrats on the supreme court where Obama picked basically a conservative judge (Merrick Garland) as a compromise and the republicans didn't hold a hearing for him anyway? Yeah, the republicans were soooo punished for pulling that stunt with a majority batshit insane conservative court. You don't understand the US political system at all because you're taking democrats with their talk of "decorum" and "compromise" at face value. Democrats compromise with republicans but will not compromise with progressives. Democrats will try to primary progressive candidates and we all know how they treated Bernie during his two presidential bids.
Bernie would probably compromise with republicans because he isn't as fervent as republicans. I wish we had a progressive that fights as fiercely and as dirty as the tea party republicans. When you're in a mud wrestling match, you can't be afraid to get down and dirty. However, Bernie would be far more likely to push for progressive policies.
If we gaslight ourselves hard enough, maybe we'll be happy.
You're gaslighting yourself in the other way. There are two kinds of low information voters. The first kind uncritically worship their "side" because they're misinformed about the vices. The second kind are cynical and critical no matter what, even when policies help them, because they're misinformed about the virtues. The right tends to do the first, the left tends to do the second.
There's a reason why the most informed left leaning people are the most strongly in support of Biden. Including people like Bernie Sanders and AOC, both of who have praised him for governing progressively.
Im a low information voter because my information comes from sources that arent propaganda?
Meanwhile you're a high information voter because you accept articles such as this one at face value as well as the opinions of politicians saying their side is doing a good job?
Look, I don't think there's anything wrong with being a low information voter. People are busy, and reading endlessly about politics is an unproductive hobby, just one of many out there.
But it is absolutely true that the most critical people on the left tend to be extremely vague on the specifics. Because they don't know the specifics. And being baseline critical allows them to protect their ego. "Those powerful elites won't fool me!" And don't get me wrong, powerful elites are trying to fool you. But one of the ways they do that is by convincing you that nothing ever gets better. Nothing is worth supporting. That every policy is as bad as any other. Everything that looks good is actually secretly bad.
Here's an example. Lack of competition and enshittification is frequently in the news. Inevitably, someone will comment that "both sides" are corporate shills, and it'll get a ton of upvotes. Anyone who knows anything about the current FTC knows that that's insane. In a shocking move, Biden appointed a young progressive firebrand as the head of the FTC, Lina Khan. She literally wrote the academic article starting the super progressive New Brandeis school of anti-trust. This new FTC has been sometimes clumsy, but super aggressive against corporations. This was an olive branch to the far left. And it's one of the many reasons why progressives who are paying attention begrudgingly appreciate Biden.
That's nice and shows that we should continue to apply pressure so that they continue to put more progressive people and policies into practice.
Totally agree. But pressure is both positive and negative. It means rewarding good policy, not just criticizing everything. Biden has made many moves to satisfy progressives. But if none of it matters electorally, why even try? Why not go back to pandering to centrists and conservatives?
I reward them with my guaranteed vote, which happens to be guaranteed because the alternative is worse.
The progressive vote is hardly guaranteed. It's fickle, hyper critical, divided, which enervates us as a voting bloc. Conservatives are the most reliable voters, and, surprise surprise, they wield outsized political power.
The progressive vote would be guaranteed if democrats would push progressive policies in earnest instead of constantly trying to be republican-lite.
Exhibit A. That is exactly what they are not doing. Anyone who thinks they are Republican lite is not paying attention.
Oh really? So what do you think all that pandering to "centrists" makes them? After republicans have pushed so far to the right and with democrats following after them for so long, insisting that "we must work with republicans" (while republicans are free to obstruct and undermine), republican-lite is an accurate description.
This shows you don’t understand the US political system at all. The US system is intentionally designed to require compromise. The US also has extremely weak party discipline. Voting against your own party is unheard of in most parliamentary systems, but it’s normal in the US. That means there needs to be compromise even within a single party. If you want progressive policies, more progressive Dems need to be voted in.
There are people like you on the Republican side too. People who would rather the government shut down than compromise with Democrats.
Edit: if you seriously think a president Bernie Sanders wouldn’t also compromise with Republicans, then you don’t know the first thing about how legislation is passed.
You mean like when the republicans compromised with the democrats on the supreme court where Obama picked basically a conservative judge (Merrick Garland) as a compromise and the republicans didn't hold a hearing for him anyway? Yeah, the republicans were soooo punished for pulling that stunt with a majority batshit insane conservative court. You don't understand the US political system at all because you're taking democrats with their talk of "decorum" and "compromise" at face value. Democrats compromise with republicans but will not compromise with progressives. Democrats will try to primary progressive candidates and we all know how they treated Bernie during his two presidential bids.
Bernie would probably compromise with republicans because he isn't as fervent as republicans. I wish we had a progressive that fights as fiercely and as dirty as the tea party republicans. When you're in a mud wrestling match, you can't be afraid to get down and dirty. However, Bernie would be far more likely to push for progressive policies.
Quite possible the most logically astute comment here, and lo and behold- downvoted by the outraged hive-mind.
Go figure.