Posted on 04/03/2019 2:33:39 PM PDT by Borges
The transformation of the GOP into the party of Patrick J. Buchanan and Donald J. Trump—defined by cultural resentments, crude populism, and ethnic nationalism—is among the most important political stories of this century. But the GOP is hardly the only party that is undergoing some alarming tectonic shifts. Liberals wondering why conservatives who worry about Trump don’t join the Democrats should consider what is happening on their own side of the aisle.
If you want to understand just how radicalized the Democratic Party has become in recent years, look at the ascent of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. A self-proclaimed socialist, Sanders served as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and was then elected to the House in 1990 and the Senate in 2006. It’s hard to overstate just how left-wing Sanders’s views have been, at least by the standards of American politics.
Sanders has been a consistent defender of regimes led by anti-American dictators like Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro. He took pains to separate his brand of socialism from the “totalitarianism” of the Soviet Union, but on a 1988 trip, repeatedly drew contrasts between the Soviet system and the United States that cast his own country in an unfavorable light. In the 1970s, Sanders called for the nationalization of entire industries and 100 percent taxation on those making more than $1 million. Since then, Sanders has moved away from calling for government to own the means of production, but he has hardly experienced a Damascus-road conversion. He is still a proud leftist.
For most of his career, Sanders—who identified as an independent but who caucused with Democrats—was treated like a curiosity and even a bit of a crazy uncle by Democrats, who considered the label socialist to be a smear.
No more.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
“The transformation of the GOP into the party of Patrick J. Buchanan and Donald J. Trump—defined by cultural resentments, crude populism, and ethnic nationalism ...”
If only. The GOP is still ashamed of its base. Those people might demand some representation at some point. Won’t that be interesting.
As long as things are going well, there will be little audience for such radical foolishness.
The more I think about it, the weirder this formulation sounds. It is a little more than cultural resentment that motivates people not to want their daughters to be forced to share rest rooms with male mental cases. "Crude" populism, by which I suppose Wehner means a broad contempt for the elites that disregard the welfare of the people in favor of some higher loyalty, such as self-enrichment; that sort of populism is bipartisan as he points out in his own succeeding text. And what the hell is "ethnic nationalism" anyway? I mean, seriously, I hear this term bruited about as if it has a precise meaning that is utterly lost on me and, I suspect, the speaker as well. Sounds sinister, though. White isn't an ethnicity, nor is black, Christian, or Muslim. There are, to be sure, Hispanic nationalists, but they certainly aren't Trump voters. Baffling.
There will be no Bill Clinton–style Sister Souljah moment in the Democratic Party in 2020.
Not with the current crowd of eunuchs, feminist fascists, economic bomb-throwers, and environmentalist totalitarians, to be sure. If there were it would benefit them as it did BJ Clinton, staking out an unshakable claim to the center, but they're just not up to it. When the tiniest hint of love for one's country gets one labeled a White Supremacist there won't be a lot of it about.
What seems to me to be developing is a more-radical-than-now scramble for the nomination and a media-driven and very false dodge back to the center afterward - it worked for 0bama. But once burned, twice shy, and there aren't any 0bamas on the ticket anyway. The candidate the Dems do end up offering may decide instead to go full speed to port through the entire affair, and yes, McGovern does come to mind here. He didn't have the monolithic media support the current ones do, but it may not matter.
Pardon me, but isn’t that statement as bad as blaming criminal violence on guns?
The press is a tool, the dishonesty being printed on a printing press, yelled from a podium, or broadcast in a news report on cable, TV, or radio, is the product of dishonest and evil people just as violence is caused by dishonest and evil criminals who uses a gun, knife, club, or fist improperly. All of those tools can be used to tell the truth or be used for good purposes. The tool cannot be evil or dishonest.
The democrat party has been radical for some time.
However, with the willing aid of the press, they have been able to cloak their true leftist extremism behind a progressive facade and present themselves as do-gooders - as agents of positive change.
But this new wave of ultra leftist extremists has taken the party on a quantum leap to the edges of leftist radicalism and are not interested in hiding their true nature from the public.
They are crazy and dangerous but more honest about who they are.
And that is what has the establishment democrats concerned.
It’s not the crazy, dangerous, ultra-left policies - it’s the fact the new crazies won’t hide it.
Let me say that some enormous number of most gun owners have just enough wits and fire power to very possibly save themselves inside a MAC DONALDS, or in a parking lot.
I’m not all convinced about the numbers of most gun owners, with enough wits and fire power to prevail against gorilla tactics in the cities and neighborhoods of choice, while they are perhaps sleeping.
Pray that we never have need to test our numbers, our wits, or Granny’s fire power lodged over there in the danged safe (where she can’t recall the code).
No, the democratic party is Stupidizing.
“...cultural resentments, crude populism, and ethnic nationalism...”
1. cultural resentments...perhaps but more accurately described as a disgust with cultural decay.
2. crude populism....populism perhaps but only viewed as crude through a prism of far leftist politically correct pajama boy lenses.
3. ethnic nationalism...nationalism absolutely but no way, shape or form “ethnic” There is absolutely 0% ethnicity in the equation and those on the right know that to be fact.
Just enough truth in these descriptions to make it plausible to the average reader but more than enough lies to make the entire piece blatantly mischaracterized and monumentally FALSE.
yes, thank you
All I need to know about Bernie Sanders is from seeing who his supporters are. Whack-jobs, communists, punks and wasted remnants of humans without souls. Recently they’ve been attacking Trump supporters just for wearing a MAGA hat. Despicable Bernie supporters, despicable Bernie.
A rattlesnake is radical and needs killing.
I think we should all start referring to the worst of them as “radicalized Democrats”. The term simultaneously shames the radical and the party who creates them.
bookmark
NPC, types-itself, automated misinformation. Did not inspire me to read further.
bump
well, the D party was ‘radicalized’ in 2008 when SorozNazi largely took over the DNC....the party line is now Anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-morality, anti-UK, anti-muchofEurope.............
what is significant is that the Atlantic (a far leftist magazine) does occasionally publish articles with some truth content.....which is rare for leftist publications.....and they have a few very good writers, too.
But this article? Has some truth content ... BUT...... its 11 or 12 years late... ha!
This is just occurring to some people???????
Um, yeah. Not sure about "cultural resentments" unless the authors means the resentment I think a lot of people feel when their hard-earned money is used for causes they don't support. Populism means it is for the people, and nationalism means to stand up for one's own country. There is nothing wrong with either concept. On the other hand, to say one is against populism--that is, against the people--and against nationalism says a lot about the core values of socialism.
I hope the Reds (Dems) lose BIGLY in 2020.
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