it is sort of interesting that these guys never suggest "moving to the center" on economics. if politics is, in fact, a mechanical triangulation game, you could move to the center by dropping stuff Noah Smith likes. - ThreadSky

walmsley.bsky.social • 2 days ago

it is sort of interesting that these guys never suggest "moving to the center" on economics. if politics is, in fact, a mechanical triangulation game, you could move to the center by dropping stuff Noah Smith likes.

Reposted from Josie Duffy Rice

"the only things dems need to cave on are race, gender, policing, and immigration" what kind of victory would this be

Comments

astro-egg-celnt.bsky.social•2 days ago

"No you don't get it!!! You aren't supposed to abandon MY important issues like free trade and building controversial apartment complexes! Those are important (unlike civil rights)!

dmnd.me•2 days ago

Yeah but if you did that he would probably admit that this wouldn’t actually attract any new votes

tiredgenerally.bsky.social•2 days ago

the people want price controls on eggs

bribleck.bsky.social•2 days ago

I have a simple theory to describe these guys: they’re assholes.

maiamindel.bsky.social•2 days ago

Like let's be for real "price controls on eggs" would swing more voters to the democrats than promising to send every transgender person who does something bad to Birkenau. If "but that'd be a bad idea with bad consequences" applies to eggs but not people you just have fucked up morals

dixreloaded.bsky.social•2 days ago

One of the most popular positions in the US is NIMBYism. I wonder if this guy thinks the Dems should be more NIMBY.

jmwallach.bsky.social•2 days ago

What's the harm, it is just politics?

unavaleable.bsky.social•2 days ago

also dems were basically always for normal policing reform lol

unavaleable.bsky.social•2 days ago

also DEI is in fact popular

nhashem.bsky.social•2 days ago

DEI outcomes are popular, DEI process is offensive. Everyone understands the problem if upper management is all white guys, but they resent any explicit action to do anything about it. You're just supposed to replace them with other people without talking about it.

nhashem.bsky.social•2 days ago

It's like dating advice, where attracting someone is appealing when it's all subtext, but you sound like a psychologically manipulative sociopath if you deconstruct and articulate what you did to present yourself as attractive.

lordkeynes42.bsky.social•2 days ago

Dei is mostly just not being racists or sexists or homophobic also

lordkeynes42.bsky.social•2 days ago

Like I get there is some insane dei in like education but that's not what 99% of all dei is

rod34gt.bsky.social•2 days ago

Noah thinks recruiting black engineers in the military is DEI he’s a deranged chauvinist

rod34gt.bsky.social•2 days ago

I first remember seeing him get blown out in a debate by a Chinese ultra nationalist just because the ultranationalist actually was read up in the subject matter

meelar.bsky.social•2 days ago

And it didn't achieve very much in terms of actually getting us decent police

walmsley.bsky.social•2 days ago

you do eventually get to a "well but they didn't shut the activists up" level with stuff like that, and I am not entirely opposed to that as a description of reality but, like, what do you want the Dems to do there

walmsley.bsky.social•2 days ago

fundamentally the problem is that when someone on the fringe left says that we need to Abolish The Police that counts as Dem messaging and when the press secretary of the DoD says that Leo Frank deserved it that's nothing

paperandairplanes.bsky.social•2 days ago

Very much this

walmsley.bsky.social•2 days ago

and that dynamic does not have 0 to do with Noah Smith and his ilk! every time you write a story about how Dems "need to moderate" in response to college protests, you make it harder for Dems to moderate

charlesxavier.bsky.social•2 days ago

If you think DEI is bad and we should instead just not be racist, what specific policies that the Dems support do you have an issue with?

No, not a sophomore from Oberlin, I mean Dem politicians.

charlesxavier.bsky.social•2 days ago

If you think policing is good and we should be funding the police more, what specific policies (etc., etc)

The man gets his entire image of Dems from the All-In podcast nowadays

oneoneder.bsky.social•2 days ago

Supporting tariffs is economics version of moving to the center, I think.

travisatkins.bsky.social•2 days ago

the center that… wants higher taxes?

energetic-nova.bsky.social•2 days ago

Usually selective because you are in competition. Like how my district produces Christmas trees and hates plastic trees from china

accidentalflyer.bsky.social•2 days ago

Not being racist means supporting DEI

davidjorgonson.bsky.social•2 days ago

Except people hate the higher prices from tariffs

mosheroperandi.bsky.social•2 days ago

That's why we also need to do price controls (triangulating)

amurmann.com•2 days ago

People love empty shelves

davidjorgonson.bsky.social•2 days ago

I feel like we should consider popularity of *results*

davidjorgonson.bsky.social•2 days ago

Price controls for a brief time before the election did work for Nixon

oneoneder.bsky.social•2 days ago

"Moving to the center" [adopting positions people hate] is also part of this tradition

davidjorgonson.bsky.social•2 days ago

Definitely a huge thing for self proclaimed moderates (plutocracy fans). The popularists are sometimes more actual public opinion sensitive.

davidjorgonson.bsky.social•2 days ago

Biden's version included some union and protectionist stuff that was probably his own preferences but raised prices

tjmarsden.bsky.social•2 days ago

Telling that someone pops up with a suggestion for some extra group to go under the bus and instead of 'this far and no further' its 'Oh OK one more as a treat'.

One might respectfully disagree with a clear position, but this guy is just triangulating ways to not be one of the people they come for.

walmsley.bsky.social•2 days ago

none of the pundits saying "move to the center" are willing to do even the second-level analysis of asking "where can you move to the center the most rhetorically with the least substantive concessions or harm to your coalition"

segyges.bsky.social•2 days ago

the answer here is policing by the way. anything that is not a reduction in gross budget is tough on crime if you pitch it that way. my personal opinion is we should boost pay and phase in to requiring a bachelor's.

segyges.bsky.social•2 days ago

half of them should have a bachelor's in social work.

segyges.bsky.social•2 days ago

really you can cram an entire social safety net under your law enforcement budget if you really want to

segyges.bsky.social•2 days ago

noah doesn't know what he is mad about regarding policing. has literally no fucking idea. you could chop normal cop salaries to zero and replace them with social workers you called cops and he wouldn't know.

energetic-nova.bsky.social•2 days ago

No matter what someone will be harmed. Culture war is one of the main reasons to vote democrat in the first place.

walmsley.bsky.social•2 days ago

tbh if you were to ask me I think I would suggest moving more populist than I think is correct on economics a long time before the culture war shit these guys hawk.

socrates80.bsky.social•2 days ago

Well tbf economics still tends to be dominated by white guys who are relatively conservative in outlook, so that kinda explains the provenance of folks like Noah Smith

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