The Democrats are the most left-wing option that is realistically available to American voters.
The Democrats can be pushed further left if American progressives work to do so.
The Democrats - at the party level - will resist such a change, but that resistance can still be overcome.
In the long term, massive structural overhauls and the downfall of capitalism are the only things that will save America and the world
In the near term, voting consistly and enthusiastically for the least bad option can still protect vulnerable groups from harm and create changes that lay the groundwork for those structural overhauls.
The funny thing about this is that if it were possible to reform the democratic party, it would only be through demanding change, and credibly threatening defection if those demands are not met. By setting conditions and giving those conditions teeth. What you’re suggesting is just asking nicely for people to act directly contrary to their material interests and hoping for the best. It’s complete nonsense.
Also lol at “enthusiastically voting.” Yes, it’s very important that you not only bend the knee to your corporate masters completely unconditionally, but that you do so with a smile on your face. You can trust me, I’m a leftist just like you, see how I say all the language about needing the downfall of capitalism?
I think we’re showing mixed results on your third bullet. It did seem that way, for a while, as we pushed on social issues. And when it came time to get on with the economic issues, the core management team of the party rallied, and rather than adopt the left flank to win, steps right to hand control to Republicans.
And it’s happened more than once now, to obvious and clear effect: the goal of the Democratic party isn’t to win elections, it’s to keep the country idealogically aligned with a neoliberal ruling class. And if that means handing control of government to Republicans, they’ll do so, then blame the left (even though it’s them moving to the right losing elections).
To the fourth bullet, no, it’s not clear that within the machinations of the party infrastructure it can be overcome. Because if not now, when? Party leadership has never been weaker or more vulnerable nor the times more desperate. Democrats as a party poll worse than Trump, yet progressives can win elections with both the entire Republican and Democratic apparatus gunning to take them down. yet somehow we can’t replace Schumer’s or Jefferies.
Skipping to the 6th point, again, that isn’t actually borne out by the evidence. It’s not something well know in advance and only as an artifact of history. What’s been extremely clearly is that so far, voting has been wildly insufficient to make the kinds of structural changes necessary. Obama is the classic example of this. He runs on healthcare, holding wallstreet accountable, and ending the wars; he delivers corporate “access”, bails out the banks, and continues the wars. The voters did their job and the system didn’t work.
So a relentless optimism that the system will just work as intended doesn’t seem warranted, and it’s clearly not going in a good direction.
Until we recognize that the Democratic party, it at least it’s current and historical structure is at the core of the problem with why we can’t advance political change, its pretty clear that this decent into autocracy, fascism, and a degraded quality of life is inevitable. The Democratic party isn’t just part of the problem: it’s the core element of the problem.
The following can all be true:
The funny thing about this is that if it were possible to reform the democratic party, it would only be through demanding change, and credibly threatening defection if those demands are not met. By setting conditions and giving those conditions teeth. What you’re suggesting is just asking nicely for people to act directly contrary to their material interests and hoping for the best. It’s complete nonsense.
Also lol at “enthusiastically voting.” Yes, it’s very important that you not only bend the knee to your corporate masters completely unconditionally, but that you do so with a smile on your face. You can trust me, I’m a leftist just like you, see how I say all the language about needing the downfall of capitalism?
I think we’re showing mixed results on your third bullet. It did seem that way, for a while, as we pushed on social issues. And when it came time to get on with the economic issues, the core management team of the party rallied, and rather than adopt the left flank to win, steps right to hand control to Republicans.
And it’s happened more than once now, to obvious and clear effect: the goal of the Democratic party isn’t to win elections, it’s to keep the country idealogically aligned with a neoliberal ruling class. And if that means handing control of government to Republicans, they’ll do so, then blame the left (even though it’s them moving to the right losing elections).
To the fourth bullet, no, it’s not clear that within the machinations of the party infrastructure it can be overcome. Because if not now, when? Party leadership has never been weaker or more vulnerable nor the times more desperate. Democrats as a party poll worse than Trump, yet progressives can win elections with both the entire Republican and Democratic apparatus gunning to take them down. yet somehow we can’t replace Schumer’s or Jefferies.
Skipping to the 6th point, again, that isn’t actually borne out by the evidence. It’s not something well know in advance and only as an artifact of history. What’s been extremely clearly is that so far, voting has been wildly insufficient to make the kinds of structural changes necessary. Obama is the classic example of this. He runs on healthcare, holding wallstreet accountable, and ending the wars; he delivers corporate “access”, bails out the banks, and continues the wars. The voters did their job and the system didn’t work.
So a relentless optimism that the system will just work as intended doesn’t seem warranted, and it’s clearly not going in a good direction.
Until we recognize that the Democratic party, it at least it’s current and historical structure is at the core of the problem with why we can’t advance political change, its pretty clear that this decent into autocracy, fascism, and a degraded quality of life is inevitable. The Democratic party isn’t just part of the problem: it’s the core element of the problem.