I think the last five years have definitely shown that the left obeys leftist authorities. I've seen it most acutely in the book world where so many writers left of center were cast aside for having the wrong politics—for not being sufficiently leftist—for disobeying the party line.
Those numbers only tell a surface story. The Republican vote in Congress is far more often split by the far right than the Democrats are by the far left. And the far right definitely votes in a block. So Congressional Democrats are one block. Congressional Republicans vote in two blocks. All the numbers like this don't tell an important story: all the times when Democrats and Republicans vote very much the same.
I think the last five years have definitely shown that the left obeys leftist authorities. I've seen it most acutely in the book world where so many writers left of center were cast aside for having the wrong politics—for not being sufficiently leftist—for disobeying the party line.
And they seem much more likely to vote as a block.
The left and right vote in blocks.
Those numbers only tell a surface story. The Republican vote in Congress is far more often split by the far right than the Democrats are by the far left. And the far right definitely votes in a block. So Congressional Democrats are one block. Congressional Republicans vote in two blocks. All the numbers like this don't tell an important story: all the times when Democrats and Republicans vote very much the same.
Of course they do, but my experience is that the left is more likely to vote by party. Here's what chat gpt says:
In 2024, **Senate Democrats recorded a 94.5% unity (party-line) voting rate, the highest on record for a majority party in that chamber.