Progressive politics and where they go from here

[BigRedBuster]

19 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

 

FHS- do you think it is possible for Progressives to create a separate party within the left? Like the Green Party in the UK...?

I would absolutely love for the US to have maybe 4 different parties that all have elected officials within the government.  From time to time, one party will gain a little while another one loses.  It would eb and flow with the times.

 

However, until we get our elections fixed, all we will see is these different factions trying to take over the two main parties......which, in my mind has been a disaster.

[DevoHusker]

18 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I would absolutely love for the US to have maybe 4 different parties that all have elected officials within the government.  From time to time, one party will gain a little while another one loses.  It would eb and flow with the times.

 

However, until we get our elections fixed, all we will see is these different factions trying to take over the two main parties......which, in my mind has been a disaster.

 

We are on the same page 

[FrantzHardySwag]

3 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

 

We are on the same page 

It is messy. To answer your original question, If progressives broke off in the current system, it would just split the Left votes. As of right now most dems are moderate (at least active voter wise) - hence the party leans to the likes of Obama, Biden types, so it would be hard for a progressive party to have any traction what so ever. Republicans would for sure take advantage of a split and control pretty much everything for the foreseeable future. The R's seem to do a better job of keeping everyone under one tent. I truly think the groundwork is in place for the Dem party to move left, it will just require patience and continued pressure by the progressives. If they try and split off and go Green Party or stop trying to pressure the Dem Party - they are doing themselves a disservice. 

[RedDenver]

Kara Eastman won NE-2.

 

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

12 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

Kara Eastman won NE-2.

 

 

I like Eastman, obviously gonna vote for her come November, think the Covid stuff is enough for her to flip the tables on Bacon? Irrationally backing Trump on everything isn't as popular as it was 4 years ago - but then again, this is Nebraska. 

[DevoHusker]

34 minutes ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

It is messy. To answer your original question, If progressives broke off in the current system, it would just split the Left votes. As of right now most dems are moderate (at least active voter wise) - hence the party leans to the likes of Obama, Biden types, so it would be hard for a progressive party to have any traction what so ever. Republicans would for sure take advantage of a split and control pretty much everything for the foreseeable future. The R's seem to do a better job of keeping everyone under one tent. I truly think the groundwork is in place for the Dem party to move left, it will just require patience and continued pressure by the progressives. If they try and split off and go Green Party or stop trying to pressure the Dem Party - they are doing themselves a disservice. 

 

thanks for that assessment 

[BigRedBuster]

1 hour ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

Irrationally backing Trump on everything isn't as popular as it was 4 years ago - but then again, this is Nebraska. 

Maybe since you live closer to Lincoln and Omaha, your area is much different than mine.

Trump will win at least 80% of the vote in my area and anyone who supports him, will win in a landslide.

[FrantzHardySwag]

4 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Maybe since you live closer to Lincoln and Omaha, your area is much different than mine.

Trump will win at least 80% of the vote in my area and anyone who supports him, will win in a landslide.

Yes, Eastman almost knocked off Bacon 4 years ago, for a far left progressive to almost knock off a Pro Trump/Military candidate is impressive. Hell Obama won an electoral vote out of Omaha in 2008.

[Decoy73]

1 hour ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

I like Eastman, obviously gonna vote for her come November, think the Covid stuff is enough for her to flip the tables on Bacon? Irrationally backing Trump on everything isn't as popular as it was 4 years ago - but then again, this is Nebraska. 

I agree on Eastman.  I actually voted for Bacon last time.  I guess Eastman’s progressive ideas concerned me before, but now I’ve warmed up to them.  Baseless Trump backing is an automatic No vote for me. Plus I don’t like Bacon’s stance on gun control.  

[TGHusker]

Interesting article  -  Basically telling us that the "You are a Socialist" name calling has lost its bite.  This is especially true now in light of the fact that both parties are 'spending like socialists' at this time.  The current spending on domestic needs does not make Bernie look as 'wild and far out' as he use to look.    The quote below is from the end of the article.

 

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Accusations-of-socialism-have-lost-their-bite-15267337.php

Quote

 

McCarthyism's long shadow is what made Sanders' popularity as a democratic socialist all the more remarkable. Young people, increasingly removed from the Cold War, didn't see his democratic socialism - in reality, a mix of New Deal liberalism and a hodgepodge of reforms collected from Western Europe and Taiwan - as all that threatening. Nor did they seem to care what term he used to characterize his proposals.

Sanders, meanwhile, invoked safe American political iconography, most prominently Franklin D. Roosevelt and major pillars of the modern American welfare state, such as Social Security and collective bargaining. And he consistently connected economic autonomy to liberty and freedom, which historians such as Eric Foner have identified as a core tenet of political thinking during the American Revolution. Sanders' socialism was much more American than Soviet.

This rhetorical strategy bore similarities to that of one of Sanders' heroes: Eugene Debs, who ran for president as the Socialist Party nominee four times, winning nearly a million votes in his last two campaigns in 1912 and 1920. But, Debs consistently wrapped a socialist program in palatable American tropes, and he regularly peppered his speeches with references to Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and abolitionists, not to mention Emerson and Thoreau.

Unlike Debs, Sanders didn't run as a third-party candidate; he had a far greater impact and influence, fighting on the turf of the Democratic Party in 2016 and 2020, and both times, came stunningly close to securing the nomination. In the process, he defanged "socialism" of its power as a political epithet.

That matters a lot now. In a coronavirus world, sweeping domestic legislation may be floated over the next couple of years. Its opponents will no doubt open the old playbook and hurl "socialism" its way. Yet I suspect such McCarthyist histrionics will carry less weight than they once did and feel more like relics of a Cold War mausoleum. At a time of near-record unemployment, many are hungry for fresh economic policies and care less about what they're called or what connotations people attach to old labels. That's partly because of Sanders' unapologetic embrace of domestic socialism, his tying of it the United States's biggest social welfare triumphs, and his unlikely emergence as a prominent critic of our modern brand of capitalism with its stark inequalities and fraying safety net.

For decades, the shadow of McCarthyism has lingered and made it easy to marginalize critics with the socialist charge. Sanders confronted it head-on and weakened the tactic's power. Whatever you think of Sanders himself, it's a big reason to appreciate his two campaigns.

 

 

[knapplc]

Zing.

 

 

[teachercd]

35 minutes ago, knapplc said:

Zing.

 

 

She is insane but if she wants to get me more money, I am all for it!  Also, I have taught forever...I do not know one teacher that works multiple jobs (unless you count coaching) or sells plasma...I tried selling some other bodily fluids though!

 

I also love how Gates is "exploring ways" for him and other billionaires to help.  Ha...Geez, it must be so hard to think of how they could help.

[Landlord]

38 minutes ago, teachercd said:

Also, I have taught forever...I do not know one teacher that works multiple jobs (unless you count coaching) or sells plasma...

 

Have you ever taught outside of Nebraska, or in urban/inner cities with high minority population percentages?

[teachercd]

13 minutes ago, Landlord said:

 

Have you ever taught outside of Nebraska, or in urban/inner cities with high minority population percentages?

Yep, I have.

 

And in most cases (states) the highest paying teacher jobs are in the biggest district which is almost always the district that has the inner city schools.

 

And I also have friends that teach in other big cities, in farm towns off 1,000, and over seas in places like Cairo, Egypt.  

 

I am not saying there are not teachers out there that work multiple jobs, I am just saying that out of the ones I know, none work multiple jobs.  One DID, years ago to help put her kids through private HS.  But that was a while ago.

 

We are an easy target for politicians and they know that, so it is smart to use "us"...like I said, if she wants to get me more money I will be happy to give her my banking info.

[teachercd]

We have other teachers on this site, any of you have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet?

 

I am probably one of the weirdos that teaches summer school because I like the cash and used to teach on Saturdays for a special program, because I liked the cash, not because I needed it.  Most teachers I know, don't do anything during the summers except relax and sit by a pool.