"Abundance politics may not win over conservative Christian voters." - Salon

[Ocelot II]

The article by Mike Lofgren describes a recent Johns Hopkins study that found that some conservatives reject the whole notion of democracy because they fear that a fairly-elected majority wouldn't support their "Christian" moral values.

Last year, in the wake of the Trumpian seizure of power and Elon Musk’s vandalizing government agencies, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson sparked a brief tizzy among the chattering classes with their book “Abundance Liberalism.” The Democratic establishment was in a funk over losing the 2024 election, and the book seemed to offer a panacea for winning over the fickle American voter.

The idea was that Democrats should drop their phobias about environmental degradation, urban sprawl, interstate highway construction and other quality-of-life considerations, and instead engineer the economy to crank out more stuff for the masses — housing, green energy jobs, infrastructure. All they have to do is defang regulations contained in the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, zoning restrictions and other examples of Luddite do-gooderism. Grateful voters would flock to the Democratic Party, and right-wing extremism would lose its steam. . . .

* * *

What do the study’s participants talk about? Their central concern is their own so-called “moral foundations.” For them, any democracy is valid only insofar as it vigorously upholds “faith, family, freedom and place,” as indicated in the study’s title. Since they believe their values are under relentless attack by the institutions of democracy, then democracy must be sacrificed. In this mindset, political opponents are not acting in good faith but are outright demonic. The study describes Maria from Michigan this way: “Her verdict on the Democratic Party as having dedicated its playbook to Satan and chosen the ‘platform of death’ does not leave room for normal civic constraints to apply.”

It should be emphasized that these values mean their faith, not a non-Christian religion or no religion; their family (forcible family separation of immigrants or gay marriage don’t count); their freedom (getting vaccinated as a civic responsibility to protect the frail and immune-deficient is incomprehensible to them) and their place (typically small-town and rural, cities being dens of iniquity).

https://www.salon.com/2026/07/05/abundance-politics-may-not-win-over-conservative-christian-voters/

[RandySF]

1. I'm not counting on any rational behavior on their part.

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. I hope nobody supports Abundance politics, Democrat or republicans

Because the Abundance Agenda is a centrist, Third Way Trojan Horse masquerading as policies to address affordability and create jobs, when in reality, it is designed to gut environmental regulations, labor laws and building codes, maximizing and accelerating profits with minimal government oversight.

https://kayuma.substack.com/p/the-abundance-delusion-how-silicon

Ezra Klein can go fuck himself.

[RandomNumbers]

8. They've completely twisted the concept of Abundance Mentality.

It's a shame.

Somehow I missed that book and any discussion when it came out. When I saw "Abundance politics" I thought, that's great! Then I read the OP and wanted to barf.

Abundance is about everyone having "enough" while finding a reasonable consumption level to be "enough". (far different than what the snip in the OP makes it sound like).

Abundance says yes, there is enough to go around for everyone. (including safeguarding the environment)

Sort of like the story of the loaves and fishes in the Christian religion. The non-miracle theory is that there was plenty of food that people had brought to the gathering, but nobody was sharing until someone started it and sharing became the social norm.

Applied to politics, the theory might be (okay it's been a while since I read up, so I'm sort of cobbling it together here): take away people's fear of not having enough ... by making sure they at least have a solid foundation (stuff like UBI and guaranteed health care), and people will find it a lot easier to just not be so greedy. In contrast, in today's society, people - even millionaires - constantly live in fear (mostly real, maybe partly imagined), of losing everything due to a catastrophe ... so that is why they constantly pursue "more". In today's society, unless you are in maybe the top 10% of wealth AND have trusted advisers, ANYONE is subject to "losing it all" suddenly. As long as that situation persists, it is very hard to get to the abundance mentality that would allow people to stop continually seeking "more".

I hope that is clear ... just feeling frustrated to see the abundance concept so perverted.

[enough]

3. Trying to convince them is a waste of precious energy.

[walkingman]

4. Excellent article....I've said it many times before and it continues to hold true...

The people that fall under the "Conservative Christian" umbrella as defined by the Jerry Falwell types would have no problem with the US not being a democracy or even a theocracy or even an autocracy for that matter. For most of them it is all about....if I can get what I want it doesn't matter what you call it. That is what matters to me. Full Stop!

[valleyrogue]

5. Not really. The Falwell types aren't the really dangerous ones.

It is the NAR, "seven mountains," and especially the Christian "reconstructionists" like Webbon and Wilson who pose a threat, and for the people conned by these crackpots, it isn't about them and what they stand to gain. It is about forcing EVERYBODY ELSE to believe the way they do.

They don't just despise democracy--they totally despise secularism, which is the foundation of what this country is about.

They will ultimately lose, of course, because they are too extreme and way outnumbered, but they can create a lot of havoc since more than a few of them are in the federal government or have administration connections like Wilson has with the nutcase Hegseth.

The author needs to quit calling these nutcases "conservatives." They aren't out to "conserve" anything but to destroy it all. And yes, they are authoritarians. They are hopeless to win over.

[walkingman]

7. I would love to live in a more secular world. ☮

[Skittles]

6. oh FUCK their "Christian moral values"

bunch of FUCKING HYPOCRITES