Not in 2020, the DNC changed the rules after 2016 so they don't get a vote unless no one wins on the first ballot, and Biden won on the first ballot. Biden straight up just got more votes than Bernie in 2020
They also control who gets elected. The popular vote for president is such a joke. It’s amazing how many people think that voting for a president is actually their choice; that every vote counts. Sure, you could argue that those Super Delegates are the Electoral College is supposed to vote the will of the people, but I would counter with we shouldn’t be where we are politically right now either.
Shit happens, and this is what we got.
People like Bernie Sanders will never win an election for president; especially a troublemaker such as he, nor with the way the system is currently set up. And no one is going to change the current system, because that means giving up power. And if there is one thing governments do not do: it’s give up power.
Color me cynical all you like, but I double-dog dare you to prove me wrong.
Edit: I’m an idiot and got my terminology mixed up. 🙈
Nah, man, I don't think any of us really were expecting the result we got. I protest voted for fuckin' Johnson of all people in the 2016 General because I was certain that my vote wouldn't mean jack. I mean, I was in a safe blue state, so it didn't, but God, the feeling in my gut watching the results come in, knowing that my fellow American citizens were fucking vile enough to elect Donald fucking Trump, and that I hadn't even cast a vote in (meaningful) opposition? To at least add a little more voice to the ridiculousness that was the electoral college overriding the vote of the people? It hit hard.
Was your district one vote away from voting for Hilary?
If not, then your single vote did not have a measurable impact.
It took thousands of people, in a handful of very specific districts, swinging to Trump. He didn't even win the popular vote, he never has, and likely won't win it again.
Sadly, that's true if you were in a swing state. A lot of people didn't like HRC and didn't think trump could win or cared if he won, so they didn't vote for HRC and we got trump. I'm worried the same thing will happen again in 2024. Please people please, don't let it happen again. Vote for Biden whether you like him or not and we go forward from there.
Vote for the person you want in the primaries, then vote for the party you want in the general. Whether you like it or not, there are only two choices, R or D.
Remember, this is not just about who is POTUS-- it's about which people will be appointed to run all our government agencies, which people will be appointed to the Supreme Court and the Federal courts. That directly affects our lives. trump put 3 more right wing extremists on SCOTUS, and now it's 6 to 3 maga over progressive. If Hillary had been elected we would have a progressive majority instead.
Yep. It’s unbelievable how so many people think that they can create change by staying home. It also blows my mind that so many people seem to always have so much to say…
But for some reason… only every four years. Never after elections.
It’s almost as if there’s an agenda to their need to convince others not to vote.
Went to one of his campaign rallies before the primary in San Francisco. God was he an incredible speaker. You could feel the energy pulsating from those hands haha.
The real problem wasn’t an unjust primary, it was imbalanced media coverage and support prior to the primary. Debbie Wasserman Schultz wanted Hillary to win the nomination, and skewed media coverage in her favor. She stepped down after accusations, but only after the damage was done.
It wasn't just Debbie, she just took the fall, it was the democratic party doing what's best for the democratic party. Bernie wanted to tear down Super PACs, better to lose than to let him win and ruin that money. I think we forget that even when one side is likely to be drastically better for us, that doesn't mean that either side is always necessarily good.
Oh I’m certain there’s plenty of corruption in even the most altruistic facets of politics. You’re right that she took the fall, but I also read plenty of concerns from other members of the DNC that challenged her firm stance against Bernie. To your point though, she wasn’t likely acting alone.
I think more democracy is better. Which post 2016 the Democrats did make the primary more democratic. Sanders still lost fair and square both times. Even in 2016 Sanders didn't face anything substantially different than Obama did in 2008. By rights the Democrat party doesn't have to let anyone run as a Democrat either. If they feared him they didn't have to let him run. Hell, till the 1970s they didn't even hold primaries as we recognize them. So your claims don't really make sense.
I don't have any direct sources to link but I remember seeing some pretty appalling omissions of Bernie Sanders during the 2020 primary.
They'd literally put up a little infographic on the screen that would say something like
Democratic primary front runners:
1 Joe Biden
3 Pete Buttigieg
4 Michael Bloomberg
And it was like, WTF! Bernie Sanders, at #2 would just be completely omitted. I saw many news sources doing this kind of thing.
With that, and seeing how they reacted to help the rich stop losing their asses when the hedge funds were getting raped via their illegal shorting of GameStop stock solidified for me that all media is controlled by the rich and they're controlling all the narrative - to the detriment of the 99%.
She didn't even really fall. Clinton gave her a job on her campaign immediately after she stepped down as DNC chair. She couldn't even wait until after the election to bail her out. She had to immediately give her a job she clearly made up for her (I think it was something like Honorary 50 State Outreach Chair), just to give Sanders voters a giant middle finger before the election.
Electoralism doesn't work if you approach it as the end be all of all political battlefields. If you consider it one battlefield of many, from which you won't get total victory, but from which you can get substantial stuff, it's useful.
The SPD used to be radical, you know. All the social-democratic parties were.
Electoralism deradicalizes and demobilizes the working class, as the means become ends themselves. The politicians end up the leaders of the movement through their position as figureheads and spokesmen for "the people's demands. To be a politician you must strive to be electable. You gotta satisfy wealthy donors to finance your campaigns. This puts pressure on you to make your platform moderate. This is what happened to most of the social-democratic parties of Europe.
Furthermore, the structure of state and the economy means that the unelected state bureaucracy (such as the various managers and officials in the various governments and agencies, or the armed forces) can struggle against you and stifle reforms, while capitalists can use the threat of disinvestment, capital flight, and capital strikes to pressure you, seeing as how they control the economy and you rely on them as a politician to build roads, for example. This happened to the Labour government during the 60s and 70s. The state bureaucracy violently put down the Allende government and the Bosch government as well.
Finally, it accustoms the proletariat to place its fate in other people's hands. It disengages people from direct action.
But then I can't shake the feeling that after struggling to get anything done overnight in a hostile political environment, the very same bored and fidgety, easily-distracted, easily-manipulable potential voters wouldn't have shown up to support Bernie in the 2018 midterms.
"Consistency and perseverance are key, you need to vote in every election, from school board and city council on up, if just one day a year, maybe two", but then they groan in annoyed boredom, doomscrolling their cellphones with one eye, not even paying attention to you (or Bernie) anymore.
I don't understand, you guys aren't voting in local and state elections in enough. Would Bernie have the power that you guys think he would if he was elected?
Exactly. It's wishful/magical thinking on their parts. Republicans would have gone into attack mode on him same as any Democrat. He would have faced similar roadblocks with the same congress. But somehow things would have been magically different? How!?
The president is the most powerful office in the US government. But it's way more limited than people think. Biden could call for halting all aid to Israel tomorrow. And Congress could/would just ignore it. Same as they would if Sanders was in the office. Hell house Republicans are already campaigning on it. And it hasn't and isn't likely to ever happen. But somehow it's all Biden's fault? It doesn't make sense.