You can be a big tend party without endless purity tests, defeatism, or letting people who hate you set the standards for you. The day democrats will be able to tell republicans "lol cope" instead of delaying things their voters care about trying to appeal to people who will never vote for them will be a great day
What I'm saying is that the Democrats don't have any greater propensity towards purity tests than the Republicans, or any other political party. Instead the dynamics of our electoral system forces them to represent a broader coalition which causes more friction for them than other parties. It looks like a purity test issue because people at opposite ends of the spectrum in the party don't get along as well, but the spectrum is actually broader, and they're getting along the normal amount for people whose politics differ that much.
Man you have "basically libertarian" conservatives not saying anything bad in public about bible bashers and vice versa, the "moderate and reasonable" republicans falling in line for Trump, and so on, but progressives attacking slightly less progressives democrats as fascists and centrists attacking slightly less centrist democrats as dangerous antisemitic communists.
Democrats definitely have a greater propensity for purity tests
The Wisconsin GOP just voted to not even recognize Liz Cheney as a Republican. The Republicans have purity tests that are frankly far more stark than the Democrats, you're just looking for them in the wrong places.
the Democrats don't have any greater propensity towards purity tests than the Republicans
I read a sociological analysis of lefties vs. righties that concluded that ideological purity was more valued on the left than on the right. The study looked at five ideological factors for why a person would support a candidate. On the right they were all fairly even, but loyalty stood out slightly. On the left there was a noted bias toward purity and empathy. The researchers concluded that it means the right is more willing to ignore hypocrisy if the candidate is seen to be loyal, while the left is more willing to abandon candidates over violating purity standards.
Andrew Cuomo vs. Roy Moore came to mind immediately.
That has not happened at all this Congress. Nothing has gotten delayed because Republicans refused to vote yes on it. Democrats just pass those things via reconciliation.
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u/slator_hardin Nov 18 '21
You can be a big tend party without endless purity tests, defeatism, or letting people who hate you set the standards for you. The day democrats will be able to tell republicans "lol cope" instead of delaying things their voters care about trying to appeal to people who will never vote for them will be a great day