Post by @mattsheffield@mastodon.social

2026-10-30 02:26 UTC

Ever since the 90s, Democrats have been dominated by a consultant and pundit class that is often more libertarian than liberal (Matt Yglesias, David Shor, Ezra Klein...) which incorrectly believes that moving rightward on some stances brings votes. This belief is false because many voters don't choose their candidates based upon policy positions. If the "popularist" theory were true, Republicans would never win elections because Democrats have always had more popular positions.

Replies (3)

@not2b@sfba.social 2026-10-30 02:28

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social To get on the career paths these guys have been on, they had to start with connections and unpaid internships, something that is only available to those with wealthy families. That's why they think the way that they do.

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@mattsheffield@mastodon.social 2026-10-30 02:30

Let me pause briefly to say that if you would like the Patreon link to this analysis, you can use this URL: https://www.patreon.com/discoverflux/posts/standing-up-for-173809046 Some people only use Substack whereas some people don't want to use it. I am trying to make a living so try to make things accessible to everyone.

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@morgan@sfba.social 2026-10-30 05:35

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social that's pretty much the entire message of A Neoliberal's Manifesto, by Charles Peters, Sep 4, 1982, The Washington Post: https://coreyrobin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Charles-Peters-Neoliberalism.pdf It's astounding to read it in 2026, and realize how wrong things went, and how very illiberal neoliberalism has been. #TongueTwisters #PointLeftTurnRight

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