User Tag List

+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Why liberals are bad at politics

  1. #1
    Points: 665,213, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 90.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialRecommendation Second ClassYour first GroupOverdrive50000 Experience PointsTagger First ClassVeteran
    Awards:
    Discussion Ender
    Chris's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    433304
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    197,542
    Points
    665,213
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    31,981
    Thanked 80,893x in 54,711 Posts
    Mentioned
    2011 Post(s)
    Tagged
    2 Thread(s)

    Why liberals are bad at politics

    Why liberals are bad at politics is proposed by a liberal, so pay heed, liberals.

    ...His book [Politics Is for Power by Eitan Hersh] is half lament, half rallying cry. A self-identified liberal, Hersh tries to understand why the left stopped pursuing power and instead started treating politics more and more like a spectator sport.

    He coins the term “political hobbyism” to capture the problem. “We participate in politics by obsessive news-following and online slacktivism, by feeling the need to offer a hot take for each daily political flare-up, by emoting and arguing and debating, almost all of this from behind screens,” Hersh says. Many of us think we’re politically active — but in fact, we’re doing little more than signaling who we are to other people. We may be emotionally invested in politics, but we’re not actually committed to solving problems.


    [Interviewed, he says]The reality is that the people who spend the most time consuming news and arguing online are disproportionately college-educated white people, and right now that demographic is predominantly Democratic. This isn’t to say that this sort of behavior doesn’t happen on both sides, but it’s mostly on the left.

    In a lot of ways I’m liberal, but the message of the book is conservative in the sense that it’s prioritizing local engagement over national engagement. I think we need more institutional engagement with religious organizations, for example. Some people see that as a conservative message, whereas I just think that’s what building power requires.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to Chris For This Useful Post:

    Trump Gurl (03-01-2020)

  3. #2
    Original Ranter
    Points: 297,679, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 42.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialRecommendation Second ClassOverdrive50000 Experience PointsVeteran
    Mister D's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    416524
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    117,861
    Points
    297,679
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    25,296
    Thanked 53,469x in 36,444 Posts
    Mentioned
    1102 Post(s)
    Tagged
    1 Thread(s)
    Conservatives, or at least those classical liberals we call conservatives, are bad at politics too. Depoliticization is characteristic of liberal democracy and liberalism generally. The noted emphasis on (relatively remote) national politics is part of it but I think many liberals had an animus toward political power as traditionally understood.
    Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.


    ~Alain de Benoist


  4. #3
    Points: 665,213, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 90.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialRecommendation Second ClassYour first GroupOverdrive50000 Experience PointsTagger First ClassVeteran
    Awards:
    Discussion Ender
    Chris's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    433304
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    197,542
    Points
    665,213
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    31,981
    Thanked 80,893x in 54,711 Posts
    Mentioned
    2011 Post(s)
    Tagged
    2 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Mister D View Post
    Conservatives, or at least those classical liberals we call conservatives, are bad at politics too. Depoliticization is characteristic of liberal democracy and liberalism generally. The noted emphasis on (relatively remote) national politics is part of it but I think many liberals had an animus toward political power as traditionally understood.
    He says as much.

    I like what he says about "prioritizing local engagement over national engagement."
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

  5. #4
    Points: 56,719, Level: 58
    Level completed: 19%, Points required for next Level: 1,631
    Overall activity: 0.0%
    Achievements:
    Veteran50000 Experience PointsTagger Second Class
    patrickt's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    17597
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Living in Oaxaca, Mexico, born in Memphis and worked in Colorado
    Posts
    11,977
    Points
    56,719
    Level
    58
    Thanks Given
    916
    Thanked 5,009x in 3,481 Posts
    Mentioned
    54 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    Why liberals are bad at politics is proposed by a liberal, so pay heed, liberals.
    What's a good way to sell cow patty burgers? That's the task facing leftists.

  6. #5
    Points: 665,213, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 90.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialRecommendation Second ClassYour first GroupOverdrive50000 Experience PointsTagger First ClassVeteran
    Awards:
    Discussion Ender
    Chris's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    433304
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    197,542
    Points
    665,213
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    31,981
    Thanked 80,893x in 54,711 Posts
    Mentioned
    2011 Post(s)
    Tagged
    2 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by patrickt View Post
    What's a good way to sell cow patty burgers? That's the task facing leftists.
    To cows.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

  7. #6
    Points: 143,721, Level: 91
    Level completed: 19%, Points required for next Level: 2,929
    Overall activity: 74.0%
    Achievements:
    Social50000 Experience PointsOverdriveVeteran
    carolina73's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    43636
    Join Date
    Sep 2019
    Posts
    57,470
    Points
    143,721
    Level
    91
    Thanks Given
    56,047
    Thanked 43,641x in 28,237 Posts
    Mentioned
    154 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    No doubt. You see both sides taking a party line.
    Democrats repeating the MSM remind me of Monday morning at the water fountain listening to a guy repeating the same things you heard on ESPN the night before as if it was his opinion. I always wanted to ask how they watched 12 baseball games, 10 basketball games, 4 hockey games and March Madness all in one weekend.

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to carolina73 For This Useful Post:

    stjames1_53 (02-23-2020)

  9. #7
    Points: 4,866, Level: 16
    Level completed: 53%, Points required for next Level: 284
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    Tagger Second ClassSocial1000 Experience PointsVeteran
    Trump Gurl's Avatar Banned
    Karma
    244
    Join Date
    Feb 2020
    Location
    Redding, CA
    Posts
    452
    Points
    4,866
    Level
    16
    Thanks Given
    193
    Thanked 234x in 164 Posts
    Mentioned
    6 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    Why liberals are bad at politics is proposed by a liberal, so pay heed, liberals.
    Simple: They have to lie to win. When they tell their true intentions they are rejected.

+ Reply to Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts