So, this weekend news broke that the Dems were working on a new slogan, and a strategy to embrace a more populist economic message focusing on wage stagnation, underemployment, and the broken system that has been leaving too many working Americans behind. The Internet rejoiced, congratulating the Democrats on taking its advice, and projected a hopeful optimism for the path forward.
Just kidding.
The Internet gleefully eviscerated this plan in the most cynical way imaginable. On every big center to left-leaning website where Americans consume their political information, the resident progressives teamed up with the resident Trump Trolls to tear this down, using all the greatest hits. “Both sides”, “Neoliberals”, “Nancy Pelosi something something”, “lies”, etc etc.
The “Your” in my headline is a general “you”. It might not even apply to a single person reading this diary. But I’m tired of the cynicism online. The “other side” can be pure evil and it's whatever, because they’re supposed to be. But the Democrats can’t do anything without being eviscerated with equal ferocity by people across the political spectrum. Like Democrats are supposed to be twice as good to get half the credit.
I used to think the internet didn't matter because it wasn't a representative sample. But 2016 taught me I was dead wrong. So goes The Internet, so goes the narrative. It doesn’t matter if only 2% of the population are the ones doing this because that 2% makes up 95% of the comments on every political website, news website, and social media website. It appears to actually affect the way America views events.
One example is how the Democratic Party became the “out of touch” party because... the internet said so. That’s basically what happened.
I can already see what’s going to happen over the next 15 months until the midterms. The Republican Party is going to be Teflon-Coated Evil while the Democrats are going to be scrutinized and attacked for every syllable, no matter what. And “you” and your cynicism are going to be a vehicle for all of this.