I think you raise some fair points but miss one: consultants and professional activists are exactly the people who want to hear the phrase "multiracial" over and over. People, minorities included, don't want to see themselves as part of some Rainbow Coalition; real life isn't Captain Planet. People are just people. To the extent there is any kind of cultural pandering, it can be direct and normie, not in this mindset of some kind of racial coalition, which people don't know or care about as voters.
There is a lot to like in this post. I will only address a few items that I think I disagree with or stand out.
However, I would first like to address the overall election numbers, not addressed here.
With 99% of the vote counted, Harris had 6M fewer voters than Biden and Trump had 3M more votes than he did in 2020. This essay speaks to a major reason why this occurred, Dem voters were not inspired, and many MAGA voters were so desperate in their plight that they decided system destruction is the way to go. If Harris wins 250,000 more votes in PA-MI-WI, she is POTUS elect. MAGA ideology has a ceiling. In three national elections, Trump has never gained greater than 50% of the vote.
- Immigration Reform - you need to make this an explicit item, not lumped in as several paragraphs appended to the Trans discussion. This has been an issue for 40 years, and there is a need to address it - path so citizenship for those already here, and tighter security at the border, it can not be either/or, but must be both/and. Tie this approach to the overall message of being the party for the working class.
- Trans - agree with the overall premise of equal rights for all means ALL but this does not address real concerns of confusion around gender dysphoria and when a person may choose aggressive medical treatments to address it and how the rights of trans persons should be promoted in school, and when. This is a loaded cultural and medical issue, like abortion, for instance, that the Democrats need to address in a more nuanced fashion, again more both/and approaches rather than either/or.
- Reform of the media and information ecosystem. There is an awful lot to like about what was said here. I may attempt to write my own essay (I write on Medium) on this issue, but it is a huge one and it definitely needs an entire policy and political team to address this. Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is part of the equation, and so is much of what was discussed here.
- This is clearly from the Bernie-wing of the Democratic party, which as you and they know, has had nearly zero traction up until this moment. Given the corruption inherent in our system, specifically around campaign financing, I do not know how easily Democrats can fund winning campaigns around this strategy. So, you need to add a Corruption reform agenda to your "Embrace Democracy Reform" item. See what Elizabeth Warren has done, she is the ONLY politician that actually has a plan for this and campaigned on this with specifics in 2020. Let her lead this.
Well done, I will follow you because these are good ideas that need to be explored.
(... continuing) specifically around campaign financing, I do not know how easily Democrats can fund winning campaigns around this strategy. So, you need to add a Corruption reform agenda to your "Embrace Democracy Reform" item. See what Elizabeth Warren has done, she is the ONLY politician that actually has a plan for this and campaigned on this with specifics in 2020. Let her lead this.
Well done, I will follow Waleed because these are good ideas that need to be explored.
There are salient and powerful points in this piece. I don't believe, however, that FDR is as instructive as the author makes him out to be. First FDR was a straight up racist and allowed the New Deal to be tainted with white "supremacy" that cheated non white people, and non white women especially, out of generational wealth. This idea that the DNC can be reformed or transformed is dangerously proximate to naive and comes across as abecedarian for a writer who clearly has a wealth of experience. There simply is no reason for Black folk, poor, and working class folk to believe in the Democratic Party anymore, hence why enough jumped ship by voting Trump or not voting at all - YES, a new party is tough, but perhaps in the short term what we really need are enough aligned independents to organically create a multi-party parliamentary reality. And to Zaid's points in his sage comment, Jesse Jackson's populism needs to be studied and replicated more - yes there were elements of racial justice, quite a few, but Jesse enjoyed more success in white rural communities than Bernie did in Black urban and rural communities. Jesse pulled off a rainbow coalition that drew lines connecting class and race rather than lines dividing them.
A clear, comprehensive plan. This is the very best post election summing up I’ve seen. Because it’s not just summing up, but planning, projecting into the future.
I think you raise some fair points but miss one: consultants and professional activists are exactly the people who want to hear the phrase "multiracial" over and over. People, minorities included, don't want to see themselves as part of some Rainbow Coalition; real life isn't Captain Planet. People are just people. To the extent there is any kind of cultural pandering, it can be direct and normie, not in this mindset of some kind of racial coalition, which people don't know or care about as voters.
There is a lot to like in this post. I will only address a few items that I think I disagree with or stand out.
However, I would first like to address the overall election numbers, not addressed here.
With 99% of the vote counted, Harris had 6M fewer voters than Biden and Trump had 3M more votes than he did in 2020. This essay speaks to a major reason why this occurred, Dem voters were not inspired, and many MAGA voters were so desperate in their plight that they decided system destruction is the way to go. If Harris wins 250,000 more votes in PA-MI-WI, she is POTUS elect. MAGA ideology has a ceiling. In three national elections, Trump has never gained greater than 50% of the vote.
- Immigration Reform - you need to make this an explicit item, not lumped in as several paragraphs appended to the Trans discussion. This has been an issue for 40 years, and there is a need to address it - path so citizenship for those already here, and tighter security at the border, it can not be either/or, but must be both/and. Tie this approach to the overall message of being the party for the working class.
- Trans - agree with the overall premise of equal rights for all means ALL but this does not address real concerns of confusion around gender dysphoria and when a person may choose aggressive medical treatments to address it and how the rights of trans persons should be promoted in school, and when. This is a loaded cultural and medical issue, like abortion, for instance, that the Democrats need to address in a more nuanced fashion, again more both/and approaches rather than either/or.
- Reform of the media and information ecosystem. There is an awful lot to like about what was said here. I may attempt to write my own essay (I write on Medium) on this issue, but it is a huge one and it definitely needs an entire policy and political team to address this. Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is part of the equation, and so is much of what was discussed here.
- This is clearly from the Bernie-wing of the Democratic party, which as you and they know, has had nearly zero traction up until this moment. Given the corruption inherent in our system, specifically around campaign financing, I do not know how easily Democrats can fund winning campaigns around this strategy. So, you need to add a Corruption reform agenda to your "Embrace Democracy Reform" item. See what Elizabeth Warren has done, she is the ONLY politician that actually has a plan for this and campaigned on this with specifics in 2020. Let her lead this.
Well done, I will follow you because these are good ideas that need to be explored.
(... continuing) specifically around campaign financing, I do not know how easily Democrats can fund winning campaigns around this strategy. So, you need to add a Corruption reform agenda to your "Embrace Democracy Reform" item. See what Elizabeth Warren has done, she is the ONLY politician that actually has a plan for this and campaigned on this with specifics in 2020. Let her lead this.
Well done, I will follow Waleed because these are good ideas that need to be explored.
Waiting for the positive results of populism to present themselves
There are salient and powerful points in this piece. I don't believe, however, that FDR is as instructive as the author makes him out to be. First FDR was a straight up racist and allowed the New Deal to be tainted with white "supremacy" that cheated non white people, and non white women especially, out of generational wealth. This idea that the DNC can be reformed or transformed is dangerously proximate to naive and comes across as abecedarian for a writer who clearly has a wealth of experience. There simply is no reason for Black folk, poor, and working class folk to believe in the Democratic Party anymore, hence why enough jumped ship by voting Trump or not voting at all - YES, a new party is tough, but perhaps in the short term what we really need are enough aligned independents to organically create a multi-party parliamentary reality. And to Zaid's points in his sage comment, Jesse Jackson's populism needs to be studied and replicated more - yes there were elements of racial justice, quite a few, but Jesse enjoyed more success in white rural communities than Bernie did in Black urban and rural communities. Jesse pulled off a rainbow coalition that drew lines connecting class and race rather than lines dividing them.
A clear, comprehensive plan. This is the very best post election summing up I’ve seen. Because it’s not just summing up, but planning, projecting into the future.