If you listen to people on the ground, the main thing people who like these policies but don’t vote Dem say is that they don’t believe democrats will actually enact them.
Seriously nobody believes democrats are going to do these policies. Dems would need to actually come through on some of these policies before people believe them. To them Obama was president for 8 years and we got the ACA and that was it. He still sided with the banks the vast majority of the time and was in general a corporate whore. Also like 95% of people don’t realize he couldn’t do shit because he lost the house and senate.
It’s overall a problem with dems just being constantly weak and passing watered down republican bullshit so it never really helps a lot of people and so people don’t believe them.
If they are Nazis it doesn’t change the fact that we have to persuade them. Hate the GOP but forgive their base on a macro level so that the prospect of selling them a new narrative doesn’t cause you pain.
If people are going to just hope dems move left they are going to be disappointed. They have to be pushed left. This will take actual organizing, fundraising and work. Progressives have to make their voice heard starting now.
If you didnt know what Strasserism was/is I hope you’ve googled it, but, yeah, I’m not at all pained by the sell. The whole point is it’s for their children, not them. If you recall, I’m even a fan of the outright deflection or lying approach:
“Ok, promise you’re only gonna Do The Socialism for for just us whites-”
“SORRY I CANT HEAR YOU IM GOING THROUGH A TUNNEL YOURE BREAKING UP”
Yeah, you’re obviously correct but I’ve been wrestling with the notion again that all this rightfully criticized stuff would result and has resulted in increased apathy and disengagement, not political opposition.
Just like in 2016 when everybody criticized Clinton for not inspiring turnout, somehow not wanting to acknowledge that you can win an election 1 vote to 0.
Yeah an awful lot of us need to gear up and go to war or stop complaining. It’s time to stop telling ourselves that help is coming. Nobody is going to help us. We have to help ourselves.
Thankfully I’m happy to say this is one of the least helpless groups of people I can think of.
Announcing Vivek Murthy as head of his covid task force is a huge win for progressives. He is about as progressive as can be for a doctor. Supports single payer, making gun violence a clinical issue, treatment over criminalization etc.
I know I’ve been much more centrist than most people o this forum, but I don’t really buy that people can’t run on Medicare for all. They may not be able to claim democratic socialism like others, but at its core M4A is widely popular even among Republicans, including conservative Latin Americans. As you I think you’re saying it’s about competency and figuring out how to speak about M4A in a way that connects to the perspective of your constituents. Talk about how unexpected medical bills can bankrupt you and sink your hopes of one day starting a small business or putting your kids through college. That is the shit that people care about.
To put a finer point on it, if you are considering about running as a Democrat and you can’t figure out a way to earnestly speak to regular constituents about Medicare for all and other socialist programs, you shouldn’t be running.
Joe Biden starting out further right than Hillary, at least she wanted to push the Medicare age down to 55 lol but let’s see maybe Joe can negotiate the 60 y/o limit to 64.5 with the republicans
Haters gonna hate. Many aren’t wedded to their racism, but they are wedded to their sense of grievance. Racism fills that void. Democrats are bad at offering a replacement. (It should be class warfare, ldo.)
As opposed to Warren who every R hates or just about anyone else. Kamala being black (after what happened this summer), female and relatively teflon eliminated a line of attack. Rs were pissed when Biden picked her.
Dems have failed to understand incentives. The only way (game theory wise) to combat someone who is willing to do anything to win is to make doing so painful enough to disincentivize the behaviour. The GOP knows dems won’t really fight back so they have no incentive to behave.
If dems want to return to a cooperative model in the future they have to go nuclear now and make it so painful for the GOP, in every way possible, that they are incentivized to stop their behaviour.
