I’m glad you posted the full quote because it just emphasizes that we hadn’t taken him out of context and really underscores the entire issue with Pete’s line of reasoning.
“I trust you to figure out your own health care, especially when we create these options” is a really disingenuous way to frame the health care debate because it is borrowing from the Republican attack that somehow government-funded healthcare takes away choice (or, related, that creating “choice” is automatically a good thing–it is not, but that’s a separate conversation).
For one, people do not truly have “choice” in the current healthcare landscape. Your insurance options are limited to what your employer gives you. Your doctor options are limited to what your insurance option considers ‘in network’. “Choose” the wrong insurance and then something big goes wrong? “Choose” an out-of-network doctor in an emergency? That sucks, sorry, good luck with bankruptcy.
People will absolutely have choice in a universal healthcare system–they’ll be able to choose which doctors they go to, which is already more than most are able to do. What they won’t be able to choose, because they won’t have to, is which insurance company will lord over their healthcare decisions for the next month.
People are afraid of universal healthcare because people like Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg tell them that they should fear it because it eliminates their “choice.” People like Pete aren’t reacting to a problem–they’re causing it with their disingenuous Republican-lite attacks and bad faith pandering.
Any racial differences are absolutely dwarfed by the class differences is what I’m trying to say. Yes it’s a significant disadvantage to be a minority, but class privilege is a bigger deal from what I’ve seen… and my experience of middle class+ people is that they would much prefer to attribute their privilege to race than class.
If we want to win elections going forward we should be focusing on class issues, and in the process we’ll disproportionately benefit minorities because the lower class is disproportionately made up of minorities.
Communicating with whites living anywhere near the neighborhood of the federal poverty line (if you make 200% of the federal poverty line you worry about how you’re going to pay rent and utilities every single month and your car breaking down could make you homeless) about white privilege is super stupid IMO. Pretty understandably all they want to hear about is how help is coming. Having mega privileged people tell them about how good they have it will make them vote for the other side.
they could identify the people with rich friends and they could also identify the people who are able to get a message out and collect lots of small donations, they can do a lot with the data. whether they’re using the data for good or evil isn’t clear to me.
Depends on how rich. Sorry but the great grandchildren of the original talented tenth have quite a bit of privilege and probably shouldn’t qualify for affirmative action (because it takes the slots that should go to impoverished minorities). If your grandparents went to graduate school and you’re going to inherit six figures+ you have it better than someone who grew up poor in flyover country of any race.
I got arrested on the way to Taco Bell for a ticket I couldn’t afford to pay (It was for truancy from school). I spent 3 days in jail. My jail name is ‘Taco Bell’. I was young, I was poor, and it was obvious I was an easy target. Then they came to my apartment and arrested me again a week later because I hadn’t paid my fine yet. That second time a family member took mercy on me and bailed me out.
Poor whites get fucked up by the system too. Don’t show me clips from a TV show that depict the experience of wealthy blacks. Their persecution is the persecution of having to dress 7,000% better than I do so that people will realize that they are one of the good blacks and not mess with them. It’s all microaggressions and having random white trash yell racist slurs at them from moving cars (a real story told to me by a black friend I met in college who was very well off). Not saying that stuff is nothing or anything, but they aren’t going to spend 3 nights in jail and none of these shootings the cops keep carrying out are of rich black people. There is a level of wealth where you become immune to that kind of thing.
My only point is that a great many wealthy white liberals have exactly zero empathy for poor whites and basically punch holes in their woke card dunking on them. It’s gross and it pushes them rightward. Stop it. It isn’t woke and many of you have about as much understanding of what it’s like to grow up poor as you do what it is to grow up black.
Bernie’s endorsement, then retraction, of Cenk Uygur is the first time i’ve been legitimately angry at him this entire campaign (I might not agree with him, but he’s done nothing to earn my ire until now). Be better, Bernie.
Gross maybe but the notion that calling people racist makes them racist is absurd nonsense
They were already there. What pushes them rightwards is the lack of a left. They know the Dem party hasn’t had their back for 40 years. Nobody speaks to their interest so they vote for whoever promises change convincingly enough. That’s how Obama won the rust belt, that’s how Trump won it too.
