General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)Third Way [View all]
Third way is a term a lot of people are throwing around without much discernment. Down in an argument and don't have a response, call the person a Third Wayer. Find the evidence they raise inconvenient, call the argument Third Way. Angry that someone else got the last loaf of marble rye at the bakery, they must be a Third Wayer, especially if someone suggests you try the Russian rye instead. That asshole who took your parking spot, Third Wayer. Look how he triangulated to maneuver into the space.
The latest use of this trope I fielded was in calling my candidates, Senator Al Franken and congressman Keith Ellison Third Wayers. Now these comments often, but not always, come from people who live in states and districts that are GOP strongholds, places that populate the ranks of the Tea Party in the House and the Senate. Somehow people who have never elected a Democrat feel entitled to lecture those of us who do elected Democrats that our "Third Way" candidates can't win, despite the fact they already have won and are serving in office.
People seem to think pure thoughts is what defines a leftist Democrat vs. a Third Wayer. It's not. That is determined by who you are able to get elected, and the candidates you support who WIN elections. My "Third Way" candidates rank very highly on the progressive scale for sites that tally such things. Some of us live in states that know how to get progressives elected in congress. The idea that people who have elected few to no Democrats can lecture the rest of us about how we aren't pure enough to suit them, to get Democrats elected, is the height of hubris. It also shows a complete disconnection from reality.
Next time you think about calling someone a Third Wayer, tell us about your Representatives. Do you elect progresses, or do you send Republicans and GOPers to congress, or perhaps even Third Way Democrats? People seem to think what you think defines your "wing" of the party. Thoughts amount to exactly nothing. What matters is what you get done. If you elect Tea Baggers to congress, you don't represent any left wing of the party because you haven't gotten a progressive elected. So maybe you ought to think twice before lecturing people who have?
And yes. I'm sure someone will tell me that's a Third Way argument because it focuses on reality rather than the imaginary world of DU.