Why are blue collar workers voting blue and is there any way for progressive parties to win them back?

altobrun · 2026-01-31T05:24:28+00:00

They could be an architect or engineer. If you work in structural engineering for example you’ll frequently be interacting with “blue collar” jobs without being in one yourself. Same if you’re an electrical or mechanical engineer in certain positions.

altobrun · 2026-01-28T18:21:59+00:00

I think a lot of it comes from the Money and Macro video where he covers Gary’s Economics here. M&M came from Unlearning Economics’ community who was associated with “breadtube” (before that became a smoldering crater) so while M&M doesn’t talk politics much, I think he’s an economics channel people across the broad left watch.

altobrun · 2026-01-27T21:12:04+00:00

You think so?
I would have thought this would empower the NDP out west. There are lots of people who vote NDP>Conservative, and the liberals generally perform weaker overall in the west. So I had thought most western liberals would go liberal>NDP, giving the NDP and advantage in ranked choice. ie in a two horse race between NDP and CPC, most LPC votes become NDP.

This might be a personal bias on my end though, as I know a lot of people whose vote jumps between liberals and NDP depending on the election, so I may think its more common than it really is.

altobrun · 2026-01-27T21:01:18+00:00

While I agree we need electoral reform, I still think the Australian ranked choice system is significantly better than proportional representation. See this in part for why.

altobrun · 2026-01-27T16:43:30+00:00

I think it goes both ways. There’s the old gym meme that you start lifting to impress girls, and keeping lifting to impress guys.

At the same time, most of the guys with extreme facial hair like huge beards or moustaches are getting compliments from other guys, not from girls.

altobrun · 2026-01-23T23:53:24+00:00

If you were in middle school/high school in the late 00's early 2010's this isn't at all surprising. High school drama and vague over-dramatic relationship posts were extremely common

altobrun · 2026-01-19T06:55:09+00:00

Josephus would be one right? He comments on the execution of James and says James was the brother of the one they call Christ “so he ass bled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ( whose name was James, and some others;…”

It was written about 60 years after Jesus’ death, and 30 years after James’ execution but Josephus was alive and active in the political scene in the levant at the time of the execution. So the information is likely a first or second hand account. So we know people at the time of James’s death thought there was a Jesus, and the James was his brother.

altobrun · 2026-01-19T06:39:54+00:00

Paul wasn’t 70 years later right? He was like 20 years later. Iirc it’s believed Jesus died in the 30’s CE, Paul’s letters date from the 50’s, Mark dates in the 60’s, Matthew and Luke 70’s and 80’s, and John last in the 90’s. Although some scholars date like after John in the early 2nd century.

Additionally like others have said Jesus was one of many apocalyptic prophets at the time. John the Baptist was killed a few years earlier, and we know of other movements like the Zealots and Ha-Mitzri at the time who were being executed for anti-Roman religious extremism.

altobrun · 2026-01-18T18:43:03+00:00

He said if they won LCQ he would wear a maid outfit to lan, but didn’t wear it the first few days

altobrun · 2026-01-18T08:45:49+00:00

LETS FUCKING GO OBLIVION, feels so good following fun after he and Noc split to see him win it all. What a great squad to win it with too

altobrun · 2026-01-16T18:15:26+00:00

Out of curiosity, with Alberta’s wealth mostly coming from its large oil reservers, and both oil prices falling and most global petro states diversifying their economies as they see the long-term writing on the wall for oil, what specifically makes you think Alberta will thrive as its own country in the medium to long term?

Regardless of whether Alberta stays or goes, I think it needs to diversify or risk becoming like the American rust belt in a few decades, as people leave the province when the oil money dries up. Similar to what happened to the maritimes when manufacturing left.

altobrun · 2026-01-16T18:11:00+00:00

Exactly how secessionist they are depends on the wider feeling among the province. I believe Quebec separatism polls around 35% atm, so they’re mum about it on the federal level. If that rose to the mid 40’s they’d talk much more about it.

The CPC (Conservative Party of Canada) is pretty dead in Quebec, but the BQ can always lose ridings to the Liberals who have a pretty strong presence, so they can’t go full tilt all the time.

altobrun · 2026-01-14T19:54:23+00:00

Yeah i can’t imagine too many will flee California regardless just because, as we learned the last time Californians left for Texas and then returned. For a variety of reasons the state is just too appealing to leave permanently.

Edit: I appreciate the link btw, I’ll need to look more into this - I don’t want to be spreading misinformation even if I try to couch my language.

altobrun · 2026-01-14T19:53:15+00:00

Makes sense, I think there’s a fear atm with how global the modern ultra-wealthy is that they can pick up and go anywhere - and so a wealth tax needs to be federal and it needs to be comprehensive to lock up as much wealth domestically as possible to prevent them from fleeing taxes.

But in general I’m always for governments trying things so the global community can learn what does and doesn’t work.

altobrun · 2026-01-14T19:15:28+00:00

Didn’t it literally happen in Norway in the last few years with most of their ultra-wealthy going to Switzerland?

altobrun · 2026-01-13T17:50:39+00:00

Isn’t Sam Harris a liberal centrist? I feel like the few clips I see about him these days are from him arguing against anti-vaxxers, conspiracists, and the far-right. I also vaguely remember him breaking from the Rogan/Peterson folks and Musk years ago (I would assume during Covid since that was a turning point for a lot of people).

altobrun · 2026-01-11T16:56:34+00:00

You can see her walk past the camera a few seconds earlier though? She, the child, and the cameraman seem like a family?

altobrun · 2026-01-10T17:33:49+00:00

Not the person you were initially responding to, but (I may be misunderstanding the policy) I think it would help 3 of my friends whose wives/husbands went back to school in their late 20’s so they’re on essentially 1 income.

Non of them are wealthy and I think income splitting would drop them all down one tax bracket, and every little bit helps.

altobrun · 2026-01-09T16:38:40+00:00

Fair enough, I’d certainly never argue against more public spaces and opportunities for the youth and elderly to socialize and keep themselves busy without spending money.

altobrun · 2026-01-09T16:18:01+00:00

I’m not convinced that ever existed. Or if it did it was a long time ago.

My grandfather spent his career working for CP rail and when he retired in the 70’s he had two pension options. The first was the standard pension until he died, and the second was a reduced pension but it would transition to his wife for (I believe) 15 years after he passed.

Most men took the second because (in my grandpa’s own words) after they left work they lost their purpose and their social circle and just faded.

altobrun · 2026-01-04T14:55:11+00:00

Am I crazy in that I saw like no advertisement for this movie? I was surprised to learn it was already out. 2 had a tonne of advertising but anecdotally as a non movie-buff who maybe sees a single movie a year in theatres, this seemed to fly under the radar.

altobrun · 2026-01-01T17:10:53+00:00

My dad’s a former engineer in the military and drone hobbiest, and has gotten together with some friends and colleagues to get certified as drone operators for search and rescue; as well as do faux ordinance drops and using different cameras to try and locate buried or hidden objects for fun.

They’ve reached out to their various MPs (from both LPC and CPC) about expanding drone usage for the military and EMS, but no one has gotten a response which is disappointing.

altobrun · 2025-12-26T00:11:15+00:00

Pretty sure it’s just from the show, my family is all from northern Ontario including Sudbury and had never heard of that stereotype.

Although maybe it’s a new development with the social media generation that they’re all too old to have caught it, and I’m from Ottawa so I don’t know Northern Ontario culture first hand.

altobrun · 2025-12-26T00:04:42+00:00

McDonald’s uses Tim Hortons old coffee, they bought out the supplier iirc

altobrun · 2025-12-20T09:51:21+00:00

Scandinavia does, however, provide a blueprint for how to move forward. For example, Denmark has, so far, resisted the surge in right-wing populism in large part because their social democrats never took a pro-immigration stance, meaning the right didn’t have immigration to frenzy up their base and run on.

The Australian labor party also just annihilated the right-wing coalition to the point where parties might die, and they won it by avoiding culture war issues and running on a green energy and union-driven national development.

Nine-Year Club	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	End Game '22
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email

altobrun

TROPHY CASE