Characterizing my objection to Amtrak's plan to spend BIF funds on 3h25m service from New York City to Scranton as "hating trains" is sort of emblematic of how liberals don't pay attention to whether their grand policy plans that are supposed to win elections are actually useful.
When I talk of people "wanting services on a normal schedule" I'm referring foremost to unreliable provision of K-12 school, though much of what government and private institutions do is heavily disrupted, as you may have noticed. It's the #1 way government underperforms today.
I think Dems are gravely underweighting this issue (frankly often being dismissive about it, as happened in Virginia) and are overweighting theoretical concerns about what legislatures might do in December 2024 -- which frankly would in any case fall to courts to resolve.
You can talk about how institutions MIGHT fail in ways that MIGHT change how responsive government is to people -- or you can talk about what it needs to do to be responsive right now. Voters are not wrong to focus more on the latter.
New York to Scranton is 133 miles. 3 hours 25 minutes. Why would anybody be impressed that you spent their tax dollars on that? A bus takes 2 hours and 40 minutes.
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A lot of these academic leftists are deeply confused about the difference between money and the economy. You *can* give people money even if their work is paused, but you can't free society of the need for certain productive activities to happen. You can't close everything.
And this confusion is how you end up with the idea that expecting certain institutions to keep operating and providing services (very often public sector institutions!) is "neoliberal."
Samantha was always the most ethical of the four and now she's gone and now look what's happened
"Carrie Bradshaw goes on trial and is sent to minimum-security prison for denying Big life-saving medical care" would be a more fun plot line for this season than what we're surely going to get
Of course the piece calling discussion of Latinx a “distraction” also urges Biden to move left on immigration and treats immigration policy as the key driver of Hispanic public opinion.
As the parties have polarized on immigration, Hispanic voters have swung toward the GOP, and in an especially pronounced way in south Texas. The problem is “the groups” are opposed to immigration enforcement and must perpetuate the idea that Hispanic voters share their agenda.
Why are Hispanic voters souring on Biden? Well, mostly for the reasons his numbers are falling with the whole population— the economy is the top issue for almost every demo— and there’s also poll evidence that Dem stances on crime/police especially hurt with Hispanic voters.
Liberals are drawn like moths to a flame to whatever part of a political story gets an identity politics frame, especially with video of conservatives behaving badly. It’s how they so badly misunderstood what the schools issue meant in Virginia.
To Dems, the “schools issue” was about a bunch of nuts ranting at school board meetings and confederate apologists trying to neuter history curricula. Completely glossing over the more mundane areas: my kid’s school was closed too long, quarantine is a constant risk, etc