"Hippie Punching" is Great Politics

Democracy means you have to win people over

Image from The Simpsons, a new show on Fox.

First, let me be clear: I am not advocating literally punching anyone. “Hippie punching” is a metaphorical term that refers to criticism of the far left, usually by the center left. I oppose political violence in all cases. No hippie should ever be punched, kicked, or body-slammed, nor should their ponytail be fed into a paper shredder should they happen to be sitting next to one, even though that would be objectively funny.

I am, however, advocating the metaphorical “punching” of far-left nut jobs. In fact, I feel that doing so is beneficial to left-wing goals like expanding healthcare, preventing climate change, and making everyone in America trans by 2026. In recent years, many on the left have argued that Democrats need to move left to placate their “base”. I think that’s wrong. In fact, I think that both the empirical and anecdotal evidence suggest that Democrats’ best strategy is to punch, piledrive, and triple suplex the fringe left — again, metaphorically — whenever possible.