this post was submitted on 24 May 2024
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Sanders simply didn't have the numbers. And wouldn't have had the numbers, even if the DNC hadn't actively been backing Clinton and then Biden.
The 'problem' with Sanders is that he's a pretty solid democratic socialist. That's scary for a lot of centrist voters in a way that Trump isn't, or Mittens Romney wasn't. Is that dumb? Yes. But that's still the way it is. You can be angry about the Overton window moving to the right, but it has moved, and when you're looking at electability of candidates, you need to pay attention to it. You need to move that window left before the elections, and that requires a ground game that Dems simply don't have yet. (And may never have, TBH.)
Republicans have been moving that Overton window to the right for literally decades. The first concerted effort that I can remember was with Newt Gingritch and his "Contract With America", and then the Tea Party. We haven't had that kind of concerted effort from people on the left in the US, and we need it if we ever expect a candidate like Sanders to be viable.
(And really, Elizabeth Warren has nearly identical politics, but is less well-known as being on the left. She'd probably be a more solid choice at this point to capture centrists.)
Trump won bc he messaged outside the window, socialists don't win bc they never get promoted as viable, your just prepetuating the lie. Polling showed Bernie doing better vr trump. Everyone not a committed racist who voted trump did so bc he spoke about doing something novel, Bernie did better on that exact messaging.
And no, the DNC worked extremely hard to with a lot of impact to harm Bernie.
Bernie convinced me to change my registration from Republican to Democrat. I couldn't agree more with your message and I really wish Bernie would have had a fair shot in the primary. I believe he would have won in the general election and the country would have benefit from him.
Polling consistently showed Clinton doing better than Trump too. Before election night, odds from the best polling experts around put Trump at around a 20% chance of winning. In fact, before the Comey report, it was more like 95% that Clinton would win.
The problem is that people think odds are destiny. Yes, the odds-on favorite does usually win. But not always.
Get ready to have your mind blown. I was a lifelong Republican voter prior to Bernie and switched my registration to Democrat to vote for him in the primary. If he were to make it, he absolutely would have been my choice for president. Many of my friends at the time switched as well because we believed in his message. However, after seeing the coordinated effort from the DNC to shut him out in favor of Hillary, I ended up voting 3rd-party. I'm still registered as a Democrat; however, neither of the current top two parties will likely get my vote again. I believe you underestimate how wide an audience can be intrigued by something different than the usual corporate options.
I lived in prime MAGA country in 2016, and they knew I wasn't with them and were suspicious until I said I was a Bernie supporter. They said they respected him for being consistent and for his hatred of billionaires and support of the working class. I honestly think that if it had been Bernie vs. Trump we'd be in the middle of the former's second term right now.
The thing with Bernie is that he was able to drum up a passion and level of support from the people around him that I haven't seen anywhere except the Right. Now I recognize it isn't specifically him that did it. He helped and acted as a conduit and would have made a great President imho. What really brought people together was their anger and hope for true positive change.
I've been paying attention and people are angry now. Angrier than they were back when Bernie tried. I sincerely hope that the anger I am seeing and hearing, not only on the Internet, but also in stores and while working, is something we grab onto. Those of us who lean left, in comparison to the right, are too patient. Too inclusive. Too willing to shift uncomfortably and not speak up.
Get Biden in to buy time. Then take that time, stay together, and collectively plant a foot in some strategic asses.
The problem with Bernie was that while he had very vocal followers with a lot of passion, he didn't have a lot of them. His numbers stayed pretty constant as other candidates dropped out of the primary races. (I was, and am, a Sanders supporter.) It was much like Trump; Trump consistently pulled about 30% of the primary votes. Trump won the nomination because you needed a plurality to win the nomination, and too many candidates stayed in the race too long. In the Democratic races, other candidates dropped out earlier in the races, and their supporters went to Clinton and then Biden, rather than Sanders.
I agree with you that people on the left seem angry right now, but my fear is that they're angry with Biden, angry over Israel, angry over an economy that feels bad, and plan on taking their anger out on Biden rather than looking at this strategically. I'm a cis-, het-, middle-aged white male that likes guns. I look conservative as long as I keep my mouth shut. I know a whoooooole lot of people that don't have that luxury, and I'm scared for them.
I think the problem is that voting strategically in 2020 yielded the situation the left is angry at.
Elizabeth Warren simply does not have the speaking skills and engagement skills to be successful at the next level of politics. She's a great like Secretary of something or a head of a department, but that's probably as far as she's going to go.
The Dems could have rallied with Occupy like the Repubs did with Tea Party, but instead shit all over it.