Hard Lessons to be Learned Before the Next Election

[Abbot Mythos]

5. Negative campaigns are extremely effective. Running a positive campaign achieves no more than does "Preaching to the choir."

Don't believe me? Then, consider giving some thought to how well the "When they go low, we go high" strategy worked out for the Democratic Party.

It just occurred to me that the Democratic Party has experience running negative campaigns.

For example, some may remember that they successfully drove Al Franken, a very popular Democratic Senator from Minnesota, out of office before his term even expired. They didn't even have to "primary" Franken to get rid of him. Now, that's extremely effective negative campaigning!

[Doktor Howl]

And I swear the bitch was drunk more often than she was sober.

Except this part.  I'm not going to ignore this, I'm going to laugh at your incel ass.

Like this --->

Yes I must be a fella because I didn't check my intellect at the door as soon as a warmongering cunt with a cunt was running for President.

I still can't figure out if you're MAGA or if you're the dumbest prog ever born.  I'm betting MAGA, the way you talk about women.

How very discordian of you to lick at the establishment Democrat shit chute.

You have the wrong place.  We're the Concordians. The Discordians are all on Myspace.  We just named the place what we did to lure in the dumbasses.

Which would be...You.

[chaotic neutral observer]

Now me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk.

Your fascist tendencies are showing.

Compulsory abortion, like forced sterilization, belongs under the umbrella of eugenics.  Prohibiting abortions for those belonging to the superior breed of human is morally indistinguishable from mandating abortions for those you've decided are inferior.

I wouldn't be particularly surprised if you subscribe to the notion that criminality is inherited.

[Menger, Avatar of New Chaos]

Maybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

[Abbot Mythos]

Maybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

Okay ...

I thought Kamala Harris, and the Democratic National Committee were running a pretty damn good campaign. I was wrong.

I'm not happy that, at his age, Joe Biden thought he was indispensable. But, that kind of thinking is not all that uncommon in elderly people who are in positions of power. The public figure who I think is the "poster girl" for that kind of thinking was Ruth Bader Ginsburg.   

Still, the Democratic Party did hold a primary election, and Joe Biden won it easily. I have no idea what, if anything, might have been happening behind the scenes. But, I'm unaware of any of the "heavy hitters" in the Democratic Party challenging Biden for the candidacy, or even trying to talk him out of it. However, after this debacle, if any of them did, it will eventually be made public.

So, let me ask you this:

What, if anything, would you recommend that the Democratic Party do differently, to avoid being on the wrong end of a landslide election in the 2026 midterms?

[Doktor Howl]

Maybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

There is only one responsibility set for this election.

People had the chance to vote against Trump.

2.5 Mn of his former voters instead chose not to vote.

But 14.5 of Biden's former voters ALSO chose not to vote.

So we are up a net 12 million assholes, and that's not even addressing the progs that are too good for people.

They think Harris was bad because of her stance on Palestine?  Wait until they get a load of the Triumphant Return of the Greasy Orange Substitute Jesus who moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

[Doktor Howl]

Now me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk.

Your fascist tendencies are showing.

Compulsory abortion, like forced sterilization, belongs under the umbrella of eugenics.  Prohibiting abortions for those belonging to the superior breed of human is morally indistinguishable from mandating abortions for those you've decided are inferior.

I wouldn't be particularly surprised if you subscribe to the notion that criminality is inherited.

Watch how you talk.  This person is the final arbiter of who and what is Discordian, and you'll get excommunicated and we'll have to bury you in a churchyard when you die.

[Abbot Mythos]

6. Felony arrests and convictions of a "macho man imaged" candidate mean "street cred" to macho 'Merican men.

[Abbot Mythos]

7. Facts and truth are mostly meaningless in modern 'Merican politics. The majority of 'Merican voters cast their ballots for candidates they both identify with, and find entertaining.

The majority of 'Merican voters are really very much like professional wrestling fans. The fans know the wrestling is scripted, but they don't care. The fans pay their money to watch because they identify with the "good guy" wrestlers who entertain them the most. Republican Party leaders know this to be true, and that's why Hulk Hogan was invited to perform on the last night of the Republican National Convention.

[Menger, Avatar of New Chaos]

Maybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

Okay ...

I thought Kamala Harris, and the Democratic National Committee were running a pretty damn good campaign. I was wrong.

I'm not happy that, at his age, Joe Biden thought he was indispensable. But, that kind of thinking is not all that uncommon in elderly people who are in positions of power. The public figure who I think is the "poster girl" for that kind of thinking was Ruth Bader Ginsburg.   

Still, the Democratic Party did hold a primary election, and Joe Biden won it easily. I have no idea what, if anything, might have been happening behind the scenes. But, I'm unaware of any of the "heavy hitters" in the Democratic Party challenging Biden for the candidacy, or even trying to talk him out of it. However, after this debacle, if any of them did, it will eventually be made public.

So, let me ask you this:

What, if anything, would you recommend that the Democratic Party do differently, to avoid being on the wrong end of a landslide election in the 2026 midterms?

There's a lot of small things they need to do, for both the midterms and presidential election:

-Build fuckloads of housing and apartments in cities. California and New York are set to lose even more electoral votes in the next census in 2030 because of population changes elsewhere. Cities need to become affordable, attract people to come live there, and solidify Democrats' presence in cities to make sure blue states don't lose any more EVs.
-Creating and funding alternative media spaces online. You can't prop up the next Joe Rogan overnight, but you can start to cultivate and develop the next Ben Shapiro, Candance Owens, Tim Pool, ect. The problem right now is that the biggest left-of-center voices online are people like Hasan and Vaush who openly trash Democrats and Democratic candidates; Republican online streamers, podcasters, and posters are basically in a cult that bring in followers that will blindly support, vote for, and donate to your candidates. They need this structure of their own to prevent right wingers from completely dominating the medium.
-De-empathize idpol. Don't throw trans people under the bus, but also recognize you need to focus on more issues that affect as many people as possible as opposed to just grandstanding on your values and morals.
-Controversial, but they have to get tougher on crime, especially in cities. People don't like seeing others smoke crack on subways in NYC or Boston, nor do they like seeing videos of gangs of looters breaking into stores to fence products for a quick buck.
-Appeal to men. I hate to say it as a feminist, but they need to stop the bleeding and bring some back from voting red. Run macho man candidates in the midterms like when the DNC specifically recruited veterans for the 2006 midterms when the Iraq War was starting to become toxic politically. It'd also be smart to recruit Latino men to run in states like Florida, Texas, Arizona, ect.
-Let independents run opposition-free in GOP states. Independent Dan Osborn would have won the Nebraska Senate race if the national environment was like 2020. Don't run Dems in GOP states, it's a toxic brand. Let populist independents run against the GOP without a Dem stealing votes.

Yeah yeah I already know, these are all very moderate liberal positions and actions I'm not a fan of it either, but this is the most pragmatic approach to combatting the trend of reactionaryism in America systemically. The overton window needs to shift back into centrism. Obviously I want our politicians to be 10x more left winged than they are right now too, but it's too idealist to think it can happen overnight by whipping out our cocks right from the get-go. We need to push our populace leftwards with genuine propaganda before pushing politicians leftwards can work. At this point, the only thing I'm worried about is codifying abortion into law and securing the rights of other minorities.

[Abbot Mythos]

-Controversial, but they have to get tougher on crime, especially in cities. People don't like seeing others smoke crack on subways in NYC or Boston, nor do they like seeing videos of gangs of looters breaking into stores to fence products for a quick buck.

You've put some thought and effort into your answer. I'm not able to respond to all of your points right now, as Real Life is banging on my door really, really hard. But, I will try to respond, in no particular order, over the next couple of days.

For right now, I thoroughly agree with you about the need for the Democratic Party to get tougher on crime. And, I will emphasize, they also need to strongly "project the image" of them being super tough on crime. Maybe they can talk Arnold Schwarzenegger into helping them out with that "image" part.

I suspect there will be protests from the extreme left wing of the party over this change, but that the potential loss of actual votes will be negligible, especially when compared to the potential gain from all of the right wingers out there.

[Bruno]

I think a big part of the problem is the lack of real progressive messaging in the media, which seem to mostly represent corporate interests and, you know, Putin.

And even then, part of the problem with what little independent progressive media that is out there, is that the progressive message tends to be complex and nuanced, and it turns out we really need the votes of some 15 million or so people who are maybe not so good at processing that kind of information.

[Doktor Howl]

I think a big part of the problem is the lack of real progressive messaging in the media, which seem to mostly represent corporate interests and, you know, Putin.

And even then, part of the problem with what little independent progressive media that is out there, is that the progressive message tends to be complex and nuanced, and it turns out we really need the votes of some 15 million or so people who are maybe not so good at processing that kind of information.

Progressives make up 30% of dems.  Blue dog dems make up another 30%, and 40% are your bedrock liberals that aren't opposed.

So what happens when you take the party too left, you get ~ 70-80% of your voters showing up and then you're fucked because the MAGA assholes run off with everything.

I'm not wild about it, but we just saw it happen.

Well, that and the bullshit economy thing.

[Bruno]

I mean, wherever the sweet spot is where we don't slide into fascism and I get to keep my Social Security is fine... I guess.

[Abbot Mythos]

I think a big part of the problem is the lack of real progressive messaging in the media, which seem to mostly represent corporate interests and, you know, Putin.

And even then, part of the problem with what little independent progressive media that is out there, is that the progressive message tends to be complex and nuanced, and it turns out we really need the votes of some 15 million or so people who are maybe not so good at processing that kind of information.

I agree, messaging is a big part of the problem. I believe it's actually been the biggest part of the problem for somewhere round three decades.

So far, I've been mostly focused on what I believe is the need to tailor "the message" to acceptability by a majority of the actual audience that's out there, not the audience we wish was out there. If we can get a wider audience to, at least, listen to "the message," and not simply reject it out of hand, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to pick up more votes for the Democratic Party's candidates.

And, of course, there's much more than just tailoring "the message" that needs to be done before the next election. So, do you have any ideas, or suggestions?