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Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by lizardking on Saturday December 14, 2019 @09:23AM (#21789624)
You don’t need to convince republicans, you need to convince moderates who can be persuaded to vote one way or the other in a given election. In the context of a general election, we’re talking about thousands of people in a handful of states. I’m struggling with how the idea of “condescension isn’t persuasive” is finding so much friction here.
Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by Zarath on Saturday December 14, 2019 @09:30AM (#21789653)
The democratic party still hasn't learned from their mistakes of the last election unfortunately.
Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by travisoneill1 on Saturday December 14, 2019 @09:52AM (#21789741)
The condescension isn't really coming from the democratic party. Mostly it's from their allies in the press. The democratic party probably knows what the problem is, but doesn't really know how to deal with it.
Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by Seanzie on Saturday December 14, 2019 @12:49PM (#21790835)
This reveals that it is possible to combine the Persuasion and Zero Sum methods that the poster above described: "Once I have persuaded 51% of voters to my view, I no longer need to care about your view."
Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by sgift on Saturday December 14, 2019 @12:56PM (#21790885)
The idea that moderates or "the center" would win an election just broke Labours back in UK. It's also what broke Clintons campaign in 2016. The left has a big enough voting base to win elections, what it lacks is motivating them to vote. The exact opposite of what happens when you water down your positions in search of "moderates".

Interestingly, right-wing parties understand this quite well. If they loose an election you never hear that they have to convince moderates. Instead they get even more radical.

Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by harimau777 on Saturday December 14, 2019 @09:40AM (#21789693)
The issue that I see is that due to the electoral college and gerrymandering, it can be difficult to win even if you can convince moderates.

The other issue is that many of the issues that progressives are concerned about (e.g. climate change, inequality, gun control) require action by society as a whole. Ideally we would negotiate and find policies that address the priorities of both progressives and conservatives. However, that doesn't currently seem to be possible.

Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by EricE on Saturday December 14, 2019 @10:24AM (#21789895)
> The issue that I see is that due to the electoral college

Please read the federalist papers.

Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by harimau777 on Saturday December 14, 2019 @05:28PM (#21792768)
Care to elaborate?
Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by Glide on Saturday December 14, 2019 @10:42AM (#21790020)
Because of the electoral college, voices are not wiped out and discounted entirely in this country.

I do not want the equivalent of a yellow vests movement happening here.

Gerrymandering is a huge issue, and it makes it so that moderates don’t have to exist because of safe districts.

The fundamental disagreement about priorities between the parties somehow turned into disagreement about facts in the past decade.

Re:What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code? by harimau777 on Saturday December 14, 2019 @05:35PM (#21792816)
I don't think the electoral college is an effective way to give everyone a voice because it creates a situation where some votes count more than others and it allows a minority of the population to hold the country hostage.

I believe that something like proportionate representation is a better solution. It would still allow minority populations (e.g. rural areas) to band together and get representatives elected that reflect their priorities. However, since the system is no longer winner takes all it promotes finding solutions via negotiation.