Is there a political party for people who care about science and humanism? There is certainly not a ‘major’ party in the USA for people who care more about these things. On one hand you have Republicans, who opt to ignore scientific evidence along party lines. On the other hand, you have Democrats who continue to believe corporations are people; or something more than people.
Since progressives have not been able to convince either group that they are fighting the wrong battle, we’re left to hard decisions for the upcoming elections. We could go/stay independent in hopes that it will force the Democrats to care about their base. We could focus on trying to influence the remaining Republican groups/areas that are behaving honestly and argue on good faith. We could keep trying to influence the Democrat party from within.
All the options suck. The Democratic establishment has successfully convinced centrist liberals that they are the ‘sensible’ ones. They have spent the last 2 years blaming Clinton’s election failure on everything but themselves, and moderates are buying it. Moderates think that Rachel Maddow is progressive, despite her singular focus on anti-Russia nonsense and complete ignoring of progressive economic goals.
Republicans, despite having fundamental beliefs that are no longer popular, have managed to stay in power thanks to the repeated failure of Democrats. The average Trump supporter does not care about the real details of policy; it’s all about staying in power no matter what. And they are encouraged to behave this way by a Democratic establishment that would rather use identity politics and moral condemnation, as opposed to actual policy.
The progressives in the Democrat party are making a great effort, as you can tell by the headlines. Time after time, we see progressives being vocal about real policy and dealing with major challenges, while the moderate Dems bend to the will of lobbyists and pay lip service to the need for climate action. They have become the same as Republicans were during the Obama years, where being on a certain team was more important than being helpful or accurate.
What are we supposed to do with this mess? Even if we could get MSNBC or Fox News to start telling the truth about our biggest problems, would their audiences listen? Or will it always be more important to attack Trump/Pelosi/whoever for the sake of ratings? Is is possible for this to be fixed when the internet generation rises to power, or is it too late? It is really sad to think this way, but we seem pretty much doomed, unless conservatives are right that climate devastation is a hoax.