ChaosTonyV4 posted...
The problem with this point of view, which I've pointed out a million times, is it is a self-defeating (well, assuming the self in question actually wants left wing actions) point of view.
The Left built a base of power
twice
that genuinely threatened the power structure of the Democratic Party. So much so, that the godfather of the Dems, or whatever you want to call Obama, literally (and this has been verified) rallied the party around Joe.
At the end of the day, Bernie failed twice, and his reward in 2020 was...um, what? Joe said he'd veto Medicare for All. When's the last time Kamala mentioned it? Immigration reform? The Dems are quite literally running on "we wanted to do Trump's policy but Republicans stopped us".
The alternative is dogshit and evil, yes, I don't know a single left person who would disagree with that, but the Dems have basically put themselves into a position where a single loss equals "death of the Republic". People have been sounding the alarm for years that this is unsustainable, and can you really disagree? Your entire project is based on "if we keep winning against our mortal enemies until they go away forever, then we can do what you want".
My friend, you don't get to claim the logical and moral highground when your stated position is basically magic.
When did this happen? I feel like you're talking about the 2020 primaries, but as has already been pointed out, during those first three primaries when Joe Biden lost, it's not like Bernie was an overwhelming winner and the "moderate Voltron" coalesced to pick anyone but him.
You can make any argument to want about whether Bernie would have won in 2016 (and I'll disagree with it), but at the very least, I can look at 2016 and say "This is a relative unknown who put up one helluva fight against one of the most well-known politicians in the country." To me, that says that Bernie, fresh off his lose in 2016 but with the benefit of hindsight, should have been the frontrunner in 2020. He had all that popularity from 2016, but NOW he's a household name AND people have seen how disastrous Trump is (plus COVID hit at the exact right time to make Bernie's policies seem ideal for the country).
What did we get though? In a massive field of candidates in which 90% were running on some sort of moderate platform compared to JUST Bernie and Warren running to the left, Bernie STILL did not take home those first few primaries decisively. For fuck's sake, I would think that if your candidate struggles to beat a nobody (at the time) like Mayor Pete, whose only political experience was being mayor of a single town...that SHOULD make you question just how much your policies actually resonate with voters. If Bernie was barely eking past Biden? Sure. Biden's a big name and it makes sense he'd give Bernie a challenge. But people in Iowa and New Hampshire didn't want Biden...so they voted in large numbers for a DIFFERENT moderate instead.
Why is it so hard to consider that MAYBE, just MAYBE it's not a coordinated effort from the establishment that's out to get you? MAYBE your message just isn't connecting with people as much as you think it is? And maybe progressives need to self-reflect as to why they keep fucking losing beyond just blaming the establishment and repeating the same losing strategy over and over again. Say what you will about the Democratic Party as a whole being bad strategists, but at least they win SOMETIMES.