You may know that I am a free-market fundamentalist and a social moderate with conservative sympathies, and a Trump supporter to boot, so you may be surprised to hear that I was genuinely disappointed and demoralized when, first, Joe Biden […]
Democrats
Which the Ideology, and Which the Coalition?
The definitions of ‘Republican’ and ‘Democrat’, and even ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’, seem to dance in circles. Even the nature of the parties shifts over time. One is an ideology, the other a coalition, they say. But even that fact tends […]
The Adams Map: A Different Spectrum, A Challenge That Still Speaks to Us
The little known [in the States] Canadian sociologist Michael Adams has suggested a new classification of American values, in terms of a four-way box. The culture wars of the era after Nixon and before Trump were primarily between the Status […]
I Became a “Decline to State”
Nine years ago I became a nominal Democrat, a DINO [Democrat in name only] as I called it. I did so because it seemed to me at the time that the Republican party was being taken over by a group […]
Tim Draper’s Latest ‘Three Californias’ Plan is not Acceptable
Tim Draper, the Silicon Valley tycoon who gave us the ‘Six Californias’ plan a couple of years ago, has come up now with a ‘Three Californias’ plan. It is not acceptable in its current form. The main point of dividing […]
Suggestions for the Democratic Party, Part 2: The Housing Issue
I just put out a post on the weaknesses and inconsistencies of the Democratic Party, and then realized that I had omitted one issue that is close to our heart here at Blue Kennel. I refer to, of course, the […]
Several Suggestions for the Democratic Party of California
The Democratic Party of California has reason for complacency. It is the only state level political party of significance. It unites the majority communities of color with the creative class portion of the still powerful non-Hispanic white minority. The tensions in […]
The D.C. Mistake
We have been warned both by Nate Silver and by the Washington Post that there is a possibility of an electoral tie with each side getting 269 electoral votes. How did we end up with that possibility? How did we end […]
Democrats Are 1955 Republicans
Reinforcing my earlier comment on Barack Obama’s allergy to antithesis, here is Michael Lind claiming that Obama is, for practical purposes, an Eisenhower Republican. As for the so-called social issues, Allan Carlson, in The American Way, pointed out that the […]
Beyond Red vs. Blue
Interesting. I scored New Coalition Democrat, not conventional liberal. Related: “Beyond Red vs. Blue” at PewResearchCenter