it's so scary. if Trump wins, first gens like me will be stripped of citizenship.
...and even if he doesn't win, 60% chance dems adopt this POV in the next 5 years
A huge part of it is the fact supposed lefty leaders are accepting the framing of the right on immigration rather than fiercely defending it as being an absolutely remarkable good that has made all of our lives better.
There is some of this, I agree. Leaders on the left can't be afraid of being labelled "open border" - the right will do that regardless. The more important thing is to emphasize how much immigration our country needs to succeed and grow, which is way higher than most Americans think.
People across the spectrum don't believe me when I say that baseline, we need to assume we bring in well over 1 million people a year. Capping immigration at like 100,000 would have disastrous implications on the economy, age demographics, Social Security, you name it.
We still haven't caught up from the Trump Covid years so there's a good policy argument to be made that our base immigration should be a couple of million a year or more. There's so much that supports this, but leaders on the left don't like talking about it, in general or in specifics.
This is the biggest opportunity for improvement in the party. I also get why it's considered toxic right now - looking at what's happening in very "progressive" EU democracies (altho fantastic news in UK and France this week). The problem is that it's not binary - we have to talk about levels.
It seems like the immigrants lower wages belief are less common today than 2016 but there's less animated pro immigration then there was while anti immigrant supporters of all stripes seem by far the largest and most animated group
I blame the Libertarian types who came in with those self-proclaimed Leftist streamers. Like "yeah I want fairness but not unless it makes me better than someone else." Capitalism is a helluva drug. As is being an edgy ShitLord.
If you look you'll find it everywhere. Tribalism and xenophobia cut all class, economic and ideological lines.
I hope you're not shocked, because it's always been that way.
The Dems have been bamboozled by the illusion of unique legitimacy - “real America” - that the GOP has constructed for right-wingers through propaganda. They are and will continue to be willing to incrementally trade away everything and support any horror in the hopes of being considered legitimate
Democrats passed the Republican version of healthcare and recently sent out a press release opposing transgender surgery for minors which not only isn't happening but is a right wing talking point. There's no reason to believe the Dems stick to their principles and keep to the left on the issues.
Republican version of healthcare? We can’t have nice things because of the fickle purity left. Hard to blame electeds for how voters are empowering issues.
We can't have nice things because democrats negotiate against themselves and then people like you memory hole the entire thing and wonder why the rest of us think the Democrats can't hold their ground on anything that matters.
We are counting on Joe Manchin and Joe Lieberman to hold the line? That’s the problem. Get more numbers. Instead the reaction is “primary joe Manchin” and lose the seat. It’s fucking stupid. We need raw power and sometimes you have to compromise to get it.
I think we'd win more votes if we knew how to manipulate beneficial negative coverage out of the press, bent democratic norms and pointed to them as accomplishments and had a theory of politics beyond "win a debate with the NYT when the NYT makes money when you lose"
This is how the left gains power. Biden has enacted the most progressive legislation in our lifetimes because we let centrists win elections then pushed them left. Get with the program or remain powerless.
Obama swapped out a public option for Mitt Romney's healthcare plan. and that happened in between winning the primary and getting into office. that isn't the "purity left" he won with a large margin and had all 3 branches lined up to do whatever they wanted
what they wanted was to reward donors
Those aren't the only two options. They could simply say Republicans are fear mongering and use the bully pulpit to support trans people as governors in red states strip away their rights instead of making an unforced error.
