WE’RE THE KIDS IN AMERICA
The kids are fed up, and they’ve had it up to here!
The Civics Center is targeting the youth vote where they are easiest to reach: AT SCHOOL
Recent polls show that Gen Z voters (age 18-29) are souring on the Trump Administration.
Once seen as a wild card with surprising appeal among disillusioned young voters, President Donald Trump is now facing a sharp decline in support from Generation Z, according to new polling.
Newsweek analyzed the latest results from major pollsters since early March that included age-specific approval ratings and found that Trump’s standing among the youngest voters is currently at 37 percent approving, while 58 percent disapprove of his job performance.
This signals that Trump’s support among Generation Z voters has tailed off since the 2024 election, when 47 percent of voters aged 18-29 cast a ballot for him, up from 36 percent in 2020.
Trump is particularly losing support among young Gen Z men, who were some of the least engaged and lowest information voters – perhaps the very epitome of the “vibes” voter.
According to the Newsweek article:
He was physically ‘tough’ as evidenced by his response to the Butler, PA, assassination attempt, he’s not ‘politically correct’ and speaks his mind, he’s a businessman who supposedly knows how to manage the economy, and so forth. This is all part of the Trumpian narrative,” Katz said.
But polls now show that Trump’s image as the “men’s” candidate may be beginning to unravel.
According to data provided by YouGov Blue, net approval for Trump declined by 29 points among young male registered voters between January and March, a significantly bigger shift than any other demographic.
We Have An Opportunity Here!
The Civic Center is smack in the middle of their on-campus High School voter education, registration and motivation drive – “Cap, Gown & Ballot” on several metropolitan area campuses in mostly swing states. We’re helping them register and inspire students in nine urban Pittsburgh High Schools this month in advance of the Fall Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention race and next year’s midterms.
I can think of no more cost-effective way to register and engage our voters than reaching them at school. No canvassing, no door-knocking, no texts, no postcards – just direct access to potential voters.
This is consistent with National Ground Game on college campuses, where we will support counter-programming right wing campus rallies with our own “influencers” this is possibly our best bang for the voter registration buck.
That collapse in support for Trump among Gen Z males?
Flashback to the original post about the PA Supreme Court effort
The first post for The Civics Center effort went up a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve all slept since then, so here is the original post in case you want to go back to it.
Exciting New Effort, With An Eye Toward the PA Supreme Court Retention Election In November
Remember, the Civics Center has a double match for us
- so every donation on BJ is a 4x match.
- if there’s a Balloon Juice Angel, it becomes a 6x match.
Out-raise them. Out-organize them. Out-strategize them.
THEN we can OUT-VOTE them.
.
All You Fascists Bound To Lose, version 2
WaterGirl
Now that the big push for one of my clients is over, I would like to pick this up again. I hope you guys are still up for this effort, especially after they found us a double-match from external people for the next $10,000!
We have an Angel Match with $715 remaining, so donations up to $50 are a 6x match!
As always, to be matched, tell us about your donation in the comments or by email to WaterGirl.
edit: the good news is that it’s been nearly 2 weeks since we had a fundraising post for this, and I only track by comment # not nym, so I have no idea who may have already donated. So this will be a re-set for everyone like we do at the start of a new Angel match.
Baud
They can form a support group with Hispanic voters.
Let’s hope it holds next time they have to make a choice and are inundated with propaganda.
cmorenc
Hey, when you’ve lost Joe Rogan, you’ve lost gen-Z voters, including even a significant slice of the meatheads among them.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Form a support group with Hispanic voters? I’m not sure what you’re suggesting.
WaterGirl
@cmorenc: Has he lost Joe Rogan?
Baud
@cmorenc:
Has Trump lost Rogan? I thought the only thing Rogan did was say Garcia should be brought back. I don’t listen to his show.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Trump did well with Hispanic voters in the election but their support for him has also cratered.
storm777
I am in for $50 just now. Thanks for donig this!
WaterGirl
@Baud: ah, I get it now. The newly unhappy Gen Z peeps can form a support group with the newly unhappy HIspanic peeps.
WaterGirl
@storm777: Oh, yay! Our first donation. That turns into $300! thank you.
Joy in FL
$20 just donated.
cmorenc
@WaterGirl: Maybe more accurate to say that Rogan has gone from hot to tepidly lukewarm on Trump because of the Garcia matter
Professor Bigfoot
I’m in for another $25.
WaterGirl
@Joy in FL: Thank you! That’s $120!
WaterGirl
@Professor Bigfoot: Thank you, Professor! That’s $300!
hells littlest angel
OMG, you mean all those dumbfucks at the gym are just normal dudes?
Matt McIrvin
I don’t know why I’m fascinated by this, but all the polls with massively pro-Trump house effects seem to be dumping a survey at the same time to drive Trump’s aggregate disapproval down:
https://www.natesilver.net/p/trump-approval-ratings-nate-silver-bulletin
In the top line it looks like things are getting better for him–but if you search by individual pollster you can tell that this is what’s really happening.
Josie
In for another $25.00
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
I’m starting to question whether those pollsters are on the up and up.
Josie
@Baud:
Just starting? Or was that sarcasm?
WaterGirl
@Josie: I snorted when I read what Baud wrote, so I am going with sarcasm. Along the lines of being shocked that there is gambling going on in this establishment. :-)
Coyoteville
I just made a $55 donation. (plus a 10% “tip” to Act Blue).
Coyoteville
Lurky McLurkster
The Kim Wilde song always gets me with the chorus of guys with definite and obvious English accents chanting “we’re the kids in America”
also, in the 1990s the UK heavy metal band Lawnmower Deth did a jokey cover of “The Kids in America” and in recent years Kim Wilde has performed the song with them at festivals
back to lurking
WaterGirl
@Josie: @Coyoteville:
Thank you! With the external double match and the Angel match, and the the 5 donations themselves, that’s just over $1,000 for The Civics Center in the last hour.
Josie
@WaterGirl: That’s kind of what I thought, considering that it was Baud.
WaterGirl
@Lurky McLurkster: Welcome!
And your nym made me laugh. In a good way.
rodwell
You are right WaterGirl. Despair is the enemy. Donated $50. Thanks for doing this.
WaterGirl
It’s cold and damp here today, so not a very nice day to be outside. But it must be nice in some places because it seems to be a very quiet Saturday afternoon on Balloon Juice.
WaterGirl
@rodwell: Thank you so much!
Bupalos
I don’t think registration drives are really necessarily worth their salt as partisan exercises right now. Sure Trump is undergoing a collapse with these voters right now (or last week) since he’s a disaster on all counts…but is it that hard to remember that Biden suffered a similar collapse with these voters while performing pretty well in terms of governance? The kids are not all right. No one is all right. The demographics that are a slam dunk are down to black women and… I guess college educated humanities majors?
I think we’re fighting the last war. Things are in flux. The wisdom of the last war was “durable partisanship means that turning out your reliable demographics is the path to victory.” That is very much up in the air right now. This polling collapse for Trump (that could reverse itself in a month) doesn’t mean the old rules about the primacy of ground game and reliable demographics are back in effect.
Pouring resources into registering hispanic voters while their partisan lean was shrinking probably bit us in the ass. We had similarly disappointing results with asians and native Americans (who we might have stopped and thought for a second how they perceive immigration.)
I’d rather see resources spent on broad-based air-war than targeted ground-game right now.
Ann Marie
Donated $30 just now.
narya
@WaterGirl: I was thinking I should comment so you know someone is paying attention. :-)
I’m continuing my mild stocking up. This morning I ordered a couple of brotforms I’ve been eyeing, and some bowl covers–all made in China, it turns out–and pulled out the summer clothes and stashed the winter clothes, and went for a short walk to pick up a few things. I’m about to roast a whole lot of carrots, and caramelize some onions, and cook some carrots with the ramps from the farm share, i.e., food prep. I think next week I’m going to wander to a Sect. of State office and get a real ID; I don’t fly, but it won’t hurt to have one. And tonight: halibut with red lentils and spinach, followed by a Paul Newman double feature (Harper and The Drowning Pool) that I recorded because I don’t think I’ve seen either. Last night was The Late Show, which was every bit as good as I remembered; didn’t know it was Robert Benton’s screenplay.
WaterGirl
@Bupalos: If you don’t think voter registration is important, then I may just have to stop reading your comments altogether.
Bupalos
@WaterGirl: Maybe a little demoralized. I spent 6 weekends on 3 campuses prior to the election getting registrations. Every time I got one I thought “there’s another one for us.” After I saw the crash in that age demographic, I thought “well, that was still probably a net gain. I think.” Since it was probably 2-1 F-M I probably did well. But it’s something to consider. Do we really know who we should register?
And actually, I didn’t know the rules. I assumed I couldn’t ask people about their preferences and for whatever reason I tried to make sure it was like “we just want to get you registered, no other motive.” Which was of course a lie. If I did it again I would try to vet, find out the rules about how you do that and make sure you aren’t helping the opposition. That’s what I’m getting at. I don’t think we necessarily just want more young people registered. I don’t thin we necessarily want more people generally registered. High turnout now may well favor Republicans and authoritarianism.
Martin
I will reiterate my warning from the other day – just because they are souring on Republicans, doesn’t mean they are warming to Democrats. Yes, it’s a better direction than the reverse, but Democrats need to get a vision out there, and need to show a unified front which they aren’t. At a minimum they need to do that at the state level here, so PA dems need to push on that front.
So I agree with Bupalos here. You can’t do GOTV without a message for why they should vote for you. Trump keeps winning by converting disaffected voters – not loads of them mind you, but enough. Democrat need to have a message to do that.
WaterGirl
@narya: I am in the process of making my stock-up list.
Someone here mentioned Advil the other day. I had no idea that is mostly produced in China.
We are all about to experience what I did one time when I was a college student. 5 of us lived in a house, and I had the phone bill in my name, someone else had the power bill in their name, and so on.
So collectively we would pay all the bills and then split the costs.
The water bill person didn’t pay the bill and our water was shut off for 2 days. I KNEW the water bill was off, but that didn’t stop me from going to the sink to wash my hands before doing something in the kitchen.
So things we take for granted and aren’t even thinking about are going to be like when the water being off.
Rude awakening ahead.
WaterGirl
@Martin: Did you see my email from yesterday?
zhena gogolia
@Martin: The vision is, not snatching people off the streets for no reason; not destroying the economy for no reason; not destroying the health-care system and biomedical research for no reason; etc. etc. etc.
Bupalos
That’s basically what I’m trying to say about demographically targeted registration.
Bupalos
@zhena gogolia: You can’t have an action message where every point of it starts with the word “not.”
This is the box we’re being backed into.
But even at that… deliver and drive the message. Then figure out the uptake on that message, and THEN register folks you know support it.
I don’t know, it’s just a perspective from someone who did a bunch of wildcat registration on college campuses and now has thought about that.
WaterGirl
@Martin: Part of what The Civics Center does with their student-run voter registration is help the young pups understand why their vote matters.
Just like Voting Access for All talks to the formerly incarcerated – they learn that it’s not just the big races that matter. The county sheriff, he has a HUGE impact on everyone’s lives. The district attorney? The city councils, etc.
They aren’t just registering random people at the grocery stores.
WaterGirl
@Bupalos: I don’t see the connection.
WaterGirl
So much hopelessness and “what’s the point?”. We have to do everything we can, every day.
Bupalos
@WaterGirl: Just that we’re making assumptions about registering young voters. We did that (at least that’s where I focused, in OH and PA) and the it turned out the water was off. That generation was no where near where we expected.
I was wildcatting it though, and I imagine the actual drives have thought more about not registering individuals who aren’t actually well disposed. I didn’t even know the rules and played it like a dumb liberal that is always thinking about being fair.
Josie
@Bupalos:
The percentage of young people who can see what is happening right now is probably in our favor. Even if they are not crazy about the Democratic party, it is a two party system. The other party is bug fuck crazy and I’m pretty sure they will see that.
Sandia Blanca
I’m in for $50. Registering new voters is crucial to the survival of democracy!
zhena gogolia
@Bupalos: We almost won.
Bupalos
@Josie: I’m changing rapidly on that question. I think the youngs are actually kinda fucked up. Thanks to us. I have a lot of exposure to folks 16-25, and in general I keep getting shocked.
Martin
@WaterGirl: I did not. Thanks for the heads up. Replied to both.
SW
CNN offering the fact that Trumps cratering in the polls hasn’t been accompanied by an increase in support for Democrats as a rationale for continuing sane washing. I would suggest that “This guy sucks” comes long before “I fucked up”.
Bupalos
@zhena gogolia: We did, and we did better than I thought from 2022 up through July.
But it’s frankly embarrassing to lose to this guy. Trump isn’t an actually good candidate. We’ll face more competent versions of post-truth right-wing authoritarianism in the coming decade.
RevRick
Just got back from the Spring meeting of the Penn Northeast Conference of the United Church of Christ. (A Conference is what’s called a judicatory, the equivalent of a synod or diocese). At the meeting, I had responsibility of a display for our Racial Justice Team and was paired with a similar display from the Penn Southeast Conference. There were workshops on racial justice, open and affirming (being welcoming to the LGBTQ + community), disaster ministries, and congregational vitality. The four Pennsylvania conferences are in the process of merging, so this was an opportunity to meet/reconnect with folks and think about what we might do together in the future.
different-church-lady
Sounds like the kids are starting to figure out that adulting is more vital than it seemed, and only one party is interested in doing it.
different-church-lady
@Bupalos: The shit we say here to comfort ourselves is not the same as what people who actually do stuff base their decisions on.
Bupalos
@RevRick: I know there are BIG differences within the “Church of Christ” designation. Is the strain you’re in very liberal?
My upbringing (and college) is “Disciples of Christ” affiliated, that always seemed to me to be more aligned with the communitarian humanism that I’ve come to as an adult than more or less any other part of popular culture.
Another Scott
+$50+
Thanks WG and everyone.
Forward!!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Bupalos
@different-church-lady: I think that’s more than is warranted.
I think the collapse and recovery is more about the youngs just passively reflecting culture, which they suck in and marinate in because they spend incredible amounts of time online in venues that are even more algorithmically inflected than this one.
They will be politically volatile. This isn’t a “return to normal.” Normal is out the fucking window and none of us know what it is.
WaterGirl
@Sandia Blanca: To the surprise of no one, I agree. :-)
Thank you!
different-church-lady
@Bupalos: Getting out of those venues is part of adulting.
That being said, most people who have been adults for a long time aren’t very interested in it either.
Bupalos
@different-church-lady: Probably not.
This is probably just the new normal.
Young people never want to “adult” or figure out that it’s time to “adult.” To their credit. Not even before the internet started rotting all our brains. Theirs are more adaptive so they will be more affected by the shit we left them.
Glidwrith
Donated $50
Lapassionara
@Bupalos: Trump is a celebrity, and in the US, people are drawn to celebrities. Trump voters being interviewed now are saying that they voted for him because he had been a successful businessman, which we know is not true, but most do not. That successful businessman image came from The Apprentice. Plus his opponent was a woman with a funny laugh.
Bupalos
I don’t want them to understand why their vote matters (on the individual level it does not matter btw) I want them to understand why they need to support democracy, pluralism, and a realistic vision of freedom that isn’t just “If there was no government I’d be completely free.” I want them to understand that the mission is to vote to the left and eat the rich and fight the oligarchy that is trying to destroy them.
SW
Home ownership is traditionally one of the primary mechanisms that motivates kids to start adulting.
Martin
@zhena gogolia: That’s not a vision. You have to be FOR something, you can’t just be against things, particularly when people are dissatisfied with the status quo.
Don’t get me wrong – Democrats need to point those things out and where they stand on them, but as I said before – in a Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, having financial stability is more important than whether someone else gets gulaged. If you only focus on the latter, and not on the former, and your opposition focuses on the former (even if they are incompetent at executing it) then you’re going to lose.
Both parties have functionally been ignoring the economic opportunity problem, but Trump specifically allows people to express their anger at the problem when he’s the opposition. He then shuts that down in power. But democrats don’t really do the opposite – except for guys like Bernie. I agree with most here that he’s a crank, but he’s a crank with a message that resonates really well with voters. Note what Benjamin said about fascism:
At a minimum you need to engage with this reality. Trump lets you be pissed about your economic state without fixing that problem. It’s the curtainrod and sparrow observation – throwing your brown neighbor in a gulag channels your anger about your economic state without solving your economic state. (I would counter that screaming about how Republicans are evil channels our anger without solving our electoral problems).
My argument is that in order to counter that, you have to address and speak to the root problem – the lack of economic opportunities, particularly for younger people or people that for whatever reason didn’t start building wealth opportunities in the market or housing a decade ago. If you refuse to address these, then the mad prophet of the airwaves routine will keep working (note, this is fundamentally what Bernie is doing, which is why I don’t generally support him and prefer AOCs ground up, more policy driven approach a lot more).
Put short, you can’t reason people out of their anger. They’re angry. They’re justified in their anger. It’s being channeled in a bad direction under Trump, and you need to channel that anger in a direction that benefits you, while focusing on how you will address the things they are angry about (which you can’t do until you get in power). People very often don’t channel their anger toward the things they are angry about, particularly when it’s a failure of their ideology.
RevRick
@Bupalos: The Church of Christ is at the opposite end of the theological spectrum from the United Church of Christ. The UCC was formed in 1957 through a merger of the New England based Congregational Churches and the German heritage Evangelical and Reformed Church, plus some other minor groups.
The Church of Christ separated from what is now the Disciples of Christ over the question of whether organs could be used in worship. The Church of Christ insisted they couldn’t be, because organs aren’t mentioned in the Bible!
The United Church of Christ, and its antecedents, has always been at the forefront of social progress.
We ordained the first Black man, Lemuel Haynes in 1785; the first woman, Antoinette Brown, in 1853; the first openly gay man, Bill Johnson, in 1980. We opposed Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal, supported the legal appeals of the enslaved people on the Amistad, sent the Carpetbaggers to the post-Civil War South to assist with Reconstruction, founded several HBCUs, and pioneered the environmental justice movement.
Bupalos
@Martin: If you promise to keep bringing this content to this forum, I would feel like I could go away.
And be healthier.
zhena gogolia
@Martin: I’M FUCKING ANGRIER THAN ALL OF THEM PUT TOGETHER
Bupalos
The fuck you say? That’s super interesting, and hilariously enough, my best specifically Christian memories as a child are that thundering organ making my liver vibrate.
Interesting Name Goes Here
So young people fucked around and are in the process of finding out. It’s just that this time, instead of crashing the family car or ending up in the principal’s office, they fucked over a few generations and the nation as it currently sits. Impressive.
Bupalos
@Interesting Name Goes Here: Not fair. You fucked them over first by letting them soak up the screens. Maybe it’s you and me who are FAFOing. THEY’RE KIDS(!!!!!!!!) AND YOU’RE DEPLOYING FAFO???!
It’s on you bro.
Another Scott
@Martin: Transcript of the Emerge Gala earlier this week:
Many, many Democrats are talking about – and working on – the things that you mention but don’t seem to be hearing.
HTH.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@RevRick:
I’m not sure that makes up for the lack of organs.
WaterGirl
@Martin: Neither reply came through. Strange.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bupalos: If they are old enough to vote, are they kids?
Glidwrith
@Martin: Welp, we can’t fix the anger issues of a bunch of white folks that are mad about getting old and the world isn’t like it was when they were children.
But, we can point out a lot of damage that was never fixed: private equity/leveraged buyouts that destroy healthy businesses. Savings banks that used to offer more than 0.5% interest. Pensions. CEO pay limits.
How can we rebalance the economy so it’s not owned by the 1%ers?
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Bupalos: Yeah, I am because I was there once, and not once did I ever think that people like Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson (and whatever their 1990s counterparts would have been) were worth throwing my lot in with. I learned that early, too.
Martin
@SW: Having a career, getting married, etc. It happens when the opportunity arrives. If you are on a career path, your focus turns to stability to protect it. When you deny people things they want to protect – a house, a career, a family, etc. – their focus is on changing the system to enable those things to happen.
If they are saying ‘we can’t achieve those things’ and your message is ‘we will protect the system from the scary man’, they are not going to be receptive to that message. They are risk receptive because they don’t have a lot to lose. Note that when Gen X or Boomers think of risk, it’s usually risk of their retirement savings or income in the face of a crisis. For Gen Z, it’s suicide:
Literally nothing left to lose. They are giving up on owning a home, having kids, having a career:
As yourself why young republicans believe those goals are within reach and not young democrats. What is it in the republican message that gives them hope? It is the deportations and tariffs and whatnot? Remember, they’re young, they don’t necessarily know if these things will work, only that they’re being told that they will work. What are Democrats telling them will work? Anything?
BenInNM
Just put in $10
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: You and me both. And the sophistry to justify R voters is infuriating to say the least.
Baud
@Martin:
Aren’t young Republicans more likely to believe in the benefits of capitalism than young Democrats?
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat: I grew up in a family of five living on Social Security. I didn’t get angry at anyone — just voted Dem my whole life.
And didn’t buy a house until I was 38. And I’m still living in the same one.
ETA: Well, I got angry at Republicans.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Bernie Sanders poisoned an entire generation against democracy and capitalism.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@schrodingers_cat: It’s not just that. There’s also a concerted effort to justify and defend some people’s general incompetence. Because, for whatever reason, admitting that the person(s) that told you not to stick your dick back (!) in the energized light socket might have actually been right is just inconceivable nowadays.
It’s that kind of shit that, in my weaker moments, makes me think that the British might have had a little bit of a point some 250 years ago.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I don’t know about cause and effect, but it makes sense that young people who embrace capitalism would be more optimistic about their future in America than young people who don’t, given what US economic policy is like.
Glidwrith
@Martin:
@Baud: Those young, MALE republicans are being told they are getting their own happy little house slaves and baby makers, no effort required.
Meanwhile, young women are making damned sure they can’t get pregnant because this country doesn’t give a shit if they live or die.
Baud
@Glidwrith:
Sad but smart.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: I came to this country with big dreams and 2 suitcases and $300. I have lived in rentals until 2016. This my 8th home since I came to this country.
I figured out during Clinton’s presidency itself in the mid 90s that Rs were full of it.
I did not become a R voting psycopath because my personal circumstances were challenging.
Baud
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Why does Sean Duffy still hava a job?
Martin
@Another Scott: Job fairs, like safety net programs aren’t a solution to the problem. Changing the fundamentals of the economy is the solution needed, and Democrats are absolutely fucking not broadly talking about that. A job fair doesn’t solve the problem that a private equity firm worth $30B is bidding against me for the house up the street.
Trump is at least promising to change the fundamentals of the economy. Don’t get me wrong – it’s changing it for the worse – taking the most productive manufacturing workers in the world (Americans) and shoving them into jobs being held by the 99th most productive manufacturing workers in the world (China) is not a path to prosperity. But it’s at least an effort to change the fundamentals. Bernie and AOC are talking about changing the fundamentals. So far, they’re mostly alone out there. I’m not saying that’s the only message that can be put forward, but it’s a damn sight better message then the GOP one. I was not a huge fan of Biden, but I was a fan of Harris, and there was no broad economic vision being advanced by either. I liked the willingness to use government to boost strategic industries, but that has too limited a use and wasn’t there to fix the economic problems, rather the national strategic ones. They would have pursued them even if it made the economy worse based on their arguments.
Note, Democrats do have a good vision on civil rights, and they shouldn’t back off on that (and guys like Newsom are backing off on them). That’s what’s keeping Democrats in the game here. It’s their biggest strength. But they need a comparably good economic vision. We’re all familiar with this message. There is no economic message on that sign. None. Where’s the equivalent to that vision for economic issues for Democrats? ‘In this house we believe in job fairs’ isn’t as strong a message as you think it is.
And I’ll note that Spanberger is openly at odds with AOCs message, so you can’t exactly say that there is a unified message out there. I’m not saying there aren’t ideas, but what are the ideas that Democrats are so reliably supportive of that they’ll get done if we put them in power. Part of Trumps success is that the GOP are willing to do almost anything he asks. And one of the GOP appeals is that they are less likely to get their agenda bogged down by a Manchin or Sinema. That’s why people are attracted to dictatorships – they can be effective. But you can also get there by being unified, and Democrats are not remotely there right now.
different-church-lady
@Martin:
Cults are like that.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, a good reminder that the output of cameras aren’t the unvarnished truth – one still has to be skeptical of * * a n y t h i n g * * one sees on the internet.
And any other mass media these days…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
He hasn’t leaked national secrets yet.
Martin
@Interesting Name Goes Here: Young people didn’t fuck around, old people did. Boomers and Gen X (like me) captured those opportunities and pulled up the ladders behind us because we wanted our stock market returns.
We’re the one who fucked around and are now finding out.
different-church-lady
@schrodingers_cat: Likewise: I would certainly describe myself as one of those “financially anxious” types we hear so much about, but that somehow hasn’t made me Nazi-curious.
Martin
@WaterGirl: So, feel free to give my info to Kay. And let me see if I can come up with something. I’ll get back to you by tomorrow.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: And yet many people have died on his watch in transportation accidents.
different-church-lady
@Baud: Pft, like that’s still a crime.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I’m almost completely certain that any bad thing that happens is Biden’s fault.
Another Scott
@Martin:
Nobody said a job fair was a “solution”.
Why are you building these strawmen in your posts here?? It’s like we aren’t using a common language.
[ sigh ]
Gotta walk the pooch.
Best wishes,
Scott.
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: Hegseth still has his job right? These days I am spending more time improving my drawing than on political blogs.
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: And many of these burn-it-all-down type Berners are personally pretty well off.
RevRick
@Baud: It’s the Church of Christ that lacks organs. We got ‘em.
lowtechcyclist
@Martin:
OK, but right now we’re raising money to register young voters. This isn’t GOTV, but if they’re not registered, they can’t vote for us. So it’s a preparatory step.
It’s May. Labor Day is four months away. Everything doesn’t need to be ready to rock and roll right now.
Baud
@RevRick:
Awesome.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Martin: That doesn’t excuse their stupidity for falling in with a narcissistic and demented used car salesman.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Of course.
Glidwrith
@lowtechcyclist: Agreed. Watergirl started this thread for fundraising and we’re derailing away from that.
Throwing in another $50. Apologies.
Josie
@lowtechcyclist:
This. Instead of arguing about messaging, at this point, we could be encouraging the people who are registering voters in places that will have elections of any kind this year.
SW
Capitalism failed in 1929. Communism failed in the 1980s. Equating democracy with Capitalism is a toxic myth. Democracy is a political system. Capitalism was an economic system. What works all around the globe are mixed economies composed of a robust public sector in combination with well regulated markets. These mixed economic systems can be employed by a variety of political systems from totalitarian authoritarians to representative democracies.
We should be focused on honesty in the crafting of our economic system along with liberty and social justice in our political system.
Martin
@Glidwrith: So, you start by steering the anger toward the correct villain – not immigrants and trans kids, but the investor class.
You rebalance the economy through a pile of policies – make stock buybacks illegal, raise minimum wage, replace payroll taxes with a value-added tax paid by the employer so that productivity from automation pays into Medicare/SS which both makes those programs long-term sustainable and also eliminates the defacto subsidy for automation. Mandate that earned income must be taxed at a lower rate than unearned income. Add a wealth tax. Eliminate non-productive (from the governments perspective) investment instruments like crypto and some derivatives either making them illegal or taxing them to such a degree that they become pointless. A proper strategy regarding national and multinational corporations vs local businesses. Yes, tech will mostly remain because a local cell phone manufacturer makes no sense, but national food distribution (meatpackers, etc.) and grocers (Kroger) is bad because they deprive local communities – particularly rural ones of opportunities. Instead of the government throwing billions at for profit corporations to steer the economy, do it directly. The government can build houses, it can pave roads, it can manufacture things. That also opens up opportunities for the government to directly provide jobs. There’s so much that can be, and needs to be done here.
Trump is inadvertently doing some things that are probably necessary – like weakening the dollar. There are a bunch of other things that will have to happen to rebalance things – basically making the stock market not be a place to grow wealth as happened during the US economic heyday of the 50s and 60s (the market was largely flat during that entire period). That means mostly nuking 401Ks as retirement instruments back in favor of something like pensions – a very tough sell. It means a period of relatively high inflation (5%-6%) with the government through policy forcing wages to grow even faster (8%) so that stored wealth devalues while income generate more buying power. That’s not a one administration shift. It’s a long term party economic vision. Not holding my breath.
lowtechcyclist
@lowtechcyclist:
I should add that one obvious positive message the Dems have is inclusion. Whether the party orgs decide to make a big deal out of that, who knows. But is there any division in the party over this basic value? I don’t see much of it. We’re the party that believes you belong, regardless of your race, gender, ethnicity, gender identity and orientation.
And that bears directly on a lot of the shit that’s going on right now. Since you belong, you have the right to speak your mind, and the secret polICE have no business rounding you up because of your views. Or because of your skin color or surname, or for any other reason besides commission of crimes. You get the idea.
Omnes Omnibus
@lowtechcyclist: I have been saying for a while that leadership in this new environment is going to develop organically. People who who chosen to be leaders as legislators are not necessarily suited to be opposition/resistance leaders. As the new ones emerge, we will need to recognize and support them. I think the same is true of messages. We don’t need to have THE message now. We need to let people hear a variety of messages right now and start to distill them down to something clear and uniting. This is one reason why I am not shitting on anyone who is trying to put out a reason to oppose the MAGA fascists.*
*Okay, I do make an exception for burn it down nihilism.
Glidwrith
@Martin: Ok, that sure sounds like a start for a party platform that I haven’t heard any politician actually talk about.
I think most Democratic politicians don’t know any more financial history than the rest of us. What you just said, I’m going to bug my Congress critters for.
schrodingers_cat
@Glidwrith: It is all very muddled. Burning everything down is not going get us pensions. Sticking with Biden and then Harris would have gotten us closer to an economy that was more equitable.
WaterGirl
@Glidwrith: @BenInNM: @Glidwrith: Thank you all so much!
WaterGirl
@Glidwrith: I appreciate that! I’m actually fine with serious political discussions in the fundraising posts.
What I don’t understand is why anyone would think it doesn’t make sense to start registering young people yesterday. First get them engaged, help them understand the process and see that they are part of it. You’re a lot more receptive to information if you think it’s relevant to you
One of the theories that gets bandied about is that we can’t just engage with voters right before elections – we have to build relationships with them and stay connected. So we start early and some people still complain.
The trick is to realize that the person who is complaining about registering voters early may not be the same person who has been saying that we have to start early and build relationships like Ben Wikler’s group did in Wisconsin.
It can be frustrating if we don’t realize that.
Another Scott
@Martin: And what happens when the minority – who has no control of the leadership of the legislature and cannot bring bills to the floor – cannot pass those policies?? How enthusiastic are people who voted for all those things going to be when they don’t happen??
The choices for people who aren’t satisfied isn’t a binary one between vote for 47 and armed revolution. Lasting progress is incremental – even at times like these.
The first step is registering non-voters to be voters.
The second step is turning them out to vote for non-monsters.
The third step is lobbying for good legislation.
The fourth step is sustaining the progress so that reactionary forces (e.g. the SCOTUS) that try to reverse the progress are overcome.
The fifth step is making sure voters know about the good things that were done and the bad things that were prevented.
And then we start over again at step one. The process never ends.
Tonight we’re working on Step One.
My $0.02.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Geminid
@Josie: I think some strategists worry too much about winning elections the wrong way. They hold that if Democrats don’t try to win elections their way, Dems can’t win. And if Democrats somehow do win, they won’t have really won.
I’m not saying these aren’t legitimate arguments; I’m saying they’re being made with too much certainty, and maybe not enough attention paid to Democratic politicians who do in fact win tough races.
Martin
@Baud: Sorta. Young republicans aren’t really anticapitalist – not like the left, but a lot of them are economically to the left in a number of ways of a lot of moderate democrats. They are more in favor of breaking up large corporations for example. Republicans overall are about as anti-corporate as Democrats now – and that’s mainly young voters in both parties. They are more likely to support taxing the rich than moderate Democrats in the polling I’ve seen. They’re MUCH more opposed to concentrated finance (banks, etc.) than Democrats. Much of that is fallout from 2007.
But there are other ways that they are to the right, even of older republicans. They seem to be more in favor of unregulated instruments like crypto, etc. So it’s complicated. Basically I’d argue they are opposed to concentrated capitalism, which tends to gate-keep access, which a lot of democrats are pretty okay with so long as they are regulated (part of the gate keeping) and in favor of sort of permissionless capitalism.
My concern is that they are more focused on the message of opportunities for individuals and taking those opportunities from the rich than Democrats are. It’s why I think you see House Republicans being out of phase with Senate Republicans to a larger degree – because they tend to be younger and there are at least a few there that are pushing these ideas. Note, JD Vance was a bigger fan of Lina Khan breaking up corporations than a lot of Senate Democrats, and particularly donors were. A lot of Harris’s donors wanted a commitment from her that she’d dump Khan. Vance wanted to keep Khan.
The economic faultlines aren’t where we think they are. It’s one reason why the never-Trumpers are where they find themselves – the Trump GOP is not economically small-c conservative – but Democrats are.
Baud
@Martin:
If young Republicans are really anti-corporate, they’re going to be pretty disappointed with the Republican Party.
Or they’ll be satisfied with using state power to make corporations advance right wing social policies.
ETA: I note Khan is in fact gone.
different-church-lady
@Another Scott: Now just calm down here Scott. It should be obvious by now Martin knows more than anyone else here. Just ask him.
Josie
@Geminid: That’s why Pelosi’s advice, “Just win, Baby,” is appealing to me. I know she is not much in favor at the moment, but she knows a thing or two about winning.
Another Scott
@different-church-lady:
[slow-deep-breaths] OOoooommmm [/s-d-b]
That does help. Thanks!!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Martin
@schrodingers_cat: You and OO keep accusing me of wanting to burn things down. I do not seek that.
But understand that insufficient, controlled reforms of systems often result in uncontrolled burning down of those systems. I am advocating the former to avoid the latter.
When I was doing frequent FP posts on Covid in early 2020, one of my arguments was that the US should shut down places like bars, etc. and that the last institution that should get shut down are schools – in part because schools have a long term structural role that needs to be protected and in part because schools are a critical part of our public health system (they are the thing that ensured people got vaccinated, for instance, because vaccine mandates are on schools, not the general public). And what did we do, we shut down the schools but not so much the bars. And now 5 years later, we are talking about the long-term impact of shutting down schools on a whole generation of kids, and on the larger effectiveness of the educational system. Nobody is talking out the long term effect of not having been able to go to the bar in 2020. We failed to do the thing that would have possibly protected us from having to face the big consequence, and as a result we faced the big consequence and we’re going to be dragging that anchor behind us for another decade at least.
If you do not make real, substantive reforms to our transportation systems, to some aspects of consumption, and so on, which are going to be hard and disruptive, you are going to face a future where cities are burning down which is going to be WAY harder and WAY more disruptive. I’m not cheering that outome on, I’m warning against it and saying that if you don’t get your shit together and do the heavy lifting to avoid it, which you seem to interpret as burning it down, then it’s really going to fucking burn down, like for real.
If you demand we not make reforms, much worse will come. The reforms needed have to address the productivity-pay gap, because that’s not an issue of fairness, it’s a steady destruction of buying power for wage earners. We focus on inflation, but we don’t focus on how currency valuation has its own effect on buying power, on how wealth accumulation leading to scarcity of assets like housing affects it, and so on. It’s been going on for half a century and as we keep squeezing the electorate harder and harder, they are tolerating more and more extreme positions to get out of the trap. Germany didn’t embrace the Nazis because they were evil, they did it because they were desperate. Desperate people are dangerous because they get increasingly inward focused, and fuckers like Trump exploit that. That is the problem that needs to be avoided politically and both parties have failed to work to avoid it because they are both too captured by the people causing the problem. That’s why you get a Luigi out there shooting someone in the head, and everyone cheers. I don’t love that Luigi did it, but it’s a measure of where the electorate is, and it should scare the fuck out of you.
Omnes Omnibus
You seem to be missing some words here.
Geminid
@Josie: I am interested in how Democrats won tough races. That seems to me to be at least as important as is how Democrats lost some of these races.
For instance, Democrats flipped three House seats in California last November, and one in Oregon. I intend to look at what those candidates’ strategies and messaging were like, and how they approach their reelections.
Martin
@Baud: So, one of the things I failed to understand about why Democrats had so much of the black vote, despite black voters not being really any different from white voters in terms of religiosity, economic viewpoints and so on was that black voters were loyal to the Democratic Party because they saw it as an institution they could capture if delivered for it. The only way for black voters to get real black power was to get real control of such an institution. Thats why you see black women in particular demanding their seat now – from Harris to Abrams to Crockett.
They don’t rely on the Democratic Party to come through for them, they rely on taking over the Democratic Party so they can do what needs to be done. Yes, those young republicans are going to be pretty disappointed, but you can count on old republicans to do one thing above all else – die. Eventually, the young republicans will get in charge.
This is why I think democrats need to come through for latino voters – because if they decide that the GOP is the institution they can get into leadership of, all the while eating shit until that day comes, they may well do that if Democrats are also making them eat shit. Note, latinos tend to be quite entrepreneurial and a message of economic opportunity to build your own business, even if that just means being able to legally sell tamales out of the trunk of your car, may resonate better than an immigration message because one pays your rent and the other doesn’t. Ideally, Democrats would do both.
Baud
@Martin:
Sounds like young people should follow the example of black people. Democrats die too.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: It also turns out that some of the young people are Black and vice versa.
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: Whoops, indeed. See, I need to write things like 3 times before they make any damn sense.
There should be some sentences in there that if you are too timid in your ambition, you can get overtaken by circumstances, and you need to be willing to take adequate risk to avoid losing control of things. And the longer you kick the can down the road, the more radical those adequate risks need to be because you are trying to close a growing gap with shrinking time.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Are black people still having kids? Good for them. Natalists will be happy.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud:
Hmmm… Will they though? Will they really?
WaterGirl
@different-church-lady: I don’t think that’s fair.
Another Scott
@Martin:
??
Is “should” doing a mountain of counter-factual heavy lifting there, or are you saying that your work arguing that your university needed to effectively shut down and go to fully remote instruction (and all the disruption that entailed) was a mistake??
It was a pandemic from a new virus. We had, as you pointed out, no immunity. It spread rapidly and was often deadly especially to older folks – like experienced teachers, faculty, support staff. Closing schools – of all types – was a sensible response.
My $0.02.
Best wishes,
Scott.
different-church-lady
@WaterGirl: Neither is life.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl:
Nor do I. I do admire Martin’s confidence in his own opinions though.
Martin
@Baud: Yes, which is part of why this electorate was really defined by double haters. Everyone fucking hated that we were given a choice between two 80 year olds. The way things played out for Democrats didn’t really signal an openness to listening to young people or providing opportunities for them. Put another way, Democrats aren’t signaling that they are more open to young people than the GOP is, and the general vibe of ‘fuck the young people’ that exists around here just reinforces that.
Democrats are aligned with their social interests, but not their economic ones. And in a time of economic stability for them, that would be enough. That’s not where they are, though.
Josie
@Geminid:
I hope, after you have studied it sufficiently, you will write about it here. That would be interesting reading.
different-church-lady
@Martin:
But in the end, they weren’t. And then the “80 year old” won anyway.
Baud
@Martin:
Black voters were patient. Young Republicans are patient. Both are working up through the system. If young Dems want to follow another model, then they are free to do so, but it’s a riskier approach, assuming what they really want is economic and social progress.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
And increased his share of the youth vote.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I think it’s fair to say that Martin thinks about things at a different level than I do. At the University we called that the 30,000 foot level, or something like that.
I admire Martin’s ability to view things at that level, and it’s useful to for identifying problems and issues and solutions to have people thinking at various levels.
If Martin and I were on the same team at work, we would have very different roles, but i like to think we would both bring something of value.
As for people on BJ having confidence in their own opinions, I would need a boatload of additional hands in order to count them all!
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I don’t believe anything I say. I’m just here for the company.
different-church-lady
@Baud: Come be uncertain next to me.
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: I am completely open to being wrong. Some of what I’m describing contradicts things I expressed during the campaign (which proved wrong).
But at the very least, I’m trying to provide an actionable path for Democrats apart from ‘half the country is evil and racist and cannot be reached, we’re all doomed’. I think there are a lot of things that can be done here to reach independents, non-voters, maybe some Republicans. I don’t think sticking our head in the sand is an effective strategy. Maybe I’m wrong – but at least you are engaging with these ideas instead of the common ‘everyone is evil’ message around here, which gets us nowhere.
Find evidence I’m wrong. Polling, focus groups, other data. And I’ll readily admit polling data is vague, sometimes deceptive, etc. This stuff is hard to nail down.
But I will operate from the viewpoint that if it feels like the US is pulling apart, we probably need to acknowledge either that while Biden did do good things, they weren’t good enough, fast enough to pull us away from this outcome, or that we simply desire to be pulled apart and that outcome is unavoidable.
I look at the richest country of the world having 70% of the population living paycheck to paycheck probably indicating that there are deep structural problems in the economy that we keep glossing over. There are lots of ways to solve those problems and maybe my suggestions are terrible. But we at a minimum need to acknowledge the problems.
Omnes Omnibus
@Martin: I generally do not have the patience, time, or inclination to treat this blog as a vehicle for deep exposition on any topic. That’s why you seldom see anything more than a five or six sentence paragraph from me on any topic. Not my style.
WaterGirl
@Martin:
I agree with a lot of what you said, especially in your comment at #147. I don’t think that the binary choice you describe there is the whole picture. We got beat in the information / disinformation wars, and there are structural issues that no party or candidate can fix in 4 years.
I didn’t think Biden was perfect, but I marveled at all the great things they were doing on so many fronts – and with such a slim majority.
The Supreme Court has been cutting the legs out from under Democrats and democracy for some time. Citizen United did this. Gutting the Voting Rights Act did this. The bullshit president is basically King rulings did this. Putin’s interference did this. And a lot more than I haven’t named did this. Bibi did this. Hamas did this.
We got an October surprise alright, just not of the usual variety.
I can’t be proven right or wrong on this, but think the election would have gone the other way had Oct 7 never happened. Hamas, Bibi and Putin were all scheming to put Trump back in office. They did not want a strong President with experience who might / would stand up to them.
RevRick
@lowtechcyclist: Democratic messages?
You may fight against us, but we won’t stop fighting for you.
We don’t want your world to burn.
We believe that no one should ever be left behind.
We believe human life should be cherished.
Your life will never be improved by tyranny.
Do those work?
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: His TL:DR commentary has a lot of holes but I don’t have the time or the inclination today to fisk his tall claims. Maybe some other time when I am bored
Like over 60% of his cohort he finds Ds wanting. How original. Not.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: OMG, GMTA. see my comment at 151.
Martin
@different-church-lady: Convenient of you to leave out my next sentence which addressed your observation before you made it.
Democrats switched to Harris not because of some real focus on the struggles of young Americans, we switched because we panicked about our candidate. It didn’t signal an increased focus on young voters, and Harris inability to respond to the concerns of young voters kind of made that clear.
WaterGirl
The one thing I really dislike about Balloon Juice is the talking behind someone’s back, right in front of their face. It’s petty and unkind and I wonder if people would stand at the water cooler at work and do that to a co-worker. Or do it to a friend at a get together.
Another Scott
@Martin: I don’t think anyone is arguing against there being problems that need to be addressed – many that have festered for far too long.
My, er, difficulty with your posts is that you seem to be completely ignoring the politics and the institutional barriers to rapid change.
You can’t, under our system, decree that housing will suddenly be affordable to someone in their 20s. You can’t decree that there will be guaranteed upward mobility. You can’t decree that billionaires will cease to exist and their hoarded wealth will be distributed to the masses. It doesn’t work like that.
If you want things like that to happen, you have to have political support, get legislation through Congress, have the subsequent rules in the US Code be upheld by the courts, and all the rest. That is a generational – or more – project for these types of issues.
And much of that stuff you’re proposing would have massive opposition right now. We can’t even raise the federal minimum wage, and you want to decree that housing must be less valuable and more affordable to 20-somethings??!
So, what I take from your posts like this is that you’re either ignoring the politics and are making ivory-tower arguments (and that’s fine, and many of us agree on the way things should be), or you think that they can be overcome simply and easily (which I think history tells us is not the case).
I’ve mentioned before that my father bought his first house in his late 30s in 1973. We bought our first (and only) house in our late 30s about 25 years later. Yes, rents are often too high, and that’s a huge problem that needs to be addressed, but folks thinking that they’re doomed to renting forever because they can’t buy a house when they’re just out of college and starting their first real job at 22 seems to me to be a demographic that cannot be won-over; they can be educated though.
tl;dr – Politics is how we address collective problems. It’s messy and slow. Fast changes usually don’t last.
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Scott: I agree with this.
different-church-lady
@WaterGirl: Wait ’til you hear the things I don’t say…
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Late to the thread and haven’t read all the comments so I don’t know if any matches are still happening, but I just kicked in $100. Thank you Water Girl!!
WaterGirl
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Yes, $50 of that was matched, so that’s $350 for The Civics Center.
Thank you!
WaterGirl
There is $205 left of the Anonymous Angel match that gets us to 6x matching.
Geminid
@Josie: I still intend to write up the 38(?) new Democrats in this Congress, and post reports here describing them and their districts. I think I’ll report on them in pairs and go from West to East.
The ones who beat incumbent Republicans will get special attention. These include the three in California I referred to– George Whitesides, Derrick Tran and Adam Gray– as well as Janelle Bynum in Oregon. Three New York Democrats– Laura Gillen, Josh Riley and John Mannion– also flipped seats, although I think Riley had already won a special election.
Democrats Shomari Figures in Alabama and Cleo Fields in Louisiana won formerly Republican districts that were redrawn after Voting Rights Act lawsuits.
I’m being diverted right now by Middle East news. There’s a lot going on there, especially in Syria. That nation seems very important to me because there is so much potential for good, and at the same time plenty of danger.
I’ll let you know when I start the series. I intend to post this stuff in the early morning hours; that will give people something more to read in the 3 to 5am time slot.
2liberal
Kicked in for $50
Geminid
@WaterGirl: I think this election was close enough to be considered “multiply determined;” that is, there were several factors present any one of which could have turned the election. The Gaza war could have been one although its effect on the election was complex and hard to calculate, so I’m not sure.
I think Federal Reserve policy in the period 2021-2022 definitely helped turn the election. I’m no economist but “New Deal Democrat” is one and he agrees.
The matter of Joe Biden’s age and the circumstances of Harris replacing him was obviously a big factor, and it still looms large in discussions here. Personally, I’ve turned the page on that one, partly because I do not expect Democrats to nominate anyone over 60 in tbe next two or three cycles at least.
I have no problem with this because I see enough talented and qualified Democrats in their 40s and 50s, and plenty more on the way.
WaterGirl
@Geminid:
TOTALLY AGREE.
That’s why I have been saying for months that “there’s not one true faith; there’s not one true reason why we lost; and there’s not one true path forward”.
WaterGirl
@2liberal: Thank you so much!
WaterGirl
There is $155 left of the Anonymous Angel match that gets us to 6x matching.
mvr
@WaterGirl: Just put in $50
Another Scott
One for Martin – Phys.org – Study finds flourishing doesn’t always mean happiness:
Interesting.
I’d like to see historical data on questions like these. I remember being stressed out much of the time in high school and college and and grad school and not feeling decently comfortable in life until I’d been on the job about 10-15 years… I know I’m weird, but am I that unusual??
IOW, is it really that surprising that older folks are doing better than younger ones??
(Of course, life would be better for almost everyone if being stressed out were a rare thing.)
Best wishes,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@mvr: Thank you, you were matched. $300 total for The Civics Center.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: The questions are interesting, and I’m curious as to how they were asked to respond. 1 for very and 5 for not at all?
Or do they write out answers and someone else does the rating? Too lazy to search out the info and I’m not asking you to, but I thought you might already know?
Another Scott
@WaterGirl:
From Table 5 of the paper at the DOI link:
It looks like they tried to do the survey carefully.
It’ll be interesting to see how it changes over time, how external shocks affect the changes, how national policies affect the changes, etc.
Best wishes,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Very interesting, thank you!
Avalie
Adding $105 now
Gloria DryGarden
@zhena gogolia: reworking it into positive statements, because I agree, the “not” is not as catchy and may be counterproductive. I wrote to baud about that oh, a month ago.
“The vision is, not snatching people off the streets for no reason; not destroying the economy for no reason; not destroying the health-care system and biomedical research for no reason; etc. etc. etc.”
the vision is
maintaining and strengthening our economy
continuing to fund and support biomedical research
upholding and improving our healthcare system
investing in social supports that give good monetary and societal return , such as food stamps (see Matthew Desmond in his book “poverty, by America”, or summaries and interviews about it)
upholding due process so only alleged criminals are prosecuted or detained; maintaining safety for citizens and residents
effective budget cuts based on poor societal return on investment (corporate tax cuts) and based on only removing ineffective parts of agencies, via careful investigation and oversight processes. Maintaining or improving these processes which are already in place doing good work.
Gloria DryGarden
@Another Scott: this is super cool. Saving it to test myself. Excellent.