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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/22940159

Bernie Sanders caused a stir last week, when the independent senator from Vermont and two-time contender for the Democratic presidential nomination sent a post-election email to his progressive supporters across the country. In it, he argued that the Democrats suffered politically in 2024 at least in part because they ran a campaign that focused on “protecting the status quo and tinkering around the edges.”

In contrast, said Sanders, “Trump and the Republicans campaigned on change and on smashing the existing order.” Yes, he explained, “the ‘change’ that Republicans will bring about will make a bad situation worse, and a society of gross inequality even more unequal, more unjust and more bigoted.”

Despite that the reality of the threat they posed, Trump and the Republicans still won a narrow popular-vote victory for the presidency, along with control of the US House. That result has inspired an intense debate over the future direction not just of the Democratic Party but of the country. And the senator from Vermont is in the thick of it.

In his email, Sanders, a member of the Senate Democratic Caucus who campaigned in states across the country this fall for Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic ticket, asked a blunt question: “Will the Democratic leadership learn the lessons of their defeat and create a party that stands with the working class and is prepared to take on the enormously powerful special interests that dominate our economy, our media and our political life?”

His answer: “Highly unlikely. They are much too wedded to the billionaires and corporate interests that fund their campaigns.”

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[-] ochi_chernye@startrek.website 8 points 1 month ago

The election is over. Democrats failed spectacularly. Now is the time for criticism and accountability. If not now, when? We're all just supposed to pretend that Harris ran a great campaign? Are you familiar with the concept of learning from failure? I was beating this drum myself before the election—you know, when it actually made sense. Now it just smacks of sticking your fingers in your ears.

[-] UsernameHere@lemmy.world -5 points 1 month ago

Democrats lost because fewer Democratic voters showed up this year. That is a sign of apathy. If we spend the next 4 years sowing more apathy then it won’t matter what we are saying the months leading up to the election because everyone will already be apathetic.

To pretend democrats failed spectacularly is to ignore the billionaires doing things like buying votes to win or Russian bots sowing apathy to Democratic voters to convince them to not vote or vote 3rd party.

I see you’re federated with startrek.website. Ever heard the saying “you can do everything right and still lose”.

Apathy caused Democratic voters to stay home. Continuing to sow more apathy will guarantee we lose the next one, if there is a next one.

[-] ochi_chernye@startrek.website 3 points 1 month ago

Sure there were Russian bots. Of course there was billionaire fuckery. That's been the case every cycle for decades. Do you honestly believe that Democrats lost exclusively because of these things? And furthermore, that nobody should critique their performance or policies, because that constitutes sowing apathy? Weeks after the fucking election? That's the dumbest fucking thing I ever heard.

[-] UsernameHere@lemmy.world -2 points 1 month ago

Harris lost the popular vote by 1.6%. Trump gained more votes than he got in 2020. It was a close race but Trump got all the most important swing states with the most electoral votes. The scales were not tipped very far in Trumps favor.

And furthermore, that nobody should critique their performance or policies, because that constitutes sowing apathy?

Saying we should waste our votes on 3rd parties or claiming democrats are the same as the republican fascists is not “critiquing performance or policies”. To even claim that is a bad faith argument.

[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Just shut up and never ever criticize the party that only ever moves to the right, or you want the fascists to win!

You will never understand that votes are earned, not demanded.

[-] UsernameHere@lemmy.world -3 points 1 month ago

Democrats: work with Bernie Sanders

You: this is called moving to the right!

[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Bernie Sanders: Exists

You: This is working with Bernie Sanders!

[-] UsernameHere@lemmy.world -2 points 1 month ago

Bernie Sanders: votes with the Democratic Party You: this is not called working with Bernie Sanders!

[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Sanders voting with the party is not the party working with Sanders.

I'm done talking to you. All you do is deliberately misrepresent my positions.

[-] UsernameHere@lemmy.world -2 points 1 month ago

Bernie Sanders: votes with Democratic Party because that is what politicians do for work.

You: “Nooooo! This misrepresents my positions!”

[-] FutileRecipe@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Bernie is working with the Democrats. The Democrats are not working with Bernie. Bernie is picking the lesser of the two evils, as he sees it.

The criticism is not that Bernie doesn't work with them, but rather they are not working with him. There is a difference between those two.

[-] ClassStruggle@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

You confuse apathy with refusing to support a Republican in liberal clothing

[-] UsernameHere@lemmy.world -3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Why is this repeated so much by accounts from lemmy.ml only?

[-] ClassStruggle@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Because we can see what many liberals can't, that your party is full of right wing gatekeepers. That ran on a right wing platform

[-] UsernameHere@lemmy.world -3 points 1 month ago

Interesting. I wonder why no one outside of lemmy.ml agrees.

[-] ClassStruggle@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

.ML is so powerful it caused Harris to lose an election?

Apparently millions outside of .ML saw it too

[-] UsernameHere@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago

.ML is so powerful it caused Harris to lose an election?

lol what? Who said that?

[-] ClassStruggle@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

You made the claim that no one outside of .ML says these kind of things.

[-] UsernameHere@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago

What does that have to do with Harris losing the election?

this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2024
591 points (97.7% liked)

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