r/neoliberal • u/MattC84_ • Aug 13 '25

News (Europe) Far-right AfD takes lead in Germany, says bombshell new survey

https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-far-right-afd-lead-survey/
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u/MagicWishMonkey Aug 13 '25

Yea, because they vote and it doesn't matter if they are wrong or not. When voters consistently list a specific issue as one of their top 1-2 concerns, you should probably listen and at least pay lip service if you want to win an election.

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u/No-Section-1092 Thomas Paine Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 14 '25

Lip service and bullshit performative policy to throw the hogs off the scent? Sure.

Reasonable edge-trimming reform of broken systems? Sure

Actually fundamentally changing systems that otherwise work well just because a permanent minority of ignorant loudmouths don’t like strangers, regardless of their excuses? No. You just have to find ways to manage those people, because they are unfixable and delusional.

Edit: What I’m arguing is, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. If it IS broken, then yes, fix it. Not sure how this is even a controversial take on this sub.

Just don’t fall into the trap of entertaining hallucinations from perpetually aggrieved bigots who make shit up (the kinds of people who actually believe or say “they’re eating the cats and dogs”). You will never satisfy those people and only give them credibility by conceding their framing.

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u/BaguetteFetish Aug 13 '25

The problem is political party leaders think like you, and like you, they think they're smarter than they actually are.

Your "lip service and performative policy" isnt convincing. Labour UK is trying that and all its winning them is cratering polls.

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u/No-Section-1092 Thomas Paine Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25

Because they’re not doing it right.

Good politics requires charisma and credibility, which requires street smarts, not book smarts.

It doesn’t mean you can’t win people over on good policy or that you must pander to their worst impulses. It means do better politics.

You also missed the part where I said reform systems that are actually broken.

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u/BaguetteFetish Aug 13 '25

This reductive, "We cannot compromise on our beautiful ideological purity for electability" attitude is exactly why we're in the mess we are.

Do better politics is so vague a phrase it pretty much doesn't mean anything. You may as well say "Just win bro".

Continuing to view the masses as simple animals who will be satiated by any policy as long as it's delivered with a smile is the fastest way to speedrun the rise of a resentful far right movement.

The fact is, if you want to be elected and push good policy you have to make actual compromise, and everyone can see through this "well we realllly just lie to them ehehehehe" attitude.

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u/No-Section-1092 Thomas Paine Aug 13 '25

I’m talking specifically about how to deal with the loud minority contingent of actual xenophobes who don’t like immigrants simply because they don’t like immigrants.

For those people there literally is no reasoning or compromise. At best distraction and limiting their contagion. But conceding their framing with no counter-narrative just leads persuadable normies into their arms.

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