Bernie Would Have Won
Bernie Would Have Won
The Democratic smothering of the Bernie coalition reaped its reward today, writes Krystal Ball.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/22335335
Ryan Grim column
article by Krystal Kyle & Friends
Nov 06, 2024
But... he didn't win. So, this article serves no purpose.
Hey pal, nihilism is a valid response but please find a healthier space for it.
It's realism, not nihilism. Bernie never had a chance of winning because he was never, ever going to be put into a position where that was an option. Spending time on who is a better candidate makes no difference as long as 'the people' continue to vote against their own best interests. The oligarchy controls it all at this point.
Spending time on "Bernie would have won" is just mental masturbation...
There are systematic reasons why Bernie (again) wasn't able become the nominee, and I believe these reasons will apply to anyone with similar views trying to become a Democrat nominee. The party doesn't want SocDems to be their leader.
I don't think that's nihilistic. But it is rejecting the electoralist approach as futile for people who want Bernie's policies in the USA. We must look at other ways, established ways of moving forward and bringing progressive change. After the past two elections, insisting that Bernie or AOC can win the nomination next time, being in denial of how the Democrat Party works, is not just unhealthy discourse but counter-progressive in practice.
But can you call it "winning" when you lose the hearts of the Cheney clan? i think not.
I don't actually think it's productive to debate whether Bernie would have won or not. I can think one thing and another person can think another, and we can argue forever and it'll achieve virtually nothing. What I will absolutely assert is that, on paper, there's no reason why Bernie Sanders, a socialist Jew from the second least-populous state in the nation, should be so successful, so he must be doing something that resonates with a lot of people! He's acknowledging that people feel abandoned by the system and he's demanding that something be done about that. Demanding change has been the source of all the biggest political success stories since Barack Obama. If the DNC can't recognize the power in that, then they're never going to get anywhere.
He couldn't even win a national primary.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36879197
Hillary Clinton would go on to immediately hire DWS to her campaign. If you look where DWS now is, it wasn't a problem with the party to be caught in this way, it was a plus!
This proves nothing.
GOP runs adds attacking moderate Democrats as far left liberals and beats them in every swing state. What the hell do people think would happen to an actual far left liberal?
Millions of leftists who somehow secretly make up the majority of the US population yet never vote like it, would suddenly appear at the polls and usher in a socialist utopia. Climate change would immediately stop. Everyone would drop windows and install Arch. Unix socks would replace stockings on the mantle this Christmas, the major broadcasting networks would replace all their content with star trek reruns, trains would sprout up like weeds replacing cars and somehow take everyone where they need to go despite how spread out much of the country is, veganism would go mainstream with people meeting each Sunday to discuss more ways to avoid meat while cows, now liberated would stop burping and start dancing in exchange for tips, every copy of mariah carey's christmas music would vanish...
You were on the right track up until Mariah Carey. You touch the queen of Christmas, now thats going too far.
So democrats should adopt even more conservative views to avoid attack ads? Maybe they should focus on what the democratic base wants rather than the opinions of people who would never vote democrat.
Would it be worse? They called a centrist prosecutor a commie bitch, maybe at least the progressives would get out and vote because they believe it might actually be true.