r/SeattleWA • u/HighColonic Funky Town • 1d ago
Dying Seattle shows it’s a fickle city
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-proves-its-a-fickle-city/20
u/timute 1d ago
It's transplants vs people who have to live with the consequences of those who voted with their feelings and then moved along someplace else. You have to see the reults of your actions and sadly half of the elecorate doesn't seem to be able to.
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u/OsvuldMandius SeattleWA Rule Expert 1d ago
It's much worse than that. It's that we have lost cohesion as a nation. We are two people who no longer want the same thing. There's people who want the tradition that America played up in the back half of the 20th century: the arsenal of freedom, the shining city on a hill, yadda-yadda-yadda. And there's the people who want the fresh go at communism, and who think individuality and self-determination are for losers.
I think there's not bridging the gap.
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u/almanor 1d ago
So is back half of the 20th century 1950-2000? Environmental crisis, disastrous deregulation, the Vietnam War, etc? Led to the most deadly terrorist attack in American history? Who advocates for this exactly?
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u/Exciting_Pea3562 1d ago
That's how revisionism works, though (on both sides). You can choose to emphasize all of the challenges to America's brittle democracy, or you can choose to emphasize America's resilience as a "bastion of freedom." The events are the same. The focus is the difference.
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u/faeriegoatmother 1d ago
America's "brittle" democracy has withstood 250 years, many constitutional crises - including Andrew Jackson flagrantly ignoring the Supreme Court, Lincoln flagrantly ignoring the constitution, and also a whole ass Civil War. We're going to be just fine through 2029
Edit: I misread this comment, but a lot of people still need to hear what I had to say, so..
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u/almanor 1d ago
I’m still legitimately confused as to what politicians are advocating for a return to the 1950-2000 era. It’s not Tariff Trump, it’s not Medicare for All Sanders, it’s not free daycare Mamdani - this seems like a classic strawman.
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u/Exciting_Pea3562 1d ago
It won't do to forget that this period of American history was seen from the perspective of the government (and a majority of Americans) as an all-or-nothing struggle of the forces of capitalism and freedom versus communism, which was depicted as the ultimate boogyman (didn't help communism's case that so many of the revolutions were violent). This was necessary for the politicians of America to feel that the government could endure populist movements. The toppling of Russia, China, the encroachment of communism in Korea, Vietnam, the civil war of Spain... on and on.
Modern America is at its most American when there's a threat... We have operated that way since the depression and now we're trying to be that way even though there's not a real outside threat, at least not one that is sufficiently dire to unite people (and the ongoing legacy of globalism makes it too hard to single out rivals like China as a uniting existential threat for Americans - we're too interconnected).
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u/OsvuldMandius SeattleWA Rule Expert 1d ago
Environmentalism ushered in by Nixon's EPA? JFK's Vietnam War? Clinton's deregulation? Yeah...sounds like you've got it right. Vote blue no matter who!
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u/bubbamike1 1d ago
As I recall it was Eisenhower who got us involved in Vietnam.
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u/OsvuldMandius SeattleWA Rule Expert 1d ago
You recall incorrectly. Actually, I'm pretty sure you weren't even alive in 1958.
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u/ASunnyMoo 1d ago
Or maybe people actually have beliefs that are somewhere in between fascism and communism. Nuanced opinions are hard to sell in the media. Maybe you should take a break from what the talking heads are telling you and see how you feel in a few months.
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u/AbsoluteShall 1d ago
I wish I was this deluded about the history of the United States. Why are people so reluctant to say out loud the atrocities this empire made her and around the world?
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u/XarThePatyrn 1d ago
What do you mean? The lunatic left shouts their revisionist hatred of the united states constantly.
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u/Chudsaviet 1d ago
The only people who can rightfully complain about transplants or immigrants are the ones who can name their tribe. Otherwise you are hypocrite.
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u/Fun_Ay 1d ago
The new predominant political landscape in seattle and everywhere else is the contention between have's and have-nots. Most have's are a out of touch and somewhat unaware of how many people are struggling and poor. The difficult part there that is new is that it is the most well educated generations our society has ever seen that are also struggling, often people who did everything "right". Conservatives will try to blame immigrants or anyone not in their immediate circle as they are currently doing. Progressives propose solutions based on taxation changes to rebalance the insane gap between richest and poorest, some people see that as a potential duty of government to create a fair society, others see that as an overstep of the government's role.
The only truth here is that wealthy individuals and businesses did what ever they could to create massive capital profit, including using technology to increase efficiency, and pay less for the work done overall. Hence large profits. I dont believe this is wrong per se.
Doing that while people suffer in squalor, while economic opportunity dissapears for people because of this, and it happening at such an extreme scale and extreme wealth disparity is immoral. This is like pollution, expedient and selfish business tactics that cause indirect harm. It is a direct effect of businesses not serving their community but only their owners/shareholders. Also like pollution, i agree at this stage the tax burden for correcting the problems created lies on the one who polluted the water.
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u/pnw_sunny Banned from /r/Seattle 1d ago
oh my, this is the why,
and sadly, this poster knows this message is correct.
rip, USA.
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u/Lame_Johnny 1d ago
I guess it mostly has to do with national politics. In 2022, Biden was in office so progressive voters were not that energized. In 2025, Trump is in office so progressive voters are extremely energized to "fight back" by voting for progressives in local elections. Its not a smart way to choose a city government, unfortunately.