So, I was talking to some trumpers on some non partisan subreddits with more diversity of thought (rare to see on reddit these days, but they exist), and something that one of them said to me stuck out to me. They said Harris is losing in part because she doesn't know how to cater to white males.
Now, this baffled me a little bit. I mean, I've not been shy about my criticism of how the dems suck at appealing to white males and how they end up just going all in with the privilege nonsense that doesn't work in our favor, but at the same time, idk, a lot of the types who want politicians to cater to them specifically based on their identity are often extremely toxic people. Like I tried hanging around relatively left wing male spaces geared toward that, and most of them STILL ended up devolving into the same woman hating nonsense you get from mainstream "men's rights" spaces. I really do think identity politics is toxic and creates a lot of division and hatred. I think feminists and MRAs have the exact same problem, they end up defining their entire worldview by their gender and going on about how much they hate the other one. I actually unsubbed from a pro choice sub recently because it literally did seem like a bunch of miserable cat ladies claiming men are responsible for all of the world's problems. And I don't really sub to mens rights spaces either because they tend to blame and attack women for everything. Like...one comment I've seen recently sums it up best. The republican party is like some middle aged divorced guy who drinks all the time and blames women for all the world's problems, and the democratic party is like some 20 year old pink haired feminist who blames men for everything. And this dynamic is just...toxic both ways. So...yeah make no mistake, if I felt the democrats were doing a bad job this time, I would be saying it.
But they dont seem to be, at least in my initial opinion. Back in 2016, as a white male progressive, I was ACTIVELY alienated from the clinton coalition. She was so toxic and so offputting with the omg first woman president circlejerk and youre sexist if you hated her, and let's face it, I literally am/was a "bernie bro." And I do put issues like UBI and universal healthcare above that feminism nonsense anyday. Sorry, not sorry. Appeal to me or else.
But...harris, despite whatever shortcomings she has, hasnt been that alienating me. If anything for once I found the democratic campaign refreshing. I still think it leans way too hard into economic centrism and trying to appeal to former republicans who still have conservative ideology but hate trump and think fascism is a bridge too far, but on the identity thing, for once, if anything, I felt like the democrats did a pretty decent job. I mean, they even had that white dudes for harris thing, which was...okay at least. Never was into it myself, but it seems like they've been trying to actively cater to white males and toned down the toxic identity stuff to a minimum.
So...what's the problem? Well, they (the trumpers) still think that the harris campaign cant talk to white men. Okay, I asked, so prove it. So they linked me this ad. And um...I'm not gonna lie, it's kind of cringe. The poster in question then discussed how they don't think that the democrats know how to talk to men and don't support solutions that help them economically.
And I'm going to be honest. We've gotten out of "actively alienating white men for existing" with the democrats but yeah...I can still feel that SOMEWHAT. I mean, as a white male progressive, I really liked campaigns like Bernie 2016, who left identity off the table and focused purely on economic issues. And I really liked Yang in 2020. He really did the best job IMO at appealing to white men in particular. Because let's face it, we are being left behind in the modern economy, and yang actively would talk about this. He is the one who will actually talk about men like me who dropped out of the economy and play video games all day and lack purpose. I don't FULLY agree with him still since he still seems to be more of a "jobist" than I am, but I at least like that he admits we exist. Democrats seem to just leave my demographic on the table and let the trumpers have us, where many of us become incels or end up screaming about jobs or whatever.
Now, to be fair, let's be real here. As a policy oriented guy. What POLICIES does TRUMP offer here? Nothing. It's all vibes. His MAGA approach just appeals to a mythical past that was never great in the first place. And heck, given recent analyses of why america is so pro work, i think toxic masculinity is part of that, and I never really bought into the whole "BE A MAN" crap. It's just so obnoxious and manipulative and appeals to this weird cave man instinct like OG MAN, OG HUNT WOOLY MAMMOTH, OG VIRILE, HAS LOTS OF CHILDREN, *BEATS CHEST*. And how we think going out and "slaying the dragon" (working a crappy 40 hour job) is like the modern equivalent of being this amazing provider, and yeah, it doesn't do anything for me. I'm too intellectual for that crap, sorry. I'd rather go for the guy giving me $1k a month (Yang). Or advocating for more labor rights (Bernie). And tbqh, by trumpian standards, Biden didn't do bad. He DID bring back millions of factory jobs with the chips act and crap. We have "full employment". Why am I still angry? because I know jobs never were, arent, and never will be the answer to what ails america. We think that "creating jobs" is like just slapping on a big layer of flex seal on that leaking tank. And it's not a solution, it's never BEEN the solution, yet we keep somehow thinking it will make us happy.
At some point, we gotta realize that neither donald trump and his MAGA crap, nor the democrats and their hodge podge of flawed policies solve the actual problems with america's economy. Because we gotta realize that jobs aren't and never were the answer to our problems. They're a band aid, and a band aid that will quickly fall off the second anything bad happens to the economy ever. We're just on this cycle of expecting things to get better when we're looking at the problems wrong.
So...idk. I look at it like this. Yes, harris kinda sucks on the economy, but what does trump offer? You need to move left into what people call "socialism" (but isnt literally socialism, just government doing things) to actually fix the problem. Im not saying harris has the answers, she doesn't, and she's a pretty mid candidate herself. But if you think trump is gonna solve the problems, MAN do I have a bridge to sell you.
Americans, stop bouncing between these two sides thinking one of them is gonna fix anything, they're not. Neither of them are. If anything, focus on pressuring the democratic party, ie, the more left of the two parties, to focus on solutions that actually DO fix things. We need a UBI, we need universal healthcare, and a host of other progressive measures. That's, IMO, the best we can hope for. What we're doing isn't working. Dont vote for a fascist just because democrats suck. it aint worth it. You're just repeating the mistakes that the germans made in the early 30s. You know?
Now, back to the male thing....does the above poster still have a point?
Well, shortly after, I had a comment from a socialist about ermahgerd project 2025 and the women and the minorities and the LGBTQ+ and how we need to name each group specifically to really hammer home the empathy point. And people pointed to tim walz talking to men and how they need to think about the women in their lives. And how just watching michelle obama in kalamazoo michigan a few minutes ago she was going on laying on the guilt tripping and shaming super thick. Really, idk why people like michelle obama, or the obamas in general these days. Any time they open their mouths to push people to vote democrat, they do it in alienating and offputting ways that make me cringe.
And yeah. I have to say it, maybe that trumper was right. Maybe we STILL do have white male problems. Maybe we dont have a strong enough vision that resonates with white males to convince them to vote based on issues themselves. Even working with what we have, we could still be like PROJECT 2025 WANTS TO TAKE AWAY YOUR PORN AND CONDOMS AND THEN WHEN YOU GET YOUR GIRLFRIEND PREGNANT SHE CANT GET AN ABORTION AND NOW YOU GOTTA RAISE A KID YOU DONT WANT FOR 18 YEARS! I mean, is that not good enough? because let's be honest, that project 2025 crap affects us white males too. Religious authoritarianism should be opposed by a coalition of all identity groups. The "underprivileged" might be worse off, but why arent the dems leaning more into like THAT narrative?
And of course, she has to be for actually fixing problems in a real manner. Her policies are still the same old liberal band aids that kinda sorta solve the problem but dont for everyone. Like my parents have medical bills right now they're not happy with. Why dont we expand healthcare coverage to make stuff more covered? Get rid of deductibles and crap? Offer dental coverages with medicare?
And heck going for young white males, let's talk about how crappy obamacare is. So....if we work, we basically make say, a little above minimum wage, but still not living well. Say we make just above the medicaid cutoff. Then we dont get medicaid. So we gotta buy insurance from the exchanges, which costs like $400 a month, and then we have like a $5000 deductible. And if we don't buy that, we basically had to pay a fine until scotus shot that down. We dont pay it if we don't make money as its a tax functionally, but still. So say we dont work, ok, well if youre in a state with a medicaid expansion you might apply, if not you dont. And if youre in a state where you are, the sign up process is a total mess. So people still go without healthcare. And it's like, wtf are we doing here?
But this is the issue younger white males face. Often times many of us make too much to get medicaid, we also cant afford the exchanges. So basically, we get sandwiched into this demographic which isnt helped by it, and we kinda hate the program even if it does help many other people in some ways. And then it creates division between the haves who do benefit, and the have nots who don't. And then the dems guilt trip about how all these other people benefit, and you need to stfu and check your privilege if you dont. But you dont feel privileged, you just want fricking healthcare and cant afford it. So....shaming us convinces us to vote democrat how exactly?
See the problem? Again, this is why im for medicare for all. I quickly realized after becoming left leaning that government isnt really the problem, this weird hodge podge of half ###ed government solutions centrist dems do to try to make people happy is the problem. if we just WENT FOR IT and had universal healthcare, we wouldnt have problems. But with this broken system we got people who arent helped in the existing system but are shamed into supporting ideas that help others but not them. ANd it creates this resentment between those who benefit and those who dont. And this ends up reflecting our divisions in politics. Republicans are often republican because they seem government helping everyone else...while they pay taxes. And they feel resentment like "hey why are you taxing me to pay for them? i don't get help!" And they end up just developing a free market idea that well no one should get help and everyone should sink or swim...since they are already expected to. And then the left ends up being like "but im in super duper vulnerable group and i benefit, please dont vote away my healthcare" but then people do, because the dems dont appeal to them. See the problem? That's the division of our system. It's a problem that stems from the dems' half ###ed way of doing things. I call the democrats as being in the "uncanny valley of suck" for a reason, because it is. We could either shift toward a free market system where everyone has to sink or swim, which some deem as more fair, but would also suck, so it isnt really an option for me...or we can shift toward more comprehensive government solutions that help EVERYONE. Like even my mom listening to harris was yelling at the TV like what about our medical bills? If we had medicare for all, it wouldnt be a problem. or even a public option that scales with income, it wouldnt be as much of a problem. What about student loans? Well again, instead of just cancelling 20k, cancel ALL of it. Oh, you didnt go to college? Well, its paid for by the ultra wealthy, why do you care? And oh, you want help too? Child tax credit doesnt help you as you dont have kids? Well that's why we should have a UBI. You see what I'm saying?
So I guess the dems still have a lot to learn. Like...crap or get off the pot. Solve problems, or regress to a free market like state, but as long as their solutions involve tons of band aids and duct tape on a broken system rather than reforming and FIXING said broken system, people are gonna be unhappy.
Some may even be unhappy with my ideas. But let's face it, by then you're in the top 20% of income earners and im not really sympathetic to the concerns of the "upper middle class" (which is really just upper class...im sorry but if youre making 6 figures plus, you're NOT in the middle, you're at the top relatively speaking). But hey, at least I'd have a coalition of 70-80% of people who benefit from my policies. Dems end up getting like 20%? 30%? And then much of the nation is against them. It comes down to their contradictory ideals. on the one hand, they're functionally conservatives on work and the economy. On the other hand, they got this "empathy" thing going where they care about certain groups, but not others. So they support some weird divisions in their policies separating the "needy" from "not needy" and it ends up just flopping. They come off as an insufferable circlejerk when campaigning since their pitch to people becomes basically moral shaming, and the GOP has an advantage because resentment politics trumps empathy at the end of the day.
And yeah, that's how I see it. And that goes back to the white male thing because as the "privileged" demographics, we're often the least likely to get help and most likely to pay taxes for the help everyone else gets. And it's alienating. Democrats should work on fixing this.
Anyway, that's my analysis of the issue in depth.
No comments:
Post a Comment