I did manage to read all the comments on the Pledge, and realized that I needed to make a deeper comment on why I\u0092m so unhappy with the suit and the decision.
\nAsk any political professional what they look for in a campaign and they will tell you \u0091wedge issues\u0092; they want a black-or-white issue where they can pin their opponent on one side and where a substantial block of voters are on the other.
\nThere are a few major wedge issues right now.
\nGun control.
\nAbortion.
\nAffirmative Action.
\nSchool Vouchers.
\nAnd, potentially, the Pledge issue.
\nModern campaigns are about two things: solidifying your base and splintering the opponent\u0092s. How do you do this?
\nNixon did it very damn well. The classic Democratic base from the 40\u0092s to the 60\u0092s was ethic urban, labor, civil-rights supporters, and the academic intelligencia.
\nNixon used race and fear of the New Left to split traditionally Democratic voters off from Humphrey\u0092s base, and won.
\nEver since then, we see it in use in elections. Davis is trying to use it on Simon with abortion and gun control. Simon is trying to use it on Davis with affirmative action.
\nDown the coast from me, in Newport, there\u0092s a break called the Wedge. It\u0092s an incredible bodysurfing and boogie-boarding spot, because the waves are big, steep, and break close to shore.
\nThe problem is that every year, a few people get broken necks from being slammed there\u0085because the waves are big, steep, and break close to shore.
\nAnd the problem with wedge politics is that while this is a great way to win elections, it makes it damn hard to govern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I did manage to read all the comments on the Pledge, and realized that I needed to make a deeper comment on why I\u0092m so unhappy with the suit and the decision. Ask any political professional what they look for in a campaign and they will tell you \u0091wedge issues\u0092; they want a black-or-white issue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}