Скачать или смотреть Seth Flaxman on why Democrats need a broad and affirmative agenda instead of just opposing Trump

One of the most enduring myths of the Trump years has been that everyone who votes for him does so because they agree with him. Obviously a lot of his supporters do, but polls have consistently shown that Trump is a historically unpopular president with issue positions that most Americans have never supported.

And yet, it remains the case that a majority of voters in the last election decided to vote for him anyway. We’ve talked in previous episodes of Theory of Change about how part of this is due to the enormous reach of right-wing media. It is the mainstream media for millions of Americans–whether they deliberately choose to watch it or not.

But media saturation isn’t the only factor. Another significant factor behind Trump’s durable political appeal is that his opponents have been unable to present a larger alternative vision to MAGA. That matters because a lot of people aren’t interested in policy minutiae, they want to hear your big-picture vision.

Democrats simply have not done this. And as a result, the party is facing some of its lowest approval ratings in years–including from people who identify as Democrats.

Joining me to talk about all this is someone who has been doing this work from the ground up for over a decade: Seth Flaxman. He’s the co-founder of Catalyst for American Futures a new liberal group that’s building a broader-left political coalition that focuses on improving the country so that everyone has a fair chance, ideas that they’ve put into a new book called Out of Many, One: Writings on American Universalism and on a website, The All American.

Previously, Seth led Democracy Works for twelve years, an organization that helps tens of millions of Americans get trusted election information.

TIMECODES
00:00 Introduction
11:20 American universalism as a political philosophy
15:50 The spirit of St. Louis and the civil war
20:26 Understanding modern authoritarianism
23:25 Building majority support for democracy
27:04 The need for open debate and disagreement
30:59 Problems with Democratic party messaging
37:43 The missing movement infrastructure
40:52 Economic solutions beyond neoliberalism
44:56 Learning from right-wing political tactics
50:35 The role of government in the modern economy
54:02 The importance of public rallies and engagement
59:20 Creating a new culture of political discourse
01:03:50 Working in coalitions despite disagreements
01:07:50 Lessons from the civil rights movement
01:11:06 Closing thoughts and contact information

GUEST INFO
https://www.theallamerican.com/


TRANSCRIPT
https://plus.flux.community/p/37c310a...