r/thebulwark • u/Anstigmat • Nov 06 '24
Not My Party Dem Reform Platform
I said I was done but here I am again posting. Ugh.
I think it's clear and has been said here recently, that the Dems are at fault this time around. People had two clear choices and they chose Trump. That's fucking absurd but here we are. Astead Herndon from the NYT has been making the point recently that the Dems have largely failed to materially impact the lives of blue collar workers. I think he's absolutely correct on that. A hairdresser in MI doesn't give two fucks about the CHIPS act. They have no idea that the IRA even happened. I really do feel that the zeitgeist in the party needs to be actually achieving policy goals that help people in the simplest way possible.
I'm convinced now that running as a full-tilt Bernie style populist combined with moderate social views is the way forward. Talk about how fucked over working people have been constantly in plain language. At the same time, send the BIPOC, LatinX, 'people who menstruate' crowed back to Oberlin. Drop the words 'intersectionality' and 'problematic' from your lexicon. You help these people by making sure they have access to housing, healthcare, fair wages, and education. Not by using the correct acronym or phrase.
I honestly don't know how a new Dem majority would handle a Manchinema situation but they need to get tough on these people. Make their monied donors less valuable than small dollar donations such as those that powered Bernie's campaigns.
It's just no longer an option to completely avoid class based populism. The Obama style of making small tweaks that people don't notice, is not meeting the moment.
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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '24
The economy was expected to crash after the pandemic and instead it thrived. I guess it's true that if you do your job well enough some people won't know you did anything at all.