Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's bestselling new book Abundance has kicked off a new political movement — and a vigorous internal debate on the future of the Democratic Party.
You want state capacity when your team is in charge. And yet you are appalled by what a strong state does when a different team is in charge. Think about that.
Trump is not a strong state. He’s actually quite weak in terms of getting actual laws passed. But he has cowed the GOP to the point that he can simply ignore the law altogether.
People on the right called Obama a cult and yet he still couldn’t get Ben Nelson or Joe Lieberman to support a public option. Nor did he rampage against candidates in primaries like Trump did with Liz Cheney, Jeff Flake and many others.
He even had the good sense not to put RFK Jr in the cabinet.
I read that the inflation rate is lower in Red states than in Blue states. This makes perfect sense given Blue state policies of higher tax, higher regulation vs Red state policies of lower tax, lower regulation.
The reality I see is the Democratic party does not believe in the "public good" and there is no serious discussion / accountability in America about the "public good". Consider what would be the highest priority "public goods" and what the Democratic party delivers:
(1) Education: Blue city public schools are disasters that utterly fail to education children
(2) Electricity: Democratic policies yield higher prices and less reliability.
(3) Economic opportunity: Democratic policies raise costs and barriers to economic growth
For many decades the Democratic party has been the party of "No". This interview illustrates the party dissonance. The partisan anger of party enthusiasts makes them blind to the consequence of the policies their party advocates - the knee jerk, blame Republicans mindset prevents the party from recognizing it is Democratic party policies that have failed and are failing.
As Democratic party policies cannot deliver what the party promises they resort to lying. One of these lies is that solar power is getting more affordable. Really? Then why are my electricity bills increasing 20% this year? Democrats have no answer. They simply cover their eyes and ears and repeat slogans, refusing to recognize reality as it actually exists.
As the meme goes, if "green energy" is so great, why are my electricity bills higher than ever before? Unless the Democratic party can accept their ideology on "green energy" is fatally flawed, I don't see them supporting any policy of actual "Abundance".
This “our democracy” stuff is marketing targeting people like you.
It’s certainly true that the Democratic Party doesn’t act like Trump is a threat to democracy. They act like their primary interest is winning elections and fundraising, and Trump helps with both. If he wins that sucks but doesn’t really matter, in fact it’s good for the fundraising (rage donations and clickbait).
It was the same with Covid in a lot of ways. They were all breaking Covid rules while enforcing them on others.
So the “our democracy” stuff is marketing script for way too political larping boomers.
Democracy is about buying votes as cheap as possible so there is enough surplus left over for politicians to make some money off the game. Sometimes buying votes is expensive, you have to for instance give constituents sinecures or handouts. But sometimes you can just give them vibes and keep the money! That’s what this “our democracy” stuff is, and you’re the chumps.
Having lived in a lot of democratic areas the reason they can’t build is not because 23 year old college grads are in charge or they don’t know what a zoning reg is. It’s because these areas are run by urban machine politics. If building is worth $X and costs $y, where $x > $y, then politicians will find a way to capture $x - $y = $z and spend it. They will spend it buying off constituents (the building must be done by union labor) or soliciting bribes (campaign donations, sinecures).
The people they buy off are in fact less a bunch of chumps than you, they at least get paid for their votes.
So there is no surplus left by the time that process is over, in fact sometimes being politicians they cannabilize existing capital too.
The political process in these areas has never been less competitive. The demographics are a lot worse than they were a generation ago. There is no silent majority of middle class normies that is going to drive people out for bad performance. Those people all moved to the burbs and voted Republican long ago.
What’s left in the city are public sector unions, ethnic lobbies, and culture war liberals. They are also disproportionately single and childless, which does not select for people that prize normie politics.
In 2000, Maryland had some of the lowest electricity rates in the country as the state subsidized the market and especially the operation of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant. The state then reduced its subsidies and reduced the production of Calvert Cliffs and electricity rates more than doubled.
In the past several years the Democratic party officials in Maryland applied their heavy hand to Maryland electricity market. They shuttered more power plants and subsidized massive solar farms. The result? Maryland electricity are the highest they have ever been and will increase 20% this year, and Maryland risks brownouts due to the lack of electricity production.
The pre-2000 Maryland electricity market was an example of state managed abundance. The 2002 - 2020 Maryland electricity market was an example of softer regulation supported by free-market principles. The post 2020 Maryland electricity market is an example of state managed scarcity - the worse of all possible policies.
State managed scarcity has become the preferred policy of the American Democratic party. Oh how I wish the Democratic party supported abundance. Oh how I wish the Democratic party could embrace the spirit of the Tennessee Valley Authority and make it a priority to supply Americans with abundant, inexpensive electricity. I don't see that happening. The American Democratic party has been taken over by ideologues who are intrinsically opposed to Americans having an abundance of anything other than Progressive / Marxist propaganda.
Times change. Some of us are old enough to remember when Bill Clinton was seen as a lightweight who had no chance against George HW Bush. There was even a movement to draft Mario Cuomo.
Even if it’s hopeless there need to be Abundance Republican primary challengers in red states, as well as Abundance Democrats in blue ones.
Also fwiw where I live the people who seem normal are mostly Latinos.
The abundance republicans are already in charge. They build and people move to the red states.
You want state capacity when your team is in charge. And yet you are appalled by what a strong state does when a different team is in charge. Think about that.
Trump is not a strong state. He’s actually quite weak in terms of getting actual laws passed. But he has cowed the GOP to the point that he can simply ignore the law altogether.
People on the right called Obama a cult and yet he still couldn’t get Ben Nelson or Joe Lieberman to support a public option. Nor did he rampage against candidates in primaries like Trump did with Liz Cheney, Jeff Flake and many others.
He even had the good sense not to put RFK Jr in the cabinet.
I read that the inflation rate is lower in Red states than in Blue states. This makes perfect sense given Blue state policies of higher tax, higher regulation vs Red state policies of lower tax, lower regulation.
The reality I see is the Democratic party does not believe in the "public good" and there is no serious discussion / accountability in America about the "public good". Consider what would be the highest priority "public goods" and what the Democratic party delivers:
(1) Education: Blue city public schools are disasters that utterly fail to education children
(2) Electricity: Democratic policies yield higher prices and less reliability.
(3) Economic opportunity: Democratic policies raise costs and barriers to economic growth
(4) Housing: Democratic policies reducing housing choices and increase housing costs
For many decades the Democratic party has been the party of "No". This interview illustrates the party dissonance. The partisan anger of party enthusiasts makes them blind to the consequence of the policies their party advocates - the knee jerk, blame Republicans mindset prevents the party from recognizing it is Democratic party policies that have failed and are failing.
As Democratic party policies cannot deliver what the party promises they resort to lying. One of these lies is that solar power is getting more affordable. Really? Then why are my electricity bills increasing 20% this year? Democrats have no answer. They simply cover their eyes and ears and repeat slogans, refusing to recognize reality as it actually exists.
As the meme goes, if "green energy" is so great, why are my electricity bills higher than ever before? Unless the Democratic party can accept their ideology on "green energy" is fatally flawed, I don't see them supporting any policy of actual "Abundance".
This “our democracy” stuff is marketing targeting people like you.
It’s certainly true that the Democratic Party doesn’t act like Trump is a threat to democracy. They act like their primary interest is winning elections and fundraising, and Trump helps with both. If he wins that sucks but doesn’t really matter, in fact it’s good for the fundraising (rage donations and clickbait).
It was the same with Covid in a lot of ways. They were all breaking Covid rules while enforcing them on others.
So the “our democracy” stuff is marketing script for way too political larping boomers.
Democracy is about buying votes as cheap as possible so there is enough surplus left over for politicians to make some money off the game. Sometimes buying votes is expensive, you have to for instance give constituents sinecures or handouts. But sometimes you can just give them vibes and keep the money! That’s what this “our democracy” stuff is, and you’re the chumps.
Having lived in a lot of democratic areas the reason they can’t build is not because 23 year old college grads are in charge or they don’t know what a zoning reg is. It’s because these areas are run by urban machine politics. If building is worth $X and costs $y, where $x > $y, then politicians will find a way to capture $x - $y = $z and spend it. They will spend it buying off constituents (the building must be done by union labor) or soliciting bribes (campaign donations, sinecures).
The people they buy off are in fact less a bunch of chumps than you, they at least get paid for their votes.
So there is no surplus left by the time that process is over, in fact sometimes being politicians they cannabilize existing capital too.
The political process in these areas has never been less competitive. The demographics are a lot worse than they were a generation ago. There is no silent majority of middle class normies that is going to drive people out for bad performance. Those people all moved to the burbs and voted Republican long ago.
What’s left in the city are public sector unions, ethnic lobbies, and culture war liberals. They are also disproportionately single and childless, which does not select for people that prize normie politics.
Brink,
In 2000, Maryland had some of the lowest electricity rates in the country as the state subsidized the market and especially the operation of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant. The state then reduced its subsidies and reduced the production of Calvert Cliffs and electricity rates more than doubled.
In the past several years the Democratic party officials in Maryland applied their heavy hand to Maryland electricity market. They shuttered more power plants and subsidized massive solar farms. The result? Maryland electricity are the highest they have ever been and will increase 20% this year, and Maryland risks brownouts due to the lack of electricity production.
The pre-2000 Maryland electricity market was an example of state managed abundance. The 2002 - 2020 Maryland electricity market was an example of softer regulation supported by free-market principles. The post 2020 Maryland electricity market is an example of state managed scarcity - the worse of all possible policies.
State managed scarcity has become the preferred policy of the American Democratic party. Oh how I wish the Democratic party supported abundance. Oh how I wish the Democratic party could embrace the spirit of the Tennessee Valley Authority and make it a priority to supply Americans with abundant, inexpensive electricity. I don't see that happening. The American Democratic party has been taken over by ideologues who are intrinsically opposed to Americans having an abundance of anything other than Progressive / Marxist propaganda.
Times change. Some of us are old enough to remember when Bill Clinton was seen as a lightweight who had no chance against George HW Bush. There was even a movement to draft Mario Cuomo.