11.8.24 - Election quick thoughts
Well that was fucking crazy! I have something longer I'm writing on the election, which is very unhinged. Basically, its about how this election is the logical culmination of the gender-dynamics we're seeing. It was all about gender. I'll save those thoughts because they require polish so that I don't sound like a raging skitzo. But in case anyone cares, these are my very quick thoughts on the electoin I can articulate now:
-I think the orange man is unironically, very very bad. I think he's a bad bad man with very little virtue and who is extremely dangerous. In conditions favorable to him and surrounded by enough handlers his damage was mostly to the culture/institutions and relatively small targeted groups (like kids at the border). So I think that the fact that the first term, by all practical measures, really wasn't a DISASTER, has made people quite complacent about how dangerous he actually is.
-I also think that many things that the orange man represents, feelings and policy wise, are legitimate and I've wanted to see action on them for a long time. I want to see a certain kind of america-hating smug D.C. swamp monster chased out of polite society. A full scale assault on the agencies is exciting, and a full scale assault on the Woke-Industrial complex is overdue. Americans are tired of the grip that a group of ghouls has on our society——from the public schools, to the HR divisions of firms, to the media, to the banks, to the agencies. I'm here for a total war on this coalition. Must destroy to create something new.
-I also think many of the things he will do are cruel and misguided. I do not want mass deportations. I do not want refugee communities targeted. I don't care if he closes the border, really. I don't care if he stops more people coming in (I personally think we can let in more refugees, but we live in a democracy, and I respect that other Americans feel differently). But I generally presume that people belong where they already are (which is why I hate elements on the left that like to mine history to find out who REALLY belongs on certain areas of disputed land--its misses the point). I don't want to REMOVE people who are here. Criminals? Sure, whatever. People who have built families and livelihoods here? At that point, its only for the cruelty. I will never, ever, budge on that issue. I don't care if they committed crimes to get here. They are here. We deal with them as if they are Americans——because they are.
-If you can discern a sort of theme on where I align/disalign with Trumpism, its this: as far as the intra-elite competition he represents, the herculean struggle with the deep state, I'm actually very sympathetic with his camp of rogues. Not even on policy, but just that its time to tame the beast I'm Ramaswamy-pilled. We need to cut the heads of the hydra. And you know what? That's politics. Factions come in, factions leave. It's a mean world, but people in the government/thinktank/policy/lobbying/non-profit space here chose to be part of it. I don't feel a whole lot of concern or sympathy for the masters degree class. But the fault lines he draws among the general public, among ORDINARY people, are a different story. I don't like the idea of scapegoating communinities just trying to live the American dream, making people feel like they're the problem. These are the the most vulnerable people in our country and it will be bad for our national soul to treat them this way.
-So, I anticipate having very conflicting feelings in watching the administration. I expect elements of it to be thrilling and cathartic. The Jacksonian insurgency element of his presidency--taking on the entrenched government, this is going to be so fun to watch. But my stomach will churn if he goes through with tearing families apart. I'm moving to New York City and I want to see if there's any way I can get involved and help. Maybe I'll support some legal aid clinics to help
-I think that this is where a lot of the intellectual types who like the idea of Trumpism get lost. They focus too much on the intra-elite element, and lose sight of his impact on ordinary people. I've seen this happen in other countries, with the intellectual movements that spring up to support extremism. It just gets very abstracted. Oh you support Trump because you're against "woke"? Sure, I get it. But its not just woke annoying bureaucrats that get hurt, there will be families, children sent back to their actual deaths in dangerouus countries. For what? For vibes? To send a messsage?
-As far as his impact on the economy and real bread and butter issues——I have enough humiilty to know that I don't know at least with respec to his trade approach. Blanket tariffs on paper are a really bad idea. But starting a trade war with China was also supposed to be a bad idea, and now its a bipartisan consensus. I'm generally sympathetic to free-trade, but I am not ideological about it. I think there are several economic regimes that could work in different ways. We used to have a high-tariff, no income-tax system. It works like a general sales tax. It's regressive, more burden is on the working class as far as funding the government, it means it sucks to be poor (things are expensive) but that its somewhat easier to get rich (you can keep and invest way more of your wages). If you can think of a graph, its like a lower floor, but the curve up is steeper. I don't know how that shakes out in a modern global economy. People sy they know, but they don't. Because things are complicated.
-Speaking of the economy, mass deportation, I think, would have an unambiguously NEGATIVE effect on the economy. Like, it would genuinely be disastrous. It's literally removing working age people from the labor force. An insanely bad idea, for moral reasons and economic competitiveness.
-Bringing the Fed under the executive branch, oh my god that's a really bad idea. That's what banana republics do. Having a Federal Reserve with discretion at all, in my eyes, is already not ideal (I believe in automatic stabilizers for the monetary system, or maybe nominal GDP targeting), but giving the president the power to control interest rates? It is BONKERS. But I'm optimistic that because this hurts wayyy too many special interests (the global financial system relies on a relatively stable dollar ensured by an independent Fed) that this will not come to pass. If it does, we can say goodbye to hegemony of the U.S. dollar. Genuinely.
-I wish there was an ideal world, where I could disentangle Trumpism's elements. Where there was a political movement that took on the deep-state, the expert class, on behalf of ALL Americans, without scapegoating any group (and that wasn't a fascistic cult of personality). My dream is a Democratic party that really embraces the culture, tastes, and concerns of ordinary people. A less technocratic, less elitist Democratic party. One whose heart is defined by little l "liberalism" but it works by listening and engaging, not imposing. I think the Democratic party is what it accused Romney-ism of being--a very elitist movement that looks down on the electorate. Its a party who wants to sneak vegetables in to your pastries, because they think youre too stupid to eat the veggies yourself.
-Bernie-ism was the closest we got, but I actually don't think it was quite right, because it was too ideological, and it was too co-opted by an idiot activist wing. And the policies weren't all correct. But the vibe was close.
-Even though policy wise, I'm probably closer to liberal than left-progressive, I think AOC shows the political instincts we need for the future Democratic party. If you really listen to her, and not the carictures, she gets it. She gets how to level with people.
-But really, the truth is, we have no clue on what we need. We'll always over-correct and fight the last battle. The only winning strategy in a Democracy is to listen, adjust, and to be nimble and responsive. The Democratic party has shown some ability to do that over its long life. I think it will be able to do so again, if it just sheds its straightjacket––which is the idiot activist wing that imposes ideological purity, a culture of fear of infighting, and now seeks to double down on the message that make the American people hate them—-that X group was too [sexist/racist/xenophobics/whatever] and that's why we lost. We need to remove the people from the party who hate the American people.
-One quick note, Joe biden is a great American. I love him and thank him for his great service. His life story is an inspiration. And his administration, for all of its problems, did a lot of thankless good for this country. It got us to damn near full employment way faster than the Obama regime did after '09. It bid up wages. It gave political backing to unions. It invested in infrastructure. It did big action on climate. It invested in manufacturing, research, and technology. The foreign policy legacy is complicated, and I won't discuss here, but as far as domestic policy, Biden is like Nixon, in that he did a whole lot of good that he won't get credit for for a long time.
-What am I going to do? Well, I'm going to do law school. I no longer have any place in the party apparatus like I did in college. But I'm sure I will in the future. But here's one thing I'll change right now. I'm no longer ever, ever, going to shut the fuck up again. I will not "make space" for other voices. I will not hold my tongue. The Democratic party is losing young men. I'm a young man. I will contribute my thoughts, I won't be intimidated, I won't be shamed. I will be quicker to say, in my social circles and whatever platforms I ever get, "that's stupid and gay." I will more ruthlessly support a political project that purges the party of its anti-American, anti-human factions. I won't let idiot, tumblr brain-rot millenials define the overton window of acceptable opinion.
-The Democratic party, and the cultural institutions attached to it, have operated like a mean-girls club. It has operated by creating a climate of fear, of searching for internal enemies, of bullying hearts into submission. The whole culture is the equivalent of the girl who says "yikes" to the guy who says something off-kilter in a socratic seminar in college. These are the people who shamed Bernie for going on Joe Rogan——turns out that Joe Rogan is quite important! This energy has cost the party the most important thing in a democracy: information. The party has closed itself off to information about the people it supposedly wants to govern. Their anxieties, their feelings. Insofar as it HAS recognized them it has pathologized them——the feelings are a problem to be solved, not legitimate grievances to be addressed. And in a democracy, that is a LOSING strategy.
-So, my response is this: I will write thoughts without fear. I will speak without fear. I will act in this world without fear.
-If we all do that, I promise you, we will win, and we will build the country we deserve.
----
May God bless and protect the USA, the last, best hope of the earth.
|* * * * * * * * * * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
| * * * * * * * * * :::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|* * * * * * * * * * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
| * * * * * * * * * :::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|* * * * * * * * * * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
| * * * * * * * * * ::::::::::::::::::::;::::|
|* * * * * * * * * * OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
|:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
|:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
|:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::|
|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|
knxnts