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The coming Democratic civil war

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by l_boy, May 26, 2025 at 11:44 PM.

  1. mdgator05

    mdgator05 Premium Member

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    First, obviously, I am so sorry for your loss and wish that she was still here with you.

    I think that goes to my overall point with the notion of "useless degrees." The fact that her degree didn't give her some credentials that immediately boosted her salary doesn't mean that the degree was useless. Setting aside happiness, self-esteem, self-worth, etc. even from a purely financial standpoint, college degrees have a positive ROI almost universally if you look at salary changes in the future. College degrees are an investment in the people of a country.

    That said, not everybody is going to have something that works out as well as hoped or expected. Half the population is going to fall below median. And my argument is that people that need loans shouldn't be treated as less deserving of the investment simply because mom and dad can't pay for it. And their experience shouldn't be viewed as wasteful or useless and they shouldn't be viewed as lazy or morally less than somebody else if their investment doesn't work out and they can't ever fully pay back the loans. We started bankruptcy for just this sort of a.situation because debtors prisons were a ridiculous policy, as is permanent and essentially unforgivable debt.

    Broadly, I'm not sure that the country is really better off like India, where the college population almost all become engineers based on central state planning, compared to the more flexible system that we have, where those suited to engineering go that route and those suited for history or philosophy go that route. Narrowly, I don't like the notion that poorer people should have less opportunity for their kids or that their kids need to be held to some higher standard than those of parents who paid for their kids to finish school and are rightly proud of their accomplishments.
     
  2. vaxcardinal

    vaxcardinal GC Hall of Fame

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    If I had a zero interest loan I would drag the payments out as long as I can since I can invest and get a higher rate of return. That’s what I did when I got a car loan.
     
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  3. g8orbill

    g8orbill Old Gator Moderator VIP Member

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    Trump has been in office 4 months and all we hear from the left is negative, negative, negative. The hole Biden dug will take a while to dig out of, but Trump has a plan and he is working his plan, which is what good business people do. If 2 years down the road his plan has failed then I would say you were correct but I do not think that will happen. The left and even some on the right hate Trump - the media amd the dems are going to try and do what they did under Trump45 - lie and distort hoping he will have to spend too much time trying to snuff out the BS. He trusted people in Trump 45 he should have not- this time around he has brought in people he knows and trusts- he is full steam ahead and it is driving the left and the left stream media and the Rino’s crazy- they will still try but I do not think the left will be successful
     
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  4. g8orbill

    g8orbill Old Gator Moderator VIP Member

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    my only debt is on my 2019 F150 and only because they gave me 0% interest - so I am playing with Ford’s money
     
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  5. WC53

    WC53 GC Hall of Fame

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    It is a math, math, world. We have to do better for everyone.
     
  6. citygator

    citygator GC Hall of Fame

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    Biden inherited a toilet bowl full of crap from Trump. Biden turned it into the world’s best economy. 4 months into Trump he broke it so badly magas have to act like Trump had to break it to save it. You aren’t American anymore. You’re Trumpican. Trump first.
     
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  7. reboundgtr

    reboundgtr VIP Member

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    Jawja
    Cool stories…
     
  8. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

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    I still think left wing vs moderate is relevant. Left wing tends to be somewhere between skeptical and hostile to capitalism and still at least somewhat invested in identity politics and social justice, equality and equity. Moderates still believe in capitalism, the ability to be rich and successful, and serving for equality of opportunity. As a former 1990’s republican I’m definitely in the latter camp

    Of course warfare is not a precursor to success, but the party has to put some sort of markers that it does not believe in the ridiculous irrelevant issues like trans in sports and socialistic notions if it wants to capture the middle again.


    While there may be some issues perhaps I lean libertarian it isn’t how I’ve ever described myself. I’ve always viewed most libertarian positions as impractical and unworkable.

    this and number 3 below sound like abundance agenda and really the only way you make progress on this is to scale back traditional democratic notions - NIMBY, DEI in hiring, made in America, union labor, environmental regulation etc. otherwise you can be like Biden and run on the concepts but ultimately accomplish little because of these conflicting priorities.

    I think forgiveness is a political noose. Absolutely avoid it. Having non college educated working class people bail out college educated middle and upper middle class people is terrible policy and bad politics.

    Student loan reform may be palatable - the ability to refinance, convert to income based repayment options ,maybe some sort of bankruptcy like process etc.

    Look at how the I95 bridge rebuild in PA worked and model after that. The creation of jobs and infrastructure is more important than all of these other special interest policies that ultimately kill the implantation of the projects.

    I think some subsidies for green energy is appropriate but I’m not sure we need to do massive credits for EVs etc. ultimately let the market decide.

    If we are really serious about climate and going electric, let some Chinese EVs in.

    I’d like the idea of something a Medicaid public option, or maybe something like that, and or maybe something like what you are talking about that anybody would automatically qualify for. Maybe there would be premiums maybe not. At a minimum I think people should be able to at least get similar out of pocket rates as those negotiated by private insurance or maybe even Medicare.

    Immigration is probably one to tread lightly on. You have to support a “secure border”. Instead support a process where we pick who we want to come in, and then perhaps assess an employee and employer non citizen immigrant tax. This way you allow labor to come in, but existing citizens can feel they aren’t being disadvantaged.

    Something has to be done about the asylum process.


    I think abortion is a good issue for them but at the same time you have to acknowledge the complexity of the issue and be open to some sort of compromise - be willing to say you don’t support abortion on demand in all cases (which in reality mostly doesn’t exist )

    Europe generally has earlier restrictions than Roe v wade, but has pretty liberal exceptions.

    I’m not sure what getting rid of war on drugs means. Experiments and legalization and decriminalization have generally failed. I’d prefer to see a sort of carrot and stick approach - offenders be given ample opportunity to recover via rehab or other medical interventions, and preventing a criminal record if one is successful. However having homeless meth and fentanyl addicts on the streets is unacceptable and if they are unwilling to give recovery a try then I don’t think prison should be off the table. I’ve known and talked to several recovered addicts / alcoholics that going to jail was what it took to motivate them to change.

    As to fighting distribution from other countries, I’m almost sympathetic to Trumps POV - playing hardball. If terrorists were coming across the border and killing 100,000 a year we would bomb the offending country off the map.
     
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  9. G8tas

    G8tas GC Hall of Fame

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    No you wouldn't
     
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  10. 92gator

    92gator GC Hall of Fame

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    I'll be damned....

    Dems actually looking introspectively at what's wrong with their own bucket of shit party, rather than what's wrong with the party that cleaned their clocks and stole their mojo...

    A good start, gentlemen.

    Props.
     
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  11. reboundgtr

    reboundgtr VIP Member

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    Twice in one decade....
     
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  12. mdgator05

    mdgator05 Premium Member

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    Okay, I am going to try to be measured here, but this is the problem with "the moderates" just as much as with "the groups:" literally no give. You mention being a 90s Republican. Yep, you just outlined basically every 90s Republican position with a bit more give (but not too much) on abortion.

    Frankly, that isn't a winning coalition. Heck, it wasn't a winning coalition in the 90s (as you would lose the religious right).

    The notion of a "middle" is outdated because it presupposes a right and a left on every issue. You don't have to look around too much to see that isn't really the case. The right-wing is backing tariffs and an overall control economy (e.g., we literally are going to have state-owned steel apparently). And, I would argue, the 90s Republican position is hardly pure on capitalism either (e.g., drug and immigration policy being heavily based on regulations and central planning). In the end, politics isn't a one dimensional Hotelling Line, with a left and a right. It has a lot of dimensions, functional forms, and shapes.

    So if you are unable to work with either the left (because you seem to have a visceral dislike of them) or the libertarians (because you think their ideas are stupid or unworkable), then how useful would you say your position is in developing a coalition of ideologies/positions that are left out by Trumpism?

    So the question becomes, what is more important: a 90s Republican Party with slightly more (but not too much) abortion and gay rights flexibility (but none for Trans people) that loses or a coalition that might not match "the middle" of the 90s understanding of politics but which might win by attracting multiple ideologies left out of Trumpism?

    In other words, what are you trying to win in this war? If it is a world in which the 90s sensibility of "the middle" is going to be a winning coalition, I am sorry, but it isn't going to happen.

    How about, rather than a war against the people harmed by Trumpism, you instead try to reach out and find common grounds where you can and swallow a couple of issues of great importance to others in order to actually protect and save the country from authoritarianism? That sounds like a lot less than you are asking for them to do.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2025 at 5:20 PM
  13. VAg8r1

    VAg8r1 GC Hall of Fame

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    Before anyone writes the obituary of the Democratic Party, remember this article from 2009 regarding the Republican Party.
    Just Five Red States Left?
     
  14. vegasfox

    vegasfox GC Hall of Fame

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    Democrats have a plan to win back young male voters
     
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  15. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

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    I think you’ve kind of exaggerated and contorted my positions, but I’m not going to spend a lot of time rebutting them.

    Of course you need a coalition to win. But if the Democratic Party must continue to surrender to those who stand in the way of tangible progress, it will have a hard time replicating those wins because it won’t accomplish anything.

    You have people like Ezra Klein staking out similar positions.
     
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  16. mdgator05

    mdgator05 Premium Member

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    The problem is: the "moderates" are just as guilty of standing in the way of progress. Talk to young voters about what they need/want in regards to the economy. They will almost inevitably say "Housing is too expensive" or "Student loans are killing us" or both. Harris (housing) and Biden (student loans) tried to deal with each issue. The knives sticking out of their back the second they tried to do so didn't belong to some environmental justice organization. They belonged to the moderates who were outraged that Democrats were trying to meet the needs of younger voters. And, in turn, when Gaza happens, they have no goodwill built up among younger voters to prevent them from turning their back on the party. Which they did. In mass. And not because of trans sports. Because the party's "moderates" wouldn't hear of the party trying to help them.
     
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