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JoePhilly

(27,787 posts)

37. Ahh ... your preferred stick. Or should I say Schtick.

Fri Feb 7, 2014, 02:52 PM

Feb 2014

Being pragmatic doesn't mean giving up. But it does mean knowing what you can actually accomplish in any given time period.

In the case of civil unions here's what happened. Providing that option allowed people who would have NEVER jumped straight to full equality a safe alternative. And once they became comfortable with that, it was much easier to get them to see that the next step was not nearly as scary as they imagined.

The problem is not the end point ... its the path to get there.

And in contentious issues, with a divided government, and a divided populace, the path is rarely a straight line regardless of which issue we decide to discuss.

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No, Liberals Don't Control the Democratic Party [View all] xchrom Feb 2014 OP

Call it pragmatists versus purists. JoePhilly Feb 2014 #1

It's more a matter of social class than anything Fumesucker Feb 2014 #3

Then why help Joe Sixpack be protected from pre existing conditions? JoePhilly Feb 2014 #5

I never said anything about Democrats or Republicans Fumesucker Feb 2014 #10

Call it People-centric versus corporate-centric. Scuba Feb 2014 #4

The purist label goes to those who will decry compromise at all turns. JoePhilly Feb 2014 #7

So then Elizabeth Warren and her supporters are NOT purists, as we are willing to compromise. Scuba Feb 2014 #8

They are not ... but many of their loudest supporters are. JoePhilly Feb 2014 #11

I disagree with the "very little" conclusion. Just in appointing regulators ... Scuba Feb 2014 #14

The article mentions "liberals versus centrists, populists versus the corporate wing." Le Taz Hot Feb 2014 #20

The article says "Call it what you will" ... so I did. JoePhilly Feb 2014 #22

So much is said in choice of terminlogy. n/t Le Taz Hot Feb 2014 #28

I don't decry compromise, nor does hardly any other Liberal tkmorris Feb 2014 #16

that would be inaccurate. Warren isn't a purist, neither is Sanders or de Blasio cali Feb 2014 #9

They are not ... many of their loudest supporters are. JoePhilly Feb 2014 #12

Of course they'd have to make deals. cali Feb 2014 #18

N.Y. Mayor At Closed AIPAC Gala: Part Of My Job Is To Defend Israel ProSense Feb 2014 #21

Such a black/white, up/down Le Taz Hot Feb 2014 #13

I used the same binary structure that the OP refers to from the article ... JoePhilly Feb 2014 #15

Meaningless jargon. Folks tossed around 'I'm a pragmatist' to dress up their opposition to equality Bluenorthwest Feb 2014 #17

Ahh ... your preferred stick. Or should I say Schtick. JoePhilly Feb 2014 #37

I prefer prostitutes vs true believers. It's so much easier to be a pragmatist when your so-called jtuck004 Feb 2014 #24

Is this why Americans get war spending & wars while the REST of the industrialized world think Feb 2014 #27

Pragmatic means doing what works for your interests. Looks like a big Fail for "centrism" Armstead Feb 2014 #29

Corporations vs the people AgingAmerican Feb 2014 #36

We are fractured, and that's a big part of it el_bryanto Feb 2014 #2

It's like the plot from Iron Man 3 Nuclear Unicorn Feb 2014 #6

the most important point is made in Paragraph 16 Enrique Feb 2014 #19

Damn, where does that leave... freebrew Feb 2014 #23

Money does. Octafish Feb 2014 #25

Good piece but, quite frankly, I'm tired of the argument wyldwolf Feb 2014 #26

In my lifetime (60 or so years)... OilemFirchen Feb 2014 #30

August, 1968. That's when the Party leaders made it clear they would rather lose Egalitarian Thug Feb 2014 #31

To wit... OilemFirchen Feb 2014 #32

I'm a huge fan of Warren, de Blasio and Bernie Sanders. TheMathieu Feb 2014 #33

cuase the 'blogger class' has SO MUCH POWER!11 xchrom Feb 2014 #34

"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men... Tierra_y_Libertad Feb 2014 #35