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They don't have to become socialists, but they do have to return to being more populist. And they don't have to "burn anything down"; I think we're all incrementalists here, it's just a question of whether the increments are measured in inches or millimeters.

I think that as we go forward, powerfully addressing people's economic concerns will be a more potent message than this Jon Ossoff stuff of "if the smart people just edit a few spreadsheet cells, everything will be fine, also, I'm a good boy on Twitter," which wasn't even good enough to begin with. I'm glad you're doing so well but lots of people aren't and I don't think they're going to settle for maintenance of the status quo buttressed with cheap, feel-good cultural liberalism.

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It's really just a belief in free markets with minimal or no regulation or government intervention. When I was in school, it was usually referenced regarding globalization. It was used to describe people who were against tariffs, protectionism, or penalties for doing business overseas. Just economic Libertarianism, really. The first person I ever heard referred to as a "Neoliberal" was George W Bush.

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Ever since Bernie came around, you have been touting something far more than incrementalist. I mean, you won't even consider that a public option and/or hybrid system for healthcare is better than a single payer system. A single payer system is complete and total control of the healthcare system by the government. You seemed to also agree with many of the complete government takeovers that were campaigned on by the Bernie Sanders campaign.

It has nothing to do with how well I'm doing. Regardless of what Bernie tried to sell, the country is doing alright. It has problems, like it always has and always will have, but we don't need to "Burn it all down" because millennials aren't handed a job and a house on graduation day. It still gets me that one of Bernie's populist talking points was that he would add 1 million new government jobs. This wasn't even saying that we needed them for a specific goal. It was just a generic promise to add 40-60 billion dollars worth of government payroll every year. That's going to be a hard sell to even the moderate Democrats who can at least understand that the Republicans have some correct ideas that our government is already too big and certainly inefficient.

Now, I understand the response to this is "Bernie didn't actually mean any of that, but he was just using it to make a point" or whatever type of backtracking is done to say "Ignore what Bernie says, but pay attention to what it feels like".

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

A bunch of writers beginning with Thomas Frank (in What's the Matter with Kansas?) have demonstrated that the Democratic party's prolonged decline began in the 1980s when it abandoned New Deal/Great Society economic policies in favor of neoliberalism. With this move, they effectively ceded one of their core constituencies-- working-class whites--to Republicans, who courted the blue collar vote via a series of cynical social issue hot button campaigns.

Neoliberalism--austerity, deregulation, privatization, corporate free trade, de-unionization, etc--has been a losing agenda for Democrats. A return to updated versions of classic New Deal and Great Society policies would help the party recapture constituencies essential to winning majorities in the House and Senate.

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Wouldn't single-payer-single-provider, i.e. the NHS, be total control? We still wouldn't have that. Our "hybrid system" now is collapsing, so how much goodness is there left to consider? Why does Blue Cross Blue Shield need me as their champion?

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I don't understand the question. Single payer means the government pays for everything.

We don't have a hybrid system now. What are you talking about?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Isnt that what Roosevelt's New Deal did by creating Public Works?

Yeah, I mean, our infrastructure is in pretty lousy condition, from roads all the way up to internet. Rebuilding it sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

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Damn posting problems....keeps losing login every time I try to post.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

That wasn't how it was sold. It was 1 million new jobs for youths. I doubt it was like "Hey English major who can't get a job, grab a shovel and get on the highway!".

I'd be fully on board with better infrastructure and jobs to improve it but I doubt that most Millenials were excited about Bernie selling them a future as a person laying roadways out.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think you're making some assumptions there. It was laid out as government jobs. Infrastructure stuff was the first thing that I thought of.

What did you think he meant? What kind of jobs?

The WPA didn't focus exclusively on infrastructure. It employed thousands of visual artists, architects, writers, and actors through the Federal Art Project, the Federal Writers Project, the Federal Theater Project, etc.

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I'm guessing most of them would be of the office or social type jobs to help the youth who have low job prospects based on their choice of major.

Do you really think they were trying to sell the English major who can't find work on pouring asphalt on the highway and repairing the metal under bridges?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

That's stupid. They should have hired a bunch of math majors to do integrals by hand.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I mean, when I hear govt job, that's the kind of thing I think of. I can't speak for English Majors (obviously)

If the English major can't find work why would he thumb his nose at a job like that?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Well he said millennials and they don't roll like that.

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Elections have consequences.

Breitbart on 10/25



Breitbart this morning





Ok, back to lazy English majors...

I think if that were the case that Bernie would have made it more clear.
I agree that they should but it is my impression that most college graduates aren't looking for a career outside of their major involving significant manual labor.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

http://www.dailywire.com/news/23303/10- ... en-shapiro

With the Virginia losses, those most loyal to Trump have two options: they can acknowledge that Trump is governing in unpopular fashion and that something must change, or they can blame everyone for failing to be sufficiently deferential to Trump. You can guess which way they lean.

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Freedom is our Strength.

Nonsense, mike. Disregard that thing you read somewhere. I know plenty of millenials doing construction right now.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

This is the one time it is valid to bring up that Trump lost the popular vote.

You don't win by being deferential to a President that couldn't get a majority of the votes in his own and election and has historically poor approval ratings.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm sure it's not their ideal job but I would hope the desire to not be homeless would outweigh the desire to have an easy job. I wouldn't think it would take much of a sell job to convince them eating is better than starving.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Of course, but it's become a big story that many college graduates are taking a long time to find work and some aren't finding it at all. I can't imagine that is because there are NO jobs for them to take especially now with relatively low unemployment numbers.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

"Many Republicans are under the dramatic misimpression that Trump boosts Republican ballot chances rather than hurting them, but the evidence simply isn’t there for that. Trump radically underperformed nearly every Republican Senate candidate in 2016. He won fewer votes than Mitt Romney did in Wisconsin; Romney lost the state, Trump won. He won fewer votes in Michigan than Bush did in 2004; Bush lost the state. Trump won because nobody showed up to vote for Hillary. But Hillary’s not on the ballot anymore, which means many Republicans will stay home; furthermore, Hillary’s absence means that more Democrats will show up."

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Freedom is our Strength.

Were they English majors?

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Elections have consequences.

Maybe it was a good thing that Hillary ran up the score in a meaningless California race. Imagine if she underperformed George W. Bush in key states and lost the popular vote.

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I don't really get the whole "ran up the score" thing. More people live in CA. More people vote in CA. This isn't another discussion about the fucked up Electoral College, but if more people vote for somebody, it's not "running up the score" because they all live in the same area. It's like Trump still showing the electoral map to try and claim how big his victory was. Yes Donald, there is a lot of red. Sadly for you cattle and tumbleweed don't vote.