This is going to sound very much the same as what I say when progressives attack AOC, but here's why Bernie isn't in much of a position to NOT endorse Biden.
The democratic party is a machine. It forces people subject to it to support their candidates. Politics is a system of relationships and crossing the chosen candidate of one of the two big parties tends to burn a lot of bridges. if Bernie does not play the inside game, he loses access to Biden, and Biden will shift center and refuse to do anything for him.
I get why progressives are disappointed. But...Bernie is kind of in a tough place. If we're going to be mounting a challenge against Biden, it has to be people on the outside doing it, people who have nothing to do with the current administration and who the party has no leverage against. Williamson is that person right now. So yeah, we're not gonna get help from Bernie. We're on the outside. Bernie is on the inside. Bernie is sincere as fudge and I dont doubt his convictions for a minute, but he's not in a position to speak up right now. If we want to push for his vision, we have to do it for him.
This is actually a huge reason I respected Yang for turning down a position in Biden's administration and starting forward. I just wish he didn't merge the party, as that has made him beholden to another party infrastructure that clips the wings of his message.
But yeah. With these guys caught up in the milieu of party politics, we have to be the one to advance the causes. If Yang can't openly advocate for UBI, we have to do it for him. And if we want to mount a challenge to Biden, it has to come from people like us.
For the primary at least, stay the course. If we dont bend the knee, we're up against the entire party. I have no doubts that we will inevitably lose. The machine's politics are too strong. But, we need to keep trying regardless, if we want to see these politics become mainstream.
Bernie's sacrifices here have not gone unnoticed. It's quite literally one of the only reasons Biden is a tolerable candidate at all. His build back better is a more practical version of the green new deal. The CTC has been championed by Yang and Scott Santens as a shift toward UBI. Biden forgave some student loans. Bernie and Yang DID shift the discussion to the left a little bit. Future challengers will CONTINUE that trend. If williamson is successful, we'll see Biden shift to the left again. In 2028 hopefully the GOP will get a clue and not be so batcrap insane, and we can more openly challenge the status quo. Heck, if my theory on us undergoing a party realignment is true, 2028 might be our breakout moment where the balance of power tips toward millennials and zoomers and away from gen X and boomers, who are keeping the current moderate trend going. We saw the same thing happen in the 1980s with Reagan after the dem coalition started faltering in 1968. 2016 is the beginning of the breaking up of the existing alignment, and it might take until 2028 or maybe even 2032 for us to fully realize this shift. I just hope it's a shift toward progressivism and not fascism.
But that said, for now, we need to keep the fascists away from power. Which is why im not going to make a huge fuss come 2024 if I dont get my way.
Either way, for the primary at least, let's just respect the position that Bernie is in and to do our own advocacy without relying on big name figures like him and Andrew yang. They're not coming to help us this time. Williamson is the best we got. Let's just support her, regardless of what bernie says.
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