Elton John
This is what I thought a Biden president thread would be like. Finally.
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I only gave you a like because you were doing the dishes.
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Ya no good can come from the POTUS amplifying assholes and terrible messages like this. 
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1054500898469281792?s=20
For a forum that uses the term Overton Window in every third post, to view Bidenâs tweet as a bad thing takes a special kind of political myopia.
Co-opting the language of healthcare as a human right while simultaneously supporting policies that keep healthcare prohibitively expensive and entrench the role of private health insurance is very much an effort to move the Overton window to the right. No different than Pete trying to swindle people into thinking âMedicare for all who want itâ is anything like m4a.
You understand why this pisses people off right?
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No I donât. Not because I donât understand but because thinking this is bad is a politics 101 failure of understanding.
Biden is not going to push for true UHC. We know this. He is going to expand access to some degree by generally expanding the social safety net. This is good but not enough. Stipulated.
What he can do is massively amplify traditionally far-left talking points thereby moving the Overton window to the left. Saying this moves it right is simply not based on any political theory or real world examples. It is just nonsense. Political theory and history shows us that amplifying these messages will both help him increase coverage on the margins and make it easier for real UHC to become a reality as the message becomes mainstream democratic orthodoxy and not only from the left wing of the party.
I have zero interest in more of the âall or nothingâ debate over his policy but this is a truly bad example of it.
Him making this tweet is a rare example of 100% political good.
Thinking this is bad is just straight up admitting you care more about your hate for Biden than actually advancing healthcare access.
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Agree it deradicalizes by making it mainstream and no longer radical. That is a good thing not a bad thing.
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Personally I think Biden can be left out of this conversation if it makes it more clear. It is very obvious you are pro-incrementalism. A lot of us here arenât. Slightly nicer cages and slightly better health care doesnât get us closer to real progress. It gets us farther away. Because once things are a little bit better we can forget about it for a while. By doing the bare minimum to address issues it actually makes it less likely big change ever happens. Mostly because a lot of people are willing to stan for small change as HUGE PROGRESS.
To see how this is true look at the entire last 40 years of US politics. There isnât a single example of the baby steps approach getting us anywhere.
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Pro reality isnât pro-incrementalism.
Once and for all. Tell me the realistic path to UHC in the next two years?
There isnât a realistic path because 90% of the âleftâ leaning politicans are bought and paid for stooges with their hands in the pockets of insurance companies/big pharma/etc. at this point.
Thatâs my entire point. Incrementalism has been a complete and total failure that has us farther away from progress than ever because we have settled for baby steps as actual progress this whole time. As a result our âleftâ politicians all totally suck and the voter base has been terrified of anyone who will ever attempt to do anything by corporate media and the DemE messaging. Look at what they did to Bernie in 2020 (No Bernie likely wouldnât have accomplished UHC either).
Remember when the Dems settled for Romneycare and some were saying that was a step towards UHC? Or that the Dems would take the next steps later? Itâs obvious that isnât true because we both agree UHC isnât coming anytime soon right? Itâs 12 years later and we are literally farther away from UHC than we were before the bill was passed.
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To my knowledge, there isnât data to make this bet but if there was I would happily bet that a tweet like this moves the needle closer to UHC than further away. If you know of a way to settle a bet like this you can book me.
We fundamentally disagree on basic political theory so we just have to agree to disagree.
Clovis have you ever stopped to wonder why the Dems flat out refuse to do things that poll at like 65-70%? Even things they run on? It isnât a political calculus for these people. Itâs that they know who their real masters are.
The thought of Biden, Chuck and Nancy ever biting the hand that feeds them is laughable. The only path forward is a complete dismantling of the party and rebuilding it without these people controlling it.
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When Trump talked about draining the swamp and eliminating corruption in DC it didnât make his supporters more likely to support those things. It redefined the words on his terms, and allowed his supporters to claim they supported both the worthy goals and the completely illegitimate ways in which he went about pursuing them.
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Because we fundamentally disagree that he is opposed to UHC. I would bet a significant portion of my net worth that if he could simply decree UHC into existence he would. He canât so he operates within the political system and history that actually exists.
For the thousandth time, he is too conservative on the issue for my taste. He could push way harder.
To argue that his tweet isnât him pushing harder just does not align with anything I know about political theory, the US political system or Biden.
I mean we all spent years freaking out about the power of the POTUS pulpit to mainstream racist ideas only to know pretend it doesnât matter and wonât help now.
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I think both sides are making decent points, but you completely lost me here.
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Agree. The ACA is his legacy and he will defend it tooth and nail.
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If this is the case, then he is a worse person than I thought. How in the world can you justify running for the most powerful office in the world and advocating policies that you think are harmful to people? His only saving grace is that heâs likely just ignorant and not necessarily malicious.
Seriously stop and imagine a reality where the ACA never happens. Everyone agrees we would be more likely to get UHC in that situation because all the worst parts of the problem would still exist right?
What ACA did is it made our left party establishment politicians defend what is basically a right wing health care plan for the decades after. Thatâs what Biden is doing now. I think itâs insane to think ACA did anything but make UHC here far less likely. Making a few tweaks to it doesnât get us any closer either.
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Of course they are in the pockets of insurance companies. That is the problem we agree on. It is also exactly what I mean by he operates in the system that exists not the one we wish exists. The system that actually exists makes politicians spend 3/4 of their time fund raising and big donors make that easier. It is designed to lead to regulatory capture.
That is why I say if they could simply decree UHC into existence they so obviously would if freed from the shackles of a right wing judiciary, need to fund raise, gerrymandering etc.
I mean I donât really see how we donât 100% agree once you admit that there is no realistic path to UHC during Bidenâs term.
Once you admit that why keep pretending that is the goal and not admit âwinningâ is things like shifting the Overton window and getting more people access.