When Did Politicians Get So Boring? ft. Felix Biederman (TMBS 85) 

Erik Gillmm - he is funny!

I think the mediocre scapegoat the incompetent and both ignore better options because it would cause them to challenge themselves in ways that require both commitment and uncertainty in commitment. Damn crises of faith and new found faith.

Of course the policy is important, but a politician isn’t like a plumber in that the job you hire them for isn’t over in an hour or two and the results aren’t as immediately quantifiable. The fact that most people only pay attention to politics during election season is a huge problem. An interesting politician could help keep people engaged. Plus we have to remember that history isn’t a thing that happened in the past, it’s always unfolding. The more interesting the personality, the more likely it is that a lot of stuff will be written about them, and the more we can learn about their politics by their personalities.

Leaders need some charisma. Obama had it. He only ever used it when he was running for office though. He should have been doing what Trump is. Giving speeches, and tweeting, to get people behind his agenda. Trump's just failing cuz his policies suck. He's keeping his based energized though.

@@JamLeGull ​ Isn't one of the reasons for the lack of any long term political commitment by the electorate, the episodic nature of the aforementioned pageantry that overvalues interesting/charismatic politicians? I get that you're coming at this with realistic strategy in mind and I don't disagree that in the short term, that's what's needed; I'd just like us to come to a point where those considerations aren't a factor and I gather it'll probably take a politician with the right admixture of drive/charisma/humility to steer the narrative towards a more policy-centric conversation.

@@channelnumber52 I guess I also have a problem with considering them as leaders as opposed to just people tasked with a certain job. Not that I'm totally ignorant of the human condition, how we gravitate towards the more charismatic among us, I just think that it's something we should check along with all of our other biases .

Michael and Felix aren’t really progressives, they’re leftists that support progressive liberal politicians as a means of reducing harm and maximising utility to the people under the rubric of a two party liberal democracy. Plus, not every video is serious as brain cancer, sometimes you just need to step back and think about the things that are entertaining and silly, and I really like Michael for that.

Oh really? Can you provide an example of where, within the American or a similarly broken system, voting third party had any good outcomes. For the left specifically. I can only think of one general example but it happened in a very different system and ended up ruining things for everyone. That is, the loony nationalists who voted for UKIP "forcing" the Tories to pander to them by offering a referendum...And here we are today. For the US you have the tea-party I think, but that was executed within the system and only worsened the asymmetric warfare between the left and right wing parties. In the absence of a coherent challenger I don't think abstaining or voting for multiple third parties presents all that much pressure on the Dems. They seem much more concerned about a take over from within. Just my observations though.

@Django Fett In 2002, I remember an article in The American Prospect compared two groups: the Green Party and the Christian Coalition. The latter had a say in literally everything in American politics, and the former had a say in nothing. This is because they understood how politics works. Third party people who aren't first pushing for Ranked Choice Voting don't. Either that, or they want Republicans thinking that people will come begging. Because that really worked in 2004.