A Common Sense Democrat Manifesto

Cute, but none of this matters without a strategy to dominate new media. Everyone gets their news there now, and MAGA controls that space, which allows them to bend public opinion to their will. That’s why you get people who are mad about inflation voting for broad tariffs and deportations. That’s why you get people worried about groomers in the government voting for a cabinet full of pedophiles and sex traffickers. Sorry, but It’s all about the vibes and memes now.

Those nine principles sound pretty close to the current Republican platform.

For starters, I would push back on the inflation narrative. Yes, inflation happened, and it's not great, but I don't think it's throw-the-bums-out-at-all-costs (including electing a criminal with a cabinet full of criminals) bad. I think that a lot of other factors were more important.

For his actual points, I don't think they're especially helpful. A lot of this is just acceding to Republican talking points. You will never get Republicans to stop accusing Democrats of forcing everybody to be vegan, and that they're going to pay people to immigrate illegally. And you're never going to get people to stop believing it.

Unfortunately, I've come to believe the exact opposite of this. The Democrats should lean on their far left, because they're the ones who get excited -- or don't. They should not worry about attracting "centrist" Republicans, because they never will. Nor should they worry about losing centrist Democrats, because they're the ones who will do their dumb, boring duty where the flighty extremists won't.

That has worked fantastically for Republicans. Republican moderates line up to vote for the most extreme candidates the party can dream up.

I hate everything about that. I don't usually agree with the Democratic far left. I think their policies are bad ones. If we do get into office because of them, we'll spend most of our time infighting. Just as Republicans do -- they accomplished practically nothing in the 2016-2018 time frame, and I bet they'll accomplish little in 2024-2026.

But at least they've got the Presidency, and that's a huge opportunity. They played that to own the Supreme Court for the rest of my life.

If Democrats want to win, they have to keep their eyes on that. It won't come from trying to woo the center. If it hasn't worked by now, it won't work by shifting further right.

Why does anyone care what Matty has to say about anything? Boring writer, boring opinions. I feel gaslighted by the fact that he is employed as a writer.

Point 1: "Economic self-interest for the working class includes both robust economic growth and a robust social safety net."

No point reading any further. The author is a cancer advocate.