As in, ignorance of popular policies and effective messaging being necessary to win an election?

Hmm…fine, I’ll be yer unicorn!

That’s an insightful point, and honestly taxing those loans as realized gains sounds entirely reasonable. It’s good for the lenders because of reduced risk, it’s good for the rich because it keeps them honest, and it’s good for the public because we gain increased tax revenue from those who can most afford it. Nice!

Well yeah, that’s exactly what’s happened for at least the past 50 years. In 1968 corporations were paying 53% of their profits in taxes, and billionaires were paying 94% around that time! Btw, if you’re making billions, paying 94% still leaves you richer than most…

Contrast that to today, where the system is so obviously broken during a time when Amazon is paying less in total taxes than a fry cook at McDonald’s.

It would need to be done with actually no loopholes, and meaningful enforcement of consequences for those who would try to cheat (perhaps the guillotine).

Yes, kill them, by taxing them out of existence.

No, you’re wrong to blame the voters.

Dems could have ran a candidate that appealed to voters, but instead opted for the same corporate shills as always. Dems could have campaigned on massively popular populist policies like paid family leave, raising the minimum wage, or Medicare for all - things which would directly improve the material living conditions of the working class. Their donors didn’t allow them to, and their corruption ensured their obedience. Once again, not learning the lesson, and once again, losing in historic fashion.

The strategy was to wield identity politics as a weapon by making these false claims, eg, “It’s her turn”

The donors got what they wanted, so mission accomplished.

Only $1k/year in property taxes? I found this really hard to believe, then looked it up to find that Boston has one of the lowest property tax rates in the nation at an average of .49%. Consider yourself lucky I suppose, most of us are paying quite a bit more yearly. If the home you own is in fact a condo, I guess this makes more sense.

Braindead take right here. The US has blocked UN peacekeeping forces from curtailing Israeli war crimes since this conflict began.

I used to think like you, that the primaries were the answer. AOC seemed to prove this theory, but the events which unfolded afterwards cast much doubt on this strategy. Consider the race in TX of Henry Cuellar vs Jessica Cisneros. Cisneros was a strong progressive candidate, people loved her in her district, and she would have won…but then Pelosi decided to back the corporate goon Cuellar, dumped millions of DNC money into his campaign, and he stole the win from the progressive. Cuellar, the “democrat”, went on to vote with Trump 83% of the time.

Alternatively, consider this year’s presidential race. There simply was no primary, and it cost us dearly. There’s a lot of finger pointing going on by the Dems right now trying to determine which racial identity is to blame for not showing up to vote hard enough. They’re absolute fools, because blaming the voters is simply wrong. It’s the party’s responsibility to win votes. We could have done that this year with an exciting primary to democratically test ideas and allow the voters to get energized and decide. Meaningful, materially impactful ideas like increasing the minimum wage, paid family leave, and Medicare for all surely would have been center stage here. But no, the oligarchs wanted to continue with Biden’s “nothing will fundamentally change” approach, with an extra helping of “Israel first policy,” and that was final. There are many other such examples, but unfortunately I no longer believe the Dems care enough about democracy to allow successful primary challenges to begin with.

Lastly, I think there are many Trump voters who are simply feeling immense economic pain right now, and are voting for him as a change candidate mostly out of desperation. My heart goes out to them, because the fake populist Trump has 0 intention of delivering for them. But at least his messaging acknowledged their struggle, and he was able to give them some hope. Dems simply cannot escape Republican framing on social issues, and they’re nowhere to be found when it comes to relating to actual working class struggles. A real populist candidate could change all that. But alas, you’ll never see it from the DNC.

Nah, I don’t see it playing out that way at all. A genuine populist revolution will easily be able to pull working class voters from all walks of life. In fact, I strongly believe that a true leftist movement in America would force the merger of the neocons and neolibs for their very survival.

For democrats, the problem is that the establishment leverages the DNC delegates to ensure no true populist ever sees the light of day. Plus the usual media smear jobs, etc. Regarding those elitist dems who are in charge and keep forcing these corrupt centrists down our throats, giving us only 5-10% of what’s promised each election at best…they can do whatever they want, which will likely be turning conservative to try for lowering their taxes. We don’t need them, and personally, I don’t want them either.

I agree - too many people mistakenly believe the Dems can be reformed into an actual leftist party. This just isn’t going to happen. They’re corrupt to the core - a center-right fundraising organization eager to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and they would rather the country burn than do anything against the wishes of their wealthy donors.

Yay for their glorious, free trusted ssl certs. Love this project!

This part is actually kind of wild. For a people who idolize “strong men” to such a degree, the amount of crying they do is absurd.

Precisely! The DNC is a fundraising organization, full stop. Been that way since the 80s.

Monied interests wield their donor privilege to ensure these lessons are never learned nor discussed in media. This influence is so powerful, Harris campaign wasn’t even allowed to lie and pretend to be populist like Trump had been doing, in order to attempt to win the election. The donors must be appeased above all else.

Personally, I think the Democrats are doomed to ratchet further into the grip of conservatism in perpetuity. But if you really want to reform the Dems instead, it has to start with significant campaign finance reform to end the legalized bribery.

This is 100% what will happen, so of course the Dems will try to do it. Fools.

This is really quite simple - they want to remove the few marginal protections offered by ACA. Namely, pre-existing conditions. Republicans believe insurers should not assist you if you are sick but haven’t been paying them for long enough beforehand. Just like these dying pregnant women who are now forced to attempt waiting to give stillbirth instead of get abortions, all of us will have to wait until insurers have collected enough money from us before they will pay their 60-80% to make vital medical care almost affordable.

As a concept, it’s a shit plan. In reality it will be extremely bad for all but the richest among us. America is truly barbaric to its own people.

8 years later, still riding that click-generating wave of “can you believe how racist this guy is?!”