So a common narrative I keep hearing these days among the social justice left is that they fear that the economic left doesn't care about them enough and that we'll throw them under the bus and blah blah blah.
And I'm just gonna say, STFU. As a 2016 Bernie Bro, a "class reductionist" if you will, someone who does care about economics first, and social issues second, not everything is about you. The moral lesson of 2024, and 2016 while we're at it, is that your toxic brand of politics isn't welcome any more. And what was it that you self righteously lectured to us all the time? "When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."
That's what this is about. For almost a decade now, identity politics has had a "privileged" position in the democratic electorate. It has been the center of conversation, the ethos that holds the left together. But not all of us have been happy about that. This kind of politics is great if you're one of those groups and you get off on the oppression olympics, the same way the right screams persecution any time you tell them Christianity shouldnt literally dominate society. But it's quite clear that you're losing the country. Why? Because our needs are not met. Not everything revolves around you. Not everything revolves around social justice. Not everything revolves around the wants and needs of 0.6% of the population. You know what I'm saying?
The fact is, you've scolded us for a decade now. You threw US under the bus for three elections in a row, telling us to STFU and to sacrifice our concerns on the altar of white male liberal guilt, and that we're bad people if we vote against our economic interests in order to support YOU, and people are tired of it. They're not gonna do it. If anything, a lot of people are like "screw you, IM gonna vote for Donald Trump, F your feelings", because you really do leave people with that kind of bad taste in their mouth.
I wanna remind you, I dont support Trump. I spent 2024 OPPOSING Trump. But...the democratic brand....sucks. It's sucked for a while. And a lot of us have known it for a while. And a lot of us have been kind of keeping our feelings to ourselves, and even if Ive been vocally "anti woke" from the get go, even I voted for harris this time, believing trump was dangerous enough to oppose outright, even if it did empower the lesser evil party.
But that party is still the lesser evil. The dynamics havent changed since 2016, and that's the problem. And you know what? Social justice obsessed liberals, you ARE the problem. You ARE half of the problem holding us back. Obviously the other half is the democratic establishment, the donor class, what have you, but THEY have been using your politics as a cudgel to bully the rest of us into supporting them, by arguing that WE are throwing YOU under the bus if we dont give your politics our complete undivided attention.
The fact is, you tried to bully us into supporting you even if it's against our interests, and it's failing. And now democrats wanna drop the "wokeness" crap and shift toward being a little more moderate. Maybe making some minor compromises here and there. And you're screaming about it.
Again, what have you been self righteously quoting at us for years? That when youre accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression? How does it feel to be just another person in the democratic party? Oh wait, you dont like that? THIS IS WHAT THE REST OF US HAVE BEEN FEELING FOR A DECADE NOW!
Look, I'm pro LGBT+ rights. And honestly? I have no intention of backing down from it. Reframing the issue away from YOUR toxic brand of politics, sure. But all I really advocate for is a little reframing. I'm not actually interested in "throwing anyone under the bus." i'm just tired of people screaming about this and making constant topics about this because people are finally pushing back against their nonsense. Again, you guys have been asking us to sacrifice OUR concerns for a decade now. Telling us that we cant have nice things and blah blah blah privilege. Doesnt feel good now that the shoe is on the other foot, does it?
I've said it from the get go, but politics is coalitional. It is up to the politicians to make a coalition that wins elections. The social justice left has been cynically dividing americans by race, gender, and sexual identity for a while, and allying with the economically conservative upper class in doing so. And selling US out. ANd it's quite clear that the democats are suffering at the ballot box for it. The autopsy is clear, as it turns out, my own brand of politics isn't that unpopular after all, so now we have to decide what comes next.
I dont think it makes sense to "throw anyone under the bus". What makes sense is we gotta stop mindlessly pandering to people on social issues and have an economic platform. That doesnt mean we'll be selling out social issues. We need you guys to win too, and we need to actually appeal to your interests. But, we gotta do it in a way that makes more sense. Again, more pro liberty framing, less obnoxious in your face social justice nonsense.
The democrats gotta actually be progressive. Be the party of FDR. But with social progressivism this time. It just depends what it looks like. I just encourage a less obnoxious in your face version that outright alienates people, and one that focuses on defense, and on preserving rights and liberties.
Almost no one actually wants to go full right on like LGBT rights or something. ANd those who do generally arent very welcome on this side of the aisle either now. We just gonna drop the obnoxious over the top pandering on this crap. That's all.
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