Democrats are losing the culture wars by blindly pushing progressive ideals
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 2 years ago • 52 commentsBy: Matt Lewis (The Daily Beast)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
PUMP THE BRAKES
The Democrats' dogged focus on progress may actually end up sending the party backwards.
Matt Lewis
Senior Columnist
Updated Feb. 20, 2022 9:20AM ET / Published Feb. 20, 2022 5:18AM ET opinion
Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast
Joe Biden isn't floundering alone in the current culture war. The Democratic Party's brand has chosen the wrong side of some hot-button issues, ranging from "soft on crime" policies to COVID-19 shutdowns to critical race theory. It has gotten so bad that, according to Politico, the Democratic Party's congressional campaign arm is warning their candidates that "they risk losing significant ground to Republicans in the midterms." If Dems don't adequately respond to Republican attacks on these culture-war issues, party operatives say "the GOP's lead on the generic ballot balloons to 14 points from 4 points..." This could be the difference between a wave and a tsunami.
It's tempting to dismiss the culture war as ginned-up or phony. But the problem with brushing off the culture war writ large is that culture is everything. Democrats should not dismiss people's concerns about their culture being threatened as beneath them because it encompasses a person's way of life—including their institutions, worldview, and sacred values.
Native Americans struggled against colonists and settlers to preserve not just their lives but their way of life. Today, conservationists fight against overdevelopment to conserve not just their environment but their culture. There is nothing inherently ignoble about this, except to those who view these fights as hindering progress. When it comes to "social progress," we call these folks progressives.
Now, because some forms of change, like most technological advancements, are both salutary and inexorable, progress has a positive connotation. But when change is either perceived as harmful to a person's way of life and/or is radically thrust upon people, you can expect a visceral backlash. Such is the case in American politics today.
You might wonder how the Democratic Party preemptively and prematurely picked a culture war fight they couldn't win. I believe it's because a) ideology is blinding, and b) they assumed a "coalition of the ascendant" would counter any attrition that might come from working-class voters defecting. (This is not an endorsement of "replacement theory.")
The latter obviously hasn't panned out for them. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm more interested in the former.
The loudest voices on the left today are very online-young, educated "woke" white progressives. As Democratic data guru David Shor noted last year, "as Democrats have traded non-college-educated voters for college-educated ones, white liberals' share of voice and clout in the Democratic Party has gone up."
"And since white voters are sorting [based] on ideology more than nonwhite voters," Shor continues, "we've ended up in a situation where white liberals are more left wing than Black and Hispanic Democrats on pretty much every issue…"
In their minds, they are on the right side of history; and that history must be constantly progressing. And because progressives are always pushing for progress, they are the aggressors in the culture war. Or, as Kevin Drum, the liberal journalist formerly with Washington Monthly and Mother Jones, put it last year, "It is not conservatives who have turned American politics into a culture war battle. It is liberals."
That's because, according to Drum (who charted changes in public attitudes on issues like abortion, guns, gay marriage, taxes, and religion), "Since 1994, Democrats have moved left far more than Republicans have moved right."
Not surprisingly, this shift is most acutely felt in rural and small-town America, which tends to be more non-college white and culturally conservative. "The [Democratic] party's brand is so toxic in the small towns 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh," the AP tells us, "that some liberals have removed bumper stickers and yard signs and refuse to acknowledge publicly their party affiliation."
Progressives sometimes lament the fact that working-class and/or rural Americans vote against their self-interest, by which they generally mean economic self-interest. To the degree their premise is correct, it comes down to culture. The materialists can't fathom how intangibles like honor, respect, tradition, loyalty, religion, status, or identity so often trump pecuniary concerns. The truth is that not only will people often vote against their presumed self-interest to preserve their way of life, they will sometimes even die for it. This can be noble (as is the case with a war hero willing to die for his country) or even silly (think of the Americans who were so wedded to the anti-vax tribe that they would rather die than get a vaccine).
Of course, sometimes these culture war issues are not so esoteric. In some cases, the worry is not about losing one's way of life, but about losing one's life. Progressives can try to dismiss the "defund the police" phrase as a culture war slogan, but violent crime is a serious issue. What is more, it's plausible that some of the problem is the result of a left-wing political culture where district attorneys are increasingly soft on crime and police officers feel like we have abandoned them. The crime issue isn't going away, and the latest front in this ongoing culture war seems to be bail reform.
As National Journal'sJosh Kraushaar pointed out, this week we saw the man who allegedly stabbed a 35-year-old Asian woman to death in New York City released without bail, and a local Black Lives Matter chapter posting bail for a man accused of attempting to murder a Louisville, Kentucky, mayoral candidate. "Part of the political problem for Dems is that they're months behind in appreciating how damaging their positions at the time are," Kraushaar tweeted.
It might be too obvious to say that the Democratic Party had better change if they want to mitigate their looming electoral losses in the coming November midterms. But if they want to remain a viable party in the near future, they better pump the brakes on "progress" and ease up on stoking the left-wing culture wars.
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This article Is an example of crap floating to the top. In theory Matt Lewis is a neverTrumper. In practice here he is supporting Trumpism ideology. He is defacto claiming that small town or rural "culture" is superior. According to him children shouldn't be taught an accurate and inclusive history of the country because red state concepts of patriotism and tradition lie elsewhere than this inclusive history.
The usual assumption that all Democrats are secular progressive liberals is the writer's first sin of assumption.
Like some of our members, it's why they were surprised by the results of the last election.
There will always be a silent majority that makes the difference.
Years ago it was the Tea Party that got nonstop press and won a few seats in Congress just like the "Squad" has done.
The Tea party no more drove the GOP bus than the Squad drives the Dems.
It's all political nonsense.
I don't consider this to be necessarily a partisan political issue. The history of the country is what it is and It is extremely easy to prove that America has always been a racist nation. Are we going to accept that fact and become a great and prosperous multicultural society or we going to continue to pretend that Americas past was predominantly noble?
I'm registered unaffiliated (independent) and can vote in either primary. that could be fun, now that we're in the midterm primaries and cohesion on the tight is becoming even more fractured over the orange elephant in the room.
I think he presumes exactly the opposite.
His point is that the party is not representing the views of the majority of its constituents.
Most Democrats are much more James Carville than they are Bernie Sanders. They're much more Colin Allred than they are AOC.
The potential catastrophe is letting the Republicans take back the center, especially when Republicans aren't very good at "center" right now
Apparently not John.
Native Americans know the truth.
African Americans know the truth.
And most of the legal immigrants who come here now, know the truth that this country is light years safer
and has ultimately more potential for their success than whatever "shithole" country they came from
and they only care about the present and the future.
White Americans? For the most part they are the "haves" and true to our British roots, they just don't care and you cannot make them care.
Step by step, inch by inch...
Just like Maus is now on the bestseller list again, people learn.
We will never "get there" soon enough for some people,
but the actual backlash against CRT has done good more than any supposed conspiracy
to brainwash children with the unflattering truths of our history.
Actually it isn’t possible to prove that because we have not always been so. America had always been making progress on the issue and is not a systemic racist nation. We will never ever accept your vision of our history ever under any circumstances whatsoever. We will continue making progress on the issue and have a multiracial working and middle class coalition working together on MLK Jr’s content of
character dream without ever accepting any form of crt or 1619.
Anyone who accepts the lying, cheating, fraud Trump as their leader has no business talking about the "content of character dream".
Aside from that, Comment 1.1.5 is almost completely delusional.
Trump was a great American President and he will be so again soon.
Comment 1.1.7 is a pathetic joke.
maga 2024 office
4264 rutgers pl.
redding, ca 96001
530-244-2222
Didn't you read the article? Here:
"The loudest voices on the left today are very online-young, educated "woke" white progressives. As Democratic data guru David Shor noted last year, "as Democrats have traded non-college-educated voters for college-educated ones, white liberals' share of voice and clout in the Democratic Party has gone up."
trumpturd is a pathetic joke.
I generally don't read shit from sources of either extreme.
[Deleted]
The wife and I went and voted early on the first morning at a library.
Not a loud mouth person anywhere, inside or out from any party
The article is just some poor shmuck trying to make a living by churning out reactionary words for a fee.
He doesn't know the truth any more than you do.
[Deleted]
Too bad.
[Deleted]
[Deleted]
Translation:. He is absolutely correct and it's horribly inconvenient
That is the bottom line here.
I’m wondering why if it was so terribly wrong that it was brought to us since he had to know we’d agree with it while hoping the power elites in DC ignore his warnings.
Beyond any shadow of a doubt, it is exactly that!
2022 Compare Crime Rates: Los Angeles, CA vs Redding, CA (bestplaces.net)
bwah ha ha ha, oops!
We do have our liberal elements present here. We also had state prisoners released here to keep them away from their old stomping grounds and homeless come here so that what money they have can stretch further. Our police department has cracked down on gang presence and graffiti here that I-5 brings. They weeded out those who commit crimes upon release from prison and cracked down on criminals among the homeless. Jail is an issue because of state overcrowding rulings but things are coming under control. We back the blue here. The city police and county sheriff dept. protected us well in the spring 2020 on from having Antifa and blm problems other places had. Looking forward to one day be a citizen of the state of Idaho
without moving.
If there weren't liberals in the Shasta County population obviously the per capita crime rates would be even worse. As it is, the crime rates in Shasta County far exceed the California and national averages and are truly disgraceful.
it makes you wonder what the sex crime statistics are for that domestic terrorist shit hole.
Review of Redding, California
REDDING RANKED 16TH IN 2020 BY U- HAUL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AS GROWTH CITIES. Awesome place, Up and Coming! Construction is booming! Last affordable place in California.
2020 U-HAUL GROWTH CITIES
1.
North Port, FL
2.
Kissimmee, FL (2)
3.
Port St. Lucie, FL (6)
4.
Auburn-Opelika, AL (12)
5.
Madison, WI
6.
Ocala, FL (3)
7.
Knoxville, TN
8.
Surprise, AZ
9.
St. George, UT (20)
10.
Tyler, TX
11.
Sacramento-Roseville, CA
12.
Johnson City-Kingsport, TN
13.
Milwaukee, WI
14.
Asheville, NC
15.
Huntsville, AL (13)
16.
Redding, CA
17.
Charleston, SC
18.
Athens, GA
19.
Colorado Spring, CO
20.
U-Haul?
A for profit company vs the FBI?
What happened to the 51st state of Jefferson?
Dead issue?
Like being annexed by Idaho?
So does this link base it's numbers solely on prosecutions? Number of arrests? What is the criteria? Because LA has catch and release going; and is lagging very far behind on arrests with riots and smash and grabs.
But good jab. How about we conduct a real world experiment and we send all of the Democrats from NT to both cities; and send each down the meanest sections of both at night. We can take bets for charity how many come out the other side in one piece unscathed.
Through the roof for such an oppressed/repressed place.
Domestic terrorist shithole is right on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I'm not mistaken, this poster is always claiming that blue cities are the only places where crime takes place.
You mean they aren't?
Don't know, don't care, the FBI stats were used. I assume they counted correctly, oh my.
A Catch and release is a term applied to illegal immigrants. Illegals are detained and serve their jail terms, they are not turned over to ICE.
Given that the last riot in LA was 1992, that Rodney King thing, I doubt there are any pending arrests "lagging behind".
San Francisco is whataboutism, nice try.
Thanks.
How about we stick to the argument? Small town Redding is not a crimeless Utopia.
Redding is no small town utopia compare to large "blue cities" like NY, NY or LA, CA
Apparently not Vic.
At first I was wondering why you posted this article. As your old friend Bob might say "didn't he read it?" Please don't tell us that you posted the epitome of coming to terms with reality to try and dismiss it with two false claims?
No matter how frustrated voters my be with Biden and the Democrats they are not turning to the gop!
Americans want progress and are tired of excuses.
America does not want what Biden and congressional as well as blue state ones are offering…,
Do you ever get tired of being laughably wrong every time you open your mouth to screech about the sky is falling because of the actions of supposed bicoastal secular progressives? Every time I read your Chicken Little idiocy I imagine you being either Baghdad Bob or Floyd R. Turbo. I doubt that you understand the latter reference.
A few weeks ago I received my annual catalog from The Fly Shop. I'm sure that you are aware of that business if you claim to live near Redding.
You most definitely do NOT speak for America or the vast majority of Americans.
Im familiar with it. I’m not a fisherman but it is on Churn Creek road next to I-5 about a mile north of the new shopping center at the intersection with Bonneyview and the I-5 on and off ramps. Looking forward to the new Costco shopping center on the other side of I-5 at Bonneyview and Bechelli Ln. Just some of the remarkable growth taking place here.
[deleted]
Your claim of remarkable growth is pure BS as I pointed out to you in another article.
Damn, XX quit spreading manure.
The 2020 census showed a population growth for Shasta county of 2.8% from the 2010 census.
The post covid outbreak numbers are showing faster growth as we have been so open compared to the rest of the state, much more like your present awesome state.
[Deleted]
Would you post the population increase numbers for Redding in 2021.
I wish that I knew what XXXJEFFerson51 said that was deleted. Someone PM me if you saw it.
I have no idea, epistte but it's usually a cut and paste or some nonsense that looks like a 3rd grader wrote it.
obligatory climbing of the local persecution cross segment.
Somebody emailed me something but I didn't recognize the address and the comment made less t sense than usual.
This is what was emailed to me by someone named Casper...................