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In ‘Our Democracy’ Does the Will of the People Even Matter?

Old Bathos
@OldBathos
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The incoming chair of the school board for Fairfax County VA (69.9% Biden in 2020) was sworn in on a small stack of LGBTQ books for children. Even for a very liberal jurisdiction, that struck me as over the top. Do upscale suburban parents really want this kind of propaganda infecting the education system?

Then it occurred to me that being a Democratic voter is not about endorsing a wide array of ideological garbage. Instead, it is about forfeiting the right to disagree much less oppose and vote against bad policies or overt ideological garbage.

Consider:

  • The African-American demographic, vital to the Democratic party, overwhelmingly supports charter schools but the party defers to public employee interests.
  • African Americans also bear the brunt of mass illegal immigration but have no say in immigration policy despite being the key block in the ruling party.
  • Unions, another bulwark of the party also used to oppose illegal immigration because of its overall downward ratchet effect on wages but their leaders obey the party on the issue.
  • Unions also lost a key selling point for membership when Obama sought to make health care a right and even initially imposed a tax on the “Cadillac” plans hard-won in collective bargaining.
  • The entire working class has been hammered by bad energy policies that only serve the sensibilities of very wealthy greenies and subsidy grifters.
  • Elite colleges discriminate against non-wealthy white males while the offspring of black doctors and lawyers are admitted preferentially as victims.
  • The absurd costs of college education are driven by federal policy and crush young people, another key demographic for the party.
  • The almost universal beatdown of parents who oppose perversions becoming mandatory curriculum elements is a broad slap at the majority of Americans who hold normal traditional values, including a plurality (or even a majority) of Democrats.
  • Inflation, the gross mishandling of COVID-19, the failure to address crime, pro-Hamas violence, hideous architecture, fake art, lousy movies & TV, the senility of Joe Biden, the sleazoid nature of the Biden family, the silly overt bias of the MSM….

Meanwhile, our colleges are killing inquiry, research, and the life of the mind to become trade schools combined with indoctrination centers, a direction more like an extension of East German daycare centers than a service to Western democracy. (Although, learning what can’t be said to prepare for jobs conditioned on detailed compliance and silence may be appropriate in a society where we are all becoming "Democrats.")

Conversely, being a Republican means (a sometimes punished) willingness to criticize bad ideas and policies combined with a growing expectation that such criticisms will have no effect.

Elections and opinion polls don’t seem to matter anymore. We seem to be benumbed to so much. Those exercising actual control often do not appear to be even minimally competent much less very smart. So how is this happening?

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Discussion (22)

  • Ekosj@Ekosj
    These are all legitimate points that ought to be the focal point of public discourse in this election year. But all we have gotten so far and all we are likely to get is “Orange Man Bad” Dems elites LOVE Trump. Having him as a foil means they never have to talk about this other stuff.
  • Gossamer Cat@GossamerCat
    Old Bathos (View Post):
    being a Democratic voter is not about endorsing a wide array of ideological garbage. Instead, it is about forfeiting the right to disagree much less oppose and vote against bad policies or overt ideological garbage.

    This was the sea change that took me and I suspect many others a while to comprehend. They are now a religion. Many people look at the Republicans and see their disorder and disagreements and say that the party is dysfunctional. No, they are functional if therefore ineffective-they do not think or act in lockstep. They are humans subject to human foibles and sins. You likely could replace every Congressman or Senator in the Democrative party with a cardboard cut out labeled "D". The party line comes from their high priests. Democrats are even getting rid of the sham of deviating from the party line by dropping other candidates from the primary.

    How did we get here? Slowly then all at once as the saying goes. One reason, I think, is that the demonization of the Republican party and conservatives in general has been so effective that they will not deviate from voting the party line lest we descend into a barbaric past where white supremacy rules, gay people are killed, minorities are enslaved, unions are outlawed, and women are forced to bear children over and over again until they die. Oh, and all the old people will die too because of cuts in Medicare. We are the party of hate, not love; of No, not Yes. Despite the fact that conservatives and their children are happier and healthier than their counterparts. But that message will never get out because not reading the NY Times and listening to NPR are apostasy.

    So they will not vote their self interest anymore. When NY re-elected de Blasio, when LA put in Black, when Chicago went even more left than Lightfoot, you know that these places can no longer save themselves. California and NY will never elect Republicans when things get too bad like they did in the past.

    And that is a big change. I just wish I knew what to do about it.

  • namlliT noD@DonTillman

    Indeed, "None of this makes any sense." There is absolutely no ideological consistency here, other than being destructive.

    Here is an explanation that is completely consistent:

    1. The Democrat Party is an authoritarian top-down operation; a small group within the party decides what will happen, the party insiders and politicians are rewarded for following orders, and a propaganda engine directs the citizens, who tend to follow. This requires a lot of funding.
    2. In lieu of a hot war, or a cold war, the Chinese Communist Party pays the Democrat Party to take positions that are destructive to the US.

    Completely consistent.

    For more, see my posts Asymmetrical Warfare (for Fun and Profit), and This Would Explain a Lot of Things.

  • Lilly B@LillyB

    In terms of swearing in the school board chair on a stack of LGBT children's books, I wouldn't dismiss the idea that Democrat-voting parents in that county don't think the books are that big of a deal. Based on sentiments I see on social media from those kinds of voters, they are likely to relish the opportunity to annoy or outrage conservatives. They fully believe the book banning narrative. They may not really have the social permission to disagree, but they also probably don't notice because they agree. If that's the reason that they agree so readily with nonsensical ideas that they never even considered 6 months ago, five years ago or at any time previously in adulthood, I think the lack of introspection affords the greatest comfort.

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