I agree with this, if what you mean is that we need to elect a government that vigorously pursues democratic reform rather than just attempts to go back to the status quo. But I don't think that's a left-right issue. Magyar, despite being a conservative, appears (we'll see) to want to pursue that.
We can debate precisely where we are at the moment, but the U.S. is somewhere between the UK and Hungary in the state of our democracy, and the nature of our institutions mean that like Hungary, we'll need to win large majorities to ensure we remain democratic going forward.
The goals (and therefore strategies) of democratic actors on the left in functional democracies vs. competitive authoritarian regimes need to be different. Thus the difference in first-order/second-order concerns I point to in my response to Parker.
Thanks for clarifying. (And see my longer response to Parker). But I don't think you can compare Hungary to the UK. The latter was an electoral autocracy heavily stacked against the opposition. The Tory gov in the UK was bad but was subject to free and fair elections and independent institutions.
It just seems like winning large majorities to save, protect, and reform our democracy is first-order, and that requires a broad coalition that can agree on some basic principles, then push for their preferred outcomes on other (very important!) issues once that's secured.
Every country where the opposition has successfully done this has seen a broad-based opposition coalition. Hard pressed to think of any narrowly leftist party that has succeeded in doing so.
If the left wants to achieve its political goals, Democrats need to win very large majorities to roll back what's been done and make necessary democratic reforms to ensure free and fair democratic competition in the future. That requires a broad coalition that extends well beyond the left.
Ok. It just seems to me like an almost farcical example of the idea that the left prefers purity over actually wielding power (or even saving democracy).
Could you clarify your point? Are you saying that the opposition that just defeated an entrenched incumbent that had heavily stacked the deck against them and won a supermajority that can now roll back the antidemocratic moves of the last 15 years pursued a bad strategy?
My wife isn’t Jewish and we’re members of a Reform synagogue and our son just got his bar mitzvah date and literally no one there has ever remotely suggested we aren’t all full, valued members of the community
New Bright Line Watch report!
-Expert ratings of U.S. democracy largely stable at lowest levels measured (since 2017)
-Record partisan divide in public ratings of democracy driven by Republicans whose evaluations are highest since 2017
-Experts near-unanimous on many threats to democracy
🧵 below
Deadline for submission to the Boston/New England Area Working Group in African Political Economy (BWGAPE) at Harvard is March 27. Please apply! @nlnathan.bsky.social @evlieb.bsky.social @piaraffler.bsky.social @scrosenzweig.bsky.social @chinemeluokafor.bsky.social
Link:
forms.gle/7R9PkFWEZTc6...
Categories have 5 nominees. So your point is even stronger.
Nice example of prospect theory.
Goldman has been using his position to combat ICE abuses for many months, including before he got a primary challenger. You may think he should be primaried for other reasons, but he has been a consistent leader on this.
Or Afrin, if you don’t want it to keep you up
Sudafed always works for me. *Real* Sudafed (the kind being the counter at the pharmacy), of course
After years in academia, I’m exploring data science and research roles in industry.
I'm a quant. social scientist (PhD Yale ’24, NYU) focused on causal inference, experiments, and large-scale data.
Feel free to get in touch or share; all leads appreciated. dwstommes@gmail.com
🧵 I suspect that there are a lot of people out there, who are deeply troubled by the actions of ICE, but are also uncomfortable with the response of activists. One friend preferred the protests from the civil rights era. I pointed out that at the time, most mainstream white Americans disapproved...
Was just coming here to say this 😂
Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.
I miss Harry Reid
IN NEW ISSUE: Ethnic voting - @scrosenzweig.bsky.social examines the subject through the lens of group norms & social pressure using data from Africa. Read in more: buff.ly/YYogOYs
#polsci @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @uoypolitics.bsky.social @sagepub.com #polsci #poisky
I don’t think this is a real post
Nassau and Westchester are different, but Nassau D candidates ran behind 2024 results while Westchester candidates ran ahead in what’s generally been a Democratic wave election
That multiple NYS races show up on this list is a huge indictment of the New York Democratic Party. Lost all races in Nassau County, where candidates ran on their opposition to Mamdani, while just across the Sound in Westchester, Ken Jenkins—who did not—cruised to victory with 66% of the vote.
It’s a New York thing 😁
It's not in this article but the government asserts that the sandwich was thrown at "point blank range", which implies subway sandwiches have defined effective weapon ranges of varying lethality, and I would like to see the government's chart of these ranges.
I’m sure I’m not the first to say this, but I can’t see a photo of Bovino without thinking he’s Col. Lockjaw from One Battle After Another
