I read your OK list and it generally aligns with the "right wing." No, not everything of course but if I saw that list on a random piece of paper, I'd think it was an evil conservative who wrote it. To me, you are more focused on labels than substance. It's amazing how deep the contempt and aversion is to anything labeled right. It's unhealthy and more importantly, counterproductive. There won't be a restoration of sanity until people can focus on principles and polices rather than labels. Once something gets left-coded, it becomes permissible and the new civil rights cause (e.g., polyamory and the demand for state recognition of these relationships), but if it's right-coded, it's oppressive (e.g., polygamy).
It is amazing to me how every single disillusioned leftist/progressive/liberal/Democrat is so hyper-focused on gay marriage. Gays are like 3-5% of the population and I'm sure the percentage who actually get married is low (I'd love to see the actual figures) yet this is the hill you choose to die on. It is the non-negotiable and you'd rather see it everything destroyed rather than give in on this. I do admire commitment to principle but this stance strikes me as incredibly foolish and ignores how we got to where we are in the first place.
Why is it so abhorrent to you that some people believe civil unions for gays is fine but marriage is for the straights? I believe it's because we live in a world of equalitarianism where to acknowledge any differences is dangerous because once acknowledged, those differences would be used to justify different treatment or standards of groups. Men and women are not the same, just as gay relationships are not the same as straight ones are the same.
Also interesting how immigration is non-negotiable too. It's the trinity - abortion, gay marriage and immigration. You could get every single thing you wanted on your list but if the political party wanted a moratorium on immigration for the time being, limited abortion to the 1st trimester with very limited exceptions for the 2nd trimester and permitted civil unions but retracted gay marriage, you fight to make sure they never won. Culture war uber alles.
Why exactly should Elon be a national hero? My wife absolutely hates him due to his personal life and might otherwise lean Gray if not for that. In general, the stated Gray positions are too male.
In addition, I would go for the "Everyone is a bit racist" position rather than "No one is actually racist".
Gray Tribe is not great branding. Sounds like old/decrepit at best, ill-defined/wishy washy at worst.
Truth Tribe (to steal Vivek branding) is a better approach. Tech advances based on solving problems, correcting errors, better explanations, unlocking resources, turning scarcity into prosperity. Code, hardware, apps, systems either works or it doesn't. No lies, no excuses, just the truth of function. Govt should be like that-- works or it doesn't Truth tribe stands for low latency, high fidelity, increasingly efficient, Moore's law type step-changes in governance.
Vivek could lead this party now that I think about it.
Truth Tribe needs to win over four cohorts: 1. Olds (the real Gray Tribe), 2. Registered Voter Immigrants (Mexicans mainly), 3. Mid-Rights (Abortion tolerant, Bloated Govt/Deep State hating), 4. Mid-Lefts (Market tolerant, Crime-hating).
1. Win the olds by cutting everything to guarantee Social Security and Medicare + Warp Speed the miracles of Small Molecule therapies-- Truth stands for tech stands for not only promises kept for wages paid in but also rolling back the clock on aging as part of Medicare-- rejuvenate the gray voter base.
2. Win the Mexicans/Latinos by A. closing the border by any and all means (DeSantis/RFK Jr/Trump campaign promises but actually do it)-- show the power of tech efficiency to get this done fast, cheap, and humanely, B. Give all undocumented in the country a window to come out of the shadows and register and then divide into groups (a)that need to return and will be first in line to be let in on work visas, (b) training programs for mid-skill jobs like nursing-- graduates get jobs plus work papers, those that don't go into group (c) low-skill labor pool with migrant visa and (d)an upskill program for documented immigrants and their kids. Documented and registered voter (citizens) don't love the open border and they really don't love the degrowth and high-crime policies of Dems, but no Republicans never even try to persuaded them. They are natural constituency for a Truth-telling party-- they left the chaos of their homelands mainly because of the lack of economic opportunity and crime caused by lying politicians.
3 & 4 can both be won by shrinking govt, lowering taxes, preserving medicare and ss, and not being soft on crime. Winning the olds and Latinos will win the Mid-rights (who love the olds' varies) and Mid-lefts (who love the immigrants, or say they do anyway).
Tech is truth. Truth is tech. A third-party led by Vivek.
Erik - in future installments, it would be great to hear your thoughts on what political formula (in Mosca's sense) you think ought to define the Gray Tribe. By "political formula," I mean a clear view about who has the right to rule, and what legitimates that right. I see both the Blue Tribe, and to a lesser extent the Red Tribe, as having clear answers to this question, but not (yet) the Gray Tribe. I will tip my hand and say that I am persuaded by Mosca that a clear and persuasive political formula is a precondition for any meaningful political movement, which is why (to your point above) libertarians never win, since their answer to "who should rule" is the non-answer "no-one."
In your list of Gray Tribe positions above, I see a lot of "others shouldn't rule us in ways we dislike," but not much "here's why we (and not others) should have power, and here is the standard by prospective members of our coalition should be judged and ranked."
I like the breadth of ideas at the bottom as each of them could be expanded into policy platforms that would allow for further proliferation of gray-groups. Ex: on schooling, we don't believe in indoctrinating our children we believe in teaching them diverse languages, having them engaged in sport (fitness), teaching them history with a purpose and developing inside them a standard skillset that will allow them to be whatever they want in life, law/tech/business/medical/sports/artistry/etc while being dramatically more intelligent and informed than others.
IMO the "Grey Tribe" has become more and more right-coded in recent years... I remember reading Scott Alexander describing the "Grey Tribe" as being a "subset of the Blue Tribe" in his "I can tolerate anything except the outgroup" post like 10 years ago, but IMO it's become clear that the"Grey Tribe ", while clearly being different from the "Red Tribe", is closer to them than to the "Blue Tribe"... you can see it in the comments here or in ACX, or with people like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel clearly becoming Right-wing in most of their professed political views... I'm not saying that the "Grey Tribe" will necessarily be subsumed by the "Red Tribe", but IMO as long as culture war issues dominate the political conversation, the "Grey Tribe" will be seen as being right-coded by most people, particularly by those on the "Blue Tribe", while I would think that the "Red Tribe" will increasingly see the "Grey Tribe" as their allies, even if they disagree on some stuff that's pretty important for the "Grey Tribe", such as AI and Transhumanism...
In the past year "the right" passed school choice in several red states. The grey tribe passed nothing in no states.
The year before the "the right" overturned COVID tyranny in red states. The grey tribe did nothing to affect COVID policy in Silicon Valley.
I think the grey tribe needs to get some legislative accomplishments. Mostly it just talks about what it doesn't like in big tent movements that are capable of getting 51% of the votes and doing something.
> While electricity accounted for only 3.3% of U.S. freshwater consumption in 2013, it has accounted for as high as roughly 40% of all freshwater withdrawals dating back to 2000 as seen in Fig. 2, which makes them susceptible to drought-related shutdowns or breakdowns if the lake or river water supply experiences subpar rainfall for extended periods. [4] Furthermore, this means that nuclear power plants are susceptible to changing climate conditions. For example, in 2007 a drought in the southeastern United States led to the shutdown of many thermal electricity generation plants, including one nuclear power plant, which had to shut down its operations due to lack of water which caused high discharge temperatures.
I read your OK list and it generally aligns with the "right wing." No, not everything of course but if I saw that list on a random piece of paper, I'd think it was an evil conservative who wrote it. To me, you are more focused on labels than substance. It's amazing how deep the contempt and aversion is to anything labeled right. It's unhealthy and more importantly, counterproductive. There won't be a restoration of sanity until people can focus on principles and polices rather than labels. Once something gets left-coded, it becomes permissible and the new civil rights cause (e.g., polyamory and the demand for state recognition of these relationships), but if it's right-coded, it's oppressive (e.g., polygamy).
It is amazing to me how every single disillusioned leftist/progressive/liberal/Democrat is so hyper-focused on gay marriage. Gays are like 3-5% of the population and I'm sure the percentage who actually get married is low (I'd love to see the actual figures) yet this is the hill you choose to die on. It is the non-negotiable and you'd rather see it everything destroyed rather than give in on this. I do admire commitment to principle but this stance strikes me as incredibly foolish and ignores how we got to where we are in the first place.
Why is it so abhorrent to you that some people believe civil unions for gays is fine but marriage is for the straights? I believe it's because we live in a world of equalitarianism where to acknowledge any differences is dangerous because once acknowledged, those differences would be used to justify different treatment or standards of groups. Men and women are not the same, just as gay relationships are not the same as straight ones are the same.
Also interesting how immigration is non-negotiable too. It's the trinity - abortion, gay marriage and immigration. You could get every single thing you wanted on your list but if the political party wanted a moratorium on immigration for the time being, limited abortion to the 1st trimester with very limited exceptions for the 2nd trimester and permitted civil unions but retracted gay marriage, you fight to make sure they never won. Culture war uber alles.
Why exactly should Elon be a national hero? My wife absolutely hates him due to his personal life and might otherwise lean Gray if not for that. In general, the stated Gray positions are too male.
In addition, I would go for the "Everyone is a bit racist" position rather than "No one is actually racist".
Gray Tribe is not great branding. Sounds like old/decrepit at best, ill-defined/wishy washy at worst.
Truth Tribe (to steal Vivek branding) is a better approach. Tech advances based on solving problems, correcting errors, better explanations, unlocking resources, turning scarcity into prosperity. Code, hardware, apps, systems either works or it doesn't. No lies, no excuses, just the truth of function. Govt should be like that-- works or it doesn't Truth tribe stands for low latency, high fidelity, increasingly efficient, Moore's law type step-changes in governance.
Vivek could lead this party now that I think about it.
Truth Tribe needs to win over four cohorts: 1. Olds (the real Gray Tribe), 2. Registered Voter Immigrants (Mexicans mainly), 3. Mid-Rights (Abortion tolerant, Bloated Govt/Deep State hating), 4. Mid-Lefts (Market tolerant, Crime-hating).
1. Win the olds by cutting everything to guarantee Social Security and Medicare + Warp Speed the miracles of Small Molecule therapies-- Truth stands for tech stands for not only promises kept for wages paid in but also rolling back the clock on aging as part of Medicare-- rejuvenate the gray voter base.
2. Win the Mexicans/Latinos by A. closing the border by any and all means (DeSantis/RFK Jr/Trump campaign promises but actually do it)-- show the power of tech efficiency to get this done fast, cheap, and humanely, B. Give all undocumented in the country a window to come out of the shadows and register and then divide into groups (a)that need to return and will be first in line to be let in on work visas, (b) training programs for mid-skill jobs like nursing-- graduates get jobs plus work papers, those that don't go into group (c) low-skill labor pool with migrant visa and (d)an upskill program for documented immigrants and their kids. Documented and registered voter (citizens) don't love the open border and they really don't love the degrowth and high-crime policies of Dems, but no Republicans never even try to persuaded them. They are natural constituency for a Truth-telling party-- they left the chaos of their homelands mainly because of the lack of economic opportunity and crime caused by lying politicians.
3 & 4 can both be won by shrinking govt, lowering taxes, preserving medicare and ss, and not being soft on crime. Winning the olds and Latinos will win the Mid-rights (who love the olds' varies) and Mid-lefts (who love the immigrants, or say they do anyway).
Tech is truth. Truth is tech. A third-party led by Vivek.
Erik - in future installments, it would be great to hear your thoughts on what political formula (in Mosca's sense) you think ought to define the Gray Tribe. By "political formula," I mean a clear view about who has the right to rule, and what legitimates that right. I see both the Blue Tribe, and to a lesser extent the Red Tribe, as having clear answers to this question, but not (yet) the Gray Tribe. I will tip my hand and say that I am persuaded by Mosca that a clear and persuasive political formula is a precondition for any meaningful political movement, which is why (to your point above) libertarians never win, since their answer to "who should rule" is the non-answer "no-one."
In your list of Gray Tribe positions above, I see a lot of "others shouldn't rule us in ways we dislike," but not much "here's why we (and not others) should have power, and here is the standard by prospective members of our coalition should be judged and ranked."
I like the breadth of ideas at the bottom as each of them could be expanded into policy platforms that would allow for further proliferation of gray-groups. Ex: on schooling, we don't believe in indoctrinating our children we believe in teaching them diverse languages, having them engaged in sport (fitness), teaching them history with a purpose and developing inside them a standard skillset that will allow them to be whatever they want in life, law/tech/business/medical/sports/artistry/etc while being dramatically more intelligent and informed than others.
IMO the "Grey Tribe" has become more and more right-coded in recent years... I remember reading Scott Alexander describing the "Grey Tribe" as being a "subset of the Blue Tribe" in his "I can tolerate anything except the outgroup" post like 10 years ago, but IMO it's become clear that the"Grey Tribe ", while clearly being different from the "Red Tribe", is closer to them than to the "Blue Tribe"... you can see it in the comments here or in ACX, or with people like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel clearly becoming Right-wing in most of their professed political views... I'm not saying that the "Grey Tribe" will necessarily be subsumed by the "Red Tribe", but IMO as long as culture war issues dominate the political conversation, the "Grey Tribe" will be seen as being right-coded by most people, particularly by those on the "Blue Tribe", while I would think that the "Red Tribe" will increasingly see the "Grey Tribe" as their allies, even if they disagree on some stuff that's pretty important for the "Grey Tribe", such as AI and Transhumanism...
Stop illegal immigration first. Then reform legal, maybe increase numbers of desirables. Stop illegals first. Reps under Reagan tried amnesty plus better border, got amnesty, worse border, more illegals. Stop illegals first.
In the past year "the right" passed school choice in several red states. The grey tribe passed nothing in no states.
The year before the "the right" overturned COVID tyranny in red states. The grey tribe did nothing to affect COVID policy in Silicon Valley.
I think the grey tribe needs to get some legislative accomplishments. Mostly it just talks about what it doesn't like in big tent movements that are capable of getting 51% of the votes and doing something.
> While electricity accounted for only 3.3% of U.S. freshwater consumption in 2013, it has accounted for as high as roughly 40% of all freshwater withdrawals dating back to 2000 as seen in Fig. 2, which makes them susceptible to drought-related shutdowns or breakdowns if the lake or river water supply experiences subpar rainfall for extended periods. [4] Furthermore, this means that nuclear power plants are susceptible to changing climate conditions. For example, in 2007 a drought in the southeastern United States led to the shutdown of many thermal electricity generation plants, including one nuclear power plant, which had to shut down its operations due to lack of water which caused high discharge temperatures.
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/styles2/
Who is gonna make these t-shirts tho??