[alsetmusic]

I couldn't agree more. What voters want is progressive policies (healthcare, housing, childcare, taxing mega-corps, etc). Dems are absolutely allergic to anything of the sort. The funny thing is that a lot of people voting on the other side want these things too. It's just that in a vacuum, they also want revenge for society changing without them enough to vote for that when it's dangled in front of them.

I was listening to a podcast recently talking about how if Dems ran on a platform of, "we're going to abolish all the BS from this admin and do the trials correctly and put these crooks in jail," they'd have tons of support (and I agree). But tepid positions and weak statements with no real plan to do anything (other than preserve the status quo) has become the party's playbook. No wonder it's failing.

[malshe]

I recently read “What’s the matter with Kansas” by Thomas Frank. It was eye-opening. One things he mentioned is that as both Democratic and Republican parties aligned on economic issues (I.e., Democrats started working for rich), social issues became distinguishing factors and gained prominence.