One week in

I ' ve commented before that politics is increasingly like sport - more and more we ' re just rooting for our side. Ultimately it means policy and ideas don ' t matter; only winning does. One side has already made this an explicit part of their strategy; they ' re playing to win, not respecting " norms, " and using every tool at their disposal to keep winning.Aquote from The Economist, on the occasion of President Trump ' s inauguration:All populists are at heart conspiracy theorists, who pretend that easy solutions exist to society ’s woes and have only not been tried to date because elites are wicked and deaf to the sturdy common-sense of decent, ordinary folk. So how can populism be challenged? A lesson fromVenezuela:Your organizing principle is simple: don ’t feed polarization, disarm it.This means leaving the theater of injured decency behind.The Venezuelan Opposition struggled for years to get this. It wouldn ’t stop pontificating about how stupid it all is. Not only to their international friends, but also to the Chavista electoral base itself.“Really, this guy? Are you nuts? You must be nuts.” We’d say.Don ’t waste your time trying to prove that this ism is better than that ism. Ditch all the big words. Why? Because, again, the problem is not the message but the messenger. It’s not that Trump supporters are too stupid to see right from wrong, it’s that you’re much more valuable to them as an e nemy than as a compatriot.The problem is tribal. Y...
Source: Blogborygmi - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Source Type: blogs