One more thought.
I rarely miss a YouTube video from Heather Cox Richardson. One of her recurrent themes (paraphrasing) is that people who value small-d democracy don’t need to coalesce around a common platform right now. Not at all.
Rather, I think she puts the onus on the politicians to listen to their constituents’ many voices, many thoughts, many goals, many values, many concerns, and many proposals, and then apply their own breed of wisdom as to where the country is and how best to package that into policy positions and proposals.
I might cite Gavin Newsom as a case in point. Not long ago, he was a frequent guest on podcasts in the ‘Manosphere,’ apparently thinking that a rightward shift on the cultural issues might be a winning strategy.
Then, most of Trump 2.0 happened, and Newsom – savvy politician that I think he is – pivoted (arguably, back) to the left.
Richardson tends to point to Abraham Lincoln as perhaps a standout example of supply arising out of popular demand – maybe an idealized case of the voters picking the politician.
I think there’s room in the conversation, at this point, for most of this and all of us. It’s a vetting process – one that, ideally, should be watched by those who aspire to elected office.
I also support Richardson’s constant refrain that we need to be allies with any who value, cherish, support, and are concerned about democracy, so clearly on the line. The only non-negotiable caveat that I can ever recall her offering up is no violence [ETA: which I presume she would extend to vandalism and property destruction]. I don’t even get the sense that she’s a pacifist, per se. It’s more that, once that line is crossed, you lose the support of the masses.
Short of that … Laissez les bons temps rouler.