I will keep repeating this until I die: the Democrats had the opportunity to put their entire agenda into a legislative proposal & the result was the original Build Back Better act. If you want to know what the real Democratic agenda is, no need to speculate -- it's on paper.

Nothing "woke," nothing about CRT in schools or drag shows, just a long series of proposals to improve child & elder care, improve wages & working conditions, improve health care, & accelerate the growth of domestic clean-energy industries. Meat & potatoes.

Follow

@drvolts I think that's kind of beside the point. The reality is the culture is changing rapidly, and the right wingers see the Dems as complicit. The right wing wants to use state power to fight the change, even though the change is not happening due to any sort of government action. In the places where the Dems oppose action to restrict the rights of marginalized people, they can be painted as extremists.

This works so well because things *are* changing quickly, and a lot of folks feel unmoored.

So it doesn't matter how much you tout the policy victories. They seem small compared to people feeling kind their social reality is being upended. I think we have to understand what we're up against in order to create effective strategies.

@truthsandwich @drvolts There are certainly some real fascists in the bunch, but to a large extent, I think right wing elite are mostly opportunists. They grift on the social conservatism that is inherent to a fast-changing culture.

@acjay @drvolts

The typical Republican voter is motivated primarily by white supremacy.

Policy isn't really a thing for them. They just want to hurt "those people"; everything else is secondary.

@truthsandwich @drvolts It's a bit more generic than that. It's a desire to preserve and restore historic power structures. So, yes, white supremacy, but also patriarchy, Christian supremacy, heteronormativity, etc.

It's sometimes driven by conscious bigotry, but it's also the sense that replacing those power structures is threatening to peoples' sense of "normalcy".

@acjay @drvolts Despite the name, white supremacy isn't limited to, well, the supremacy of whites.

That's the specific type of bigotry that it's named for, but white supremacy always includes misogyny, Christian supremacy, heteronormativity, and so on.

If you prefer, you can refer to it as bigotry (the most generic term) or fascism (its political manifestation). I have some reasons not to, though.

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Qoto Mastodon

QOTO: Question Others to Teach Ourselves
An inclusive, Academic Freedom, instance
All cultures welcome.
Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.