Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Friday, July 3, 2026

The Soul Of The Party

 Yglesias leads off his mailbag with a rumination on what the ascendancy of Democratic Socialists means for the Democratic Party. Martin Longman also writes about those writing about this issue. 

In Longman's piece he notes that Jon Chait is freaking out and Krugman isn't. Basically, Chait sees Socialism; Krugman sees Social Democracy. 

To me it's more that we have a lot of Democrats who are tired of the same old tired politics. They also feel betrayed by what they see as Biden and the party's hiding of his decline. So, they are looking for people who aren't the same old same old. It's not a good time to be a long serving Democratic incumbent in a safe district. 

I do think that on the policy issues, most people are generally aligned. We want more health care coverage; we want the rule of law to cover the powerful; we want America not to be a corrupt oligarchy; we want to stand with democracies; we want to stop supporting the Israeli military. 

A lot of it is vibes. It's always vibes. 

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