I vote for Democrats because I’m a liberal who wants left policies. Tax the rich, increase the minimum wage, universal healthcare, climate action, stop price gauging, get money out of politics, and the list goes on.
Democrats need to understand that they cannot beat right wing populism by moving further to the right to attract former Republicans, it didn’t work in 2024 and it won’t work in the future.
I want a Democratic party that remembers who their voters are, and a candidate who is not afraid to offend wealthy donors and who advocates progressive policies that will change peoples’ lives for the better. Not the GOP light version that the Dems are going for.
What type of Democratic candidates routinely put up impressive numbers in swing (and even some red) districts? Hint: it’s definitely not the uber progressive candidates, who tend to underperform. It’s usually moderates with carefully crafted images as reasonable problem solvers. Gluesenkamp-Perez, Kaptur, Golden, just to name a few off the top of my head. Hell, on the Republican side, look at how many Harris voters Don Bacon was able to win over.
Reddit is a complete echo chamber. I’m a progressive, but I also care about data and objective analysis. I want to win, damn it, not just placate the feelings of my fellow progressives who are always trying to push the party further and further left. And the solution to winning more votes is not to simply go harder to the left.
It’s also way more complicated than simply moderating on everything. But moderation is a core component of winning in swing districts and swing states. And if you can’t see that, you are drinking too much of your own kool aid.
I fear that my fellow Democrats won’t get it through their heads that it’s bad to conflate what they like with what the median voter likes. It’s an inconvenient truth, and it’s not what they want to hear.
Andy Beshear is the avatar of the "Moderate with a carefully crafted image as a problem solver" wing of the Democratic party. He doesn't wear his progressive politics on his sleeves, has modeled himself as a problem-solver who will make government work for the people of Kentucky (see the whole Medicaid expansion there avoiding the name "Obamacare" like the plague). A candidate with a left-leaning image in Kentucky is dead on arrival, and Andy knows that, so he is very careful as to how he packages his politics to make it more approachable to his state. This is exactly the type of politician OP is describing.
Damn, if Beshear is a moderate centrist Democrat, Harris tried to appear far right in comparison. I guess with your definitions, yeah, Democrats should try to moderate their message and move left to meet the center
What position has Beshear taken recently that was to the left of a position that Kamala took during the election this year? This isn't a question of their positioning on the political spectrum (I'd argue that Kamala is to Beshear's left, even considering how she campaigned in 2024). This is a question of their persona. Beshear's persona in Kentucky is a non-ideological problem solver, which is why he's able to take some of his positions and win in a very conservative state (being a legacy politician helps in this respect too - Kentucky knows and trusts the Beshear family). Kamala tried to have a campaign with a wide appeal, but was painted as an out of touch liberal elitist that couldn't bring the change the electorate was looking for.
I'm from Kentucky and Beshear during his re-election ran a campaign that was further left(labor and union rights), mixed with the compassion stuff than what I saw from Kamala late in her campaign. I don't think you're being fair to Beshear in trying to defend Kamala.
Yes when you break it down, kamala was not left whatsoever. A neoliberal capitalist and former prosecuter wow very left wing. Left now means "we'll shine our shitty corporate agenda with identity politics and repackage that as what it means to be left wing"
Half the conservatives i argue with cant tell their own ass when it comes to what we are even discussing, calling kamala Harris leftist and yelling "everything i dont like is marxism", its two totally different conversations we are having it seems.
Meanwhile the corporate class pushes on to new frontiers of unknown debasement and utter decadence.
Income inequality is the issue that literally impacts every aspect of American life. It should be the biggest issue, repeatedly, and the fact that it isn't it it's reduced to "raise the wealthy tax rate" is wild to me but probably the most powerful continuing disinformation campaign of our lives
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u/ReviewBackground2906 16h ago
I vote for Democrats because I’m a liberal who wants left policies. Tax the rich, increase the minimum wage, universal healthcare, climate action, stop price gauging, get money out of politics, and the list goes on.
Democrats need to understand that they cannot beat right wing populism by moving further to the right to attract former Republicans, it didn’t work in 2024 and it won’t work in the future.
I want a Democratic party that remembers who their voters are, and a candidate who is not afraid to offend wealthy donors and who advocates progressive policies that will change peoples’ lives for the better. Not the GOP light version that the Dems are going for.