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I think that the “branding” that was done (intentionally and unintentionally) in the late 1800s and early 1900s was remarkably effective and powerful.
You'd need to elaborate on what this branding actually was, but no, I don't think that any branding done 100+ years ago has much bearing on the developments of the present.
I am not really talking about political parties. More ideology.
Back to the “change” branding: most people intuitively grasp that while change MAY be good, it’s sometimes bad. (Think of someone who was just diagnosed with cancer). That fact somewhat lessens the value of having the “change-agent” position.
And again, if a place has suffered horrible conditions for decades, then “change” has huge value, as a brand. But that hasn’t been the Western condition for most of the last century.
This is where your attempt at taking the relative longview is erring. The perceived (and real) increase in economic inequality and decline in upward mobility that has been documented over recent decades is what has led to today's resurgence in populism, whether of the left-wing or right-wing variety. It's a phenomenon produced much more by recent events (and not just in the United States, obviously) as opposed to any supposed 'branding' done during Gilded Age times
I’m simply saying the left had not won the “nice side” brand in 1875. (Or even by 1900). By the 1920s, it had. (The second incarnation of the KKK, in the teens and 1920s, had largely lost its original “leftist” image).
A note about the idea that the left’s winning brand is “tolerance and acceptance”: those two qualities actually point the way to the true, main brand, which is niceness. The left has tolerance and acceptance BECAUSE those are “nice” things. And the left is the nice, kind side. (Again, the truth or falseness of this is moot).
Back in the early 1900s, the 'left' had a true socialist element to it--look up Eugene Debs' presidential candidacies in that time--he won something like 6% of the vote the one year as a socialist candidate. Simultaneously militant and 'nice', socialism, but perhaps more perceived as 'militant' in the popular imagination/for branding purposes. My point here is I'm not sure if you can pinpoint when exactly the 'left' became conflated with the Democratic party--that might be your first objective here. I'd associate 'niceness' and obviously progressiveness with FDR and the New Deal for example (occurring a bit after your seemingly arbitrary 1920 turning point), but the Democratic party for years had 'the Solid South' as a significant faction, which was not 'the left' in any sense of the term. So I mean, I'm not really convinced you can reasonably assert that 'the left' was established as nice by 1920, but not before then, and that it has retained that 'brand' continuously for the past 100 years. I'm not sure people really thought in those terms (to the extent that they even do now) until perhaps the Civil Rights era onward....
Well... aren't you the smartest kid in the class. Thanks
Grammar police, lol.
Yet ironically it was you who implied that a previous poster with whom you disagreed must be impaired in some way. If you're going to do that, you might want to present your own best self, so to speak.
You obviously haven't been to Kentucky during an election campaign. I'm Democrat and always have been. I have posted on my FB page that I don't care how you vote or your feelings on politics, but I'll back you 100% for saying how you feel. "The way I look at it, I know how I feel and know you're not going to change my mind, and I know I'm not going to change yours. So why can't we all get along". Then the conservative millennials jump in, calling anybody who doesn't believe as they do hillbillies, rednecks, and a few other names I won't post. I just don't see what good that does. I even had a lady tell me if I wasn't voting for Trump (never in a billion eons) that I would rot in Hell. I just laughed and walked off.
Your experience is the same as mine, except due to regional differences it's '*******s' and, well, probably a couple of the same names you didn't want to post. If people take issue with the sincerity or sufficiency of the left's effort at tolerance, well, at least an effort is being made.
There is ABSOLUTELY no question that the Right as presently constituted is the greater of two evils, and glaring lack of civility/niceness is one component of that.
To believe that there is any difference at all between left and right is pure nonsense. It's all phony advertising for the masses. In the end they all believe in the same thing. Power, money and the accumulation of personal wealth while the rest of us get poorer and poorer.
More like winning cheerleaders
Also known as the media
When 99.9999999% of the media
Votes one party - of course theirs
Going to be corrupt or bias reporting
In favor of who they like
And contempt for the other party
If you polled first graders who would they like
For president. Trump or Santa Claus
They would overwhelmingly choose Santa Claus
Every 4 yrs the Democrat candidates plays
Santa Claus - wants to give this and give that
Of course they will appear nicer - than a republican
That is fiscally conservative
Democrats have a feel good platform - that’s
Why most college kids lean left ... but once they
Get older start working being more responsible
Then many start leaning right
Leftism is the politics of Pessimism, and Failure with big, controlling Government always the solution. However, today it has taken over the Media, Education, Tech, Social Media, most of Corporate America and Government. It sells its lies by repeating them from every angle imaginable and is very successful at it. Only, the inevitable societal failure and meltdown will reverse it.
What would the dems do without misplaced outrage over EVERYTHING?
The party of the chronic bit*h and moan
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Thanks
