uspol adjacent
I realized uncomfortably that Maya Angelou quote (I thought for the longest time it was Toni Morrison) about how people will forget what you said and what you did, but will remember how they made you feel?
Is LITERALLY how Republicans work.
Common cognitive distorts include; things used to be great and now it's nearly impossible to do anything, and there's no money for it; some outsiders with money run everything, other outsiders you're supposed to be tolerant of when you'd rather not be; researchers and academics of any sort are off spending money on unimportant bullshit; something you can't understand or accept is by its definition actually something incomprehensible and unacceptable.
You're about to notice *I* fall for similar...
Tell someone they're right to feel that way and you're doing big important sweeping shit to combat it, and they feel powerful, justified, and good about themselves.
They won't remember YOU caused the financial inequities, YOU are the outsiders with money running everything, YOU are the people spending money on unimportant bullshit, YOU are the people pushing an agenda which isn't rational, acceptable or sustainable -- and you're doing so in violation of checks, balances and laws put there to try and protect the populace from whatever whims their government chooses. Those are facts, and not feelings of being powerful, justified, and good about themselves.
uspol adjacent
@Leucrotta I think this is very on point, and the Dems kind of work the same way
they won't fix anything, but they'll try to give it a patina of progress and resistance
they make liberals feel better, and that's why liberals can't accept the harm the Dems do and facilitate
re: uspol adjacent
@chimerror I figure Dems work the same way because the party's trying to sell something and everyone's relatively similar when it comes to selling/being sold to, BUT
the whole problem really compounds because at this point Dems CAN'T have as strong and unified a message as the enemy. We were always obliged to suck up to the rich, it's gotten so much worse thanks to Citizens United in particular, and how we're now the party of everyone NOT actively Christian nationalist/white supremacist means there are now right wing voters for right wing politicians to woo.
We always had the marketing problem of being basically Pepsi or Denny's, and now it's far worse. "We Republicans will bring America back to the prosperity and moral strength we enjoyed in [fictional therefore unquestionable] version of the 1950s" is a strong message by comparison to "We Democrats don't actively hate the environment, minorities, public education and poor people."
re: uspol adjacent
@Leucrotta completely agree
I also think it's that while both parties can't do everything their bases want, the Republicans _can_ do far more and not piss off the rich donors because their stuff doesn't really hit the bottom line
but what Democratic voters want, even when watered down would give regular too much new solid ground to stand on and that's terrifying