honestly feels very 19th century (and i am a big believer that there are valuable lessons to take from the *how* of 19th century mass politics)
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As much as I hate the do nothing online leftists, they're 100% correct that the Democratic party has no idea how to rally or galvanize a support base, refuses to listen when that base tell them what they need to do, and looks at candidates who do with derision and hate.
aug 24, 2025, 7:13 pm • 3 0 • view
Mamdani, Pritzker and (*through gritted teeth*) Newsom get it
aug 24, 2025, 11:25 pm • 3 0 • view
Jamelle then you’d love my piece in Liberal Currents then. And the upcoming follow up. www.liberalcurrents.com/civic-campai...
aug 24, 2025, 7:27 pm • 7 2 • view
But trumps don’t create positive vibes. The rest feels accurate in getting engagement, which is kinda cool!
aug 24, 2025, 7:49 pm • 1 0 • view
One thing pundits seem to miss about Mamdani is that his success is rooted very much in being an old-school urban politician of the kind that a guy like Cuomo was supposed to be
aug 24, 2025, 9:35 pm • 27 0 • view
I think it has more to do with Mamdani's fluency in digital culture, which has a strong participatory tendency (I highly recommend Henry Jenkins' "Participatory Cultures")
aug 24, 2025, 9:25 pm • 3 0 • view
I share your optimism and your analogy to the courthouse-speech and oyster-house politics of the 19th century, but the pessimist in me worries that the uniquely well-connected context of NYC - connected with transit, info, and common identity as NYers - means that it's impossible to replicate.
aug 24, 2025, 7:12 pm • 5 1 • view
This kind of thing is doable in basically any walkable/bikable/transit-oriented city (I did a bunch of similar things in DC and SF), but I do think it would struggle in suburbia.
aug 25, 2025, 1:06 am • 1 0 • view
aug 24, 2025, 7:12 pm • 2 0 • view
Social activities in party building is something we need a lot more of
aug 24, 2025, 7:08 pm • 23 1 • view
I am here to chew bubblegum and build third places to counteract our 21st century dystopia. And I'm all out of bubblegum.
aug 24, 2025, 7:34 pm • 3 1 • view
RETVRN to political events being festivals at heart. A political rally should be like a midwestern state fair with corn dogs, face-painters, live music, and rousing speeches.
aug 25, 2025, 2:08 am • 8 0 • view
Not to speak of the fact that Tammany Hall is one of the stops.
aug 24, 2025, 7:14 pm • 2 0 • view
Where can I read more about 19th century mass politics?
aug 24, 2025, 7:32 pm • 0 0 • view
Politics as tent revival, performance, affiliation, enlightenment, and entertainment. Can I get a huzzah!
aug 25, 2025, 2:00 am • 2 0 • view
Especially given that the Trumpian version of mass politics is a very fascist one: attendance and participation in political spectacle. Only the spectacle matters, though, not the participation.
aug 24, 2025, 7:08 pm • 71 2 • view
I think people need to decide they don't want to keep making the same mistakes of the past. It's time to make some new mistakes. 🥸
aug 24, 2025, 7:19 pm • 0 0 • view
I would love some more explanations about how mass politics of the late 19th and early 20th century could teach us something about the moment today, particularly to the current Democratic fixation that too much that used to work is somehow inappropriate
aug 24, 2025, 7:09 pm • 6 0 • view
tl;dr it was a lot more fun to be involved with political parties when they had gigantic torchlight parades and massive drinking at their rallies. Gilded Age elections had voter extremely high turnout, although they were ofc quite corrupt, restricted, etc.
aug 24, 2025, 7:41 pm • 8 1 • view
Lessons to take from the *how* of 19th century mass politics: 1) get people together talking and sharing in group activities 2) there is no such thing as “overly outlandish facial hair”
aug 24, 2025, 7:13 pm • 10 1 • view
I keep thinking of Vienna
aug 24, 2025, 9:54 pm • 4 0 • view
wohnbausteuer (effectively a millionaire's tax, pegged to housing size) + labor-intensive housing construction funded by the housing tax to get more people working + health care + education + public goods tied into all of the above, with constant repetition of how and why. 100 year policy.
aug 24, 2025, 9:59 pm • 8 0 • view
Some similarities to the plot from "Dispatches from Elsewhere." 🤯
aug 24, 2025, 7:38 pm • 1 0 • view
I'm a big ball of twine truther
aug 24, 2025, 7:29 pm • 0 0 • view
Any suggestions on where to read up on that sort of thing?
aug 24, 2025, 7:07 pm • 0 0 • view
any recommended books on 19th century mass politics?
aug 24, 2025, 7:14 pm • 3 0 • view
This one is a really interesting look at a post- civil war mass movement by farmers, that expanded to include trying to make our whole monetary system more democratic archive.org/details/popu...
aug 24, 2025, 7:23 pm • 2 0 • view
Reminds me of the Jejune Institute's scavenger hunt, which I did when I first moved to SF. Using the city to create a sort of magical Situationist game. I believe the guy responsible for it went on to design the Exploratorium. There was a not very good doc about it www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqin...
aug 24, 2025, 7:18 pm • 10 2 • view
I saw this doc!
aug 24, 2025, 7:20 pm • 0 0 • view
I would read more about this
aug 25, 2025, 12:36 am • 0 0 • view
Also, gets an isolated, anxiety driven generation out into the world engaging with other people.
aug 24, 2025, 7:13 pm • 11 0 • view
This is the way.
aug 24, 2025, 7:16 pm • 2 0 • view
Say more about that please
aug 24, 2025, 7:08 pm • 4 0 • view
Just want to hang out at the local Indivisible Bar.
aug 24, 2025, 7:11 pm • 1 0 • view
I took my son and we did the whole thing (except the last stop because we weren’t able to get a card to be able to go). It was very fun and communal.
aug 25, 2025, 8:30 pm • 0 0 • view
Mamdani is going to run a local 5k and put down 7 minute miles
aug 24, 2025, 7:11 pm • 2 0 • view
📌
aug 24, 2025, 8:39 pm • 0 0 • view
🤞 mamdani will herald in a new era of Georgism
aug 24, 2025, 7:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Minus, I assume, the coercive tactics of party bosses, the corrupt patronage system, and the food and copious alcohol offered to assist voters' choices? And the often questionable hand-counting of ballots?
aug 24, 2025, 7:20 pm • 0 0 • view