Democrats should have listened to Bernie Sanders, historians say
Democrats should have listened to Bernie Sanders, historians say
Two historians have said that the Democratic Party was wrong to overlook Bernie Sanders' policies for working class people.
Summary
Historians suggest Democrats might have fared better against Donald Trump by embracing the economic issues championed by Senator Bernie Sanders, who has long pushed for a focus on “bread-and-butter” concerns for working-class voters.
Despite Kamala Harris’s progressive policies, polls showed Trump was favored on economic issues, particularly among working-class and Hispanic voters.
Historian Leah Wright Rigueur argued that Sanders’ messaging on economic struggles could be key for future Democratic strategies.
Sanders himself criticized the party for “abandoning” the working class, which he said has led to a loss of support across racial lines.
It is absolutely clear now. The DNC is a private company whose main function is to fund raise, period. If they also win an election then that's great, but if it comes to a choice between winning and raising money, they will choose raising money. They will never move to the left to win voters if it will cost them fund raising opportunities from the center and right.
If we had run Bernie in 2016, Trump would still be nothing but a punchline.
The screams of "Dems need to move right" (not from Bernie, obv) are fucking clown shoes and hilarious. She was running around with Liz and Dick Motherfucking Cheney. There's no more right to move to without literally just embracing Trump.
But here's the thing: libs keep cutting their noses off. Why would the actual left give the DNC the fucking time of day? They raise a billion fucking dollars, light it all on fire and go out to brunch. They co-opt movements like the Floyd uprising and metoo but leave everyone else to do the actual work. When we need bodies in the streets, when we need material support, when we fucking TELL THEM WHAT POLICIES WILL WORK FOR US, they spout some 1950s realpolitik bullshit and have some more wine.
Biden: you're immune. Have some fun with it. Show us you have skin I the game. $100 says he keeps up this "when they go low we go high" bullshit and does somewhere between nothing and the bare minimum.
Thats what they get for squeezing Bernie out and giving the people garbage candidates. Eat it, you fools.
I don't really know how the Democratic Party is expected to steer out of the center-right ditch, though. With all the dark money calling the shots, I mean. Bernie is the exception that proves the rule.
The electorate is actually far more progressive on the issues than the corporate media lets on. But the minute the Democratic Party were to embrace Bernie-style positions? You can bet that not only the "liberal media" would declare this sO vErY eXtReMe, but all the big money would be spending against them, and spending against them hard. Think it's bad now where crypto, Elon, and the Washington Post are tilting against the Democrats? Imagine they actually embraced progressives....
Not saying I love it, I just don't know what the answer is.
No shit.
Dems imbraced the race to the bottom instead of being a true opposition party. I voted for them this time around but never again unless they make a platform surrounding core left prencipals and left leadership. Many within my communities gave up on political means to help their communities and threw themselves into volunteering, activism, and self sustainability. You can't demand bottomless support and obedience from your base while ignoring their cries for help.
Dems said they are the party of science and facts but wouldn't support universal health care or simply stop sending weapons to Isreal. If they were just as ravenous as republican are, can you honestly say we couldn't achieve those good things?
Dems said the Supreme court and justice system was courupt, but never even investigated the court or made cuts to the militarization of the police forces. Police are still killing people at the same rates with no real accountability. If the Supreme Court was left leaning Republicans would have expanded the court to make it right leaning.
Just do what Republicans do to get there way but for good. I honestly can't think of one dem policy that has been as impactful as some of the top Republican changes in the past 50 years.
Ultimately we need to come together and demand better because if the dems don't change it'll be 50 more years of being steamrolled.
I usually vote along with the democrats, but neoliberals are so freaking elitist and clueless. As much as it pisses me off that I'm going to have to deal with whatever fascist bs Trump has in store, it's really quite nice seeing them get their asses handed to them by a populist... It's just too bad it wasn't a left-wing populist.
Shame the Democrats just told Bernie he is wrong. Again.
The workers of America need to abandon the Democrat party and establish a unified left wing party (a good name would be "American workers party", yes I know that existed before). A few basic details of this party should include:
- Primary focus on economic issues
- The abolition of Capitalism
- The establishment of worker ran co-ops (aka Syndicates)
- Minimal government
- Less taxes
- Social Programs ran by Syndicates
- The Abolition of Military (with a small reserve)
- A fundamental restructuring of policing (with the door open to police abolition)
- US-First policy, yes it means abandoning its "allies" but America needs to understand that it cannot be the world police forever.
- And Education reform to ensure that the American people will never end up in this situation again
Lmao. Historians.
I should have gone to bed at a reasonable time last night instead of doom scrolling, historians say.
Democrats should have listened to Bernie Sanders, Captain Obvious says.
This assumes Democratic leadership thinks winning is more important than bringing the left to heel. Given their behavior that's not a great assumption to make.
I recently tried to explain to Lemmy that non-white working class voters see their social program as weird and off putting. I was downvoted to oblivion just for honestly relating an opinion from people these chronically online "allies" would never hear from, because they simply don't associate with seamstresses/fruit packers/construction site crossing guards etc. Not to mention the majority of these folks can't speak any language but English.
Tell my Chilean wife how she is going to make more money tomorrow than she did today and she will listen. Tell her she is a bigot because she believes that it takes more than "feeling like" a women to actually "be" a woman and she will stop listening. That is what just happened here.
I am from a different cultural context than her and I tend to believe what the people who study these issues have to say ie: gender affirming care saves lives. But to say that this one issue determines a persons entry or exclusion from our ever shrinking tent is political suicide, no matter how much we might wish that wasn't the case.
Could have had a bad bitch.
They did listen to him, he endorsed Kamala.
Progressive policies were on the ballot, they just werent endorsed by Bernie.
If Bernie had been president back in 2016, his terms would be over by now. But he wasn’t president. And he isn’t. now. Why the fuck are you people still rubbing one out over him? Trump won for a long list of reasons. The biggest: millions of Trump haters didn’t bother to vote, or they got duped into voting third party even in light of what a Trump win would bring to this nation.
Move on, move forward.
They should have listened to anyone that wasn't part of core in-group of the party.
Al Gore too.
Yeah.
🤦That's the real problem with historians. They always talk about the past and not the future.
The more Dems and Progressives think and sound like Bernie, the better.