5 ms·

Not exactly sure what to make of this, conceptually it just sounds like 90s era Clintonite/Thatcherite consensus with some ranked voting and other stuff thrown

Not exactly sure what to make of this, conceptually it just sounds like 90s era Clintonite/Thatcherite consensus with some ranked voting and other stuff thrown in. The reason why the US is polarized (and most other places to a slightly lesser degree) is because that quadrant of the political spectrum is dead[1], and people have overall grown tired of this liberal (in a broad sense of the term) anti-politics which aims to disguise managerialism and technocratic government as 'non-ideological'. [1]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DyE_4e9V4AAW0od.jpg:large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DyE_4e9V4AAW0od.jpg:large

netcan 5y ago
I don't think I'd call that Clintonite/Thatcherite. Thatcher was quite confrontational, and also hawkish socially conservative. Not dispositionally centrist, consensus oriented or antipolitical. Blaire is probably the PM you're looking for. That "consensus" happened when the centre left accepted structural changes made by the previous "generation's" new right, Reagan & Thatcher. Economic issues became non-ideological, and technocratic rather than political from that point. This is even more of thing in the UK than the US, where the right wing still focused on economic conservatism rhetorically.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > That "consensus" happened when the centre left accepted structural changes made by the previous "generation's" new right No, it didn't, at least not in the US. The neoliberal consensus happenened, in the US, when the center-right faction took over the more left-leaning of the two major parties.
  - netcan 5y ago
    I'm not disputing the US clinton part. I'm disputing the Thatcher part. Blaire is "the center-right faction taking over the more left-leaning of the two major parties" and succeeding politically in the UK.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > I'm not disputing the US clinton part. I'm disputing the Thatcher part. I wasn't disputing your dispute of the Thatcher part, I was disputing (in the US context) the center-left part. > Blaire is "the center-right faction taking over the more left-leaning of the two major parties" and succeeding politically in the UK. From my American perspective, it looked like that, but 1990s UK internal political party dynamics isn't something I’m nearly as confident of as their US parallels, so I wasn't going to take a stand on that.
deleted 5y ago
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eli 5y ago
Truly I think the main motivation is he had a new book to sell.
Dumblydorr 5y ago
I disagree on the reason for polarization. Your reasoning is more a symptom than the cause, which is the media/information sphere. Most people are silo'd into increasingly polarized and misinformed information diets. Fox news, huffpost, Breitbart, donald.win, rush Limbaugh, the young Turks -- we all know people who have fallen into these types of news sources and are unable to moderate their views. They see entertainment as truth and triggering bait as news.
hitekker 5y ago
> people have overall grown tired of this liberal (in a broad sense of the term) anti-politics which aims to disguise managerialism and technocratic government as 'non-ideological' Agreed. See also, Clinton's political ideology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way
spyckie2 5y ago
I think Yang's painted picture of the world is to capture the disconnect between modern society's fast paced improvements and government's resistance to change. Ironically, the fast paced improvements of modern society is because government has kept the economy and country stable, but that may soon change. Stability is needed in times of prosperity to continue prosperity. Stability in bad times is perpetuated hopelessness. The forward party I think predicts that times ahead is not going to be prosperous for the majority, and that a slow moving government will not service the times very well.

netcan 5y ago

I don't think I'd call that Clintonite/Thatcherite. Thatcher was quite confrontational, and also hawkish socially conservative. Not dispositionally centrist, consensus oriented or antipolitical. Blaire is probably the PM you're looking for. That "consensus" happened when the centre left accepted structural changes made by the previous "generation's" new right, Reagan & Thatcher. Economic issues became non-ideological, and technocratic rather than political from that point. This is even more of thing in the UK than the US, where the right wing still focused on economic conservatism rhetorically.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> That "consensus" happened when the centre left accepted structural changes made by the previous "generation's" new right No, it didn't, at least not in the US. The neoliberal consensus happenened, in the US, when the center-right faction took over the more left-leaning of the two major parties.
- netcan 5y ago
  I'm not disputing the US clinton part. I'm disputing the Thatcher part. Blaire is "the center-right faction taking over the more left-leaning of the two major parties" and succeeding politically in the UK.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > I'm not disputing the US clinton part. I'm disputing the Thatcher part. I wasn't disputing your dispute of the Thatcher part, I was disputing (in the US context) the center-left part. > Blaire is "the center-right faction taking over the more left-leaning of the two major parties" and succeeding politically in the UK. From my American perspective, it looked like that, but 1990s UK internal political party dynamics isn't something I’m nearly as confident of as their US parallels, so I wasn't going to take a stand on that.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

eli 5y ago

Truly I think the main motivation is he had a new book to sell.

Dumblydorr 5y ago

I disagree on the reason for polarization. Your reasoning is more a symptom than the cause, which is the media/information sphere. Most people are silo'd into increasingly polarized and misinformed information diets. Fox news, huffpost, Breitbart, donald.win, rush Limbaugh, the young Turks -- we all know people who have fallen into these types of news sources and are unable to moderate their views. They see entertainment as truth and triggering bait as news.

hitekker 5y ago

> people have overall grown tired of this liberal (in a broad sense of the term) anti-politics which aims to disguise managerialism and technocratic government as 'non-ideological' Agreed. See also, Clinton's political ideology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way

spyckie2 5y ago

I think Yang's painted picture of the world is to capture the disconnect between modern society's fast paced improvements and government's resistance to change. Ironically, the fast paced improvements of modern society is because government has kept the economy and country stable, but that may soon change. Stability is needed in times of prosperity to continue prosperity. Stability in bad times is perpetuated hopelessness. The forward party I think predicts that times ahead is not going to be prosperous for the majority, and that a slow moving government will not service the times very well.