Much has been made that the @Fwd_Party doesn’t have a traditional policy platform. It is about values (Grace and Tolerance), process (RCV, local leaders) and solutions (giving what most Americans want). But most of all it’s about escaping the false ideological divide. (thread) Here’s the game that the parties and the media who segment and slice and dice us want to play: “Where do you stand on the most divisive social issue I can think of?” The goal is to categorize you on their made up left-right spectrum and get you to give up on half of the country.

I think either California or the Treasury Department should backstop Silicon Valley Bank - thousands of companies will fold or lay people off next week because of lack of access to accounts through no fault of their own. Take the equity and fire the managers. But SVB’s clients -… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… There’s a big difference between irresponsible bank managers and the thousands of customers and entrepreneurs and employees who chose to use a bank that was one of the biggest banks in the country and standard in the industry. Punish one but the other are blameless except they… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Last night Chris Christie said he’s considering running for President in 2024. His problem is that he and the other ~4 non-Trump candidates will divvy up about 50% of the primary electorate while Trump gets the other 50%. The primary system makes Trump the prohibitive favorite. He might want to consider another avenue of running for President. Same for Larry Hogan and others who are looking at the same path.

I agree with many left policy goals. My issues with much of the left are that they seem disinterested in building productive organizations, they attack people and turn them off, and they’re often more concerned with ideological battles than actually improving anyone’s real life. You want to make progress toward a big policy goal that would improve people’s lives? Yelling at people probably won’t help. But building a coalition with people who are also suffering but might think a bit differently than you do might.

Victor Wembanyama needs a nickname. Which do you like the most 🏀

To the folks on the left who are upset about Forward - what you should be upset about is a corrupt duopoly that manipulates you and inflames you while serving virtually none of your actual desired policy goals. You will never get what you want in this system. Feel free to try. You’re upset. You’re getting screwed. Yes. Yes you are. Turns out a lot of Americans are who might not think exactly the same way you do but are in the same boat to nowhere or worse.

The truth is that in a two-party system neither party really needs to worry about delivering much of anything - the primary message is that the other party is unacceptable. That’s how you get this.

I was a Democrat for 25+ years. I left the party when I realized that the two-party system was breaking down and needed replacement - and if left unchecked would lead us to dysfunction, disintegration and/or Civil War. I sense that others are coming to the same realization. People will say “the two parties are different!” Of course they are. But in this system no one will win - we will only grow more inflamed and frustrated as our quality of life declines. The numbers make it nearly impossible for either side to achieve a lasting governing majority.

There are 25 states where we can switch to non-partisan open primaries and ranked choice voting via ballot initiative. Alaska made the change in ‘20. Nevada may follow this year. This is how we free ourselves to have our leaders answer to us rather than the extremes and insiders. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the only Republican Senator who is up for re-election this year who voted to impeach Trump. She is also pro-choice. She probably wouldn’t get through a Republican primary but in Alaska she can take her case straight to the general public.

Dems are spending millions boosting more extreme and ‘beatable’ candidates in Republican primaries around the country. How much do you want to bet this backfires in some cases? They thought the same thing about Trump. It’s the perversion of the two-party system in action. Tuesday’s races feature four races in which Democratic candidates or groups are seeking to influence Republican primary voters, including a more-than-$30-million effort in the Illinois governor’s race. politico.com/news/2022/06/2…

If the Democrats had spent as much energy on protecting and preserving or codifying Roe v. Wade as they have in asking for money over the last 48 hours we wouldn’t be facing this situation. They’ve had years to do something - and it’s primarily poor women in red states who will pay the price. andrewyang.com/blog/roe-v-wade

Who do you trust the most? I sometimes ask comedian friends of mine which of them should run for President.

I genuinely think that banning journalists from Twitter would benefit both journalists and the public. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

You know what got me to conclude we needed a 3rd party democracy reform movement? Books. Here’s a sampling starting with Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein simonandschuster.com/books/Why-Were… Righteous Mind by Jon Haidt penguinrandomhouse.com/books/73535/th…

If given a choice between Trump and Biden most of us would immediately ask “Who are my other choices?” If you want another choice head to @Fwd_Party - we are working on providing more choices in races around the country. 👍🇺🇸

The two-party system is singularly poor design - and it may doom us all. Note that our founding fathers would be aghast at what we have done - Washington warned us against partisanship. John Adams called them an evil across the land. Madison railed against factions that don’t shift. Yet here we are.

There are people on the left who want to take over the Democratic Party for big goals. There are a few big obstacles. One is that half of Dems don’t consider themselves liberal - 54% want to make the party more conservative not less. The makeup of the party is fairly moderate. The second is money in politics. The DNC raised $493 million in 2020. The DCCC raised $346 million and the DSC $303 million. Billions more come in from corporations and PACs. Most of that money is not geared toward backing candidates who are looking to rock the boat.

My goal is simple - eradicate poverty. Web3 technologies represent the biggest anti-poverty opportunity of our time. Millions of lives are being transformed and creators empowered by new ways to exchange and generate value on the blockchain. It’s bottom-up not top-down. As exciting as Web3 is, we all know it may not reach its potential. The single biggest factor is whether thoughtful regulation emanates from DC that balances the legitimate concerns with the need to fuel innovation and opportunity. There is a need to make a balanced case.

I like to believe the best of people - especially if I’ve met and spent time with that person. Sometimes it makes me miss something. I think we should have the capacity to forgive people - whether a podcaster or a mayor - if they mess up. Maybe it’s because I mess up too. Racism is real, deep, corrosive and even lethal. I know that. I made a mistake in an earlier tweet tonight that downplayed these realities.

Men now comprise only 40.5% of college students and are failing in high school at much higher rates. There’s a crisis among American boys and men that is too often ignored and is definitely going unaddressed. Boys are more than 2-3x as likely to be diagnosed as having ADHD, five times more likely to spend time in juvenile detention, and are far less likely to finish high school. In many places being good at school is now considered feminine. 70% of US valedictorians were girls in ‘12.

This is a thread on 2022 and 2024. Most people believe, barring a massive shift in sentiment, Republicans will take the House and possibly the Senate in ‘22. This seems likely. Youngkin won in VA last month which Joe won by 10 points and the party in power generally loses seats. This sense is being buttressed by a number of Democratic (and moderate Republican) retirements in Congress. Also heard from folks in Congress that the vibe is very tough and negative. Someone said it used to be like a mall. Now doors are closed.