Is the Bernie movement dead?

 So this was a debate Kyle Kulinski had, and yes, I know it's lazy to keep referring to his stuff, but I think this is another debate that's worth discussing and I feel like weighing in on. 

I won't say Bernie's movement is dead, but it's on life support. Generally, these movements start with a charismatic figure that unites a lot of people, but as people tend to replace that guy and are less charismatic, well, things tend to diverge a bit. We're already seeing it. In 2016, Bernie really brought together a coalition that had real potential. But it was stifled by the democratic party, and coopted by it in 2020, and now the movement is increasingly fractured. Many of the supporters who still use his namesake are more extreme than he is, with many of them calling for literal socialism and nonsense like that. Me, I've fine tuned my politics where I shifted harder toward human centered capitalism and UBI. And others became more moderate and got sucked into bidenworld and the democratic party, where they might hold the same general views, but obviously dont express them and play ball with the centrist democratic party. 

And now in 2024, we got Marianne Williamson replacing Bernie with his platform, but she herself is a significantly weaker and less polished candidate. Heck, one issue I've had for a while with the bernie movement post 2020 is that it really seems to lack a viable successor. Nina turner seemed promising but she is in a much less favorable position now. Marianne Williamson seems to be the best we got. Yang...pulled a Yang and ended up going in his own cringe direction. 

And yeah. We just lack a viable alternative. Williamson is the best we got. And she's no bernie, as I've discussed already. 

Still, I wont say it's over. i think the left has a role to play in the alignment to come, and that even if not the dominant force in the alignment, the fact is, the democrats ignore them at their peril. Bernie proved there was a demand for left wing politics in America, and younger generations overwhelmingly lean that way. And over time, assuming that the current bernie base doesnt significantly moderate themselves, they will be a force to reckon with for a time to come.

heck, even if we just concede 2024 to biden due to incumbency and the trump problem, we could still come back in 2028 and mount a strong campaign against Biden's successor. I dont know with whom, but it really does seem like the longer things go on, the stronger the bernie coalition gets as long as it remains intact.

I mean, this is what it will take to fully get rid of the bernie coalition.

1) A fascist takeover (hence why i'm actually taking the trump threat seriously)

2) Old people live forever

3) Young people moderate their views and don't stand up for their beliefs

4) We get stuck in a cycle of voting for moderates to avoid fascists

I mean, even without a current charismatic leader to replace bernie, the energy is there, waiting to be tapped into. Especially with under 40s. And again, as long as they dont change their overall convictions, the future should be ours eventually. It would require derailing the entire coalition to do so, and while the forces that be seem insistent on forcing the last generation's increasingly geriatric ideology on us, if we resist, eventually we might make inroads. I actually think 2028 might be "our year".

Now, the video did discuss some other stuff. It talked about how progressives need to demand things. The opposite of pragmatic voting, they need to be principled. And yes, this is the way. If progressives get stuck in a cycle of settling for less and voting democratic no matter who, stifling their own true views, then yes, we're never gonna get anywhere. Yes, the establishment is actively suppressing the bernie coalition, and trying to bully and gaslight voters into voting for them regardless, insisting there's no other option. And the only reason I think its worth ceding, quite frankly, is because the right is an actual existential threat to the left right now, with their authoritarianism.

 But assuming that threat ends with trump and desantis, and doesnt become, itself, a coalitional thing we're stuck dealing with for the next 30-40 years (if it is, thanks a lot, hillary, DNC, for bringing america to this point), eventually the left is gonna have to push back. it is going to have to demand things to earn votes. LIke, really, under normal times, this whole "pragmatic voting" thing is just a losing strategy the dems push because they want to play chicken with voters and dont wanna offer actual solutions. It's up to the voters to hold the democrats to account and force them to support progressive goals if they want votes.

Now, to be fair, leftists these days are getting  TOO purity testy. They demand way too much, going all in on the woke garbage on social issues and often being so stubborn they absolutely refuse to acknowledge they have a problem with that stuff. On foreign policy they get insane over israel and ukraine and crap. And honestly, lefties need to prioritize. 

I think it's fine to be a bit more moderate on social and foreign policy issues, and then prioritize economics. That's the big thing that attracts people to bernie. It's the $15 minimum wage, medicare for all, free college, the green new deal, etc. That's what makes a material change in peoples lives.

And of course, I'm not much of a GND guy. I like UBI. I know that UBI is kind of contentious among the left, because let's face it, a big problem with the left is they have the politics of fricking dinosaurs and have barely advanced in the past century, but yeah, that's where I differ from the bernie guys. I believe I have a 21st century outlook on politics, while a lot of leftists are still stuck in the 20th, if not the 19th in terms of the orthodox marxists. And that stuff isnt particularly helpful. We need a new way forward to mvoe on to the future.

Again, my own purity tests should be known, but I tend to support UBI, Medicare for all (or public option), free college/student debt forgiveness, climate change legislation (a la Yang 2020 or BBB), housing program, a 32 hour work week, and a $15+ minimum wage. I feel like those are the most immediately important goals to achieve legislatively. Most of these are bernie priorities, although sometimes bernie goes further, and on a few bernie falls short. But again, my politics aren't bernie's, they're my own custom politics. 

And yeah. Right now, Biden supports about 30% of my agenda. Which is...okay. He's doing better than I expected him to. Leftists support 60% which is better. But they're still not perfect as i diverge from them.

All in all, that's another thing with purity tests, it's hard to find exactly what you want. And a lot of leftists hate compromising even a little. Someone agrees with them 90% and they'll rip them to shreds over the other 10%. meanwhile here I am being like hmm, williamson is okay, even biden is kinda sorta okay. Im not super passionate about any of them but I guess I'll make do with what I got. 

Like, sometimes you're never gonna get everything you want, and that's okay. Unless you run for office yourself, you likely wont agree with them completely (even then I might not get 100% on my own purity tests depending what kinds of compromises I need to make in order to make an actual workable platform that passes into law at times). The key is to push it as far in your direction it will bend at that given point of time. Sometimes it's good to fight, holding out and voting for a leftist instead of a democrat, whereas this election cycle i think supporting the dem might be the better option. It's really contextual.

I do agree with principled voting in the long term. And if the left really wants long term gains, at some point they need to give the dems an ultimatum that either they do stuff the coalition wants, or they dont get votes, period. And eventually, it's possible the bernie coalition will be too big to ignore, especially if what separates the centrists from the progressives is primarily age and different generational outlooks on politics. Honestly, the third wayers have nowhere to go but down, and the left could very well come up in future cycles. It is possible, assuming we dont fall to fascism, and we dont just give in to "pragmatism", that we can throw our weight around and make gains. 

Still, for 2024, I respect both arguments, assuming youre respectful and civil. I dont think this is the left's year. I think that the best we can hope for is a second biden term in practice.