Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics

Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by maxxxxx on Thursday September 20, 2018 @10:39AM (#18032736)

Instead of tech maybe they should have a real message that appeals not only to upper middle class or tech millionaires. The 2016 campaign showed to me how out of touch the Democrats are with most of the country. Silicon Valley has even less of an idea what's going on outside their bubble. As long as they have such disdain for the working class they will keep losing. At least Obama had a message. That's something I don't see today.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by akhilcacharya on Thursday September 20, 2018 @11:22AM (#18033098)

A “disdain for the working class”? What, pray tell, might that be?

If the Democrats can gain 20+ seats in congress without a “message” I’ll count that as a success.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by wu-ikkyu on Thursday September 20, 2018 @11:27AM (#18033147)

>disdain for the working class”? What, pray tell, might that be?

Implicit support for corporate globalization which vastly diminishes the bargaining power of the working class.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by brookhaven_dude on Thursday September 20, 2018 @12:14PM (#18033546)

Disdain might come in a more subtle form, for example disdain for candidates like Bernie.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by maxxxxx on Thursday September 20, 2018 @11:33AM (#18033186)

A “disdain for the working class”? What, pray tell, might that be?

Calling people racist and bigots?

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by akhilcacharya on Thursday September 20, 2018 @11:45AM (#18033299)

There are lots of working class people that aren’t racists and bigots (and in terms of bigotry against people of color, many working class people are people of color) and everyone accepts that there are many elites that are racist and bigoted. I’m not sure where the “working class” comes into the equation here.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by maxxxxx on Thursday September 20, 2018 @11:54AM (#18033393)

I know plenty of liberal white collar people who immediately call someone who thinks about gun rights, has doubts about immigration or same sex marriage a racist and bigot. Independently of the merit of these opinions writing these people off is not a good idea.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by akhilcacharya on Thursday September 20, 2018 @12:12PM (#18033526)

Remember when Obama said that thing about clinging to guns and religion? He ended up winning Pennsylvania by 10 points! Don’t pretend this is a new phenomenon or that anybody actually cares that much about it.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by LyndsySimon on Thursday September 20, 2018 @07:18PM (#18036141)

> or that anybody actually cares that much about it.

I assure you, those of us for whom gun rights are a central issue - an issue of basic civil rights - care.

As it is, I have no particular love for the Republican Party, but I simply cannot see myself voting for a Democrat for state or national office given their history of voting as a bloc against gun rights.

Objectively, I have no idea if gun control is a net positive for the Democrats at a national level - but I'm confident that by branding themselves as the party of gun control they are driving away a large number of people who would otherwise be reachable.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by akhilcacharya on Friday September 21, 2018 @11:02PM (#18044217)

I don't even disagree with you - but given that Obama won ~53% and 51% of the vote (a higher vote share than anybody since HW Bush in '88) it's not as important as some would think.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by gaius on Thursday September 20, 2018 @11:48AM (#18033331)

Well, consider common terms like “flyover state” and “rust belt”. What do you suppose a person who talks like that really thinks about the people who live there?

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by akhilcacharya on Thursday September 20, 2018 @03:43PM (#18034963)

Those phrases have been used for decades. In the intervening years a Democrat has won the popular vote 6 times and the electoral vote 4 times.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by gaius on Friday September 21, 2018 @03:56AM (#18037968)

Coastal disdain for the middle has long been a thing yes. I suppose the modern difference is that when manufacturing was still onshore, no one cared what the coastal elites thought.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by akhilcacharya on Friday September 21, 2018 @11:46AM (#18040544)

Manufacturing has been going offshore since the ‘80s. Springsteen wrote albums about it! This isn’t a new phenomenon at all.

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Re:Inside a Failed Silicon Valley Attempt to Reinvent Politics by gaius on Thursday September 20, 2018 @10:51AM (#18032821)

At least Obama had a message. That's something I don't see today.

My man Bernie had a simple message: free healthcare and college education. And love him or loathe him so did Trump: build the wall. Clear, to the point, and instantly everyone knew what they were promising.

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