2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhy I Have Switched from Bernie to Hillary
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/11/1483752/-Why-I-Have-Switched-from-Bernie-to-HillaryBy Jhannon
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the presidential race. As a democratic socialist it seemed obvious to me that I would support Bernie Sanders in the Democratic race. I have followed his career, and supported him, since I first moved to Vermont in 1972. I was a member of the Liberty Union Party, for Pete's sake, and Bernie's success in Vermont politics coincided with the political and cultural changes we wanted to make as part of the "back to the land" movement that brought so many war-weary and politically alienated young people to Vermont as a place to learn and help create changes on a workable scale.
But I have had an increasingly uncomfortable feeling as I watched the campaign unfold. Bernie is talking about a political revolution in ways that make no sense to me. The American system dampens the possibility of radical change through the ballot box. There is no third party/proportional representation. I can't imagine him leading as much as a change in the majority party in the House and there is no way any of his more dramatic proposals have any chance of passing given the composition of Congress--which is very unlikely to change radically in the near/medium future. Hope and Change struck me as utopian vagueness in 2008 and Bernie is doubling down.
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notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)No, we can't change a god damn thing! Might as well settle. Huh?
I don't accept it.
I can't. They can't. We can't. It's a poor excuse for laziness.
840high
(17,196 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)some people don't care of two or three more generations are wasted.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Hope you will feel better.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Better this way
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)You're support of Sanders was about an inch deep.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)I do not LOVE POLITICIANS
Btw? I switched my support from Sanders to Clinton like the author
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)Give it a rest. You never were much of a Sanders supporter. Quit playing that tired card.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)You have told us many times how much you didn't like Hillary until one of us made you mad and then you had to switch to her because....
cui bono
(19,926 posts)She admitted it all has to do with her being angry at internet people.
.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)It's all a game to some people.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)I asked you guys to stop then i switched from Sanders to Hillary
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)But of course you never were really much of a Sanders supporter.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)I'm sure you were a real strong Sanders supporter before you switched. We all believe you.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)cannot win so I settled for him then switched my supoort to Hillary. So really, Jill Stein should be mad.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)We've seen plenty of that here and they're not fooling anyone. Their own histories and words betray them.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)NowSam
(1,252 posts)and endorsements. That's all I am saying.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)They think we're too stupid to see them for what they are.
There was a diary posted here recently that sounded like a letter to Penthouse, that was a fun thread.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)But how do you know what a letter to Penthouse sounds like?
.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)Actually someone posted it in the thread, it was hilarious.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511004725
MissDeeds
(7,499 posts)Fake supporter and "concern" post. Spare me.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)For what purpose I don't know but at least it's amusing. My favourites are the ones who claim they did it because of supporters.
I'm sorry, if your resolve is so weak you can be influenced by anonymous online posters then you really shouldn't be online.
JoeyT
(6,785 posts)The faithful love nothing better than a converted heathen that's seen the light.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)So, Obama's "Hope and Change" was "utopian vagueness"??? I thought it was vague, and it was. But there was nothing utopian or foolhardy about it. President Obama made an effort to give us hope and provide needed change. For this clown to put him down for it smacks of Sarah Palin.
And of course Bernie isn't going to accomplish all he wants to with a republican congress. No one seriously expects that. That's not the point. He'll push his agenda and use the bully pulpit to pound the republicans into mush until they follow the will of the people. That's what he is offering--a real fight to achieve progressive objectives. The only way to get their is to fight all the way. That's what the DLC, third way, corporate backed conservaDems will never do.
ejbr
(5,856 posts)That may allow other Bernie supporters to give her another looksy. Or...
berningman
(144 posts)a transcript of a speech that shows her in a favorable light. scream bloody murder and feign the victim, while supporters claim "see shes pure as the driven snow. its just taking longer than expected to find something innocuous.
SoLeftIAmRight
(4,883 posts)He argues against his own point???
Justice
(7,188 posts)she is studying in another city with a group of politically active students. Some are even working on campaigns or for political parties.
In the past she has been for Bernie, and says many of her friends who are Democrats there are for Bernie. When I ask her why she said that they liked what he said about student loans. I wonder how much support he is getting from college students because of his position on student loans. Seriously.
Tonight she told me they all requested absentee ballots for the primaries but they now are not sure who they will be voting for. She is back and forth between Clinton and Sanders.
I am fine with her voting either way, I just really want her to vote. I could not get her to vote in our last election (Governor, Mayor) because she was "too busy."
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)It would be the right thing to do.
doc03
(35,364 posts)was Democrats win when they vote. It does seem that way, we went through the exact same thing
in 2008. Everyone fell in love with Obama and he got out the vote and yes he won. Then you look at
what happened in the off years. He has fired up the opposition more than anyone in my memory and
the Republicans took the House and within a hair of the Senate and now if we lose this one there goes
SCOTUS. We got a very flawed health care plan that most Democrats aren't happy with. So have we
really gained anything in the long run? Then there is Hillary she has so many negatives and nobody
seems to be very enthusiastic about her. All I know for sure is whoever gets nominated I will vote for
the Democrat. I have seen so many of the Sanders supporters declare they will not vote if Hillary gets
nominated. With all this I don't have much confidence we can win whoever we nominated especially if
this bad economic news keeps up.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)Like most Hillarians, the author either is/was a republican, or has given up altogether
Armstead
(47,803 posts)hollowdweller
(4,229 posts)I don't agree with it, but at least you've thought about it.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)So there is that.
Beacool
(30,251 posts)We may be a minority on DU, but we are scrappy.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)dem in texas
(2,674 posts)There's no way that his proposals will make it through a divided congress like we have now. Remember the big fight over Obamacare, remember GM (Government Motors) squabble, the bank bailouts. So many important things that Obama had to back down on to get even a little bit of legislation through. Think what will happen if Bernie were presenting his ideas to congress, talk about a fight! We'd have total shutdown again.
I voted for Obama over Hillary because of her vote to go to war in Iraq. But what we are facing now is so important that we must have a candidate that has a strong chance of winning in the general election. R. Maddow had the turnout figures for Iowa and NH primaries and in both cases, the Republicans far outdrew the Dems. The young folks may like Bernie, but they are not showing up at the polls like they should. If this happens in the general election, we are in big trouble.
We must have a Democrat win the Election. Supreme court appointments are bound to come up in the next term and we don't need another Scalia on the bench. If Ted Cruz were to win the election, you can kiss the right to have an abortion goodbye. Obamacare? All the republican candidates are vowing to abolish it. How a about a little more war? The repubs are all for that, forget about how much money would be wasted and how many people will be killed, let's just carpet bomb them until the ground glows.
I hope Hillary wins the nomination and that she names Julio Castro as her VP running mate. But, will have to wait and see. I always vote a straight Dem ticket unless there is someone who is unsavory running as the Dem, then I go back and blank out my vote for that seat, but I do not cast a vote for a repub. If JWP wins the primary in my district, will be blanking out my vote for that slot.
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)If we can get enough people to feel hopeless, then they will drop out of the process and the oligarchs can rule without interference from the unwashed masses.
Yes, let's do everything we can to encourage hopelessness.