3 ms·

Several of her positions, taken individually, are solidly left-wing. Not every position she has is solidly left-wing; a few are solidly right-wing, in the sense

by geofft 5y ago

Several of her positions, taken individually, are solidly left-wing. Not every position she has is solidly left-wing; a few are solidly right-wing, in the sense that they would be completely unsurprising coming from Republican legislators. (Nothing inherently wrong with having positions that people across the aisle would agree with! In fact, I think it's so reasonable to have such positions that I think it's unfair to characterize such positions as "heterodox" or "wasn't reading from some memo everyone else got" - I'd simply call them "centrist" or "bipartisan.") Therefore, "Tulsi Gabbard supports X" is not evidence of "X is a left-wing position," because there are several other positions she supports which are definitely not left-wing, and labeling her as a whole as "solidly left-wing" doesn't make that argument any more true. Maybe the centroid of her positions is left-wing, sure, but she's pretty non-solidly left-wing. That's all.

rayiner 5y ago
I said “solidly” not “uniformly.” Most people who are on the left have heterodox views. Gabbard’s are mostly on the left. Also, when I said “heterodox” I don’t mean “bipartisan.” Most people within each party have a mix of views. 90% of Black people vote Democrat but almost half oppose same-sex marriage. About a third of Democrats identify as pro-life. Many oppose abortion after the first trimester and support other restrictions. Plenty of Democrats are pro-second amendment. (Sanders was until recently.) Almost half support the Hyde amendment. Almost half support keeping private insurance. The phenomenon in 2020 with candidates all “reading from the same memo”—adopting a consistent slate of left wing positions—is new and it reflects a minority of actual Democrat voters. Having a mix of views, like Gabbard, makes someone a typical Democrat. And I didn’t say this view was “left wing.” I said it’s not just conservatives, people whose views are mostly right of center, who oppose woke capitalism. Lots of traditional liberals and populist Democrats do as well. The idea that corporations are trustworthy allies in the cause of justice is obviously contentious among Democrats: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/opinion/liberals-corporations-woke-capitalism.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/opinion/liberals-corporat...

by geofft 5y ago

rayiner 5y ago

I said “solidly” not “uniformly.” Most people who are on the left have heterodox views. Gabbard’s are mostly on the left. Also, when I said “heterodox” I don’t mean “bipartisan.” Most people within each party have a mix of views. 90% of Black people vote Democrat but almost half oppose same-sex marriage. About a third of Democrats identify as pro-life. Many oppose abortion after the first trimester and support other restrictions. Plenty of Democrats are pro-second amendment. (Sanders was until recently.) Almost half support the Hyde amendment. Almost half support keeping private insurance. The phenomenon in 2020 with candidates all “reading from the same memo”—adopting a consistent slate of left wing positions—is new and it reflects a minority of actual Democrat voters. Having a mix of views, like Gabbard, makes someone a typical Democrat. And I didn’t say this view was “left wing.” I said it’s not just conservatives, people whose views are mostly right of center, who oppose woke capitalism. Lots of traditional liberals and populist Democrats do as well. The idea that corporations are trustworthy allies in the cause of justice is obviously contentious among Democrats: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/opinion/liberals-corporations-woke-capitalism.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/opinion/liberals-corporat...