So, this is a combination of two different concepts. I was going to write a rematch of Bernie vs Yang ideologically after reading Our Revolution, but then I saw one of my favorite forums I love to hate on having a Biden vs Bernie debate with a lot of the "center left" neolib types being pro Biden for all the normal terrible reasons. So I figured why not approach all three traditions simultaneously and rank them? After all, all three have different and distinct ideologies. And while I would probably lean mostly Yang on paper, he does have some glaring weaknesses, and I do have better things to say about the others (well, mostly Bernie). And given I've distanced myself from bernie sufficiently over the past 2 years, I feel more able to approach this objectively. For the record, I'm mostly going to be discussing Yang in the context of his 2020 run, not his substanceless Forward party as it exists. Dude used to have a fairly based platform, so that is my goal.
Social issues
All in all, I find none of the three peoples' ideas particularly objectionable. I'd probably say I lean most toward Yang since he seemed progressive without the wokeism, and let's face it, i've developed quite a distaste for wokeism over the past...8 years or so. To be fair, never been a fan of it, but for a while I tolerated it, and understanding the theory I tried to be sympathetic and work with them. But...let's face it, it's taken over the left like a disease, and I would say Yang's moderate approach was solid. He largely addressed the issues, but didn't lay it on thick. And that's what I want. yang was, after all, trying to reach people in the midwest who not be orthodox conservatives.
Bernie was a lot like Yang in 2016, but due to the obnoxious Pharasaic display of public righteousness that the centrist wing of the party put on, Bernie got crushed, so bernie got a lot more woke in 2020. To be fair, he always believed that stuff, and I'm going to respect that, I dont begrudge him for it. But he did lay it on a bit too thick to try to win over POC and it still failed despite this, because wokeism is a lot like being in the cool kids club in middle school. Youre either in or you're not, and who decides you're in is largely an insufferable circlejerk that excludes the socially awkward like me, despite our intentions. Anyway, I dont really blame or begrudge him for it, he was trying to play the game. And I dont mind left wing positions otherwise, I just hate a hyperfixation on this stuff. But the culture of the democratic party forces it these days, so he did at least try to bend to win over those voters.
Still, I do have to say I'm not really hardcore on "leftism" socially. The culture around Bernie, while not necessarily the same as performative SJWism, is adjacent to it, and the purity testing is obnoxious. A lot of leftists just dont know how to moderate their positions at all or package them in ways that are accessible. On illegal immigration they might be like No HuMaN iS IlLeGaL, while someone like Biden, or Yang would be more willing to bend. Idk, I just like the more moderate bend on social issues at tiems these days. it should be noted none of these guys are right wing, we're really just debating shades of left wing social ideology. But yeah. Bernie tends to be a bit too extreme for me.
Biden is weird. He combined some level of moderation, which I dont mind, as moderate lefties still get the sausage made, but he does lay on the wokeism kind of thick to pander to POC, blah blah blah. Dems are obnoxious at that. And Biden, being the old out of touch dude that he is, sometimes ends up being cringe with it. Remember how if you dont support him "you aint black"? Idk, some real "democratic plantation" vibes to bring a right wing take to the democratic party on race relations and social issues energy right there.
So, idk, Biden just combines some of the worst impulses with democratic party politics into his views. Leans hard into the identity politics stuff, while being cringey with it, but you know what? Remember what I said earlier about middle school cliques. Dude is an honorary cool kid for some reason. Never mind that Bernie started his political career getting arrested protesting for civil rights.
The thing is, Biden represents the establishment brand of democratic politics. Bernie and Yang were independents trying to bring new energy into the democrats, and as an ex conservative who jumped over during 2012, their views are always going to appeal to me more than someone like CLinton or Biden, who represented the worst possible vision of the party, the kind of stuff that alienated and kept me conservative growing up. Bernie was a rural independent who was a bit more chill on guns, a bit less obnoxious on race (while still walking the walk), and Yang was a relatively apolitical democrat previous to 2016 who started his career trying to win over rust belt voters unhappy with the democrats.
So honestly, someone like Yang or Bernie would always appeal to me more.
That said, if I had to rank them:
1) Yang
2) Sanders
3) Biden
Foreign policy issues
This time I'll start with Biden. And I'm going to say it. I LIKE Biden on foreign policy. Here's the thing. I am a moderate on foreign policy. The right to me is too crazy aggressive and have a school yard bully attitude toward everything, and the left is so anti war that they're ltierally simping for Russia right now. We need a middle ground, and Biden is it. He supports defending American interests abroad while still being progressive and ending the wars. He literally got us out of Afghanistan, after Obama got us out of Iraq. At the same time, he's been tough on Russia and supportive of Ukraine. I'm not hard to please on foreign policy, my main goals are defend our interests but avoid unnecessary entanglements that put people in harm's way. And Biden gets that balance perfectly. Yes, the left will scream about how he's supportive of some random conflict that it's immoral we're in, and will get obnoxiously self righteous about it, and the right will make weird appeals to Biden being "weak" never mind the fact that they're either 1) batcrap insane and invade countries for dumb and unjust reasons or 2) end up being as isolationist as the far left does. But you know what? Biden gets it right. He just does.
Bernie on the other hand, is a bit too dovish for me. To be fair, I respect his balls sometimes. He was against the Iraq war when no one else was post 9/11 hysteria. He was the sane voice in the room vs the far right, and honestly, I gotta be honest, I have to respect that. So there is something to be said about Bernie's politics and political courage (I'll touch on personalities later on). Still, is he right because his philosophy was right or because he happened to be right in that circumstance? Probably the latter. While centrist democrats like Hillary and Biden did go along with it in a disgraceful display of triangulation and reinforcing the right's hegemony over our politics, Bernie really was the lone leftie rejecting it. But leftism isnt really the answer either, and I generally respect the Obama/Clinton/Biden paradigm on this more. Leftism can actually be very much a detriment. Let's not change our entire philosophy because we made one mistake at the time. That's how the right got so overbearing in the first place. "Grr, Carter weak, Reagan strong, strongness good". It's like that but in reverse. Just because reagan offset carter fairly well, doesnt mean that reagan's philosophy was good. Just because Bernie offset Bush's excesses doesnt mean his view is correct either. We need a happy medium.
Yang seems to largely have a more Bidenesque medium on foreign policy, but who knows. it was never his strong suit and his expertise was subject. Still, he did seem to be the kind of person to learn on the job and id imagine he would be sufficient at the job.
All things considered, I have to say:
1) Biden
2) Yang
3) Sanders
Economics
Economics is more my bread and butter with politics these days and where I have the most passionate views. In a sense my views are a weird mix of Bernie and Yang's, probably more Yang at this point, but I do respect Bernie's progressive flair and have a hint of that in my politics.Still, the three candidates did represent different schools of thought.
Biden was the status quo guy. He ran on nothing will fundamentally change. He ran to the center, but was dragged somewhat left kicking and screaming by Bernie. Still, despite this he hasnt accomplished much of note in office, and the namesake "Bare Minimum Biden" exists for a reason. He does have some working class street cred and pushes the whole "work = dignity" mantra, which i find offputting, but meh. He does have some moderate views I like. I like Build back better, and his policies like mild student loan forgiveness, the inflation reduction act, child tax credit, and his proposed public option plan are better than literally nothing. Still, let's face it, not a fan of Biden.
Bernie was the gold standard for me in 2016, but only because a pro UBI candidate did not exist yet. His leftism is the real deal, and he basically would've brought social democracy to America, but much like Biden, he lays on the jobism too thick. His book really laid it out to me in a more visceral way, and I found it extremely offputting as a non jobist.
Still, he would do some good things for America. His solutions are expensive as hell and I'm not sure all of them would work my preference for UBI, but his platform is what it is. Single payer healthcare is based, but expensive (and I could settle for a decent public option). Free college and student debt forgiveness is based, and WOULDN'T break the bank at all. He has a decent housing policy. And while his green new deal is overkill and mostly a wasteful jobs program, it would get results. I just have different priorities than him, and build my own platform around UBI, requiring some compromises, while he goes full on in favor of this jobs program of his.
Yang has a very based ideology, and I found it refreshing to hear someone actually say the things I've been saying for years. Sure, his math is a bit fuzzy on the UBI, but eh, his plan isn't totally unworkable. Given he's the only one who supports (or supported) the idea, he was worth supporting. But, he did tend to be a bit weaker on other policies. While he started off as being pro medicare for all in a single payer sense, he flipped to a public option, then stopped talking about the issue at all. Yang really does have an issue with that. He had a more moderate free college policy akin to Biden's, although his climate plan was stronger than Biden's and reaches the sort of middle ground I'd want.
All things considered, I have to go:
1) Yang
2) Sanders
3) Biden
Character
Bernie, Biden, and Yang are from different backgrounds. Biden has been in the senate for a while. he started his political career in the 1970s and has always been a wheeler and dealer. He's the kind of dude who values compromise and back room deals in smoke filled rooms. While it's said for every problem to arise in the past 40 years theres a video of bernie sanders trying to stop it, I feel like with Biden, he had his hand in creating it. But the dude ended up going somewhat political chameleon in 2020 and recognizing he needed to win over the left, he did offer some small symbolic concessions.
But yeah. The dude never really stood for a progressive platform and the dude's a moderate at heart. He's an old dude who's had to be dragged kicking and screaming via political pressure to support nice things. And the dude is only as good as that political pressure. The second the atmosphere goes more centrist, as it often does in DC, the dude abandons his left wing positions and runs to the center out of compromise. The democrats liked him because this is the kind of behavior that's been common over the past several decades, and having a spine like Bernie does often leads to political exile.
But of course, centrists look at that from a glass half full perspective too. They see him as the kind of guy who "gets things done" and recognizes that that's how the game is played and there's nothing wrong with it while they see Bernie as stupidly rigid because he dares have principles. Speaking of Bernie.
On this particular concept, I LOVE BERNIE! Bernie has BALLS. I mean, I know I don't always agree with him as sometimes he is too far left and too jobist for me, but I do have to appreciate his consistency, especially given what I have to say about Yang on this topic. Dude built a brand, he supports it. He doesnt betray it. I did wish he would be more firm against the democrats and felt like he let himself get coopted somewhat, but the dude has tried. And now he's considering running again in 2024. I cant say I would support that due to age and simply wanting someone with a different political persuasion these days (Bernie's views are too old school for reasons I keep laying out), but still, I respect him a ton on this front.
Yang...well....I have a lot of mixed views on Yang.
I mean, the dude started with the best of intentions. He got into politics post 2016, running on UBI, an essentially advocating for what I have been for years before he even thought about it. He approached the issue from a different angle. He tried to be a job creator. And he recognized that job creation isnt working and this religion of jobs as I call it isnt gonna solve problems. Ya know, i really wish someone would get up and scream JOBS ARENT THE ANSWER politically, and this dude is the closest one to do so. And he has a lot of street cred given his "job creator" history. I know a lot of leftists hate entrepreneurs categorically, but I can see nuance, and Yang fits that nuance.
But...the dude doesnt stick to his positions. He supported medicare for all and passionately argued for it in the war on normal people. But then he used a lot of weasel words to claim he supported the spirit of it, but he backed off from it, and then supported a public option, but never released a plan, and his actual plan didnt even include that. Yang gets it so right sometimes, but then he just...bombs. It's baffling to me. He allows himself to get more easily swayed.
And while 2020 was based his mayoral campaign he ended up doing weird things unbecoming of lefties like attacking unions (to be fair i dislike the power they have over the democrats too), and yeah he was considered a grifter by some, although I largely stuck by him.
Then he pushed forward, basically sticking the knife into the democratic party, something I wish MORE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE THE BALLS TO DO (looking at you, bernie), and expanded his platform to emphasize ranked choice voting and blah blah blah. It was a dream come true for me.
But then he got way into this weird moderate mode and abandoned his awesome 2020 platform in the first place to win over moderate conservatives...and heres the thing. While i respect a desire to win over conservatives, I'd rather do it the Bernie 2016 or Yang 2020 way. By being lefties with balls. By having a platform with convictions that speak to these people and draw them away from the populism of the far right. It's a massive tactical error on the part of mainstream dems to abandon the populist argument to the right, as it causes the politically desperate and hopeless to flee to demogogues like Trump, while the democrats just sneer at them with contempt. BUT....Bernie wanted to appeal to these guys by going FURTHER left on economics while being more culturally moderate in some ways. And it actually worked fairly well I think. While his views were unpopular with the primary electorate who are the more conservative dems who like the party as it is, they are popular with more independent types and Bernie was drawing together a coalition of the far left and center right looking to flee from the GOP's crazy fiscal conservatism. But because the left slammed the door in their face, they went Trump.
Yang also tried to appeal to people in 2020 on these kinds of terms, combining social moderation (but still progressive on policy) with a new economic way forward, and it could have worked. had he run in the general, I think he couldve taken some wind out of Trump's sails.
But...his current approach to winning over moderates involves taking these weird cringe enlightened centrist stances and abandoning his entire 2020 platform. All of those views, gone, seemingly overnight, in a deal with the devil. The fact is, yang just doesnt have the temperament to be a good leader at times. He tends to abandon his convictions way too often often to please people who he shouldnt even bother appealing to as hard as he is, and yeah, it's alienating.
I still am under the impression yang supports what he supports, but he's kind of keeping his mouth shut and trying to make this unholy alliance with these right wingers happen. And it's just so sad to see.
Yang, dude, never abandon your convictions. You have such good ideas sometimes, but you need to stick by them. Be more like Bernie in a way.
Anyway, here, I'd say:
1) Sanders
2) Yang
3) Biden
And just to go back to my top 5 economic issues...
UBI:
1) Yang
2) Biden
3) Sanders
I gave Biden #2 because of child tax credit. Bernie arguably pushed for a temporary UBI during COVID though and arguably deserves some credit, but yeah. Yang was for the idea, Biden kind of sort of delivered, and I feel like Bernie is too much of a jobist to focus on this.
Healthcare:
1) Sanders
2) Biden
3) Yang
While Yang supports the "spirit of medicare for all", as we know from past analyses, his views are weaker than even Biden, who at least put his public option to paper. Yang went super weak on this one. And Bernie is still the gold standard for single payer plans in my opinion
Education:
1) Sanders
2) Biden
3) Yang
Once again, Bernie is the gold standard. Biden and Yang both supported free community college. Yang supported some IBR overhauls, but Biden's plan has proven more comprehensive in practice.
Climate Change
1) Yang
2) Biden
3) Sanders
Yang has a really based climate plan in my opinion. Biden had a more "lite" version of Bernie's which I found solid. Bernie's was just an overglorified expensive jobs program.
Housing
1) Sanders
2) Yang
3) Biden
Bernie is one again the gold standard. yang seemed to neglect the issue in 2020 but in his mayoral run supported a very progressive housing plan in my opinon that rivaled bernie's. Biden seems a bit more weak and piecemoeal on this issue.
All things considered
Adding up the main 4 categories:
Yang had a score of 6 (2 first place, 2 second place)
Sanders had a score of 8 (1 first place, 2 second place, 1 third place)
Biden had a score of 10 (1 first place, 3 third place)
Adding up my top five priorities:
Sanders had a score of 9
Yang had a score of 10
Biden had a score of 11
In terms of overall philosophy, my preferences are clear. Yang is by far the best and closest to my views. Sanders has a respectable second place position. And Biden is third, as you would expect.
Things change a lot when looking at my top five policies go. The thing is, both Yang and Bernie support npositions that I support. Yang has UBI, but is more centrist on some other positions. While Bernie tends to be stronger on other stuff but leans too strongly into the jobism. Bernie came slightly ahead as I wasn't weighting any priority over the other, but Yang supported strong positions on priorities 1 and 4 for me, while Bernie was better on 2, 3, and 5.
Biden, he never stood out as a top option and was normally sandwiched in second, occasionally third.
All in all, Bernie and Yang do have strengths and weaknesses. Which is why i kind of like both in different ways. Yang is better philosophically, but I like Bernie's convictions and he still has stronger positions on some issues. So I guess my views are like a hybrid of the two all things considered.
As far as Biden goes...I have a distinct lack of preference for his policies. Outside of foreign policy he's never a first choice, and is normally my second or third choice. Yeah...I dont like Biden much. Are you surprised? I never did really. He's okay, but he's still bare minimum, Biden. Only reason he did as good as he did was because sometimes Yang dropped the ball that hard.
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