Lion of the Blogosphere writes:
The future of U.S. politics, as seen in Silicon Valley
Most rich businesspeople can’t vote Republican because they are disgusted by the prole values that Republicans stand for. Anti-abortion? Anti-birth control? Anti-gay? Climate change deniers? No way are rich businesspeople who want to be part of polite society going to vote for that stuff. The Democrats are the only viable party to vote for. But why do the Democrats have to be so anti-business?
Well, as explained in a NY Times article, rich businesspeople in Silicon Valley are doing something about it. They are putting huge money behind Ro Khanna, a Democratic Indian lawyer who is mounting a primary challenge against the incumbent Michael Honda.
Honda is a Japanese-American Democrat of old-fashioned pro-poor liberal views.
Khanna “favors changes to tax policy suitable for a global economy, including ones that would make it easier for American companies to repatriate overseas profits without being taxed under certain conditions.”
In other words, multinational corporations who have been evading the spirit of the tax law by keeping their profits overseas should be given a tax holiday and rewarded for it. That’s exactly the stuff that Republicans traditionally support.
I skimmed this article, but didn't notice what LotB keyed in on: the priority in putting Khanna in the House is to the be point man for another massive rip off of the American taxpayers. (Here's my 2011 post on how Microsoft uses Puerto Rico, Ireland, and Singapore to avoid paying corporate income tax.)
Khanna is a patent lawyer, so no doubt he'll come in handy in intellectual property wars down the road, as well.
I think that as the Republicans become a Christian party that can only wins elections in Bible Belt states, we will see the Democratic Party split apart, into a pro-business SWPL/bobo wing, and another wing representing blacks and Hispanics
But the real future of politics is to have the best of both worlds: You're doing it for the diverse and the poor and it's going right into your bank account. Thus, for example, Mark Zuckerberg's class war on his employees is framed as being waged out of concern for the Dreamers living in the shadows etc etc. The real political genius will be the guy who figures out how to tie tax-free repatriation of tech profits in Puerto Rico into World War G/T.
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41 comments:
"But the real future of politics is to have the best of both worlds: You're doing it for the diverse and the poor and it's going right into your bank account."
What LotB misses is that you can help the diverse and the poor and make money and still be a Christian. So, as I suggested in my comment, the Christian Right could, in time, switch party affiliations with SWPL Dems.
Who is anti-birth control? This seems like a crazy charge. I've never heard any mainstream Republican take this position.
There is much less controversy about abortion than the media would have you believe. When I was kid in Catholic school things were different - but not now. Everyone on both sides of the aisle agree that abortion is OK if done early, to protect the mother's health, and in cases of rape or incest. Almost everyone is against abortion otherwise.
Watch the old Otto Preminger film "The Cardinal". Tom Tryon - the Cardinal to be - refuses to allow an abortion for his sister even though the doctor's assure him that childbirth will kill her - which it does. This was the official Catholic church's position on abortion not so long ago.
Who is anti-gay? Some people are anti-gay marriage but hardly anyone is actually anti-gay if by that you mean they think gays should be locked up or executed.
We are currently in the midst of a fifteen year hiatus of global warming. Who is the denier? There are over a hundred different climate models. I used to do math models for various government agencies. So I'm not particularly surprised that those models have almost universally been proven wrong. Predictions were made. Predictions have failed to come true.
This clown who presumes to call himself "The Lion of the Blogosphere" should change his name to "The Lion of the Straw Men". He a model of intolerance and closed mindedness.
Albertosaurus
"But why do the Democrats have to be so anti-business?"
What? Clinton and Nafta, Larry Summers and de-regulation, Democratic Party and globalization, Obama and Wall Street bail out, and etc.
Anti-business? Clinton changed all that--though Kennedy partly set it in motion in the early 60s with lowering of taxes on the superrich.
Something similar happened in 2012, when Eric Swalwell defeated old liberal Pete Stark.
http://gothamist.com/2014/02/06/ex-sac_hedge_fund_exec_guilty_of_27.php
Well, whoopie.
Albertosaurus, you sound strangely SWPL. Or maybe you are channeling David Brooks.
What's mainstream and what's not? Absolute numbers of people believing a certain thing?
Quite a few sane people I know are against abortion, and think homosexuality ought to go back in the happy box.
Is it just possible you have the dominant views of where you happen to live say? And assume they are universally true? And that people who have fundamentally different views of these things are undoubtedly benighted, and few in numbers?
Or what coincides with your views?
This is coming across as a little more antagonistic than I wanted, I am actually dispassionate about the whole thing.
But lots of people have made math models and put them in a computer and simulated things. So you aren't the only one.
I'm going to draw a comparison: how can you possibly believe in evolution, and cavalierly dismiss the HBD arguments? I doubt this is your position, but it is a pretty standard worldview.
Now if you do a bit of reading (as I'm sure you have) I don't see how you can possibly dismiss global warming. This is the parallel I am drawing.
If you want to go into the field of anecdote, I can tell you the hardiness zones have gone north, rainfall patterns have changed, I see different vegetation (or different varieties of dominant vegetation rather), weather is more noticeably variable...
And it's all in my lifetime.
Additionally I can see evidence of large scale ice structures, that have been in existence for tens of thousands of years in some cases disappearing.
Funny I've seen lots of models that are sure looking like they are on the right track. I don't know what you are looking at.
And as for political realignment...
Eh, I dunno. Kind of makes sense. I'm kind of starting to think Silicon Valley is more trouble than it's worth.
It attracts a bad crowd. Or maybe a myopic crowd, one that has that old Jefferson Airplane tune "Crown of Creation" blasting away on their ear buds. Realistically would I be worse off if Silicon Valley's action were done in China? You would be. But would I be?
Looking at American history, the electronic age has been pretty crappy. Done less for more people than any of the past ones.
"This clown who presumes to call himself "The Lion of the Blogosphere" should change his name to "The Lion of the Straw Men"."
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I don't think he necessarily agrees with Libs. I think he was telling it like how libs see the issues.
"Obama and Wall Street bail out"
TARP was initiated by the Bush administration. It's easy to assume Wall Street's been riding easy if you don't follow the industry closely. But Obama's pushed through Dodd-Frank which drastically increases regulation, Holder has relentlessly sued the big banks resulting in tens of billions in fines, and Treasury has drastically restricted the leverage that banks can take.
This is why the sizable majority of Wall Street money supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 election. Even though money was evenly split between the parties in previous elections. Without a doubt Republicans are much more beneficial for the finance industry than the socialist Obama party.
And don't forget guns.
Aristocrats maintained sole right to own guns in many societies. The masses could not be trusted with that stuff. Heck, they couldn't even be trusted with pitchforks.
And American neo-aristocrats don't want us unwashed masses to have guns. They want guns only in the institutions that they, as neo-aristocrats, control.
They say they wanna protect us from ourselves but they want to take away our guns to protect themselves from us.
I think that as the Republicans become a Christian party that can only wins elections in Bible Belt states, we will see the Democratic Party split apart, into a pro-business SWPL/bobo wing, and another wing representing blacks and Hispanics
Sure. They'd be outvoted 3-2 now, 5-3 in 10 years, and 2-1 in 20 years.
It's homeostatic equilibrium at work.
In deep blue areas, KKKrazy Glue loses its adhesive qualities, so the political center is readjusting.
But homeostatic equilibrium will also present in the deep red areas. You can already see it at work: Chamber Pot of Commerce vs Tea Party Movement.
Who is anti-birth control? This seems like a crazy charge. I've never heard any mainstream Republican take this position.
It's an idea that the popular media pushed during the last election, when Republicans were - quite specifically - against the mandate forcing Catholic businesses to offer contraception. The media turned this into "Republicans want to take away your birth control", and it has kind of stuck.
Everyone on both sides of the aisle agree that abortion is OK if done early, to protect the mother's health, and in cases of rape or incest.
Eh?! Have you ever spoken to a Christian?
This was the official Catholic church's position on abortion not so long ago.
It still is, son...
Who is anti-gay?
I don't know where you're living, but you should try getting out more. Plenty of Christians (like me) would love to see a Russia-style ban on homosexual propaganda, if not exactly prison sentences for sodomy.
This was the official Catholic church's position on abortion not so long ago.
It still is, son...
I'm surprised at Pat. He confuses the Church with the feelings its pew potatoes..he knows better than that.
But just holding to its position with no concession is enought to piss everyone off.
pat/Albertosaurus commented: "Watch the old Otto Preminger film 'The Cardinal'. Tom Tryon - the Cardinal to be - refuses to allow an abortion for his sister even though the doctor's assure him that childbirth will kill her - which it does. This was the official Catholic church's position on abortion not so long ago."
Apropos of nothing to do with this post's topic - or of anything in particular, really, but did you know that the late Tom Tryon was gay?
I used to live in SV, now 75 miles away on the coast. It is a certainty that the Indian kid is going to win.
Honda? Poor people? Old? Outta there.
"(Here's my 2011 post on how Microsoft uses Puerto Rico, Ireland, and Singapore to avoid paying corporate income tax.)"
Don't forget the "Dutch Sandwich" tax scheme involving Ireland and Holland. Many companies use that one as well.
anti-birth control? that's a new one.
"Who is anti-birth control?"
catholics. except when they vote democrat.
in fact, most democrat voters are christians. which is ok. anything is always ok as long as you vote D.
you have to admire how the left can create a smear out of thin air. for a while now it's been those despicable 'christians' who vote republican. now republicans are 'anti-birth control' too, when back in reality, it has been liberal puerto rican democrat sonya sotomayor who has attempted to strike some of the birth control language from PPACA via her place on the supreme court.
O.T: fighting segregation and inequality by moving black families into successful white neighborhood. What could possibly go wrong?
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/5/fighting-segregationinhousingtheresamapforthat.html
The above posts prove the point LTB was trying to make. An average person who supports the economic policies, of lets say Reagan, but who doesn't mind gay marriage and isn't opposed to abortion no longer feels comfortable, or as comfortable, referring himself to as a Repblican. Similarly positions take by some Republicans on racial issues, in general, make many non-whites, who would otherwise be sympathetic to Republicanism, uncomfortable. This make strike some as terrible, or as a general victory of the liberal agenda, but nonetheless these people would have to be brought back inside the republican party in order for it to win elections, outside of red states. Many conservative parties, outside America, just don't obssess about these social issues and consequently are in a much stronger position.
"Holder has relentlessly sued the big banks"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
thanks for the laugh.
the only thing that piece of $#!& does is look for racism under every rock. obama and holder's intellectual ability to engage any other topic is nearly nil. they demonstrate this over and over. even G-dub had a broader knowledge base and he was proudly ignorant of half the issues he had to work on.
unless the topic is racism and hating whitey, it is beyond obvious that obama and holder get all their 'ideas' from jewish intellectuals in the democrat party. in other words, they don't have any of their own ideas. they probably barely have an original thought at all. they are one track minds, any time they address some other topic than 'social justice', it's clear as day they are just being fed direct talking points from the jewish brainpower in their party, because they've never thought about any of those topics themselves, ever. in fact, almost all their ideas about social justice are from jewish intellectuals anyway.
listening to news stories about obama's plan for this, obama's plan for that, is so far beyond preposterous that it's hilarious. the news acts like he went into his chambers and read a dozen books, consulted reports from a dozen analysts, educated himself on the topic for a month, carefully considered the issue at length, then decided his plan.
LOL. yeah right! the guy didn't think about anything. it far exceeds the usual stupidity we have to endure from presidents, who think that after assuming office, they are idea guys. most people aren't idea guys, and almost no career politicians are in this day and age.
whenever the subject is something other than social justice, obama just goes to his intellectual superiors in the party and asks them what they have been thinking about that topic, then he runs with that. then the sequence is obama press conference, consider the issue settled, take no further action, then go back to doing nothing. golf, hoops, tax payer funded vacations. endless campaigning. when not on the road doing endless campaigning, sitting around all day not working, not thinking. he hates working, and never thinks about anything, other than when the next NBA game is on.
Thankfully Al Jazeera America is shedding cable carriage and won't be around much longer.
An average person who supports the economic policies, of lets say Reagan, but who doesn't mind gay marriage and isn't opposed to abortion no longer feels comfortable, or as comfortable, referring himself to as a Repblican.
Good. Stay where you are, in a Dem. state.
Similarly positions take by some Republicans on racial issues, in general, make many non-whites, who would otherwise be sympathetic to Republicanism, uncomfortable.
Tough luck for non-whites.
This make strike some as terrible, or as a general victory of the liberal agenda, but nonetheless these people would have to be brought back inside the republican party in order for it to win elections, outside of red states.
Not really. All the Repubs have to do is win Ohio, Colorado, North Carolina, Virgina, and maybe Florida in addition to reliably "Red" states to win a Presidential election
Many conservative parties, outside America, just don't obssess about these social issues and consequently are in a much stronger position.
Name some of those stronger foreign conservative parties.
Well yes, but....
Simply sailing through the drive-thru for some egg roles at Panda Express will not do.
Many conservative parties, outside America, just don't obssess about these social issues and consequently are in a much stronger position.
First, what conservative parties outside of America are in a much stronger position? I thought conservative parties, at least the major ones, were like the GOP in that they are not really conservative at all. What's the point of being a conservative party if you are like the GOP and are not really conservative?
As for social issues, why is it that the GOP gets labeled as obsessing over social issues? The democrats and their base are the ones who obsess. If you are an iSteve reader, you should know that because half the content of this site is Steve examining all the obsessions of the left over WWG, WWT, microagressions and God only knows what else.
The GOP base is not initiating the social issues conflict. They are responding. I find it interesting that, like in football, the side that responds is penalized. For example, if a guy in football delivers a hit after the whistle, he is generally not flagged. But if the guy he nailed hits him back, that guy invariably draws the flag.
The same is true on social issues. The GOP base is blamed for wasting our nation's time over 'gay marriage' when we are facing severe economic troubles. However, the people who put 'gay marriage' on the agenda get no such blame.
Think about it. For two thousand years we've lived without 'gay marriage'. Then around 15 to 20 years ago some group decided we needed 'gay marriage'. They fought for it through the courts, which then necessitated the response by the GOP base to hold ballot measures in the states. Sure it was a waste of time, but it was only an issue because the proponents of 'gay marriage' made it so. Without that select group, none of us would have ever had a notion about 'gay marriage'. They are the ones who fixated on a social issue.
So what is your solution? Should the GOP base have just sat back and let the other side dictate what is and what is not acceptable so long as our economy continued to grow? Where do you draw the line? Do you roll over for gun control? Do you roll over for immigration? Do you roll over for Obamacare? Do you let the other side tell you what words are or are not acceptable?
If all your are concerned about is economic growth, you are going to end up with what we have now. You will not have a nation, but rather an international flea market. And that flea market will be administered by people who obsess constantly over social issues and who will never be satisfied, no matter how many times you submit to them. Not opposing them only encourages them.
@ David D
1. I wasn't talking about me
2. Like it, or not, America is becoming less white. Even if Immigration stops tomorrow, which it won't, this will continue.
3. Iowa, Colorado and Virginia will most likely be democrat in 2016 but i'll give you Florida and North Carolina. Things will be worse after 2016
4. Australia. An anti-immigration, anti-union, anti-climate change party, with a conservative catholic leader just won a resounding victory with the promise to stop illegal
Immigration, improve conditions for business etc.
@ anonymous
If no parties anywhere are conservative enough for you then you are already in a minority and might as well give up.
That's how it seems to you but not how it seems to many independents. If the situation was that black people couldn't get married would you just say that because in the past it wasn't possible in the present any action to change this is unreasonable.
Yes you have to pick your battles ? Are you interested in winning or loosing with with pride.
The economy is not growing, how about focusing on changing that, reducing welfare etc not failing for ploys and being deliberately drawn into making crazy comments.
I am not even saying that views have to change, just the emphasis. Without actually changing anything the latest Pope has managed to drastically change the image of the catholic church.
If you are not in power soon things will get worse.
4. Australia. An anti-immigration, anti-union, anti-climate change party, with a conservative catholic leader just won a resounding victory with the promise to stop illegal
Immigration, improve conditions for business etc.
You mean the Liberals? Yes, I know down under that Liberals are really the party of the right, contrary to what most Americans would assume, but they are like our GOP.
For example, go to their site and look at their plan. Of course you can choose whether your want it in English, Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Korean, and Vietnamese. That is not my idea of a conservative party.
So they oppose illegal immigration. They still support legal immigration, and judging by their selection of languages, appear to have no problem replacing the native Aussies with newcomers so long as it is done in a legal way. This is like our GOP.
So again, I ask where is there in the world a conservative party that is in a strong position?
" Many conservative parties, outside America"
which ones are those?
hint - they don't exist.
flip all social issues from conservative to liberal = permanent liberal hegemony and not one single conservative political position ever exists again. only one thing EVER happens in such a society. government grows and taxes go UP.
the only way to stay financially conservative is to stay socially conservative. it does not guarantee it, but becoming socially liberal on every issue DOES guarantee financial insolvency in the long run.
i laugh at the idea of a society with no widespread man woman marriage ever being fiscally conservative. one of the basic social contracts which moves the entire society forward and into a stable position, is something the liberals have been attacking for decades, with great success. marriage rates are dropping like a rock. pretty soon most women will be permanently single and dependent on the central government for everything.
how do you think they vote, these single women? think they get hot for small government, low tax candidates who want to cut back on the amount of handouts, affirmative action, and free money? let's make it apples to apples. single women deciding between 2 democrat candidates in their state (since there won't be any republican ones in the future, and already aren't in some states). think if the choice is between the small government, low tax democrat (lol. they don't exist), versus the big government, high tax democrat, they actually get hot and turned on by the first guy's politics? which choice looks better to them do you think? less handouts, or more handouts?
what a crock of shit it all is. just completely open the borders, just let the homos have everything they want, just make all drugs legal, just let brown people get permanent affirmative action everything forever, and THEN they'll all turn around and vote for smaller government, lower tax rates, and balanced budgets. LOL. LOL. LOL. YEAH RIGHT.
Australia has a selective immigration process, with a focus on highly skilled and wealthy people. You are right it is not racially selective but I think you might be confusing conservative with white nationalist.
Should a wealthy and socially conservative businessman, whose family, has lived in the USA for generations, but whose parents are ethnically Japanese just automatically vote democrat ?
If you are going to define conservative in this way, perhaps you are right. I don't think there is a single country with no immigration policy, or a white only immigration policy.
If you are going to define conservative in this way, perhaps you are right. I don't think there is a single country with no immigration policy, or a white only immigration policy.
Being conservative is more than just worrying about economic growth. It is after all supposed to be trying to conserve something. Australia used to have a white Australia immigration policy. The US and Canada had white preferences too. It is no accident that they all grew wealthy. If any real conservative parties existed, they'd have tried to conserve that.
Even leaving aside the racial issue, the Liberal Party of Australia, by their kowtowing in several languages, shows there is nothing conservative about them. If there were, they'd at least be trying to conserve the culture.
Maybe the Aussie conservatives are being honest by calling themselves liberals. They probably emulate classical liberalism in its economic format. But for others like the GOP to call themselves conservatives is laughable given they don't really try to conserve anything, save tax cuts and nations not their own.
These are just your assertions. There is no actual evidence for them but that's not to say that you couldn't be right. So let's assume for a second you are
Are you going to try to change society or just complain? Wouldn't it be better to try to make concrete changes to tax and social welfare policy so that married women are given preferential treatment ?
The best way to do this seems to me to create support amongst married people not to assert single women are bad. Similarly it seems much better to focus on job losses for Americans or the downward wage pressure caused by immigration than to say Hispanics are genetically inferior. Or to argue that affirmative action is incompatible with merit etc.
Obama doesn't disagree with Jeremiah Wright he just understands what he can and can't say. You might consider that before America becomes a one party state.
Virginia will never go republican in the presidential race again, ever. The GOP will be lucky to get a senate seat. The new governor is a national Democratic Party money man. He has one job to do, and he knows it: turn VA deep blue permanently. Even the usual job of looting the state will be second to this, although my hunch is he finds a way to do both
LOTB/Half Sigma is a useful read in that he lays out with frankness what an increasingly un-PC Left/Right Coast urban elite thinks. Even though his contempt and cluelessness about us heartlanders is both irritating and amusing, it's important to know which way the wind may be blowing with these folks, since they hold the megaphone. I'm not sure if I really see people like him becoming allies, but a cautious truce is possible.
I have partaken of the spectacle of rich N. Cal. South Asians trying to out-Chua the Old Line but usually-less-rich N. Cal. East Asians. It's particularly tacky in political tussles (which means Democrat primaries considering the region). Judging from early signs of moxie/avarice alone the '65ers will go further than the '05ers; in a decade perhaps most of these "negative" "stereotypical" sitcom villains will be guys named Vijay and Raj.
"I don't think there is a single country with no immigration policy"
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China etc etc.
If no parties anywhere are conservative enough for you then you are already in a minority and might as well give up...Yes you have to pick your battles ? Are you interested in winning or loosing with with pride.
Winning or loosing? I'd prefer winning to losing, but am interested in both winning and loosing. The hounds of hell. With pride.
"2. Like it, or not, America is becoming less white. Even if Immigration stops tomorrow, which it won't, this will continue." - Birth rates of immigrants are falling after the 1st generation. Stopping immigration would essentially halt the demographic shift of the country.
"First, what conservative parties outside of America are in a much stronger position?"
In democracies, real power resides outside parties, and parties merely do the bidding of their backers.
Conservatives haven't been good at winning the culture war. If you lose the culture war, even the best businessmen become liberal since the smartest people go to best colleges and make the most money.
If conservatives dominated media and colleges, the products of top colleges would be conservative-leaning. But the moral narrative of US has liberals and blacks on higher ground and whites and conservatives on lower ground in defensive position.
Intellectual battle is defined by moral battle.
Ann Coulter is childless.
One of the great tragedies of our age.
"LOTB/Half Sigma is a useful read in that he lays out with frankness what an increasingly un-PC Left/Right Coast urban elite thinks. Even though his contempt and cluelessness about us heartlanders is both irritating and amusing, it's important to know which way the wind may be blowing with these folks, since they hold the megaphone. I'm not sure if I really see people like him becoming allies, but a cautious truce is possible."
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Someone once said of LOTB/Half Sigma: "Half Sigma believes anyone more successful than him is just luckier and anyone who is less successful than him is simply dumber than he is."
Immigrigrant birrth rates drop towards the national birth rate to varying degrees, depending on religgion and ethnicity, but nonetheless it's too late to halt the demographic change. If immigration stops tomorrow the resulting society will be the current one in which minority births exceed white births, not the current adult balance in which whites are 65%. That was my point
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