Reply #84: The problem is that if you define away half the liberals, you only have 10% of the country left. [View All]

I wish elections could be more about policy. But they are not.

For example, 80% support higher taxes on the rich. But a large portion of that 80% are conservatives, and they will NEVER vote for a single candidate that will ever support raising taxes on the rich.

We need to look at the universe we live in. Not some other universe, where the conservatives who support raising taxes on the rich start voting for liberals who will do so. The fact that a conservative (who will never vote for a liberal) supports X liberal policy means about as much as the sound of a tree falling when no one is there to hear it.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't push for increased taxes on the rich. It just means we should analyze the electorate in a way that actually takes into account the voting preferences of the electorate. If you want to discount 50% of the 20% of the country that self identifies as liberal, then liberals cease to be a relevant political group.