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Patrick’s substack's avatar

what a great article. I have hope that the Democrats will take a look at their loss and reevaluate why they lost many will say it was on economic issues. I disagree. I think it was on these social issues and the identity politics that voters really rejected.

What concerns me most is the political spectrum is more like a horseshoe with the two extremes very close together. I see conservatives with the belief “There’s nothing I can do ,The world is stacked against me. Everybody’s out to get me”Especially amongst those Highschool grads blue-collar workers in rural areas with their economic base eroded. Trump put together a multicultural coalition that would be very susceptible to that type of thinking. Listen to him and it is always always “the press treats me bad, everybody treats me bad it’s not my fault. It’s not your fault.”. It’s always someone else’s. It’s time everyone take Stock in themselves to determine that they themselves are the solution. That is empowerment

We need a leader embodying those principles

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Thomas M Gregg's avatar

In a way, this fantastic article told me nothing that I didn't already know—or intuit—but the richness of its detail is impressive. You can't spend time online without noticing that the culture of disempowerment, fragility, resentment, and self-pity has a large following, especially among women—young and not so young. You cannot survey the campus scene without seeing much the same thing.

I would just add that the baneful effects of social media are supercharged by the ideology of postmodern progressivism, which stripped down to its essential nature is an ideology of power and powerlessness. For all of us, life has its failures and disappointments. Progressivism offers a master narrative that hard-wires failures and disappointments as the inevitable outcomes of an oppressive society. This may absolve one of her personal responsibilities but replacing it with a feeling of powerlessness breeds nothing but sadness and despair.

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