To your list of complaints about unions, I would add the role of public employee unions in making government at all levels much less effective at achieving progressive goals. They are a principal reason why it's so hard to hire the right people, fire those who aren't working out, outsource where it makes sense and insource where it doesn't.
And the political economy of fixing that is going to be particularly tricky, since those unions in particular are such a powerful part of the Democratic coalition, and it's hard to stand against them right now without being seen as an ally of the Trump/Musk criminal wrecking crew. But this is a big part of what Yglesias is getting at with his "Common Sense Democrat Manifesto" plank: "Public services and institutions like schools deserve adequate funding, and they must prioritize the interests of their users, *not their workforce* (emphasis mine) or abstract ideological projects."
Nice read. One important point to add about the lower right and left quadrants is that they both tend toward populist authoritarianism, despite their differences. AOC and Bernie Sanders would likely support a left-wing "benevolent" authoritarian figure, just as the MAGA movement rallies behind right-wing nationalist authoritarian leadership.
I'd like to challenge some of your healthcare policy recommendations. We don't have a healthcare spending problem. We have an over-regulated industry. If we can focus on deregulation first, then we can see where spending may need to be reallocated. We don't need an agency to monitor antitrust tendencies of hospitals. The states are inherently giving and managing hospitals like cities manage taxi tokens, limiting competition, leading us to not realize increased quality and lower price potentials. I’d be surprised if Republicans and moderates in most states would oppose health care deregulation.
More importantly, the upper left should be finding common ground with Republicans, who largely occupy the upper right quadrant (at least in spirit!). There are numerous deregulatory policies both sides could potentially agree on - repealing cabotage laws, simplifying approval processes, and eliminating tariffs. Unfortunately, it seems the upper left can't bring themselves to collaborate on these shared interests because they're unwilling to give the Trump administration any perceived victories.
I think that's the weird thing about this upright left thing. Down right and left is just "everyone I don't like" and up right and left is everyone I like. It seems like the majority of americans wouldn't even fall into any of these categories... idk
Economically, everyone on the “right” in the US will almost always pay lip service to markets. Even Trump claims he’s a capitalist (even if he means something very different by that than up-right types). This makes it easier for Republicans to “flip” back into a pro-market up-right position in the future and claim they were always pro-markets, they just didn’t realize tariffs were bad or whatever.
The left is quite different. Down-left thinks of markets as dangerous and these folks actively call themselves socialists. If asked “Can you name something good about markets without immediately caveating it?” they won’t be able to do it. Up-left on the other hand doesn’t have this instinctive anti-market bias. This distinction is so fundamental that it’s hard to imagine either of these groups enticing the other into their coalition or easily “switching sides” to an up-left position. Makes it much harder to move the Democratic Party around on this dimension.
The actual people who make up the left voters are the ninnies: lawyers, environmentalists, longhouses, ethnic minorities always stopping the conversation to ask ‘what about me?’, etc.
You’re not building anything with a coalition of those types of people, much less quickly or efficiently.
Newsom’s California sort of kind of is trying this with zoning in CA and finding his progressive mayors dragging their feet at every turn.
Some of the redistribution parts might pass if they get the tax money though
To your list of complaints about unions, I would add the role of public employee unions in making government at all levels much less effective at achieving progressive goals. They are a principal reason why it's so hard to hire the right people, fire those who aren't working out, outsource where it makes sense and insource where it doesn't.
And the political economy of fixing that is going to be particularly tricky, since those unions in particular are such a powerful part of the Democratic coalition, and it's hard to stand against them right now without being seen as an ally of the Trump/Musk criminal wrecking crew. But this is a big part of what Yglesias is getting at with his "Common Sense Democrat Manifesto" plank: "Public services and institutions like schools deserve adequate funding, and they must prioritize the interests of their users, *not their workforce* (emphasis mine) or abstract ideological projects."
Nice read. One important point to add about the lower right and left quadrants is that they both tend toward populist authoritarianism, despite their differences. AOC and Bernie Sanders would likely support a left-wing "benevolent" authoritarian figure, just as the MAGA movement rallies behind right-wing nationalist authoritarian leadership.
I'd like to challenge some of your healthcare policy recommendations. We don't have a healthcare spending problem. We have an over-regulated industry. If we can focus on deregulation first, then we can see where spending may need to be reallocated. We don't need an agency to monitor antitrust tendencies of hospitals. The states are inherently giving and managing hospitals like cities manage taxi tokens, limiting competition, leading us to not realize increased quality and lower price potentials. I’d be surprised if Republicans and moderates in most states would oppose health care deregulation.
More importantly, the upper left should be finding common ground with Republicans, who largely occupy the upper right quadrant (at least in spirit!). There are numerous deregulatory policies both sides could potentially agree on - repealing cabotage laws, simplifying approval processes, and eliminating tariffs. Unfortunately, it seems the upper left can't bring themselves to collaborate on these shared interests because they're unwilling to give the Trump administration any perceived victories.
What is left about the ‘up left’? None of these quadrants seem to interface with the main concerns of the right or the left?
Just file a few rough edges off of Up Right and you’ve got Up Left.
I think that's the weird thing about this upright left thing. Down right and left is just "everyone I don't like" and up right and left is everyone I like. It seems like the majority of americans wouldn't even fall into any of these categories... idk
Economically, everyone on the “right” in the US will almost always pay lip service to markets. Even Trump claims he’s a capitalist (even if he means something very different by that than up-right types). This makes it easier for Republicans to “flip” back into a pro-market up-right position in the future and claim they were always pro-markets, they just didn’t realize tariffs were bad or whatever.
The left is quite different. Down-left thinks of markets as dangerous and these folks actively call themselves socialists. If asked “Can you name something good about markets without immediately caveating it?” they won’t be able to do it. Up-left on the other hand doesn’t have this instinctive anti-market bias. This distinction is so fundamental that it’s hard to imagine either of these groups enticing the other into their coalition or easily “switching sides” to an up-left position. Makes it much harder to move the Democratic Party around on this dimension.
Tbh I just don’t see it.
The actual people who make up the left voters are the ninnies: lawyers, environmentalists, longhouses, ethnic minorities always stopping the conversation to ask ‘what about me?’, etc.
You’re not building anything with a coalition of those types of people, much less quickly or efficiently.
Newsom’s California sort of kind of is trying this with zoning in CA and finding his progressive mayors dragging their feet at every turn.
Some of the redistribution parts might pass if they get the tax money though