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The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Author: MisterFungi   😊 😞
Number: of 84350 
Subject: Re: Priorities
Date: 10/26/24 9:12 PM
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<<What's her priority? What's the top item on her agenda? I can answer that for Trump, pretty easily. It's tariffs and protectionism. That's something he cares passionately about, something that's a reason why he's running for office. ...But ... what's her top goal? ...People don't think they know what she stands for.>>.

Let me try again. First, I'm quite sure that Trump doesn't "care passionately" about tariffs and protectionism, any more than he "cares" about abortion or immigration or any issues. If he thinks it will advance his real priority, which is himself, he will change (and has changed) his issue priorities on a dime: waffle on abortion, become the father of IVF, make nice with China, eliminate taxes on tips, whatever.

As for (some) people not knowing what Kamala Harris "stands for," that's a handy rationalization they can use to justify (even to themselves) not voting for her, a decision grounded in deeper attitudinal and affective predispositions that have nothing to do with political "priorities." This is not merely my opinion. It is consistent with half a century of research into the political psychology of everyday people.

Quite appropriately, Kamala Harris's top priority is to prevent the American democratic republic from falling into the hands of a tyrant. Everything else is a distant second. This is not a normal election offering a choice between normal candidates. Harris and her team have hammered on this basic truth over and over again.

Beyond that, Harris's priority is (re)focusing government on the traditional, as opposed to neoliberal, Democratic objective of advancing opportunity and security for the working- and middle-class, as contrasted with the wealthy, corporate class.

If (some) American voters cannot or will not grasp these facts, they themselves--and not Harris and her team--have failed their country.
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This community has written 84,309 posts about US Policy. The article-length ones it recommended most:
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