Democrats, particularly on the far-left, seem to have gone tone deaf in recent years.
There is a lot of talk about race relations in this country - and it is an important talk. But bear in mind that white people still make up over 70% of the country. If you want to win elections, you have to win at least a substantial portion of the white vote. Similarly, despite all the news stories you read about how everyone is poor and out of work and homeless - they get a lot of press - the majority of people in the USA are pretty middle-class, living in the suburbs in a nice house with two or three or even four cars parked out front (one for every member of the family) and everyone having their own phone, computer, and television. They don't consider themselves 1%'ers, even though they are in the top 1% of wealth for the planet.
But again, if you want to win elections (and sorry, Beto, losing is not the new winning) you need to win at least a substantial number of those middle-class people. The Democrats' strategy, as outlined by the Hillary campaign, was to knit together a coalition of diverse interest groups - blacks, hispanics, gays, and liberal whites - which they felt would constitute a majority of opinion to get elected. And ironically, it actually worked - Hillary did win the popular vote. But complaining about the electoral collage doesn't win elections, it just ensures you will lose - again.
The Republican strategy is a little more straightforward - go after what the majority of the middle-of-the-road voters want, as well as pandering to the right. They aren't relying so much on unreliable voter blocs, such as blacks, hispanics, and college students - all of whom have historically low voter turnouts. Rather, they tap into that white, middle-class voter bloc, as well as the elderly, who are guaranteed to vote come November, come hell or high water. And these are not evil people, despite what Democrats tell you (another losing strategy - demonizing the swing voters) but just folks who want lower taxes, better government, and not so much change in the world, which they like just the way it is.
Sadly, to appease the radicals, which the Democrats need to do to get that "faction" to vote at all, they are lurching the party very far to to the left. Issues like "defund the police" and transgender rights just befuddle the mainstream voter. These are the pressing issues of the day? The Democrats are embracing a toxic platform of ideas, that appeals to very narrow interest groups while horrifying the majority.
Two recent articles are a case in point. You've heard the cries to "defund the police" - an idiotic mantra if there ever was one. But there is a move afoot to dismantle our entire criminal justice system, and for the most part, it has been working. I wrote before how television shows are making hay out of convincing everyone that some murderer was, in fact, innocent. That's how OJ got off, basically - the television. Then, it was decided that bail was "unfair" so people should just be let out of jail on their own recognizance. That hasn't worked out well, and the CoVid thing has accelerated the trend to letting criminals go on appearance tickets. Crimes rates have soared.
Now, they are talking about abolishing parole and probation, as being "unfair" to minorities. If you let someone out of jail now, they argue, it should be with no-strings-attached. A better recipe for revolving-door justice I cannot imagine.
And by the way, the fantasy that dismantling the criminal justice system will allow oppressed minorities to suddenly become investment bankers, entrepreneurs, internet geniuses, and dot-com billionaires is just that - a fantasy. Whether you like it or not, there are very evil people in the world who do not value human life and take what they think should be theirs - usually from you. And they come in all colors - black, white, brown, yellow. If someone commits a crime, they should go to jail, period. This idea that we have to let all the black people out of jail because the system is "racist" is nonsense. Poor people tend to commit crimes more, and no, not to "steal a loaf of bread to feed their children" or whatever nonsense the left is pushing these days. Often, the poor gravitate toward crime, drugs, and theft because they are poor. Letting criminals out of jail isn't the answer - lifting people out of poverty is - and this requires the cooperation of the poor.
And by the way, the fantasy that dismantling the criminal justice system will allow oppressed minorities to suddenly become investment bankers, entrepreneurs, internet geniuses, and dot-com billionaires is just that - a fantasy. Whether you like it or not, there are very evil people in the world who do not value human life and take what they think should be theirs - usually from you. And they come in all colors - black, white, brown, yellow. If someone commits a crime, they should go to jail, period. This idea that we have to let all the black people out of jail because the system is "racist" is nonsense. Poor people tend to commit crimes more, and no, not to "steal a loaf of bread to feed their children" or whatever nonsense the left is pushing these days. Often, the poor gravitate toward crime, drugs, and theft because they are poor. Letting criminals out of jail isn't the answer - lifting people out of poverty is - and this requires the cooperation of the poor.
The problem with these ideas about abolishing the police and eliminating parole, is that they fail to take into account the victims of these crimes. There is a lot of talk about how awful the perpetrators had it, but no one talks about the guy who had his head stoved-in with a steel pipe, shot with a gun, tortured, killed, robbed, or burgled. But what about so-called "victimless crimes"? You know, drug charges and whatnot. Well, you'd have to be an ignorant fool not to realize that your average drug user has been involved in a lot of crime, both petty and large, and not just to fund his habit. Drug use leads to criminality, and it isn't simply because drugs are illegal. Even if someone doesn't commit crimes, but chooses instead to get high all day and live in their parents' basement, they are a drag on society, as we all end up paying for their lackadaisical lifestyle.
If someone makes a wreck of their life, they need parole and probation more than ever - they need intervention in their lives. Abolishing this is just being a permissive parent - you will raise a nation of brats.
Another recent article chronicles yet another instance of identity-theft politics as well as the ridiculousness of this transgender nonsense. A Wisconsin grad student as had to step down from teaching after it was revealed he was pretending to be black. I mean, what the ever-loving fuck? But then again, since we have demonized heterosexual white males so much, it only makes sense that people will seek out other, more approved, identities, particularly in academia, where a lot of this nonsense originates.
The weirder thing still is that this fellow (or gal) wants to be called by the pronoun "They" and the press goes along with this. I'm not. "They" is a plural pronoun. Pick a gender - even at random - and live with it. And no. "CV" is not a name, it is an abbreviation for curriculum vitae or a type of universal joint used on cars. And for God's sake, can we put an end to hyphenated last names? That is so 1980's.
And in terms of "identity-theft politics" it seems that "CV" might be stealing a gender as well as a race - but it is hard to tell. What very little women and minorities have gained in the world, white men now want to take away, by pretending to be women and minorities.
People read these articles and scratch their heads. There are people living in this country whose value systems are so skewed from the norm that they would appear to be from an alien planet. This scares people. Change scares people, particularly sudden changes.
All Trump has to do is convince people that he isn't the agent of such change and he will win. Biden, on the other hand, is placed in the delicate position of having to at least acknowledge such fringe views (or embrace them) to get out the leftist vote, while not scaring the crap out of the middle-class.
A friend of mine just moved out of Portland, Oregon. Actually, they lived in a nice, safe, secure suburb of that city. But they were concerned that with all this rioting, that if Biden were to win (as they put it) "the rioters will come after us!" Yes, they watch too much Fox News - a lot of people do, sadly. But the really sad thing is, I'm not sure I can look them in the eye and tell them they are wrong. 100+ days of rioting is inexcusable. The mayor and the governor should have called out the National Guard, instituted a curfew and mass-arrested everyone a long time ago. Whatever valid cause these protesters had was lost to fires and looting a long time ago - and yes, a lot of the fires and looting were instigated by far-right protesters trying to discredit the BLM thing- they should be arrested, too. But letting riots go on only makes things worse - particularly for the left.
Back in the 1960's, we used to say things like "far out, man!" and I am still not sure what that phrase ever meant. But it seems today, we are embracing anything that is far-out of the mainstream, even if it is just nonsense for the sake of nonsense.
Too far-out, man.