this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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Or was it Biden's victory and liberal's exhaustion with politics in a Trump-era world?

I can't help but wonder if the presence of a Democrat in the presidency just sort of pacifies liberal, left, and radical mass movements and mobilization.

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[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Bernie was a social-democratic sheepdog, but I think the movement around his presidential campaign actually kick started the social, political, and intellectual development of a lot Americans, and pipelined them into more revolutionary left ideologies. So, no. I don't think Sanders ruined anything, and in fact I think his impact was important, and a net positive, if sometimes overstated, and burdened by reformism.

If America is progressing towards a social revolution, Bernie represents the hazy and undisciplined strains of left-populist thought that manifests before a mass movement has found its footing. I could make analogies to earlier times and other countries, but I won't, because I don't think anything in the past quite perfectly describes the present, even if a few things here and there tend to rhyme.

[–] CommCat@hexbear.net 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Socdems like Sanders is still a weapon the bourgeoisie can wield if any Leftist movement has a chance to succeed. Socdems don't threaten their status, they can ride it out. When socdem policies start showing improvements in the social/economic they will just start tearing it apart.

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 15 points 1 year ago

I don't disagree at all

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

and pipelined them into more revolutionary left ideologies.

It's a sad state of affairs if affordable healthcare, fair wages, and education are considered revolutionary ideas.

[–] Tachanka@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"pipelining" as in they realized social democracy doesn't work because it is just crumbs from the table of the ruling class and therefore went beyond that