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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (403065)	3/17/2019 11:07:35 AM
From: NAG1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542946

Sun Tzu, It is a terrible thing to do. There are two key things here that you miss. (1) Nothing is free. Trying to court the RW will cost you the LW on policy alone. (2) You don't seem to understand what polarization means. A polarized society hates the other side so much that even positive traits associated with the opposition become a liability. For example, research shows that most people want intelligent well educated leaders. However when their adversary is recognized as being intelligent and intellectual, being one becomes a liability and they will prefer a "folksy" leader. So yes, trying to connect with Trump supporters is a kiss of death, especially if you succeed. >> I don't think that should be a bad thing to do. It would definitely make whoever gets the nomination easier to elect. I disagree, at least partly. By your definition, we are screwed as a society/country because we will always be in two camps, always at each other's throats. Maybe things have gone too far in this country. But then again, maybe not. Doesn't mean we should stop trying. What I am saying is not to change your plans/policy in order to try to court the right wing. But you can be inclusive in your message that might start to pick off some of them a little at a time. Like showing farmers how Trump and the right wing have hurt them. The same for regular workers. If you approach it correctly, maybe you keep your support in the middle and the left while making people realize that to be part of something greater, to need to rejoin the discussion. We need a transcendental leader, like a JFK, to do this. Are any of the present candidates a JFK? I don't know. We will have to see. Obama came close as an orator, but he had the misfortune, politically speaking, to be African American at a time when the Republicans chose to become much more virulent in their racism, making it more difficult for him to lead. But he also lacked some of the political skills necessary to fight off the right wing as effectively as he needed to, especially early in his presidency. I know that Biden and Sanders are no JFK. But if they are the best we can do to get Trump out of office, I am ok, in the short term, to elect them. But I would like to see someone come from that second tier of candidates, like Beto, Harris or Butagieg, to see if we can do better in this country.