What should democrats run on?

I don't see how democrats will be able to come up with a coherent platform, because right now, cost of living is probably the number one issue for American voters.

So how can democrats reduce our cost of living? They can't. Everything they support either restricts supply or makes production more expensive. The states with the highest cost of living are (of course) the most progressive, e.g. California, MA, NY, etc.

But wait, it gets worse. These states also have sky-high state and local taxes. This is what the left does: they make everything expensive, and then on top of that, they tax the living shit out of you.

Zohran Mamdani is going to win because his platform is focused on lowering the cost of living in NYC. However his "solution" is to subsidize demand in addition to even more government control over the economy. This has never worked, and will never work.

Lower prices come from capitalism and competition in (largely) free markets, and the left hates all three.

Having spent time in high-cost locations vs low-cost locations, I can see why. I understand why it is a lot cheaper (or can be depending on your choices ... do you really need that brand new Chevy Silverado Texas Edition?) to live in Cove, Arkansas than it is Manhattan, New York.

I think they should run on a personality. Look at MAGA, they don’t care one whit about actual high prices; they just want a strong charismatic personality to tell them what they want to hear. Democrats need to find that charismatic person. They struck gold in 2008 with Barack Obama but have been rudderless ever since. They need their own energetic, inspiring, entertaining rallying leader.

Many demorats seem to favor having more federal government subsidies, funded by more taxation of “the rich”, to make X ‘more affordable’ to all (others).

phoenix2020 said:

Democrats need to find that charismatic person.

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Imo, Mamdani is by far the most charismatic democrat in the country today.

aociswundumho said:

Imo, Mamdani is by far the most charismatic democrat in the country today.

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Probably because he is a real live leftist. They are extremely rare in America at that level. That may be why there is a Republican and Democratic effort to torpedo the guy.

aociswundumho said:

I don't see how democrats will be able to come up with a coherent platform, because right now, cost of living is probably the number one issue for American voters.

So how can democrats reduce our cost of living? They can't. Everything they support either restricts supply or makes production more expensive. The states with the highest cost of living are (of course) the most progressive, e.g. California, MA, NY, etc.

But wait, it gets worse. These states also have sky-high state and local taxes. This is what the left does: they make everything expensive, and then on top of that, they tax the living shit out of you.

Zohran Mamdani is going to win because his platform is focused on lowering the cost of living in NYC. However his "solution" is to subsidize demand in addition to even more government control over the economy. This has never worked, and will never work.

Lower prices come from capitalism and competition in (largely) free markets, and the left hates all three.

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Are you better off today than you were two years ago?

ttwtt78640 said:

Many demorats seem to favor having more federal government subsidies, funded by more taxation of “the rich”, to make X ‘more affordable’ to all (others).

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Exactly, that's what Mamdani is running on, and it looks like it will get him elected - in the leftist shithole that is NYC. However at the end of his term, every affordability metric will be worse.

COL. And they need to have a SOLID PLAN for addressing it. Once and for all. Not just "we hate the high prices, they're because of Trump."

But I don't want Democrats to run on something solid just so Democrats will get into office. I want to really see changes. If Dems can't offer anything better than Pubs then what good is either one?

I'm tired of the football game mentality. "What should we say so 'we' 'win'?" Who TF cares if 'we win' or 'you win' if nothing is getting accomplished? This is SO stupid. SOMEBODY come up with real plans to get this nation's shit together. We're a mess.

mrjurrs said:

Are you better off today than you were two years ago?

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Yes, despite government doing everything it can to make me worse off.

aociswundumho said:

I don't see how democrats will be able to come up with a coherent platform, because right now, cost of living is probably the number one issue for American voters.

So how can democrats reduce our cost of living? They can't. Everything they support either restricts supply or makes production more expensive. The states with the highest cost of living are (of course) the most progressive, e.g. California, MA, NY, etc.

But wait, it gets worse. These states also have sky-high state and local taxes. This is what the left does: they make everything expensive, and then on top of that, they tax the living shit out of you.

Zohran Mamdani is going to win because his platform is focused on lowering the cost of living in NYC. However his "solution" is to subsidize demand in addition to even more government control over the economy. This has never worked, and will never work.

Lower prices come from capitalism and competition in (largely) free markets, and the left hates all three.

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1: A libertarian questioning anyone's election strategy is LoLz.
2: Democrats will hopefully run on the economy, and getting rid of tariffs to lower costs for people.

aociswundumho said:

Yes, despite government doing everything it can to make me worse off.

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There's something hilarious about autistic libertarian ideology rising from 20th century America, given that 20th century America was the most bureaucratic and hegemonic empire in human history.

It all makes sense though, because something as stupid and myopic as libertarianism could only rise in an imperial liberal government which provides the abundance to sit and idly think so stupidly.

Sadly, even if the dems win one or both rungs of congress, they will just pursue ineffective neoliberal policies instead of working for the people.

aociswundumho said:

I don't see how democrats will be able to come up with a coherent platform, because right now, cost of living is probably the number one issue for American voters.

So how can democrats reduce our cost of living? They can't. Everything they support either restricts supply or makes production more expensive. The states with the highest cost of living are (of course) the most progressive, e.g. California, MA, NY, etc.

But wait, it gets worse. These states also have sky-high state and local taxes. This is what the left does: they make everything expensive, and then on top of that, they tax the living shit out of you.

Zohran Mamdani is going to win because his platform is focused on lowering the cost of living in NYC. However his "solution" is to subsidize demand in addition to even more government control over the economy. This has never worked, and will never work.

Lower prices come from capitalism and competition in (largely) free markets, and the left hates all three.

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They should campaign on the cost of living. I'm all for it. The path to a voter's heart is through their bank balance.

Slartibartfast said:

Sadly, even if the dems win one or both rungs of congress, they will just pursue ineffective neoliberal policies instead of working for the people.

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This is the thing. "I win!" "No, I win!" "No, this time I win!"

When the **** do the people win?

This mentality is screwing us all into the ground. No matter who is in office.

Gozaburo said:

There's something hilarious about autistic libertarian ideology rising from 20th century America, given that 20th century America was the most bureaucratic and hegemonic empire in human history.

It all makes sense though, because something as stupid and myopic as libertarianism could only rise in an imperial liberal government which provides the abundance to sit and idly think so stupidly.

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You always say it better than me.

That is irritating.

EnchantedMuggle said:

This is the thing. "I win!" "No, I win!" "No, this time I win!"

When the **** do the people win?

This mentality is screwing us all into the ground. No matter who is in office.

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Yeah the people still end up with roughly the same wages as the late 70s while necessities get more expensive. We need a new way that increase people’s wages and lower their costs. Increasing the GINI index won’t achieve that.

Redress said:

1: A libertarian questioning anyone's election strategy is LoLz.

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For decades I was the first to admit that libertarianism is a political loser.

Then an ancap became president of a country in south america, so now I don't know what to think about it.

Redress said:

2: Democrats will hopefully run on the economy, and getting rid of tariffs to lower costs for people.

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That's a good start, but tariffs are only one of the many costs imposed by government on businesses that get passed on to consumers.

aociswundumho said:

I don't see how democrats will be able to come up with a coherent platform, because right now, cost of living is probably the number one issue for American voters.

So how can democrats reduce our cost of living? They can't. Everything they support either restricts supply or makes production more expensive.

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And you think what Republicans are doing will save working and middle class ‘Merica?

The policies of my former party help one segment of this nation, and I use that loosely as they aren’t actually a segment of our nation - most of the are global thinkers and citizens, not national. That would be our top 3%, the donor class, and particularly the top 10th of the 1%.

If you are working or middle class you have no political party actually representing you at the moment. You have one, The Democrats, paying lip service to you and the other, The Republicans, not even doing that. BOTH -argues actually service those who pay to keep them in office; The Donor Class. That’s just facts. They are in, they want to stay in, and our systems current works in a way that requires copious amounts of capital to stay in office. So they service where that copious amount of money comes from.

Common sense.

aociswundumho said:

Yes, despite government doing everything it can to make me worse off.

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You'll be in the minority.

They should stick with what they've been doing.

soap box said:

They should campaign on the cost of living. I'm all for it. The path to a voter's heart is through their bank balance.

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Sounds good. Now name some specific policies consistent with the political left, that would lower our cost of living.

Bok Tuklo said:

Having spent time in high-cost locations vs low-cost locations, I can see why. I understand why it is a lot cheaper (or can be depending on your choices ... do you really need that brand new Chevy Silverado Texas Edition?) to live in Cove, Arkansas than it is Manhattan, New York.

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There is quite a variation in cost of living (even within the same state) between living in a major city and living at least 25 to 30 miles away from one.

The cost of living in Uhland, TX, is significantly lower than in Austin, TX. Uhland is a smaller suburb of Austin, and its cost of living is lower across the board, including housing costs.

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*above quote is from Google’s AI Overview*

One thing Dems do have to do is get very specific. No more sweeping "oh, we're full of joy" and "don't let Democracy die" stuff. Specific. Attack *specific* problems. Give specific solutions.

Show charts. Remind the public of promises made before November and show the charts of how things have only gotten worse. And bring up the specifics of wars continuing and worsening.

Dems are too general. You can't run on fumes of happiness or vague threats anymore. Taco lies continuously, but he gives specifics. He throws numbers out there to make it "real," not vague. The rest of the GOP parrots what Taco lies about. But...it works. Amazingly enough.

So...do that. The people don't want to hear "oh, everything's expensive" or "oh, there are wars going on." We want to know what someone at least has a plan to do about it. The GOP made promises about all this stuff. They failed. SHOW EXACTLY what failed. SHOW the nat'l debt. Dates of lies and proof of the lies. Sound bytes. Show actual prices. The actual debt. REAL numbers on "illegals." Then *show what we can do about all of it*.

MAGAs freak out and implode over Gavin Newsom constantly. But listen to him sometime. Listen to how he talks. What he says. He gets right IN there. He doesn't hesitate. He attacks but not in a childlike way. He doesn't get into kiddie tit-for-tat fights, he gets right above all of it and shoots straight from the hip: "This is what's happening. This is why. These are the lies." DO THAT. The GOP has screwed this nation a hundred ways from Sunday. Show it. And show the solution.

aociswundumho said:

I don't see how democrats will be able to come up with a coherent platform, because right now, cost of living is probably the number one issue for American voters.

So how can democrats reduce our cost of living? They can't. Everything they support either restricts supply or makes production more expensive. The states with the highest cost of living are (of course) the most progressive, e.g. California, MA, NY, etc.

But wait, it gets worse. These states also have sky-high state and local taxes. This is what the left does: they make everything expensive, and then on top of that, they tax the living shit out of you.

Zohran Mamdani is going to win because his platform is focused on lowering the cost of living in NYC. However his "solution" is to subsidize demand in addition to even more government control over the economy. This has never worked, and will never work.

Lower prices come from capitalism and competition in (largely) free markets, and the left hates all three.

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Though I prefer Demonrats, the Dumbocrats should just fold up their tent and enthusiastically join MAGA, but they will be vetted by the FBI and pay a hefty financial penalty for the privilege.

MAGA.