• would_be_appreciated@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    Being in a position where the entire country hears his very reasonable, very easy to understand words over and over again would eventually have an effect. Even the die-hards would eventually be asking themselves if it is in fact reasonable that corporations are assfucking each and every one of us every single day. Some of them would vote in a more progressive representative.

    Would he get everything passed? Absolutely not. But he would get some good stuff through.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Being in a position where the entire country hears his very reasonable, very easy to understand words over and over again would eventually have an effect.

      How did that work out for Jimmy Carter?

      • would_be_appreciated@lemmy.ml
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        3 months ago

        It worked out pretty well for Carter’s policies, even if he only got one term. Carter ran openly as a centrist, and his fiscal conservatism was very popular. The left-ish wing of the Democratic party started an “Anybody But Carter” campaign during the primaries for exactly that reason. Lots of policies he advocated for got passed during his presidency: he deregulated the airlines, the trucking industry, railroads, banking - and that was a great trial run for Reagan’s followups (and Bush, and Clinton, and W).

        But Carter was both too conservative and wildly incompetent for the job. With somewhat liberal Dems having the majority in both houses and universal health care being a big issue at the time, and with Ted Kennedy as majority leader trying to push it through, Carter still opposed it on the basis of cost. Of course it died, as did any other progressive or even moderately liberal ideas that cost money.

        What I’m saying is fuck Carter. He’s done a great job rehabbing his image but he was a bad president his presidency is rightfully maligned by both the right and the left. But he got a lot of policies through that he liked.

        • SandbagTiara2816@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          3 months ago

          That’s all really interesting, i need to learn more. I don’t know tons about Carter, but I do know he put solar panels on the White House in the 70s, which is pretty rad. Of course Reagan took them right off, that fucker

          • would_be_appreciated@lemmy.ml
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            3 months ago

            Yeah, his alternative energy push was definitely positive, he just didn’t have the political capital or savvy to make anything of it. He admittedly walked into a pretty raw deal with stagflation and an energy crisis, but he handled them so poorly it’s hard to justify cutting him any slack. Telling the public energy is in short supply so they’re going to have to make sacrifices is a losing strategy no matter what you’re advocating for.