Bernie Sanders
Related: About this forumLiberals Aren’t Amused By Bernie Sanders’ Campaign Anymore—They’re Terrified
The objective of the week for liberals appears to be to make clear Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is some kind of pariah. Despite how his candidacy has transformed into a phenomenon over the past months, establishment liberals maintain the U.S. senator from Vermont should not be considered a serious candidate. They believe it would be a huge mistake if a Democrat with unapologetic socialist leanings won the nomination, especially over Hillary Clinton.
But these cases against Sanders are really arguments against citizens voting their conscience. The uncertainty and dismissiveness toward Sanders serves to silence any critics of the corporate-driven politics entrenched in the Democratic Party. It suggests a fear that Democrats might actually stand against corporate power for a change.
Democrats, along with President Obamas administration, have spent the last eight years protecting capitalism from populist calls for reform, which would diminish the power and influence of corporations. The Affordable Health Care Act was a prime example, where Medicare for All was immediately taken off the table, and the political party manipulated citizens into believing requiring private insurance companies to offer insurance to all consumers was the best that could be accomplished.
It is one thing to vote for Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, who are more than happy to serve the moneyed elite, if you actually believe in what she stands for as a presidential candidate. But it is quite another thing to delude people into voting for her simply because it is your view that Bernie Sanders vision is difficult to make a reality. That position accepts the status quo and embraces a politics of low expectations, where the best elected officials can do is triage the effect of wealth and power becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of the few.
Full article: http://inthesetimes.com/article/18798/liberals-election2016-Sanders-Chait-Leftism
arcane1
(38,613 posts)I wish I had come up with it
stillwaiting
(3,795 posts)Because it is. Literally.
They aren't working for our best interests at all.
They actively work AGAINST our interests as a matter of fact. They spend far more time telling left-wing voters what we CAN'T do than fighting established monied interests and telling them why we SHOULD do the things that would actually help most of us.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)I think a lot of masks are slipping, as people among the power and wealth crowds start to worry that the 'infotainment' and 'red vs blue' mock battles aren't keeping the populace sedated any more, and that their own personal lackey positions might be threatened if they can't keep us fighting amongst ourselves, rather than against the gentry.
Trajan
(19,089 posts)I don't view Hillary or the DLC as Liberals .... AGAIN this author conflates the current meaning of the term ...
It is degrading to REAL Liberals to have them compared semantically to those persons in the Democratic Party who are doing their damnedest to overturn ANY "Liberal" policy they can find ....
Screw that ....
Cleita
(75,480 posts)I do get his meaning though.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)child-rearing/PTA years. Somewhere in there Progressive came in, then Left Liberals, then True Liberals and now Liberals for HRC and crew ande the Third Way? OMG.
I thought the Third Way means Corporatists...those who are willing to join the Oligarchy. So it would be a useful thread to have a discussion on this very important point.
What defines a Liberal? When you were raised by John Birchers, one knows the difference. Today, not so much.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)Not sustainable.
--imm
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)liberals. We had us a crop of those in the 60s doing their best to sabotage the potential for serious reform. They're back.
GreatGazoo
(3,937 posts)then Bernie wins" - Gandhi
Look like we made it to stage 3.
litlbilly
(2,227 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)From an article...
The Entrenched Establishment Elites.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Thanks as always.
TIME TO PANIC
(1,894 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)On second thought, yes, we can.
Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)YES, WE CAN'T, YES, WE CAN'T!
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)In the 90s they would be moderate republicans.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)or people worried about their own congressional or governors seat.
Uncle Joe
(58,365 posts)Thanks for the thread, Mufaddal.
leftcoastmountains
(2,968 posts)In my view, as Sanders would say.
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)Calling corporate Democrats liberals; you could with greater accuracy, simply list them as primates.
Leaning liberal on specific issues doesn't make you a liberal.
Anyone who wields the word as an insult, lacks credibility in accurate identification of actual liberals.
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)A neoliberal is not a liberal, although a neoliberal may take a liberal stance on racial or gender equality. When it comes to what needs to be done to revitalize the middle class, to bring justice to Wall Street criminals or stop trying to use force in the Middle East to secure oil for ExxonMobil or Shell, they're on the wrong side and that will do more harm to this country than anything.
Lorien
(31,935 posts)They're corporate handpuppets and Reagan era Republicans.
ladyVet
(1,587 posts)Maybe those turd way folks are shaking in their boots, but I'm doing the happy dance in my chair. Bern it down!
Mufaddal
(1,021 posts)"Love Me, I'm a Liberal"