Who best exemplifies the political character of Montgomery County?

[Anonymous]

Not necessarily YOUR political views, but what kind of political vibe do you get from the county as a whole and which politician/ideology best represents the political tenor here?

Establishment Democrat like Chris Van Hollen?
“Woke” technocrat/YIMBY like Hans Riemer/Dan Reed/GGWash?
Populist alt-left like Marc Elrich?
Pro-business center-left like David Blair?
Liberal Democrat like Jamie Raskin?
Moderate Republican like Larry Hogan or Connie Morella?

Who do you think is the most universally liked politician here?

[Anonymous]

liked? I don’t think people like the politicians. i think active voters align most with super progressives like Elrich.

[Anonymous]

There's nothing "super progressive" or "alt-left" (whatever that even means) about Elrich. He's not even progressive. With a few exceptions, he's quite conservative, in the traditional sense of the word: conserving things the way they are now.

Also, Greater Greater Washington is not a person.

Also, there are over 1.1 million people in Montgomery County. The idea that there is one person who represents the political views of 1.1 million people is foolish. Like asking "Who best represents the political culture of Alaska or Delaware?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's nothing "super progressive" or "alt-left" (whatever that even means) about Elrich. He's not even progressive. With a few exceptions, he's quite conservative, in the traditional sense of the word: conserving things the way they are now.

Also, Greater Greater Washington is not a person.

Also, there are over 1.1 million people in Montgomery County. The idea that there is one person who represents the political views of 1.1 million people is foolish. Like asking "Who best represents the political culture of Alaska or Delaware?"

This answer tells OP everything they need to know: “Elrich is a conservative.” That’s the modal political view in MoCo IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's nothing "super progressive" or "alt-left" (whatever that even means) about Elrich. He's not even progressive. With a few exceptions, he's quite conservative, in the traditional sense of the word: conserving things the way they are now.

Also, Greater Greater Washington is not a person.

Also, there are over 1.1 million people in Montgomery County. The idea that there is one person who represents the political views of 1.1 million people is foolish. Like asking "Who best represents the political culture of Alaska or Delaware?"

This answer tells OP everything they need to know: “Elrich is a conservative.” That’s the modal political view in MoCo IMO.

I'm old enough to remember when "conservative" meant "a person who doesn't want things to change" and/or "a person who wants to conserve things" (for example, the environment), instead of "a person who wants to radically change basically everything about America in order to make it "great again"."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's nothing "super progressive" or "alt-left" (whatever that even means) about Elrich. He's not even progressive. With a few exceptions, he's quite conservative, in the traditional sense of the word: conserving things the way they are now.

Also, Greater Greater Washington is not a person.

Also, there are over 1.1 million people in Montgomery County. The idea that there is one person who represents the political views of 1.1 million people is foolish. Like asking "Who best represents the political culture of Alaska or Delaware?"

This answer tells OP everything they need to know: “Elrich is a conservative.” That’s the modal political view in MoCo IMO.

I'm old enough to remember when "conservative" meant "a person who doesn't want things to change" and/or "a person who wants to conserve things" (for example, the environment), instead of "a person who wants to radically change basically everything about America in order to make it "great again"."

But, I think you need to keep up with the times. Today, the definition of "conservative" politically means "low taxes, control women's bodies, anti-lgbtq for everything, build a wall, kick out the illegals, drill baby drill, bring back the coal mines", ie, let's get back to the good ol' days of the 1950s when jobs were plentiful for the white men, and you could have a nice middle class life being a brick layer, and when we didn't have so many immigrants, and WASP straight people were in charge.

-a 52 yr old former conservative

[Anonymous]

OP, there are different parts to MoCo, if you haven't noticed. But the concentration of the population resides around the Silver Spring/Takoma Park area, and so their politics ends up taking over the entire county.

But, if you move out further north and west, you will find more moderate people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, there are different parts to MoCo, if you haven't noticed. But the concentration of the population resides around the Silver Spring/Takoma Park area, and so their politics ends up taking over the entire county.

But, if you move out further north and west, you will find more moderate people.

The most populous places in Montgomery County are Germantown, inner Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Bethesda, Aspen Hill, North Bethesda, and Wheaton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's nothing "super progressive" or "alt-left" (whatever that even means) about Elrich. He's not even progressive. With a few exceptions, he's quite conservative, in the traditional sense of the word: conserving things the way they are now.

Also, Greater Greater Washington is not a person.

Also, there are over 1.1 million people in Montgomery County. The idea that there is one person who represents the political views of 1.1 million people is foolish. Like asking "Who best represents the political culture of Alaska or Delaware?"

Oh right, because super conservatives are known to hangout and invite extreme socialists from Venezuela for advice on how to run the county. Elrich did that btw, I'm not even joking.

You are prime example of how far left MoCo is and why it is being overrun with crime and choking off economic growth. 'Elrich is conservative', lol. Delusional.

[Anonymous]

"Extreme socialists", is that like "extreme skateboarding" or "extreme skiing"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's nothing "super progressive" or "alt-left" (whatever that even means) about Elrich. He's not even progressive. With a few exceptions, he's quite conservative, in the traditional sense of the word: conserving things the way they are now.

Also, Greater Greater Washington is not a person.

Also, there are over 1.1 million people in Montgomery County. The idea that there is one person who represents the political views of 1.1 million people is foolish. Like asking "Who best represents the political culture of Alaska or Delaware?"

I'm OP and I didn't want to digress too much in defining Elrich because I want to get back to the original question, but some friends and I were talking about it and came up with that "alt-left" descriptor for Elrich. In horseshoe theory, far-left populists mirror far-right populists. Elrich is a "stick-it-to-the-Man" contrarian even if the results end up actually regressive. To put it in popular political culture, Elrich is less an MSNBC or Pod Save America liberal, in so much as a Chapo Trap House, The GrayZone, Jimmy Dore type contrarian. I actually remember a CTH podcast about how much they hate YIMBYs for being "neoliberal shills."

IMHO I have come across a lot of people in MoCo (Silver Spring mostly) with that kind of politics, but most people in the county seem to be a generic kind of anti-Trump resistance liberal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Extreme socialists", is that like "extreme skateboarding" or "extreme skiing"?

The mirror image of Ultra Maga?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Extreme socialists", is that like "extreme skateboarding" or "extreme skiing"?

The mirror image of Ultra Maga?

Ultra MAGA is an identity, not a coherent set of political or economic beliefs.

[Anonymous]

I remember the speed bumps emanating from Connie Morella's house back in the day. That level of looking out for yourself is the epitome of MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's nothing "super progressive" or "alt-left" (whatever that even means) about Elrich. He's not even progressive. With a few exceptions, he's quite conservative, in the traditional sense of the word: conserving things the way they are now.

Also, Greater Greater Washington is not a person.

Also, there are over 1.1 million people in Montgomery County. The idea that there is one person who represents the political views of 1.1 million people is foolish. Like asking "Who best represents the political culture of Alaska or Delaware?"

I'm OP and I didn't want to digress too much in defining Elrich because I want to get back to the original question, but some friends and I were talking about it and came up with that "alt-left" descriptor for Elrich. In horseshoe theory, far-left populists mirror far-right populists. Elrich is a "stick-it-to-the-Man" contrarian even if the results end up actually regressive. To put it in popular political culture, Elrich is less an MSNBC or Pod Save America liberal, in so much as a Chapo Trap House, The GrayZone, Jimmy Dore type contrarian. I actually remember a CTH podcast about how much they hate YIMBYs for being "neoliberal shills."

IMHO I have come across a lot of people in MoCo (Silver Spring mostly) with that kind of politics, but most people in the county seem to be a generic kind of anti-Trump resistance liberal.

He is definitely a contrarian, as shown by all of those 8-1 Council votes. However, he consistently supports affluent haves (for example, people in Bethesda who don't want taller buildings or fewer parking lots or more apartments or ADUs or the Purple Line or...), and if they're not the Man, who is?