A centrist Democrat would be a losing candidate

[boutons_deux]

There is hard data that shows that a centrist Democrat would be a losing candidate

Economist Thomas Piketty wrote a paper about this in 2018, though the Democrats paid no attention

"Brahmin Left vs. Merchant Right: Rising Inequality & the Changing Structure of Political Conflict," analyzes around 70 years of post-election surveys from three countries — Britain, the United States and France — to comprehend how Western politics have changed in that span.

Piketty's basic thesis is that poorer and less educated voters were historically the kind of voters who voted for left and left-liberal parties. These voters understood that their class interests did not align with the right-wing parties of the rich; thus, historically, the "high-income, high education" voters picked the right-wing parties.

This shifted in the past 70 years: "high-education elites now vote for the 'left', while high- income/high-wealth elites still vote for the 'right' (though less and less so)," Piketty notes.

Note the scare quotes around "left":

part of Piketty's point is that

the so-called left parties, like the Democratic Party in the U.S., the Socialists in France and Labour in the U.K.,

have in the past two decades not really been that left,

at least on economic issues.

"This can contribute to explain rising inequality and the lack of democratic response to it, as well as the rise of 'populism,'" Piketty argues.

"Globalization and educational expansion have created new dimensions of inequality and conflict, leading to the weakening of previous class-based redistributive coalitions."

should make the Democratic Party perk up:

Without a strong egalitarian-internationalist platform, it is difficult to unite low-education, low-income voters from all origins within the same coalition and to deliver a reduction in inequality.

Extreme historical cir stances can and did help to deliver such an encompassing platform; but there is no reason to believe that this is a necessary nor a sufficient condition.

a class-conscience platform that recognizes that rich people are not on the same side as the rest of us, and have different interests and are eager to exploit us.

And egalitarian means the opposite of nationalistic or xenophobic

Democratic presidential candidates like Elizabeth Warren, Mike Gravel and Bernie Sanders fulfill this kind of platform to some degree.

the Democratic Party and their mouthpieces at major newspapers are clearly not heeding Piketty's prophecy.

nominating centrist Democrats who don't speak to class issues will result in a great swathe of voters simply not voting.

Conversely,

right-wing candidates who speak to class issues,

but who do so by harnessing a false consciousness —

e.g. blaming immigrants and minorities for capitalism's ills,

rather than capitalists —

will win back those same voters who would have voted for a more class-conscious left candidate.

Piketty's paper is an inconvenient truth for the Democratic Party.

supporting social policies that liberal rich people can get behind,

never daring to enact economic reforms that might step on rich donors' toes.

why hasn't the Democratic Party heeded Piketty's warning?

I think you already know why. To quote Upton Sinclair:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

The donor base of the Democratic Party consists of a lot of pretty rich people

who prefer the Democratic Party to be left on social issues

but right on economic issues.

https://www.salon.com/2019/06/02/the...ing-candidate/

iow, Repugs/oligarchy knows that can fool, dupe, lie to the low-ed, low-wage Americans and get away with it.

while the Dem establishment is as enslaved, beholden to BigDonor as the craven Repug and is working hard to block progressive/egalitarian candidates.

[Trainwreck2100]

Don't matter who the dems nominate, if idiots stay home again the loss is on those people

[boutons_deux]

Don't matter who the dems nominate, if idiots stay home again the loss is on those people

Dem voters came out in 2018

Have they been satisfied with Pelosi's House? probably not, since Pelosi has done really nothing

I expect the same in 2020, but the Dem establishment is sure to up, like they did in 2016.

Several BigDonors give them the $100Ms, but doesn't give them many votes.

[pgardn]

Disagree.

Stay focused and pick up the old ones on ty health care.

then attack at the very soft rotting underbelly in the right spots.
the orange one goes down badly.

[Reck]

Most Americans actually want someone closer to the center, not super right or super left which is what a Bernie or Warren would be.

Boots thinks that people are loving Trump so much (Extremely far right) that we're all pining for somone to go the oposite side to the left.

[boutons_deux]

Most Americans actually want someone closer to the center, not super right or super left which is what a Bernie or Warren would be.

Boots thinks that people are loving Trump so much (Extremely far right) that we're all pining for somone to go the oposite side to the left.

centrist means continuation of the horrendous status quo for the non-oligarchy, so that, and you

[Reck]

centrist means continuation of the horrendous status quo for the non-oligarchy, so that, and you

Boots triggered.

If getting back on track means going back to Obama type governing, so be it.

You're a nut who thinks it's a good idea to go from one extreme to another.

[Spurminator]

Boots thinks that people are loving Trump so much (Extremely far right) that we're all pining for somone to go the oposite side to the left.

What is so super far left about Elizabeth Warren?

[Reck]

What is so super far left about Elizabeth Warren?

To be honest, I dont know a terrible lot about her. I just lumped her in with Bernie because the overall consensus is that she's a Bernie lite of some kind.

[Spurminator]

To be honest, I dont know a terrible lot about her. I just lumped her in with Bernie because the overall consensus is that she's a Bernie lite of some kind.

I guess a next step is figuring out whose consensus that is and deciding if they are reliable.

But first:
https://elizabethwarren.com/issues/

[Spurminator]

The only area where she really comes across as a Bernie clone is universal free college, which I disagree with. But she's stayed away from calling specifically for a $15 federal minimum wage or single-payer health care, which may not even qualify as far-left positions anymore at this point.

[boutons_deux]

taxpayer supported colleges should be, and could be, free.

private colleges are not in that plan.

[rmt]

So, bou, why's Biden polling late teens/20s OVER the other dem candidates. Is the polling THAT off?

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ep...ination_polls/

[Will Hunting]

Most Americans actually want someone closer to the center, not super right or super left which is what a Bernie or Warren would be.

Boots thinks that people are loving Trump so much (Extremely far right) that we're all pining for somone to go the oposite side to the left.

Right, 70% if America wants AOCs tax policy but they want someone in the middle.

[Will Hunting]

To be honest, I dont know a terrible lot about her. I just lumped her in with Bernie because the overall consensus is that she's a Bernie lite of some kind.

so you don’t know her actual stance, you’re just programmed to call her an evil socialist Bernie clone because it’s been rammed down your throat after watching Morning Joe every day.

[Reck]

Right, 70% if America wants AOCs tax policy but they want someone in the middle.

They do want someone closer to the middle. It's in the polling. Deal with them facts however you want.

[Reck]

so you don’t know her actual stance, you’re just programmed to call her an evil socialist Bernie clone because it’s been rammed down your throat after watching Morning Joe every day.

1, I dont watch conservative shows.

2, I dont call her anything. I just dont think she's the right person just like I dont think Bernie is.

Shoot me for wanting someone more feasible to run this country.

[spurraider21]

To be honest, I dont know a terrible lot about her. I just lumped her in with Bernie because the overall consensus is that she's a Bernie lite of some kind.

derp level "i heard about it" crap

[Will Hunting]

1, I dont watch conservative shows.

2, I dont call her anything. I just dont think she's the right person just like I dont think Bernie is.

Shoot me for wanting someone more feasible to run this country.

If only we had a prior example of a “feasible” centrist Democrat who ran against Trump. Would be great to have insight into how a Trump vs. Centrist Democrat election turns out.

[Will Hunting]

So, bou, why's Biden polling late teens/20s OVER the other dem candidates. Is the polling THAT off?

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ep...ination_polls/

Name recognition and stupidity. I’ll give Republican voters credit that they’re a lot more passionate about the primary process than Democratic voters are (as much as I might disagree with where their passion is geared), which is why the rise of someone like Trump doesn’t happen with Democrats. Instead it’s largely a name recognition contest.

[spurraider21]

Name recognition and stupidity. I’ll give Republican voters credit that they’re a lot more passionate about the primary process than Democratic voters are (as much as I might disagree with where their passion is geared), which is why the rise of someone like Trump doesn’t happen with Democrats. Instead it’s largely a name recognition contest.

you dont think trump had name recognition?

[rmt]

Name recognition and stupidity. I’ll give Republican voters credit that they’re a lot more passionate about the primary process than Democratic voters are (as much as I might disagree with where their passion is geared), which is why the rise of someone like Trump doesn’t happen with Democrats. Instead it’s largely a name recognition contest.

One could say it was Trump:a bunch of establishment Repubs like it is a bunch of Dems trying to out-"left" each other:Biden. Gosh, I feel like a pre-2015 SAT analogy.

[AaronY]

There is hard data that shows that a centrist Democrat would be a losing candidate

Economist Thomas Piketty wrote a paper about this in 2018, though the Democrats paid no attention

"Brahmin Left vs. Merchant Right: Rising Inequality & the Changing Structure of Political Conflict," analyzes around 70 years of post-election surveys from three countries — Britain, the United States and France — to comprehend how Western politics have changed in that span.

Piketty's basic thesis is that poorer and less educated voters were historically the kind of voters who voted for left and left-liberal parties. These voters understood that their class interests did not align with the right-wing parties of the rich; thus, historically, the "high-income, high education" voters picked the right-wing parties.

This shifted in the past 70 years: "high-education elites now vote for the 'left', while high- income/high-wealth elites still vote for the 'right' (though less and less so)," Piketty notes.

Note the scare quotes around "left":

part of Piketty's point is that

the so-called left parties, like the Democratic Party in the U.S., the Socialists in France and Labour in the U.K.,

have in the past two decades not really been that left,

at least on economic issues.

"This can contribute to explain rising inequality and the lack of democratic response to it, as well as the rise of 'populism,'" Piketty argues.

"Globalization and educational expansion have created new dimensions of inequality and conflict, leading to the weakening of previous class-based redistributive coalitions."

should make the Democratic Party perk up:

Without a strong egalitarian-internationalist platform, it is difficult to unite low-education, low-income voters from all origins within the same coalition and to deliver a reduction in inequality.

Extreme historical cir stances can and did help to deliver such an encompassing platform; but there is no reason to believe that this is a necessary nor a sufficient condition.

a class-conscience platform that recognizes that rich people are not on the same side as the rest of us, and have different interests and are eager to exploit us.

And egalitarian means the opposite of nationalistic or xenophobic

Democratic presidential candidates like Elizabeth Warren, Mike Gravel and Bernie Sanders fulfill this kind of platform to some degree.

the Democratic Party and their mouthpieces at major newspapers are clearly not heeding Piketty's prophecy.

nominating centrist Democrats who don't speak to class issues will result in a great swathe of voters simply not voting.

Conversely,

right-wing candidates who speak to class issues,

but who do so by harnessing a false consciousness —

e.g. blaming immigrants and minorities for capitalism's ills,

rather than capitalists —

will win back those same voters who would have voted for a more class-conscious left candidate.

Piketty's paper is an inconvenient truth for the Democratic Party.

supporting social policies that liberal rich people can get behind,

never daring to enact economic reforms that might step on rich donors' toes.

why hasn't the Democratic Party heeded Piketty's warning?

I think you already know why. To quote Upton Sinclair:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

The donor base of the Democratic Party consists of a lot of pretty rich people

who prefer the Democratic Party to be left on social issues

but right on economic issues.

https://www.salon.com/2019/06/02/the...ing-candidate/

iow, Repugs/oligarchy knows that can fool, dupe, lie to the low-ed, low-wage Americans and get away with it.

while the Dem establishment is as enslaved, beholden to BigDonor as the craven Repug and is working hard to block progressive/egalitarian candidates.

Progressivism is looking it maybe won't even win the primary of the leftwing democratic party lmao atm. Registered leftwing people don't even like em much overall right now


Hehe imagine thinking Twitter is real life..poor boutons lmao.

[Spurtacular]

What is so super far left about Elizabeth Warren?

Agreed. Centrist Democrats are corporate socialists.

[Spurtacular]

Name recognition and stupidity. I’ll give Republican voters credit that they’re a lot more passionate about the primary process than Democratic voters are (as much as I might disagree with where their passion is geared), which is why the rise of someone like Trump doesn’t happen with Democrats. Instead it’s largely a name recognition contest.

What!?!? The spoiled brats have a hard time getting excited about who can offer the most handouts?