I have arguments with my otherwise well-intentioned friends about this all the time. They are so hopelessly progressive that they lose sight of the reality we find ourselves in, and have always been in.

It's unfortunate that you can't just parade out the *best* candidate, the one who shares all our values, and expect to win based on normalcy, and morals, and principles, and humanity, and compassion, in a country that lacks so much of all of that. It sucks. But it's real. So we have to swallow our pride and put aside our idealism, and realize that the only way the dems can succeed is if they think strategically, and put aside *some* of the loftier goals and platforms, in pursuit of the more pertinent goal of putting people in the positions to even start the *conversations* about achieving those loftier goals.

It's not fair. But it never has been. And progress is only slower than it already is if we don't comprehend the reality we live in and plan accordingly.


>RE: im moreso coming from the perspective of effectiveness
>given our current political/social landscape. im not
>imposing my own personal standards on her.
>
>if it were up to me...democrats would be a party of left wing
>authoritarians/secularists...who keep their foot on the necks
>of corporations...revere social programs/safety net like its
>our religion...shamelessly employ cynical politics that
>benefit/strengthen activists/minorities/unions as our
>political/organizational allies...and ruthlessly pursue
>methods to weaken the conservative movement and permanently
>lock them out of power at all levels of government. so aoc
>certainly hasnt done anything 'wrong' in my own eyes.
>
>but if she wants to be *effective/successful* at getting what
>she wants...she has to know how to survive the climate and
>master the environment shes working in.
>
>theres a reason why barack has to be barack but trump can
>simply be trump. why rachel maddow is a stanford/oxford alum
>and rhodes scholar but sean hannity is a college dropout.
>
>the bases are different. the expectations are different. the
>standards are different. the internal *and* external scrutiny
>is different.
>
>liberals are more educated, more analytical, more skeptical,
>less dogmatic/conforming, etc. so being accurate/competent
>matters to us 10x more than it does to the other side.
>
>look at the vast array of policy dialogue on the left.
>renewable energy, technological safeguards for privacy,
>countering racial extremism, criminal justice parity,
>healthcare efficiency, etc.
>
>on the right...its basically taxes are bad, put up a wall, and
>kiss a christmas tree lol.
>
>life is easier for a conservative politician. and thats even
>before tilting the playing field when you factor in race,
>gender, media preconception, etc.
>
>aoc needs to be acutely aware of all of this in order to
>effectively manipulate it.
>
>and you are right. liberals are responsible for eating our
>own. thats our reality. so we have to operate with that in
>mind.
>
>shit i *wish* for nothing more than lefties not holding our
>politicians to high personal standards and just voting them in
>to maintain power and execute a liberal agenda.
>
>ive been praying for a political hardening on the left since
>forever. just getting up and habitually voting d to further
>cement our power and hand out losses to regressive opponents
>and stack liberal policies on top of liberal policies. but we
>are a fickle party of pussies...the voters and the
>politicians. and operating based on how things *should* be
>will leave you vulnerable to the pitfalls of how things
>*are*.
>
>i feel like most of my debates on here with other liberals
>come off as me espousing my values when im really espousing
>our pragmatic reality and how to feasibly achieve our
>objective within that framework.
>
>you cant hack a system without first getting inside it and
>knowing how to disassemble the code.
>
>btw the reason the right is 'good' at setting the agenda is
>because the entire rightwing media apparatus is built to
>coordinate unified messaging and mainstream media is still run
>by old white millionaires/billionaires who are either
>conservative themselves or still susceptible to the same
>social cues targeted at their race/gender/class.
>