Sanders warns Biden: address working-class fears or risk losing to demogogue
In an interview with the Guardian from his home base in Burlington, Vermont, Sanders urged the Democratic president to inject more urgency into his bid for re-election. He said that unless the president was more direct in recognising the many crises faced by working-class families his Republican rival would win.
“We’ve got to see the White House move more aggressively on healthcare, on housing, on tax reform, on the high cost of prescription drugs,” Sanders said. “If we can get the president to move in that direction, he will win; if not, he’s going to lose.”
The US senator from Vermont added that he was in contact with the White House pressing that point. “We hope to make clear to the president and his team that they are not going to win this election unless they come up with a progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of the working class of this country.”
Sanders’ warning comes at a critical time in American politics. On Monday, Republicans in Iowa will gather for caucuses that mark the official start of the 2024 presidential election.
Biden faces no serious challenger in the Democratic primaries. But concern is mounting over how he would fare against Trump given a likely rematch between them in November.
Every once in awhile I catch myself thinking about how different the world would have been if Bernie was president and it's just so fucking sad.
I get that all the other problems would still exist, but there would be a glimmer of hope to cling on to.
I voted for Bernie and he would have been great, I always find myself thinking about Gore winning more often. I have more respect for Bernie for sure but we’d have been in such a better place by 2016. Jesus, there’s a non-zero chance that the 9/11 warnings don’t get ignored and the US definitely doesn’t invade Iraq or Afghanistan. The housing bubble would probably still have burst in a bad way but I doubt it goes down the same way. Supreme Court wouldn’t be as full of neocons and zealots.
Not just that if Gore had won and 9-11 would have still happened we would have likely seen a push away from oil starting in the early 2000s. I think Gore could've turned that into an opportunity to say "to hell with these middle east authoritarians and their oil, we can do better for ourselves and better for the planet."
Unfortunately I was 6 when 9-11 happened so I didn't have much say in these matters.
Gore would have been a timeline-changer. I would vote for him now. I wonder if he’s a viable candidate at this point?
Wilson threw us onto the bad timeline.
Goddamnit, when can we get some time machines already!
If nothing else, I'm fairly sure Gore would have actually read his intelligence briefings.
Yeah, this was always my big one too. I'm a green at heart, but I learned a brutal lesson then, that I'll carry inside of me forever. A lesson that has only gotten reinforced by the slow march of modern fascism.
Democracy requires dialogue, patience, empathy and compromise. The alternative is authoritarianism, and the unavoidable power struggles that come from too much centralized power in a world with ambitious humans. We need to remember that, and dialogue and compromise with our, in many ways younger-self progressives, instead of trying to corral them. We can do this. We are not too afraid.
Give em hell Bernie.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/14/16640082/donna-brazile-warren-bernie-sanders-democratic-primary-rigged
https://www.independentdelaware.org/the_dnc_and_rnc_are_private_corporations
Niiice
Totally getting ranked choice voting in 2028; 2026 if the midterms work out. /s
Ugh...you're 1000% right. That timeline sounds wonderful.
Yeah I think with gore we’d’ve had a good chance of being the world leader in switching to green energy right around when hummers got popular instead.
His EO's alone would have accomplished more in one term than any Dem since LBJ.
Fix the whole last century and just assassinate Wilson in 1911-1912 before the damn election.
It's possible we'd be in a better situation now. Lots of obvious things like not tossing out known facts about terrorism efforts and having a climate change awareness leadership. There's much that would still be the same, like the system of consumerism that is the core of much of our problems. One person in a limited power seat can't fix that, I'm not sure anything can outside of failure of the system itself. But I do think we would have at least avoided that one historic turning point that revved back up the military drive of the US. Even GWB's administration was looking into ways of reducing the military into smaller, more mobile parts until suddenly we went into revenge mode. Or useful crisis mode.
I do wish he had been president, but I also wonder how much of his agenda he could have gotten past congress, even if Democrats were in charge. Most Democrats are, at best, about preserving the status quo and I hate having to vote for them just to stop the people who will make things even worse.
I voted for Bernie every chance I've had, but I genuinely doubt he could have achieved the current level of success much less something better.
Without a Congress full of like-minded people, it would have been a struggle. I think we can have someone like Bernie for president one day, but it's people being passionate and engaging with every vote and every election.
Undoubtedly they would've sabotaged Bernie every chance they got, just like the labour party sabotaged Corbyn in the UK. Both of those parties are glad they only had to sabotage during the elections.
Remember when debbie Wasserman shutlz stole the dnc nomination from bernie to give it to Hillary?
That one rug pull gave donnie the win.
Remember when this was challenged and the court ruled the Parties have no obligation to play fair
Or if Gore won
I mean, he did.
The 2000 election was decided by the Supreme Court, not the voters.
This is the most upsetting part, he fucking won, and we still have to live with the consequences of the GOP blatantly stealing the election
It wasn't just Bernie who got the screws from Democrats. Henry Wallace got the same shaft from Democrats. On the other hand, Republicans don't have populist fliers, they have fascists fliers who are promoted to the top.
But, But Bernie would've turned us into the USSR! /s
A significant portion of the US population think Biden is a communist, how would Sanders have a chance of winning enough votes?
There’s a reason Trump fought so hard to have Bernie as the democratic nominee in 2020.
a significant portion of the US population thinks trump is a fascist, how would he have a chance of winning enough votes?
there's a reason hilary fought so hard to have trump as the republican nominee in 2016.
...
am i doing it right?
I’m not doing another conversation with you so you can ghost it when it gets to difficult to counter then report my comments.
this is poisoning the well. (a form of ad hominem)
it's also a lie.
and what i said is true.
and here is some more truth: i don't want you to respond to anything i ever say.
Modlogs are public.
Anyone who wants to can look at it.
Have a nice day.
i hope they do.
i can't seem to find my reports. can you link them?
Have a nice day.
did you finally find the block button?
Have I ever threatened to?
i was jut hoping
It takes about ten seconds to block someone so they’ve got to be worth the effort.
Have you seen this video yet?
Bernie's Legacy w/ Killer Mike https://youtu.be/ZlZaVtCT5HI
Never forget the movement... Not me. Us.
No, The Guardian, you missed the whole fucking point.
The important thing Sanders said is that unless the president was more direct in recognizing the many crises faced by working-class families then our entire democracy would be destroyed.
This is an existential threat, not a goddamned motherfucking horse race, and I am sick and tired of the media supporting fascism by treating it like the latter!
The Media is owned by the fascists. Of course they support their agenda.
I feel isolated thinking this.
Or, they are aware of the media and they are creating talking points for people to discuss.
Unless the Trump is held accountable, He will most likely win. People's material needs are important and Dem messaging has basically been hey we showed this graph so you're not struggling and anything popular you want won't happen. But everything bad will happen with the other guy. Being not Trump once again is a dangerous way to win the election. Trump's cultist ass should be getting crushed.
Biden really needs to understand how unpopular he is. Not that he will, but I can dream.
I really don't want another run of Trump pardoning psychopaths and doing what he wants. But democracy is basically in the hands of Dems and they scrap by when it comes to connecting with people or even giving them a vision post beating Trump.
The only way Trump is "connecting" with people is by telling them grandiose lies and making impossible promises.
Annoyingly, a shitton of people are willing to go along with those lies without thinking about it or questioning anything.
If only the "good guys" would do what the voters they depend on to win are demanding instead of trying to court Republican votes.
That'd be the least of our problems, I think.
I have been pre-emptively severely depressed for this.
It's kinda crazy since, what will the other wlsode do to help? There is a strong history of actively harming everyone but the ultra rich.
It's like being mad at my boss because he isn't telling me how he's going to help me on my career progression, and deciding I'll switch bosses to a corrupt prison guard instead.
The danger isn't dems voting R.
It's poor turnout.
And when poor turnout happens, Republicans win.
Same argument either way.
Unfortunately the way I see it is Biden will lose for two reasons:
Regardless of policies or how terrible the alternative is. I dont think most people are going to think much past "Things are expensive now, and oh great a super old white dude".
Love how they can blame inflation on Joe Brandon, but they refused to blame 45 for anything for 4 years.
Different types of people. Its a shame Democrats have such an uphill battle to rally around candidates because those voters hold their leaders accountable, almost to a fault. The republican voter base is made of people who are basically in a cult, or are one issue voters.
Because the Dems were not yelling that from the rooftops like they should have been, so perception is set as that it's Biden's fault.
Inflation started under Trump and Trump is just as old
That's not the perception though.
Why is that the perception?
Hint: Corps are at record high profits as is wealth inequality.
Just pointing out the facts. If you’re falling for some perception then you are the problem because not only are you not paying attention but you have no concept of history or facts.
Unfortunately this country is filled to the brim with people that are clueless, can’t remember what happened yesterday, and are misled by media to believe whatever nonsense they are gaslighting today.
So ultimately you are right but people need to be reminded that Trump was front and center of all of this inflation instead of blaming someone that came in after the damage was already done.
With all of this said, why would anyone look at Biden and say “oh just another old white dude”, but not come to the same conclusion with Trump? They are both old white dudes. So where are you getting this from? This is YOUR perception.
The bare minimum job requirement to being a politician is getting elected. If democrats can't nail messaging like republicans then that's on them, not on the average voter. Inflation didn't really ramp up until trump left office and even though his actions contributed to this ramp up, the effects weren't felt in full force until after he left. So what happens if you run on "we're not trump"? People think back to the trump years, and other than when covid hit (which people can excuse as not the fault of the president), the economy seemed to be doing great, and there certainly wasn't as big of an inflation problem as now.
Also, democrats had multiple candidates running in 2020 who weren't "another old white dude" but they asked all the candidates they could to clear the way for biden because they needed to focus their efforts to defeat their most feared enemy: Bernie Sanders.
His first play will be cannabis being decriminalized.
Man I would love to see this, but its one of those things that I will believe when I see. I hope I have to eat my words on that too. Even if so, I dont think decriminalization would mean much to people in terms of getting out to vote. Most people who are really passionate about this over other issues have had the states handle it for them already. Dems waited too long for Federal Decriminalization to be a big motivator in a national election in my opinion.
Agreed. Dems like to save popular law changes to package with other utterly deplorable actions.
They also divy it up so that it's not really a victory. "We legalized weed*!"
* For everyone over the age of 65, anybody who was born rich, if you own three patagonia jackets and people who attended an invitation only dinner with a bunch of billionaires.
Then moderates turn around and whine "Why doesn't anyone give credit to Democrats for all the good they've done???"
Too little too late.
Upvote to get you to 69.
Centrist Democrats would rather lose and have a hereditary dictatorship run by the Trump family than treat workers with respect.
Bernie is in Biden's back pocket, he's incredibly influential to the presidency right now. Bernie has helped Biden come up with nearly every progressive policy he's rolled out. This statement actually will mean something.
Which ones?
He played an important part in pressuring rail companies to give workers more sick time and remove the advanced notice clause, the Inflation Reduction Act, Build Back Better, the infrastructure bill, and several executive orders.
Don't forget when the Dems caved to the GOP and only Bernie fought to get the $600/week extra for unemployment for the people...
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/25/bernie-sanders-4-gop-senators-threaten-to-hold-up-coronavirus-stimulus-bill.html
Fuck Joe Biden for blocking the rail strike.
Because they're just rich people. When are people going to realize they're all just rich people. None of them will ever do anything for you. We can either eat them or die.
What do you think? Are they bitter from a life of uselessness and moral squalor or tender from never working on anything of value, soft like a baby lamb kept out of the light? I think about it sometimes at night when my tum-tum rumbles
Your comment seems detached from reality, Biden appointed people to the national labor board and they changed the rules so that when companies try to do their anti-union fuckery, unions get automatically implemented:
https://prospect.org/labor/2023-08-28-bidens-nlrb-brings-workers-rights-back/
This is why we've been seeing so many successful unionizations and strikes lately.
I think the operative word in his post was "centrist." By that, I'm sure he means center to right Dems like Pelosi and Manchin.
The corporatist profit loving ones who would rather climb a ladder to tell a lie than stand on solid ground and speak truth.
https://fortune.com/2024/01/03/members-of-congress-profit-from-stocks-2023/
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/07/27/infrastructure-manchins-significant-coal-profits-not-interest-corporate-news
Neither of these people, nor the dozens of lawmakers like them, support unions in a real way. They care about money first and appearance of support to their constituents second. Pelosi keeps getting reelected because she's the biggest money maker for the DNC.
Pelosi keeps getting elected because she's one of the best Representatives and speakers in the US history. What a fucking muppet
Yeah she's the best for rich people. The rest of us find her to be a procorporate piece of shit just like Joe Biden.
And minorities, and LGBT and poor people
She has a long and storied record
Pelosi has not been good for poor people or LGBT. We live in a capitalist society and the damage she's done to the rights of everybody who works for a living far outpaces any good she has done. She's a corrupt piece of shit.
Oh goddamn commies
You can't cherry pick Biden's appointments and claim worker support. Biden also appointed Janet Yellen and reappointed Jerome Powell who are both in an outright war with the working class. Fuck Joe Biden.
You're literally cherry picking yourself
He's right. Biden is coasting into this election. Reminds me of Hillary in 2016.
So odd how dems always fumble it away.
Eh, Obama went hard on election stuff and so did Bill. This hubris seems recent and tied to a belief that Trump isn't a serious candidate.
Did the same thing with Dubya.
"That other guy is terrible" is a really bad way to go into an election.
Neither side knows how to fix things, but one of them lies and says it does. Being the incumbent doesn't help either, because if you do say you know how to fix things the obvious reply is "well why haven't you done it then?"
I would argue both sides know how to fix things but neither one is willing to do ALL the work required ... especially when it comes to re-regulating Wall St, taxing the rich across the board (like they were post-WW2), and clamping down on the billions of dollars donated through super PACs that essentially buys elections.
How the Hillary Clinton campaign deliberately "elevated" Donald Trump with its "pied piper" strategy
Gotta love this 'murican culture of nurturing the worst of the worst then wondering why it backfires. Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and the Colombian drug cartels come to mind.
It's not like hes won before, right? /s
Yes… odd
That's because the corporatists that control the messaging want some periodic austerity to keep the working class in line. "You should be happy with what we give you" or something like that.
I'm sure Biden and "his team" want to win, but not at any cost. Certainly not at the cost of taxing his donors and using the money to help the working class.
How would that policy be enacted even if they did? Congress certainly will not pass it.
Of course congress wouldn't pass anything like that. Ultimately they all play for the same team-- Capital. The "bully pulpit" and executive orders are largely reserved for things like supporting genocide, and antagonizing our geopolitical rivals.
Even a clearly over reaching executive order that immediately gets smacked down by the courts would relieve the pressure.
Ahh yes, the classic "there's no reason to support good policies because other people do not."
What a bunch of losers.
Rock on, Bernie
Just a quick fyi here:
Kudos to the Guardian for calling Trump a demogogue. At least they say the truth when no North American news source will.
That's just bullshit. Many North American publications have called him far worse than a demagogue. You're saying something that "feels" right but that isn't actually true. It's part and parcel with how disconnected from reality so many of us have become.
Communist Trolls: The left doesn't say enough bad shit about Trump!
Left and center news calling him a white supremacist, neo-nazi courting, racist, rapist, cheating, fat fuck, and now smelly fascist for 8 years now.
Suckers for propaganda: Uhhh... Biden supports Jews exterminating Muslims! I'm helping!!! Why didn't all of America vote for Bernie! It was the evil Democrats! It couldn't be that he was more popular and appealed to the sensitivities of anyone over the age of 40! Nor could Bernie court enough young voters to care to vote.
This coming from someone that has voted for him every chance I got. Which was exactly once lol. Bernie hasn't challenged him for the nomination at all. There's a reason why, and it isn't because he's cowtowed.
So this is not a "stranger things" insult
With an election coming up, the Schrodingers Leftist dilemma is in full force, even on Lemmy -
Where we're simultaneously both powerful enough to be personally behind every Republican win of the past 20 years, and also so insignificant that we must be ridiculed and bullied at every turn to remind us that we have NO PLACE in their party they blame us for not backing.
The best part is that most of the time people hit both sides of the coin in the same comment.
You can look at my post history and see I'm pretty far left, but I'll be pinching my nose and voting for Joe Brandon, the reason the GOP has built so much power over the years is because their base always pinches their nose and toe the party line. Voting for the lesser evil is still keeping less evil out of the world.
Voting for less evil is still addition of evil. Everyone parrots this "blue no matter who" shit but dems have done nothing to stop fascism or serve the needs of citizens, because they benefit from those systems and citizens going without. Voting mid right instead of far right is still voting for the right, voting Democrat doesn't stop the march to fascism, it just delays the official kick off date by 4 years as Republicans continue to seize power unchecked from the bottom up.
I've always voted third party and will continue to do so cause I'm over this vote between fascism and fascism but with a rainbow pin on its cap. If Democrats wanted the votes to beat Trump, they should have run Bernie who won the primary in 2016 instead of running status quo Hillary then having a court decree that their voters are, legally, not shit to them.
I've said it before and I'll keep shouting it from the rooftops - if leftists are so fucking important to Democrats maybe they should stop dedicating their lives to insulting and belittling us. 🤷
If you vote third party you have no right to cry when Trump win. You are as much responsible for it as anyone who didnt vote.
If you vote Democrat you have no right to cry when Trump win. You are responsible for voting for a party that explicitly demonizes half of their supposed base as they screech at us for not voting for them.
It's not the leftists. Oh the Democrats blame it on them. But we saw this in 2016 with Hillary. It's a hurt working class that feels like they're being ignored.
"leftists" is just what the centerists are willing to call us even if it's not technically correct. The point is they blame us for not winning the general elections but outright vote against us in the primaries. It's fucking pathetic.
All I know is I get called a socialist all the time and I can't get in contact with this Soros guy for my check. Seriously though, it is pretty screwed when you can tell whose going to get the nomination by who gets the party chair positions.
If Biden doesn't at least say he wants to do something about housing affordability then I won't be voting. I've voted blue my entire life.
Sad to think that we coulda had Bernie as Prez.
To be fair, attention span is short. Anything the administration does too early before the election will be completely forgotten by November.
True!
Can't pass up an opportunity to blame progressives and leftists can you? It's not that Joe Biden is a procorporate piece of shit. No no, it's those young 40 year old kids with their tiktoks that are the problem.
Get real Boomer. Biden was a terrible candidate and anyone who voted for him in the 2020 primaries is a selfish piece of shit.
Didn't single out anyone. Attention spans are low across the spectrum.
I didn't vote for him in the 2020 primary. I'm all for election reform to move away from FPTP and the lesser-evil voting strategy it necessitates. But as it stands, voting is FPTP in this election, so I'm definitely going to vote for the proto-corporatist over the fascist, and I'm going to encourage actions that make the fascist staying out of power more likely.
Single out the selfish piece of shit boomers who voted for Joe Biden in the primaries.
Whatever you say bud. You can complain, or play the hand you're dealt. Can't do much about it not. If you disagree with what happened, get out ahead of primaries next time and promote the candidates you like. If more people vote for another candidate, that's just democracy.
Buddy, if you didn't vote for Biden in the primaries who did you vote for? And why aren't you willing to acknowledge there was no good reason to vote for Biden in the primaries?
I voted for Bernie, but alas he did not win the primary. More people voted for Biden, so he did. That's the hand we are dealt.
I'm only saying there's no benefit to complaining about it now. Biden is shitty, but Trump is shittier. So it goes.
So are you willing to call out the people who voted for Biden in the 2020 primaries for the selfish pieces of shit they are?
I don't make sweeping moralistic statements like that. It's neither productive nor particularly tactful. I'm sure many of them thought they were making the sensible decision for the generally, even though I disagree with that decision.
What do you hope to gain, other than stroking your own moralism?
Give me one good sensible argument justifying voting for Biden over everybody else in the primaries.
Hopefully making you and everybody else who voted for that procorporate piece of shit in the primaries understand in no uncertain terms: If you elect procorporate trash in the DNC primaries they will lose in the general. Period.
I can't speak for everyone. I won't pretend I am the absolute arbiter of political justification, that's sociopathic.
And he did win in the general, so I don't get your point. The Democratic Party is protocorporate party, Leftists are a minority.
Because a bunch of us held our noses and gave him a chance because people said we can "push him to the left". Now that it's clear that was a lie we won't be showing up again.
Then ignore us. Win the 2024 general election all on your own.
Call for a ceasefire Bernie.
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-urges-president-biden-to-withdraw-support-for-10-1-billion-in-military-aid-to-israel-and-support-un-efforts-for-a-humanitarian-ceasefire/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-hamas-destroy-israel-ceasefire_n_6576fac1e4b0881b7917ddab
Weak shit tbh
Better than nothing, but it was a pause regardless of him trying to spin it as a ceasefire.
The rare W for Senator Sanders right there and now he is backpedaling so his base will still buy his books in the future.
Sanders is stuck in the bygone era of Labour Zionism and doesn't seem to realize that his statement about Hamas applies to modern Israel too - you can't have a permanent cease-fire with a settler-colonial entity, who has made it very clear that they want to annex the territory.
It is strange that the the American radical left abandoned Labour Zionism after the USSR conducted the trials like the Doctors' plot & decided selling weapons to Arabs to kill Jews was the way to go. Solidarity is quickly dispensed with when principles are weak. Maybe Sanders error is the same as people supporting Houthis now?
The American radical left grew an anti-colonial character alongside the rise of Black Nationalism and the American Indian Movement, the breakup was inevitable because Labour Zionists were trying to build socialism in an apartheid colorismo ethnostate on stolen land 🤷♀️
Without any international left holding them back, Revisionist Zionism conquered Israel and now they're just openly fascist genocidal freaks. Sanders still thinks there's a rational Zionist entity to negotiate with, but that ship sailed a long time ago.
Dems are just mid rights who don't care if you'd rather slave away and not afford healthcare or housing with a masculine pronoun instead of feminine (or vice versa)
Call me stupid, cuz I don't know. But why isn't anyone challenging Biden in the media? Or even talking about Marianne Williamson's (who I thought was a challenger) bid for the Democrat ticket?
How do we not have people lining up to replace Biden on the left?
Without the support of the DNC they know all they can do is weaken biden.
Media is a scary thing. Progressive ideas are so popular rn, and yet centrist and corporate donors still control everything. This election cycle has been such a slow boil and everyone seems to be tapped out already
Trump has both parties strangled and nobody is willing to make inroads for third parties or ending FPTP. Voters are abused spouses that aren't willing to fuck off to the shelter or streets because it will suck.
Biden's procorporate bullshit is what's strangling the chances of a Democrat victory. He fucked the BBB, negotiated down on student loan forgiveness, argued with us about how much stimulus money he campaigned on, blocked the rail strike, signed off on Yellen and Powell's war on the working class, gave a handout to corporate America with the chips act and continues to support Israel against wishes of the voters he depends on.
If Biden loses it's because Biden is a piece of shit.
Because it would be a good way to ensure a Trump victory. I hate that it's come to this, but unfortunately it's the reality.
Marianne is the one who had letter drafted from her staff to take her race more serious & focus on getting on more ballots than Iowa & New Hampshire. Huh, I wonder why nobody is taking her serious.
It's the same with the AFD in Germany. People were so busy insulting those who vote AFD and telling them how stupid they are that now even more people vote AFD. I wonder how anyone thought this was going to make them vote for a different party?
Centerists literally screaming at people they have to vote Democrat because a vote for a third party will destroy democracy.
These are the same people who voted for Biden in the primaries intentionally to block progressive and leftist candidates from getting elected and now they want to act like we're responsible for propping up their garbage candidate.
Yeah Biden lost me when he outlawed the rail strike (please dont link me to electrical union statement). Frankly its just been downhill from there anyway.
Don't link you evidence that the unions themselves thanked Biden for his help and they got what they wanted without striking?
he outlawed a rail strike and you want to link me a statement from an electrical union that opposed the strike from the beginning and always had sick days. And then I point out how not everyone got any sick days from this, the ones who did didnt get what they would have gotten from a strike, and outlawing strikes poisons any future union bargaining. Im tired of fuckin democrats coming in here to tell me how it was a good thing that the unions didnt get to collective bargain, they dont need any influence on labor because employers and the government have their best interests in mind.
Most of us rank and file union members think that he did what he had to do because inflation was already out of control and shutting down the railroads risked tipping the country into recession which would've guaranteed a "red wave" election in '22 as well as the reelection of Trump, both of which would be far more dire for working people.
Local 10 till I die!
damn man union members not even believing in collective bargaining. Yeah, it would have had consequences, that's why it works. And it historically improves the economy, with increased pay for workers able to spend more into the economy.
"Leftist"/Dum-Dum left yet again being the most anti-labor aspects of the Democrat party despite waving union issues around, sadly. They are so fickle and searching for some wild thing to justify quitting & trying to hand the GOP a win at a moments notice. They won't put the work into listening to great workers like yourself & what it takes to get the job done.
You're the one celebrating a president for blocking a strike.
The are reasons for strikes and goals behind them. The strike isn't the thing they are after its a tactic for getting the deals labor wants. You have to follow the whole labor negogation and negogations didn't end because the strike was. The only hiccup was sick days and many of thd unions got that in the end.
You are looking for something superfical to be angry about.
Call it whatever you want. I'm not voting for Biden again.
One rich IBEW pencil pusher doesn't represent every rail worker. You know how we determine the will of that many people? Through voting and they voted against the contract Biden shoved down their throats.
If Americans can’t realize for themselves that Biden is the most progressive president we’ve had since Jimmy Carter then we deserve Trumps dictatorship. I’m not saying Biden is adequately progressive (he’s not), but can anyone name a more progressive president in the last 50 years?
Fuck this "people deserve the asshole their neighbors voted for" bullshit.
bringing up the idea of voting third party is not a good choice here, huh? If i did that, i would get a lot of copypasta 'but trump' if i did so I'll just say this instead:
Since we all know we need a third party eventually, what do we think we could do to make that happen in the future? (After this election i mean, and trump disappears forever, melted by our vote power.)
How long would we need to wait? (Don't want to steal votes from Democrats mind you) would they're ever be a time where that wouldn't happen? If we asked the DNC about timing, do you think they would help us get one started? If we tried and somehow succeeded in getting something off the ground, how might both parties feel about that attempt? Would they be for or against? If they were against, would they try to crush it? If they tried to crush it, what would they do to crush it? They probably wouldn't use force first, so maybe they'd use words. What might they say about it?
Sadly for more than a two party race you really need a hardier representative voting system like ranked choice voting so that as parties are knocked out of the running people's actual choices are not entirely relegated to the garbage pile.
We're still trying to get that off the ground here in Canada where we have established parties outside of two but everyone keeps voting back and forth between liberal and conservative because of the spoiler effect.
Trudeau originally ran on a promise to bring in ranked choice voting but that was an outright lie I have been salty about for years. Not that I particularly believed him because really why would he? His party benefits from a lack of representive representation by historic bias. Still its very frustrating to actually have good parties that have been well established for decades and know that if I vote for them I might increase the risk of LGBTQIAphobia and Neoliberal economic policy running the gorram country.
I'm the Democrat you probably are referring to. Quite frankly nothing is wrong with your interest in a third party or even having an interest in alternative voting method (Ranked Choice or Star voting) to get a more preferable candidate.
My only thing to bring up is to understand the objective as well as its difficulties. On a federal aspect 'but Trump' is a very real issue. Nobody should be ignorant to harm that having Republicans in the White house & 1 and/or 2 branches of congress is very dangerous & detrimental.
The enthusiasm that people have for wanting to have something better is commendable & shouldn't be discounted. The task to win an executive office is based on electoral college not a popular vote. President Obama & Biden has soon how even that large of an office can be well checked & handcuff to a unaccommodating congress so you need to have more one office to present an alternative. That is fifty sates & with several states having various methods of how they allocate those votes. A third party & Independent candidate run that hasn't spent at least multiple years & decades should really owe potential voters a serious analysis than supposed moral platitudes(There are real harms for Republicans winning). They need concrete real & achievable measurable goals & strategies so their voters can gauge their success a long the way so voters could make rational choices come time for the general election. Democrats & Republicans benefit from a long history of being established players(or the only ones), it can seem unfair but don't be discouraged.
First, read up on your state statues & laws on what it takes to form or be a recognized political party. Then check out some of those recognized especially ones you believe align closest to you. Make sure you aren't reinventing the wheel. You might find out the those parties have platforms you for the most part agree with. Check out those parties state rules & bylaws on how they are governed or operate. If their is possibility to get involved that might be an easier option. There is something meritorious in a state having their own voice or say in a different candidate even if they aren't the presidential pick. Just see how Bernie Sanders's status is viewed as a Independent who caucuses with Democrats. Even as Democrats we got to keep an almost free pickup with Joe Manchin in MAGA country West Virginia & also John Tester in Montana. Distinctions can be made while existing under the umbrella.
There are lots of other avenues to explore that doesn't have to be a national campaign or even a state-wide one. Apathetic voters that don't or rarely do as well as plenty of disgruntled two party members exist to provide a strong base for third parties. Nobody would be upset with third parties increasing the voter pool & providing them with a voice better aligned to their views or interest.
Don't discount the importance of city, county, and state legislators importance in everyone's life. Some states don't prevent minimum wage increases passed at the city level & one insane aspect of RW SCOTUS is municipalities can enact environmental laws they are trying to strip from the federal government. Cities give "incentive" deals to businesses and I've seen them get involved in housing schemes. There are possibilities for improvement. Just Imagine taking that kind of victory separate from Dems or Repubs to the national stage. Also, how much better an individual would feel being involved in that kind of improvement.
(The only challenge would be that both parties at state & federal election filing may challenge petitions to be recognized and later to field candidates with challenges. Easily addressed by CHECKING your state laws. Some states like Florida & Tennessee the party can field their own candidates so check the laws. Be prepared and really try to work on a process to get candidates to support the issues & actions condoned by the group recruiting them. After building a good strong base its really just working on the party's appeal & protect their image from attacks by the Big Two. Establish an ethics committee or other aspect to help guard against accusations. Be accountability & trust in the party but not naive. Not being so paralyzed you have to be afraid but vigilant enough to challenge entryist that are only there to sabotage.)
Good questions. As with most things in society, true change has to start small. So you have to start by changing the messaging. With greater organization and messaging you start local and build a foundation. It drives me nuts that we have these conversations every 4 years about the presidency and then everybody goes back to their lives for another 4 years. Meanwhile the corporate machine is continuing their messaging that "government bad, worker's rights/unions bad, minimum wage bad, welfare bad, education bad, stock market good". What do you expect?
Yeah. If i use myself as a barometer of what regular people are capable of, i simply don't have the time n money n energy to start my own campaign or put time and money into a smaller political entity, to try and build them up for the next, out even the next next presidency.
I mean, were talking realism it would be a small party that won at the local level first yeah? Or so I've been told.
So we're talking decades. I have thought idly about how something like that could even happen over that time, and the only realistic starting point i can't think of is a pipe dream on its own, UBI.
I cannot think of another way the common man could compete with all that corpo monkey
I get it. Maybe we can all just start by changing the conversation and focus on the positive things Biden has done and encourage more of the same. The narrative is only focusing on the negatives and that will affect polling and voting.
Good. Biden losing the general election is the only way the fucking pieces of shit who voted for him in the primaries will get the fucking message. Stop voting for procorporate trash in the primaries. We won't show up for them in the general.
It would require massive reform to our current laws in order for there to be a viable 3rd party option. That's what you should be working for, not throwing away your vote.
Oh God the "vote blue no matter who" crowd is coming back soon this year aren't they?
Oh they have been around the whole time for slobs like me who never touch grass but you're absolutely right they are gonna get real real loud, huh? And they're gonna sound just like this article too! Hear that?
That's the sound of them sharpenin their waggin fingers
🎯
Feelings about Trump aside: Biden? Progressive? What are you smoking?
Having zero policy changes during your time in the office is progressive now, huh? I'm pretty sure many would consider Obama more progressive due to the fact that he campaigned for like universal healthcare at some point when president. Hell even trump gave us multiple stimulus checks lol /s
lol. Did I say Biden was a progressive OR did I say he was MORE progressive than any president in the last 50 years?
I’m smoking rational thought, shared by others. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/13/why-progressives-winning-inside-democratic-party/
Biden's party is more progressive, but Biden is not. Note how he is on par with popularity polls with the guy who attempted to lynch our political representation. Obama was easily more progressive.
Edit: migrating my response to a deleted comment so others can read it. The deleted comment below accused me of not reading the article. This was my response.
if Trump wins the corps also win and the people lose
if Biden wins the corps also win and the people lose
did either of these two put up a fight for worker's rights and higher wages?
did either stand up for women's rights or bodily autonomy?
did either stand up and defend journalist being silenced?
did either do anything to quell the militarized police force?
did either help Captain Planet at all with restoring Mother Earth?
did either candidate do anything to protest against the size of the military budget?
what did either candidate do that directly makes the citizens better off?
where is the difference?
Because, despite 5 decades of progress in information availability and democratization of knowledge, working class people still have to be spoon fed every bit of news as they are emotionally incapable of learning anything other than what gets fed to them on the TV.
Are you working class?
Depends on your definition. I'm white collar, 40 hours a week, bottom 90% income.
Well in my opinion, it doesn't really matter what words are used to call other people until whatever those words are are used with the purpose to separate one and qualify the other as superior. Hang on, I'm not about to tell you how to get to Sesame Street.
What you said is akin to tribalism, which isn't bad or good but is a normal human reaction everyone feels. id like to focus on the way tribalism can be and is currently being used against us to turn off our brains.
I'll start with the obvious bad actor here, FOX news. How do they paint us on the left? Lets see, we're all godless, overeducated, wine sippin, holier-than thou, out of touch DINKS. Oh and we're all gay space commies.
Now besides me who embodies every one of those, most lefties don't, right? It's done by FOX intentionally to divide us and create divisions instead of conversations between us folks working 40hrs a week.
We know FOX is doing it, but aren't the sources we watch doing the same? Isn't it likely, at least? The guy you had pop in your head when you said "working class", what did he look like?
Rough, right? Mean, uneducated (a nice stand-in for dumb), emotionally stunted, misogynist, etc.
Now , whether or not that's exactly what your lil trumpet looks like, why do you have a vision similar to mine?
What i mean is where did that image come from??
The news we watch, right? Where else would we? How else would we have the same basic picture in our heads? Could it be our news sources are painting this picture in our heads for us?
I believe most of the media we see is doing this trick. Most of the media, is owned by people who, if they were allowed to, would try and spread a point of view that benefits them. For us, they want you and me to blame the guys who are watching FOX, not the guys running FOX.
The thing that drives me the craziest about our species is we're actually pretty smart when we want to be, but we're also lazy and vain. Both FOX and MSNBC viewers are equals in vanity and laziness. Those failures are in my opinion what makes us so easy to manipulate, and what we must guard against most strongly because of that.
OK THIS WENT LONGER THAN I MEANT TO DO SO TLDR;
when you say
I respond that it's more like we are all