“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sanders said.
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”
“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?” Sanders asked.
“Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not.”
That’s a pretty dishonest description of Bernie. I don’t dare to say if your statement about unions is true, and it might as well be, but what Bernie is saying here is that it’s not enough. He’s arguing the democrats need to be more progressive. Feel free to disagree with his suggestion though.
I do think that the bigger problem is that the average person lacks the general understanding of how policies affect their lives. They want simple answers and Trump is giving them that. People are shortsighted and have a hard time grasping the bigger picture, and rather vote based on a gut feeling.
We can disagree about Bernie. I think it’s deeply cynical of him to point the finger he’s pointing.
You are very right about simple answers vs annoying complexity, and this is a systemic problem the Democrats will always face. Being based in reality and choosing to try to solve actual issues instead of simplified strawmen means the Democrats never will have an appealing story to tell, for most folks.
I think what he is getting at is that democrats could be more “aggressive” in how to appeals to the working class people. These subtle policies that have marginal benefit don’t have enough perceived impact.
Democrats could promise something simple and with clear benefits to common folks, something that can be easily understood. People want change. I think Bernie was almost getting there when he was running.
MAGA fans have jumped on the bandwagon of “sticking it to the man”, and “draining the swamp”. Which is kind of what Bernie wants to do but sincerely, with a track record to prove it.
Edit: added “perceived “
The Inflation Reduction Act could hardly be less marginal. It is about as massive a thing that directly helps the working class in this country that the government is capable of doing. Right up there with the ACA which, shock, also brought by Democrats.
The reason the Dems lose is about messaging, and about media fear. Dems have a “we’re all weak so we need each other” message, while the GOP has a “you’re super strong and you’re being held down by the system” message. No need to prove it, and it sounds great to anyone with even a single complaint about anything.
The media fear is about fighting accusations of bias, which the GOP throws around as standard operating procedure. Lie about it all the time and people will accept it as true, and so the media treats the GOP with kid gloves. Pointing out lies gets called bias, instead of reporting the truth. The demands for “Harris to get specific with policy proposals” was a bunch of horseshit, because she was very specific. Trump gave no specifics, answered no questions, and skated on it all.