I know I’m not the only one here hoping for a miracle.
I know it’s a long shot, even though about half the delegates are still up for grabs. Unfortunately, the map isn’t in Bernie’s favor and neither is the polling. But he should hang in there.
And you know what? We might not make it, and I’m making peace with it. It will not be the death of progressivism as the media (and the worst voices in our heads) will make it out to be. There is a generation coming in on his (and Warren’s) heels.
Bernie was not my first, nor my second choice, when we started this thing.
But now he’s my first choice.
Biden was nearly my last choice most of the race. But now he’s my second choice.
If you want to contribute from afar, consider phone banking or donating to his campaign.
I fucking hate with the burning passion of eleventy brazillion suns that Bernie is being thwarted just to fit a narrative that sells ad-space and keeps people with literally more money than they can ever hope to spend just as wealthy. When in reality Bernie would ultimately make them only slightly less wealthy in their lifetimes.
The bright future we were promised is being robbed in front of us and there is fuck all we can do about it aside from violent, bloody revolution.
All of this bullshit because an entire generation can’t bring themselves to vote in a way that is equivalent to eating vegetables. And the upcoming generation either doesn’t, or for various and purposefully malicious systemic reasons, can’t be bothered to vote in order to affect any change.
As I type this I am in absolute agony from eating at what is normally my only safe option to eat out: 5 Guys. And the prospect of M4A has me giddy with relief over my own health issues. That we can’t make that change because it is somehow far too “radical.” makes no fucking gorram sense.
Apologies for being such a downer around here.
Eat.
The.
Rich.
Don’t apologize, we are all a bit raw and exasperated. For me, I felt like this was such a prime opportunity for real change. I remain optimistic about progressivisim because it’s not like president is the only way forward; we can keep pushing without Bernie at the top of the ticket.
…just an aside really…aside from saying I’m impressed at the amount of optimism you’re managing to hang onto in the face of perversity
…progressive, as a term, has come to bother me somewhat…it gets thrown about in defiance of the actual meaning of the term as though it were synonymous with a sort of strident but impotent form of hopeless naivety regarding human nature and the makeup of the world we live in…if that’s what people want to imply when they use it pejoratively they need to find another fucking word as far as I’m concerned
…I think a lot of the problem comes down to the way it got wedded to a specific way of analyzing tax proposals & has been diverging from the meaning of the word ever since
…because otherwise only a fucking moron would be anything but progressive in principle since by definition anything else is basically rooting for shit to get worse as we go along
…couldn’t agree more about feeling like an unprecedented opportunity for real & meaningful change on a number of fronts seeming to have been willfully pissed away for no reasons that really make sense in a wider context…but, hey…same shit, different day
Yeah the word, like so many others, has lost meaning. I still feel like it’s the best way to describe the lefter left in the US.
I’m only hanging on to optimism because the other choice is giving up, and I simply can’t do that. I need to fight for survival. For years and years I have lamented how the left and left center have flat out neglected to bother with any offices that aren’t president; a truly progressive president would be an amazing boon to progress, but only if enough other pieces fall into place. We need those pieces to fall into place with or without Bernie, so our actions we need to take from here on out are almost exactly the same as they were two weeks ago.
Fear. That’s the reason. Peoples fear is overpowering any part of their brain that might want change. For them, change is a return to what was “normal” prior to Trump. Just look at the reasons why people say they’re voting for him. The fear is strong.
…I know they say fat is flavor & all but I have a feeling the rich would taste shitty
…I guess I also subscribe to an unfashionable attachment to some things that don’t make catchy slogans…it’s easy to talk about the 1% because everyone knows what you mean…it’s much harder to talk about the way the tiny handful of people globally who warp that grading curve insanely form not a great deal more than 1% of the 1% we talk about most of the time
…it’s been remarked on from time to time that one of the great victories of things like the southern strategy was convincing poor white folks that they didn’t have more in common with poor black folks than rich white folks
…arguably we could say the same thing about “average” people & “rich” people…particularly where things like healthcare are concerned…or education…or a holistic & systemic approach to countering impending environmental catastrophe
…despite the very real & often painful differences between being poor & precariously-to-moderately well off & the yet more differences as you rise up to the rarefied atmosphere of the comfortably wealthy even the two ends of that spectrum have more in common than the upper end does with the pocket universe of the insanely wealthy
…I swear some days it seems to me like the main reason they were keen to have corporations deemed to be people for legal purposes was literally for cover because otherwise they’re way the fuck out there on their own as outliers & at some point people…perhaps hungry people like yourself…might notice?
…personally I’d still counsel against it myself…much better to eat their dinner before they can…or so I’m told?
I am not in love with Bernie. He is and always has been and almost certainly always will be my first choice. I have the privilege of being able to ignore some of his policy positions or not so great track record because more than anything I want a better country.
There’s a lot of people trying to either self-assure or reassure others that Biden is right person to “fix” Trump’s mess. Which does not comfort me.
Because people are literally dying for lack of healthcare. People are rationing their insulin and dying. But we want to keep handing the healthcare industry awards for capping the price of insulin and “working with the government.”
I do not believe Biden can beat Trump. Because BUTTERMAILS is now whatever Hunter Biden got up to in Ukraine and Biden’s own diminished capacities. I don’t know for sure if Bernie could, either, but for many reasons I think Bernie is the better choice to beat Trump and was so in 2016.
It feels “easy” for moderate voters and the talking heads in the media to wag their finger about the hysterics of the left and those meanie Bernie Bros. Joe Biden has sworn over and over that nothing would be fundamentally different under his presidency and there’s no reason for us not to believe him as he has no vision for the future. He campaigned with Obama who denounced having “more of the same” and championed “hope and change” yet we’re meant to sit here and cheer “Better than Trump! Status quo again!”
I’ll be mailing my ballot for the Florida primary tomorrow. Florida was going for Mike Bloomberg before he dropped out.
I thought I posted this comment already – I share your concerns with Biden, although I can’t really get behind the idea that Bernie could better beat Trump if Biden decisively wins the primary. I’m nervous but I’d be nervous with Bernie as the nominee too, in terms of beating Trump.
Seriously ‘nothing will change’ should have been Biden’s end.
https://www.salon.com/2019/06/19/joe-biden-to-rich-donors-nothing-would-fundamentally-change-if-hes-elected/
This is a good article on the subject of Biden and advancing progressive goals:
Basically, the author looks at Virginia, where they elected a Democratic centrist over a progressive candidate. And, as it turns out, progressives have made significant advances under a more moderate Democrat. In other words, half a loaf is better than none.
Remember, the biggest obstacle to progressive goals is voter disenfranchisement. If everybody is allowed to vote, shit starts shifting left with a quickness. And Democrats oppose voter disenfranchisement.
The other point to remember is that Biden is an opportunist, like most politicians. He adapted his positions to support Obama, and he’ll adapt his positions to appeal to the majority of Democratic voters, and the majority of Democratic voters want Medicare for All and free college. Biden’t going to move in that direction.
So yeah, half a loaf. But half a loaf is infinitely preferable to the hell Trump will unleash if we allow him another term.
“half a loaf is better than none.”
The exact logic that will have me voting for Biden without a second thought. Biden is not our progressive hero, so now, if we can get him into office, we use him as a vector toward our ideals. It’s not perfect and we won’t get everything we want, but we will probably be set back forever if Republicans remain in power.
I get the appeal of Bernie but sometimes the “idea guy” isn’t the best one to actual put the ideas into practice. Sometimes you need middle management to actually implement things and get them done. Biden is was not my favorite pick but if anything he is middle management incarnate but will at least listen to progressive ideas.