I’ll be frank; in no way, shape, or fucking form can I in good conscience support the current Liberal Establishment. As famously stated by Charlie Kirk when he dunked on Gavin Newsom in Sacramento, the Democrats have banked heavily on 90/10 issues. The only problem? The Democrats have chosen the obvious losing side on nearly all of them. I don’t want any more nonsense around 17 genders, nor do I want anti-White hatred. It’s also not okay to kill people for simply disagreeing with you, nor is it okay to dox ICE agents or to riot endlessly for weeks on end in major cities when fraud is discovered.
But I’m not completely unwavering in my views either. I actually voted for Biden in 2020, though it was more out of “least bad choice” than genuine alignment. The Libertarians nominated a coal executive who only cared about repealing environmental regulations; an obvious wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing. Trump’s negligence regarding the pandemic was inexcusable at the time. And that’s not even counting the stimulus checks that fueled the Great Labor Shortage in 2021 and inflation in 2022.
But let’s try to move towards enthusiastic support rather than utter reluctance. There is a helpful mental framework that the artform of debate can offer us. Ask someone what could change your mind on this issue? Thus, I’m going to hold myself to this standard and present today what the Democrat Establishment could do to earn my happily-casted vote.
But first, I need to put some brackets in place. Starting off, I’ll require that the Democrats, if elected, actually try to carry them out. In return, I offer these suggestions in good faith; I’m not making any rhetorical traps or planning any gotcha moments. I’m also not going to propose any wild swings in policy for the Democrats. In fact, I’m going to go a step further and propose mostly stances that they used to passionately advocate for. I’ll also only stick to issues that are palatable for the average American, thus I won’t be whining about not being able to legally own landmines or any of my other spicier niche takes.
To give credit where it’s due, the Democrats have been pretty damn consistent on the issue of climate change. Sustainable energy must absolutely be cultivated and it’s supporting infrastructure must be built pronto. With that said, the Democrats have been shockingly mum on the use of nuclear reactors. I’ve written about it before, but the modern liberal caucus seems to have an intentional blind spot when it comes to the power source that could swing the tide in de-carbonizing the grid. And if we want continued expansion of AI (if that’s even good , but that’s a side discussion) or to avoid summer brownouts in California, then building far more nuclear reactors is clearly the best option to do that long-term and sustainably. The best time to build a reactor was seven years ago, the second-best time to do so is now.
This segues into my next proposed policy tweak for the Democrats; get back to building and maintaining American infrastructure. Currently, the Democrats are known as the party that can’t build/won’t let you build anything.; and states like Texas and Florida have been the primary beneficiaries of this ineptitude. Our powerlines are inefficient over long distances and are getting pretty old. Invest in and actually fucking deliver high speed rail between cities that are roughly 8 hours apart or closer (looking at you, Gavin). Italy, a similarly liberal nation, has shown us that this can absolutely be done. Similarly, the privately built Miami-Orlando rail line is another example of showing that this can in fact be done.
The Democrats can win my vote on a key issue; ending bullshit wars and other avoidable military interventions. RFK Sr ran on this platform back in 1968 regarding Vietnam. Barack Obama ran on an anti-war platform in 2008 (though he later became The Drone Strike President). They also need to get away from the dirty shekels from AIPAC *cough cough Kamala Harris cough*. The American people don’t want to fight bullshit optional wars anymore. It truly is that simple…
Here’s another issue that Democrats can clean up on; return to being a party that took enforcing the border seriously. Not too long ago circa 2008, Hillary Clinton ran on this issue; she sounded more MAGA than Trump did in 2020! Barack Obama was commonly known to our southern neighbors as The Deporter In-Chief (though, he later gave a whole bunch of illegals amnesty, so he was only semi-consistent on this issue). Democrats during the Cold War commonly ran on this issue as a means of protecting the American worker. This was typically done in tandem with opposing NAFTA and upholding trade unions, but it’s also a policy that can exist independently.
But hey, while we’re on the topic of enforcement, let’s not limit that to illegal immigrants. Back when Michael Jordan was still winning championships and Lindsey Lohan wasn’t a total coke-whore, Democrats used to be a party that was famously tough on crime. Michael Dukakis ran on this against George H.W. Bush. Bill Clinton advertised himself as being tough on crime, A much-younger Joe Biden was famously hard on street crime as well. The modern American is sick-and-fucking-tired of seeing criminals get endless parole and probation opportunities. It’s time to get away from restorative justice; that translates to being Woke on the bench and soft on convicts. Hell, Gavin Newsom nearly lost his recall election to Larry Fucking Elder not too long ago in large part on this issue. Recent NYC Mayor Eric Adams notoriously had little sympathy for those who ran afoul of the law. Make criminals afraid again!
If Team Donkey wants to earn my support at the ballot box, then they absolutely must get back to being the party of free speech absolutism. Over the last 20 years, liberals have fallen in love with cancel culture and the heckler’s veto. It got so bad that even lifelong liberal comedian George Carlin voiced his growing concern about left-wing censorship before he died. Failing censorship, modern liberals have shown to not be afraid to get violent; just ask Charlie Kirk. And the most jarring part? They absolutely used to be the party of protecting speech that was unpopular; the ACLU once protected the KKK’s First Amendment right, for fucks sake.
But that isn’t the only constitutional amendment that the Democrats need to staunchly defend. Democrats can-and should-get back to supporting the Second Amendment. The crazy part? This wasn’t even a crackpot Democrat stance even within my own lifetime; Howard Dean was pro-2A. And when Star Wars was making its theater debut, President Jimmy Carter was supporting gun rights. Face it, if Democrats want to win back the rural vote, then this is a slam-dunk proposal for them. Besides, given the numerous attempts on Donald Trump’s life, it’s pretty insincere to claim that liberals actually oppose gun ownership. So, let’s drop the bullshit already…
Stop the insanity and get back to basics…
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