Why Bernie Sanders Matters

[Uncle Joe]

According to Levitz, Sanders has already “persuaded many 2020 Democratic hopefuls to stop worrying and learn to love social democracy” — therefore, he concludes, Sanders must now be dispensable. It’s like saying that since Fort Knox has never suffered a break-in, there must be no need for all those armed guards.

(snip)

However, a startling indication of how much Sanders has already changed US politics was recently reported by Martin Wattenberg, a political scientist at the University of California Irvine. Every four years since 1956, the American National Election Studies (ANES) has asked voters to describe, in their own words, what they like or dislike about the two parties. It was on the basis of these interviews that the political scientist Philip Converse reached his famous verdict in 1964 that ordinary Americans are, broadly speaking, “innocent of ideology” — that they don’t think in ideological terms.

Political scientists have generally accepted that judgment ever since, along with a corollary notion about American public opinion, advanced in 1967 by the politics scholars Lloyd Free and Hadley Cantril: that Americans tend, on the whole, to be “operationally liberal” (favoring specific liberal policies like Social Security and Medicare) but “philosophically conservative” (rejecting broad expressions of left-wing ideas).

(snip)

In the long run, Democrats “suffer from not forthrightly making ideological arguments,” Grossmann argues; “partially as a result, [the] public maintains conservative predispositions.”

(snip)

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/09/bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-eric-levitz-2020-presidential-campaign-democratic-nomination

[NurseJackie]

1. Jacobin...

[George II]

2. ...

[Gothmog]

3. LOL

[LincolnRossiter]

9. lol

Can't say Bernie's folks aren't committed. I respect that.

[left-of-center2012]

4. Jacobin is ...

Jacobin is a democratic socialist quarterly magazine based in New York offering American leftist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture.

These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes),
publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes.
Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/jacobin/

[aidbo]

6. Yep, Jacobin is left of center.

[left-of-center2012]

22. ...

"publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes.
Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy."

[George II]

7. And of course they take their usual, gratuitous shot at Democrats:

In the long run, Democrats “suffer from not forthrightly making ideological arguments,” Grossmann argues; “partially as a result, [the] public maintains conservative predispositions.”

[betsuni]

34. Everything is Democrats' fault.

[Uncle Joe]

8. You omitted a critical information from your own link, was that deliberate?

(snip)

Overall, we rate Jacobin Magazine, Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that always favor the Democratic Socialist Left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.

(snip)

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/jacobin/

[George II]

10. The link in the OP is opinion, not reporting fact.

[Uncle Joe]

15. Virtually everything put forward by the corporate media conglomerates in regards

to primary or Presidential election coverage is opinion.

Why should Jacobin's opinions be treated differently?

The question in one's mind should be are the opinions put forward by pundits or authors based on sound reasoning and/or supported by historical data.

I believe the author makes valid points, which are supported by political science studies and no one on this thread to point have been able to rebut.

[George II]

20. I was responding to this: "We also rate them High for factual reporting."

[left-of-center2012]

24. ...

publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes.
Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy.

[Uncle Joe]

25. and again this specifically regarding Jacobin

snip)

Overall, we rate Jacobin Magazine, Left Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that always favor the Democratic Socialist Left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing of information and a clean fact check record.

(snip)

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/jacobin/

[left-of-center2012]

31. ...

[Uncle Joe]

33. ...

[Otto Lidenbrock]

30. Jacobin is shameless

Link to tweet

[qazplm135]

5. ah the old

everyone is secretly a leftist argument.

A time honored classic.

[beastie boy]

11. Bernie matters, and that is what worries me.

The last time around, 12% of Bernie supporters voted for Trump.

And it mattered. A lot.

[Amimnoch]

23. Mmmm hmm. And going for round 2 of spoiling. -nt.

[dlk]

12. Bernie wants Democratic support without joining the Democratic Party

Like it or not, this hurts him.

[stonecutter357]

13. lol !

[LanternWaste]

14. "It's his turn."

That's the back of the t-shirt.

[BlueMississippi]

16. Jacobin - the official gazette of the BS campaign nt

[PhoenixDem]

17. BS matters extremely

in Vermont as a senator.

[ritapria]

18. Joe Biden is on verge of advocating a tax on Wall St. Financial transactions

Following the lead of Bernard ?

[Uncle Joe]

19. Good point ritaria, it will be interesting to see how that plays out

[George II]

21. If he does, it's not following the "lead" of Sanders.....

....it's like saying "Sanders had breakfast at 7AM, Biden had breakfast at 8AM, following Sanders' lead."

Seems like everything anyone does or says is "following Sanders' lead."

[Uncle Joe]

26. Because breakfast and a wealth tax on Wall Street are even close to being the same,

is that your point?

"Seems like everything anyone does or says is "following Sanders' lead."

Why do you believe it seems that way?

[George II]

27. Why is another candidate saying something about an issue that's been out there....

....for decades, if Biden does, "following Sanders' lead"?

I can turn that around into a question, too.

[Uncle Joe]

28. An "issue being out there" and being actively supported a major Presidential Candidate

are two different things.

[msongs]

29. taxing wall street transactions is nothing new. bernie is a follower, as are many, on this issue nt

[TreasonousBastard]

32. I just found out about Form 8960--investment tax...

What constantly come up, and constantly get shot down, are trading taxes. A nickel, or a penny, per trade, or share, would tax a lot of the program trading-- which really has no economic reason to exist.

BTW, from the Wikipedia entry on "wealth taxes":

In 2004, a study by the Institut de l'enterprise investigated why several European countries were eliminating wealth taxes and made the following observations: 1. Wealth taxes contributed to capital drain, promoting the flight of capital as well as discouraging investors from coming in. 2. Wealth taxes had high management cost and relatively low returns. 3. Wealth taxes distorted resource allocation, particularly involving certain exemptions and unequal valuation of assets. In its summary, the institute found that the "wealth taxes were not as equitable as they appeared".[34]

In a 2011 study, the London School of Economics examined wealth taxes that were being considered by the Labour party in the United Kingdom between 1974 and 1976 but were ultimately abandoned. The findings of the study revealed that the British evaluated similar programs in other countries and determined that the Spanish wealth tax may have contributed to a banking crisis and the French wealth tax had been undergoing review by its government for being unpopular and overly complex. Furthermore, there were serious internal debates at the time between moderate Socialists and more leftist Marxist politicians as to the degree of public ownership of means of production. As efforts progressed, concerns were developing over the practicality and implementation of wealth taxes as well as worry that they would undermine confidence in the British economy. Eventually plans were dropped. Former British Chancellor Denis Healey concluded that attempting to implement wealth taxes was a mistake, "We had committed ourselves to a Wealth Tax: but in five years I found it impossible to draft one which would yield enough revenue to be worth the administrative cost and political hassle." The conclusion of the study stated that there were lingering questions, such as the impacts on personal saving and small business investment, consequences of capital flight, complexity of implementation, and ability to raise predicted revenues that must be adequately addressed before further consideration of wealth taxes.[35]In 2004, a study by the Institut de l'enterprise investigated why several European countries were eliminating wealth taxes and made the following observations: 1. Wealth taxes contributed to capital drain, promoting the flight of capital as well as discouraging investors from coming in. 2. Wealth taxes had high management cost and relatively low returns. 3. Wealth taxes distorted resource allocation, particularly involving certain exemptions and unequal valuation of assets. In its summary, the institute found that the "wealth taxes were not as equitable as they appeared".[34]

[SidDithers]

35. Nah...nt

Sid

[Uncle Joe]

36. If you spell nah backward, it becomes Han

Definition. Han is derived from the Chinese character 恨, which means resentment, hatred, or regret. According to the Translation Journal, "Han is frequently translated as sorrow, spite, rancor, regret, resentment or grief, among many other attempts to explain a concept that has no English equivalent."
Hanja: 恨
Hangul: 한
Han (cultural) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Han_(cultural)

Joe

[dgauss]

37. I think we now have a word to describe the reflexive push back on any Bernie thread.