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   Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 02-Nov-2025 01:41:50 JST Evan Prodromou

   I am finding hope in Zohran Mamdani's candidacy and likely victory in the New York mayoral race.

   I need to remind myself that one person cannot fix everything. Leaders like Mamdani, Ocasio Cortez, Warren and Sanders give me hope, but their wins are not enough to fix everything, and their losses are not enough to end everything.

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 02-Nov-2025 01:49:26 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     I guess I long for a left-wing populist future for the United States, where local democratic governments run by amateurs in comfortable natural fiber clothes figure out how to sincerely serve the needs of everyone in the community with ample public budgets and mutual goodwill.

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     Bruce Elrick (virtuous_sloth@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 02-Nov-2025 01:50:37 JST Bruce Elrick

     in reply to

     @evan Think of them as phase-change nucleation sites. When the time is right, change will happen fast.

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     Kristof Van Landschoot (ristkof@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 02-Nov-2025 02:13:53 JST Kristof Van Landschoot

     in reply to

     @evan so do I, except for the word “populist”? Do you mean popular instead?

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 02-Nov-2025 02:13:53 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Kristof Van Landschoot

     @ristkof no, I mean "left-wing populism":

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_populism

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     Kristof Van Landschoot (ristkof@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 02-Nov-2025 05:09:48 JST Kristof Van Landschoot

     in reply to

     @evan ok… I see the word “populist” is not what I thought it was, but also not a very clear concept? I had a negative connotation for that world, almost like it would designate “overly simple, manipulative”. Just me?

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 02-Nov-2025 05:09:48 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Kristof Van Landschoot

     @ristkof not at all! It's definitely a double-edged concept. Populism has an inherent danger of descent into demagoguery.

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue

   • Embed this notice
     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 02-Nov-2025 09:28:24 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     • Kristof Van Landschoot
     • lori

     @lori @ristkof well, I don't know if there's an option. So many of our social issues derive from extreme wealth inequality within and between countries. I think in terms of climate change, I'd say that Green New Deal politics is a left-populist response to the crisis.

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     lori (lori@cambrian.social)'s status on Sunday, 02-Nov-2025 09:28:29 JST lori

     in reply to

     • Kristof Van Landschoot
     @evan @ristkof I'm unsure whether populism can be pried apart from demagoguery. A populist case can be made for health and retirement benefits. I don't know how to make a populist case for addressing global warming. Unfortunately, I also don't know how to raise the education level of the populace within a few decades.