How Democrats can defeat Trump and his ugly ideas, according to Pete Buttigieg

[applegrove]

How Democrats can defeat Trump and his ugly ideas, according to Pete Buttigieg

By Greg Sargent, the Plumb Line, at the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/19/how-democrats-can-defeat-trump-his-ugly-ideas-according-pete-buttigieg/?utm_source=reddit.com&utm_term=.8fc0e1c62d76

"SNIP.....


Plum Line: Can you talk about your broader sense of the role that this type of economic vulnerability plays in creating the conditions for the kind of communitarian collapse that creates an opening for sentiments like white nationalism to flourish?

Buttigieg: I don’t want this to slide into the idea that some of these racist behaviors can be excused because they can be connected to economic issues. But I do think it’s easier to fall into these forms of extremism when you don’t know where your place is.

There’s this very basic human desire for belonging that historically has often been supplied by the workplace. It’s been based on the presumption of a lifelong relationship with a single employer. This isn’t just a blue-collar phenomenon.

We’ve come to be pretty reliant on the way that your workplace explains who you are. That’s breaking down. That doesn’t have to be a soul-crushing thing, provided that there are alternate sources for community, identity, and purpose. In South Bend, we focus a lot on enlisting people in the project of the city itself.

The sense of belonging can be very powerful, and we’re very fragile without it. It’s not accidental that some areas that have seen the most disruption in our social and economic life are those that are most likely to produce a lot of domestic extremists


.....SNIP"

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. He is a careful and smart thinker.

His ideas on complicated issues cannot be reduced to a bumper sticker, nor should they be.

The link includes a very effective campaign message!

I hope I get to vote for him.

[applegrove]

2. Yes. He gets to the bottom of an issue every time.

[Blue_true]

3. That is what I am finding so appealing about his candidacy.

I had totally dismissed him at first, but after watching him answer question, I feel that he really understands how to craft effective policy.

[Jarqui]

4. The more I see of him, the more I like him

I'd never heard of him until a few weeks or months ago. And then, it was just a mysterious, unusual name on the list of candidates.

He's a decent, intelligent, thoughtful, talented and capable human being. I could go on.

It's still hard to believe there's a racist pig in the Oval Office when we have so many other talented and decent candidates to choose from.

[EndGOPPropaganda]

5. He didn't mention rightwing propaganda

It’s both.
Economic issues make people susceptible to hatemongering.

Then Fox and Limbaugh provide the hatemongering. We need to work on both sides of this equation.

[applegrove]

6. He is polite. "provided that there are alternate sources for community, identity, and purpose"

implies the opposite.