1d ago

Democrats Are in Crisis. Eat-the-Rich Populism Is the Only Answer.

www.nytimes.com nytimes.com

New York Times gift articles @sopuli.xyz

www.nytimes.com /2025/09/29/opinion/democrats-dan-osborne.html

23 1

60 comments

NYT? is that the same NYT that was telling Democrats for decades that the only reason they aren't winning is because they aren't Republican enough?
OK, gift article, you have my attention...
...nah, it's just more of the same
edit: I was listening to a Cory Doctorow interview yesterday and he had some very interesting things to say and I was reminded of this article again. Talk was long, interesting and meandering, but this was one of the things that reminded me
- The moment I saw it was NYT, my eyebrows were raised.
  And yep. It's the same BS.
- Thank you for the TL:DR flavor text.

🔫 always has been
- NYT "Eat the Rich Populism": Angrily posting memes at a few select right-wing billionaires and a bunch of foreigners, particularly in China
  Actual "Eat the Rich Populism": Nationalizing critical infrastructure that's being horded by the billionaire class in the aggregate
  
  Pull up the societal ladders that allow people to become billionaires in the first place. Transferring a nations wealth from 5 pairs of hands to 10 pairs of hands once a generation is not a realistic long term governance
  
  Nationalizing? I hope you mean socializing

Oligarchy destroyed the social contract and forced nihilism amongst the youth. It's why the entire world is tilting authoritarian. Democrats need to pivot hard into proper wealth taxation otherwise things will only devolve further. It's a moral imperative at this point.
- Americans need to learn to differentiate between the vehicle and the driver. The democratic party will not affect change until the vast majority of it's sitting members are primaried.
  No need to fix an election when the rich own all the horses in the race.
  
  It would be nice if people under 50 showed up to the primary. Most incumbent wins are just old people using name recognition to "not rock the boat".
- Wealth taxation may be an important men's to an end, but in our discourse we need to emphasize more what benefits would be planned for the tax revenue.
  Reducing the wealth of greedy assholes is nice, but by itself only gets so far.
- Even in Canada they are they trying to enact patriot act style legislation to appease American companies... and there is not now, nor has there ever been, a terrorist justification for it.
- forced nihilism amongst the youth
  As they say, idle hands spend time at the genitals!

After FDR the establishment has done everything possible to prevent this.

Democrats are the crisis that they manufactured
- IMO people need to rally behind new progressive candidates and primary more than 50% of the sitting party in 2026. About 75% of the party are incompetent at best and complicit at worst.
  People need to look past the individual members of the progressive caucus like AOC and realize the monumental organization it took to get her elected.
  Republicans fix elections. Democrats fix primaries.
  
  Progressives need messaging and a concise platform. 'Fix housing, healthcare, inflation, immigration, monopolies, LGBT rights, income inequality, unemployment, gerrymandering, climate, education....' Everyone who's even capable of listening past 4 objectives knows they're not all going to happen and assumes that means they're all bullshit.
  I've really been liking "Tax wealth not work" but I'll take anything stronger than "return to normalcy."
  
  Progressives would naturally do better in elections if they didn’t have 2 parties spending billions of dollars to keep them out of power.
  
  It's a little beside the point, but:
  75% of the party are incompetent at best and complicit at worst.
  Compared to Republicans, where the number is practically 100%.
  
  We just need to agree to abandon the two party system. We’re supposed to be sending members of our communities to Congress, not members of a party
  
  Reform will never work, anyone challenging the current system will never be given any committees or positions of power within the party that threaten the existence the status quo

Man. FUCK the nyt.

Democrats have been discussing strategy since their loss in November. They’ve come up with use populist rhetoric for elections but stick to neoliberal policy.

Oh is it finally time to eat?

The comments section is closed with a pinned request of the author shocked he got backlash.
I wish I could follow up with this guy.

Nyt still doesn't get it.
https://archive.ph/YQO17

NYT Opinion column again

you need to stop using phrases like that, it’s going to be turned around on you like defund the police
- Message: Defund the police!
  Your response: stop using that phrase. It's not specific enough and too easily weaponized by the right.
  Message: reallocate police funding to mental health response teams. Transfer duties from the police to medical professionals.
  Your response: the left sucks at messaging. We need powerful slogans that capture the imagination, not wonkish policy positions.
  
  don’t ascribe fictional quotes to me, buddy
- Nah it’s a pretty clean message, we are going to consume all of their resources, and put up walls so high they can never accumulate that much again. Like God crumbling the tower of Babel.
  
  Also, whoever shot and murdered a healthcare CEO in cold blood last year got more praise from the general public than basically anything the Democratic party has done in the last ten years, so yeah, that comment seems pretty out of touch with public sentiment
  
  Mark my words, it will be turned around as an example of “leftist blood thirst”
- I’d probably eat the rich literally if it produced the right reaction: have a Martha Stewart style cooking show all about it: it would get great ratings!

60 comments