Can the Left save itself?

[BradStevens]

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson think so and argue how to do it in their new book. If you're on the Left, you should listen and hear some good stuff about the direction you should want the Dems to go. If you're on the Right, I bet you'll be surprised to hear some common ground you share with these two. If you're not either, you should listen and hear good ideas being discussed intelligently by people who don't agree about everything but can still have a productive conversation.

Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?

The Democrats desperately need a new vision. Two prominent liberal journalists are offering one.

www.thefp.com

 

[snarlcakes]

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson think so and argue how to do it in their new book. If you're on the Left, you should listen and hear some good stuff about the direction you should want the Dems to go. If you're on the Right, I bet you'll be surprised to hear some common ground you share with these two. If you're not either, you should listen and hear good ideas being discussed intelligently by people who don't agree about everything but can still have a productive conversation.

Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?

The Democrats desperately need a new vision. Two prominent liberal journalists are offering one.

www.thefp.com

View embedded media

The answer is probably not. Bitcoin solves almost the issues Ezra and Derek spoke of in the beginning. The world will continue to become more decentralized in the 21st century. The future is much smaller governments. Healthcare, housing, and cheap energy will all be solved through Bitcoin and innovation. Governments that don't adjust will see capital quickly flow out of their jurisdictions. The answer is the same as it's always been, human innovation will solve humans greatest issues, not governments and kings.

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson think so and argue how to do it in their new book. If you're on the Left, you should listen and hear some good stuff about the direction you should want the Dems to go. If you're on the Right, I bet you'll be surprised to hear some common ground you share with these two. If you're not either, you should listen and hear good ideas being discussed intelligently by people who don't agree about everything but can still have a productive conversation.

Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?

The Democrats desperately need a new vision. Two prominent liberal journalists are offering one.

www.thefp.com

View embedded media

I've got this book on my reading list. I don't know very much about Thompson, but I've always found Ezra Klein to be somebody worth reading and listening to. I'll try to give this podcast a listen in the next couple days. Appreciate the link.

One thing I know that has purchase on some parts of the left is YIMBY - basically the idea that blue jurisdictions (particularly urban ones) have become too restrictive to new land development...be it for housing or anything else.

While I certainly agree with them about this and wholeheartedly endorse it, it feels a bit like "Glasnost and Perestroika" to me. No, I'm not saying they're a bunch of commie Soviets. I'm saying that they're aware there's a problem that needs to be addressed, but that the problem goes deeper than the reformists realize -- such that their reforms, advisable as they are, end up being too little, too late. The problems are more fundamental.

I've had discussions about it...and, basically, their belief seems to be that if they can get more housing built, the problems plaguing urban America will largely be alleviated. People will stop leaving those areas, costs will come down, investment will flow in, crime will come down, budgets won't be stretched so thin, core services will be improved, etc.

If this movement was a stock, I'd be shorting it. And it's not because they aren't right that many of our urban centers (and states like CA and NY) need to relax development restrictions. They are. I just think they have bigger problems on their hands than they realize.

 

[BradStevens]

I've got this book on my reading list. I don't know very much about Thompson, but I've always found Ezra Klein to be somebody worth reading and listening to. I'll try to give this podcast a listen in the next couple days. Appreciate the link.

One thing I know that has purchase on some parts of the left is YIMBY - basically the idea that blue jurisdictions (particularly urban ones) have become too restrictive to new land development...be it for housing or anything else.

While I certainly agree with them about this and wholeheartedly endorse it, it feels a bit like "Glasnost and Perestroika" to me. No, I'm not saying they're a bunch of commie Soviets. I'm saying that they're aware there's a problem that needs to be addressed, but that the problem goes deeper than the reformists realize -- such that their reforms, advisable as they are, end up being too little, too late. The problems are more fundamental.

I've had discussions about it...and, basically, their belief seems to be that if they can get more housing built, the problems plaguing urban America will largely be alleviated. People will stop leaving those areas, costs will come down, investment will flow in, crime will come down, budgets won't be stretched so thin, core services will be improved, etc.

If this movement was a stock, I'd be shorting it. And it's not because they aren't right that many of our urban centers (and states like CA and NY) need to relax development restrictions. They are. I just think they have bigger problems on their hands than they realize.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thompsons podcast, Plain English, is really good.

 

[The Original Happy Goat]

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson think so and argue how to do it in their new book. If you're on the Left, you should listen and hear some good stuff about the direction you should want the Dems to go. If you're on the Right, I bet you'll be surprised to hear some common ground you share with these two. If you're not either, you should listen and hear good ideas being discussed intelligently by people who don't agree about everything but can still have a productive conversation.

Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?

The Democrats desperately need a new vision. Two prominent liberal journalists are offering one.

www.thefp.com

View embedded media

I don't have time to listen to this now, I'm just jumping in to bookmark it and remind myself to circle back around.

Sure would be great to see you start a thread that only required 10 minutes of background work instead of 90. 😁

 

[Univee2]

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson think so and argue how to do it in their new book. If you're on the Left, you should listen and hear some good stuff about the direction you should want the Dems to go. If you're on the Right, I bet you'll be surprised to hear some common ground you share with these two. If you're not either, you should listen and hear good ideas being discussed intelligently by people who don't agree about everything but can still have a productive conversation.

Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?

The Democrats desperately need a new vision. Two prominent liberal journalists are offering one.

www.thefp.com

View embedded media

No.

 

[TyWebbIU]

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson think so and argue how to do it in their new book. If you're on the Left, you should listen and hear some good stuff about the direction you should want the Dems to go. If you're on the Right, I bet you'll be surprised to hear some common ground you share with these two. If you're not either, you should listen and hear good ideas being discussed intelligently by people who don't agree about everything but can still have a productive conversation.

Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?

The Democrats desperately need a new vision. Two prominent liberal journalists are offering one.

www.thefp.com

View embedded media

It’s not where the Democrats party is headed currently. The answer is absolutely not right now. A lot will have to go right for them and wrong for Trump to have any shot over then next several presidential elections.

 

[Bowlmania]

It’s not where the Democrats party is headed currently. The answer is absolutely not right now. A lot will have to go right for them and wrong for Trump to have any shot over then next several presidential elections.

 

[BradStevens]

I don't have time to listen to this now, I'm just jumping in to bookmark it and remind myself to circle back around.

Sure would be great to see you start a thread that only required 10 minutes of background work instead of 90. 😁

 

[iuwclurker]

I've got this book on my reading list. I don't know very much about Thompson, but I've always found Ezra Klein to be somebody worth reading and listening to. I'll try to give this podcast a listen in the next couple days. Appreciate the link.

One thing I know that has purchase on some parts of the left is YIMBY - basically the idea that blue jurisdictions (particularly urban ones) have become too restrictive to new land development...be it for housing or anything else.

While I certainly agree with them about this and wholeheartedly endorse it, it feels a bit like "Glasnost and Perestroika" to me. No, I'm not saying they're a bunch of commie Soviets. I'm saying that they're aware there's a problem that needs to be addressed, but that the problem goes deeper than the reformists realize -- such that their reforms, advisable as they are, end up being too little, too late. The problems are more fundamental.

I've had discussions about it...and, basically, their belief seems to be that if they can get more housing built, the problems plaguing urban America will largely be alleviated. People will stop leaving those areas, costs will come down, investment will flow in, crime will come down, budgets won't be stretched so thin, core services will be improved, etc.

If this movement was a stock, I'd be shorting it. And it's not because they aren't right that many of our urban centers (and states like CA and NY) need to relax development restrictions. They are. I just think they have bigger problems on their hands than they realize.

The basic absurdity of American politics is that the “people’s party” doesn’t dominate. The only logical explanation is that there is no party actually representing the majority of people on pocketbook issues.

Klein and Thompson ought to focus their abundance on that. More housing is great if more people can afford to buy them.

 

[bailey777]

It’s not where the Democrats party is headed currently. The answer is absolutely not right now. A lot will have to go right for them and wrong for Trump to have any shot over then next several presidential elections.

They will have to moderate but right now they don't seem interested in that.

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

More housing is great if more people can afford to buy them.

This is quite a comment.

 

[JamieDimonsBalls]

I’ll be trying to listen to the podcast soon. For now…

Hapless anti-Musk activist sets himself on fire after attacking South Carolina Tesla charging station with Molotov cocktails

The would-be vigilante also spray-painted “f–k Trump,” and “long live the Ukraine,” in red on the pavement next to the charging stations near an outlet mall in North C…

nypost.com

 

[Baller23Boogie]

I’ll be trying to listen to the podcast soon. For now…

View embedded media

Hapless anti-Musk activist sets himself on fire after attacking South Carolina Tesla charging station with Molotov cocktails

The would-be vigilante also spray-painted “f–k Trump,” and “long live the Ukraine,” in red on the pavement next to the charging stations near an outlet mall in North C…

nypost.com

Good ole' natural selection strikes again.

Well deserved.

 

[NPT]

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson think so and argue how to do it in their new book. If you're on the Left, you should listen and hear some good stuff about the direction you should want the Dems to go. If you're on the Right, I bet you'll be surprised to hear some common ground you share with these two. If you're not either, you should listen and hear good ideas being discussed intelligently by people who don't agree about everything but can still have a productive conversation.

Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?

The Democrats desperately need a new vision. Two prominent liberal journalists are offering one.

www.thefp.com

View embedded media

My short answer to that is that the Republicans will save them.

 

[TyWebbIU]

As I said, f@ck off.

 

[Bowlmania]

As I said, f@ck off.

 

[TyWebbIU]

F@ck off.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson think so and argue how to do it in their new book. If you're on the Left, you should listen and hear some good stuff about the direction you should want the Dems to go. If you're on the Right, I bet you'll be surprised to hear some common ground you share with these two. If you're not either, you should listen and hear good ideas being discussed intelligently by people who don't agree about everything but can still have a productive conversation.

Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?

The Democrats desperately need a new vision. Two prominent liberal journalists are offering one.

www.thefp.com

View embedded media

No.

The left’s DNA is to tear down and destroy the status quo, not to build enduring things. This has been true since at least the French Revolution.

 

[BradStevens]

No.

The left’s DNA is to tear down and destroy the status quo, not to build enduring things. This has been true since at least the French Revolution.

The current administration is doing a pretty good job tearing down and destroying the status quo, too. And you've praised that.

Comparing the left in revolutionary France circa 1790 and the left in the US in 2025 is not very useful.

 

[mcmurtry66]

No.

The left’s DNA is to tear down and destroy the status quo, not to build enduring things. This has been true since at least the French Revolution.

Brake coh BRAKE!!!!! We’re watching a complete tear down in real time

 

[snarlcakes]

No.

The left’s DNA is to tear down and destroy the status quo, not to build enduring things. This has been true since at least the French Revolution.

You're my animal spirit Professor.

 

[BradStevens]

You're my animal spirit Professor.

Fiat money is the status quo, bruv.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Brake coh BRAKE!!!!! We’re watching a complete tear down in real time

Excising warts, tumors, and parasites is not a tear down.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Comparing the left in revolutionary France circa 1790 and the left in the US in 2025 is not very useful.

I don’t think the left has changed very much.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

The current administration is doing a pretty good job tearing down and destroying the status quo, too. And you've praised that.

Excising warts, tumors, and parasites is not a tear down.

 

[bailey777]

The dems main voting block now is white women with degrees and these are not moderates. These are the wokest of the woke. No way dems can pivot. I'm guessing most of then are now scrambling to sell their tesla's before they have a mental breakdown.

 

[BradStevens]

Excising warts, tumors, and parasites is not a tear down.

Pretty sure the Jacobins would have said the same about the French monarchy and church.

 

[mrhighlife]

My short answer to that is that the Republicans will save them.

They just removed a story about Jackie Robinson's military service from the DODs website. I'd say they are extending the olive branch nicely to the hapless Dems.

 

[Bowlmania]

They just removed a story about Jackie Robinson's military service from the DODs website. I'd say they are extending the olive branch nicely to the hapless Dems.

Jackie Robinson military history webpage removed by Department of Defense amid DEI overhaul

Robinson trained as an officer and was assigned to a tank regiment during World War II.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[iuwclurker]

I’ll be trying to listen to the podcast soon. For now…

View embedded media

Hapless anti-Musk activist sets himself on fire after attacking South Carolina Tesla charging station with Molotov cocktails

The would-be vigilante also spray-painted “f–k Trump,” and “long live the Ukraine,” in red on the pavement next to the charging stations near an outlet mall in North C…

nypost.com

That’ll teach him to light his Molotov cocktails with a joint.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Pretty sure the Jacobins would have said the same about the French monarchy and church.

Their motive was to destroy the host. Not make it better.

 

[hoot1]

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson think so and argue how to do it in their new book. If you're on the Left, you should listen and hear some good stuff about the direction you should want the Dems to go. If you're on the Right, I bet you'll be surprised to hear some common ground you share with these two. If you're not either, you should listen and hear good ideas being discussed intelligently by people who don't agree about everything but can still have a productive conversation.

Can Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Save the Left From Itself?

The Democrats desperately need a new vision. Two prominent liberal journalists are offering one.

www.thefp.com

View embedded media

If you can judge the future from the past the Dems have time on their side as the pendulum swings back and forth between the parties.

Why does happen?

One explanation is the winning party once in control over time never quite lives up to the voter's expectations.

Just the theme Make America Great Again along with all the promises made by the Trump campaign adds up to a bundle of expectations which will be difficult to achieve. On top of this, the unorthodox DOGE approach along with newcomers to governing will have both successes and failures.

Thus, the Dems can sit back along with the populace and simply provide a commentary on a better way to deal with the problems than the Republicans are doing.

On the other hand, if the Pubs don't disappoint, the pendulum may take a long time to swing back.

Somewhere in all this, we should remind ourselves that unexpected consequences in foreign affairs or the economy can make life miserable for those in charge.

 

[iuwclurker]

If you can judge the future from the past the Dems have time on their side as the pendulum swings back and forth between the parties.

Why does happen?

One explanation is the winning party once in control over time never quite lives up to the voter's expectations.

Just the theme Make America Great Again along with all the promises made by the Trump campaign adds up to a bundle of expectations which will be difficult to achieve. On top of this, the unorthodox DOGE approach along with newcomers to governing will have both successes and failures.

Thus, the Dems can sit back along with the populace and simply provide a commentary on a better way to deal with the problems than the Republicans are doing.

On the other hand, if the Pubs don't disappoint, the pendulum may take a long time to swing back.

Somewhere in all this, we should remind ourselves that unexpected consequences in foreign affairs or the economy can make life miserable for those in charge.

Ego Man has started his new term as a turbo-charged Lame Duck in all senses of the term, right down to executing a gazillion pardons, which is usually saved for the final days.

He has nothing to lose. He’s in the rare position of having had four years to think about how to go about achieving his goals, the second time around. Even during his first term you saw him transitioning from taking advice to being his own advisor.

He’s also the double-down queen. If things don’t go his way at first, he’ll simply double down and triple down, and quadruple down. If the economy doesn’t get better, he’ll double down on tariffs.

The odds are, the US will look markedly different in four years. For better or worse.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

If you can judge the future from the past the Dems have time on their side as the pendulum swings back and forth between the parties.

Why does happen?

One explanation is the winning party once in control over time never quite lives up to the voter's expectations.

Just the theme Make America Great Again along with all the promises made by the Trump campaign adds up to a bundle of expectations which will be difficult to achieve. On top of this, the unorthodox DOGE approach along with newcomers to governing will have both successes and failures.

Thus, the Dems can sit back along with the populace and simply provide a commentary on a better way to deal with the problems than the Republicans are doing.

On the other hand, if the Pubs don't disappoint, the pendulum may take a long time to swing back.

Somewhere in all this, we should remind ourselves that unexpected consequences in foreign affairs or the economy can make life miserable for those in charge.

I dunno. I sense a tectonic paradigm shift bigger than a pendulum swing. The disgusting ongoing firebombings and violence directed at an electric car company demonstrates for all to see that the Democrat moral preening and virtue signaling was all a disingenuous act. The steadfast defense of biological men in womens sports shows the womens rights is only theater.

The days of presumed leftist moral superiority are over.

 

[iuwclurker]

I dunno. I sense a tectonic paradigm shift bigger than a pendulum swing. The disgusting ongoing firebombings and violence directed at an electric car company demonstrates for all to see that the Democrat moral preening and virtue signaling was all a disingenuous act. The steadfast defense of biological men in womens sports shows the womens rights is only theater.

The days of presumed leftist moral superiority are over.

Or simply: You shock the world, it shocks you back.

 

[HurryingHoosiers]

I dunno. I sense a tectonic paradigm shift bigger than a pendulum swing. The disgusting ongoing firebombings and violence directed at an electric car company demonstrates for all to see that the Democrat moral preening and virtue signaling was all a disingenuous act. The steadfast defense of biological men in womens sports shows the womens rights is only theater.

The days of presumed leftist moral superiority are over.

For this generation, the left will be morally superior to the party that voted in Trump. I don't see anything they could do to top that level of moral decrepitude

I remember when pubs were pretending to be morally superior during Clinton's scandal.. Of course, Newt Gingrich was banging his own side chick (a staffer at that) which is rather ironic.

 

[mcmurtry66]

For this generation, the left will be morally superior to the party that voted in Trump. I don't see anything they could do to top that level of moral decrepitude

I remember when pubs were pretending to be morally superior during Clinton's scandal.. Of course, Newt Gingrich was banging his own side chick (a staffer at that) which is rather ironic.

Bwahahahaha the left created the largest fraud in American presidential history. On morals this generation of left reps are totally bankrupt

Dumb liars. That’s why they lost at every level

New book to detail ‘cover-up’ of Biden’s health decline before 2024 election

Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson will focus on president’s ‘self-delusional’ decision to seek re-election

www.theguardian.com

 

[BradStevens]

Their motive was to destroy the host. Not make it better.

No, they wanted to make the nation better. They considered the church and the monarchy leaches on that host. They were right.

 

[hoot1]

I dunno. I sense a tectonic paradigm shift bigger than a pendulum swing. The disgusting ongoing firebombings and violence directed at an electric car company demonstrates for all to see that the Democrat moral preening and virtue signaling was all a disingenuous act. The steadfast defense of biological men in womens sports shows the womens rights is only theater.

The days of presumed leftist moral superiority are over.

CoH. having a hard time about the left having a superiority on the subject of morality.

The left may have claimed this when the topic was civil rights, just as the right took the moral high road on abortion.

From my perspective, the right has more than held their own in terms of morality.