So...let's talk about this emerging progressive movement. It actually looks quite a bit different than my own politics, and this isn't super surprising given my own takes on things over the years. While we arguably were in similar places in 2016, I'm not sure where I stand in 2026. While I'd still vote for them over die hard centrist candidates eh, I've had my differences over the years. Let's trace both of our movements since I became a democrat in 2012.
2012- It felt like the party was united behind Obama then. I was a former republican who came over because I kinda realized "wait, I actually hate conservatism!" and redesigned my own ideology since.
2014- This redesign was helped by the secular humanist/New Atheist movement, which formed the basis of my worldview, and I very quickly became a social democrat and human centered capitalist. I didn't want to abolish capitalism. I learned about the flaws of the USSR and socialism, but I did form the basis of my existing ideology around this time. Going into 2016, I believed we needed a progressive left movement centered around a "new new deal", with the three planks I envisioned being UBI, Medicare for all, and free college.
2016- Bernie Sanders was never my exact match, but I very quickly came to support him, as he would do the most to further my goals. Clinton was useless, and felt like that 90s kind of liberalism I never really liked. She actually reminded me more of my moderate conservative days, which makes sense since I'd vote for her in 2008 over McCain, but not Obama. Still, I understood that despite the socialist label, he was basically running as a social democrat.
2018- The democrats' putting their finger on the scale for Clinton soured me on the democrats and I went further left. I didn't change my convictions but I did kind of become more open minded to certain forms of socialism around this time. However, I never committed to socialism because let's face it, my own analysis of capitalism and its problems is fundamentally different, reflecting Widerquist's indepentarianism more than traditional marxism.
2020- Yang emerged as a candidate and I started falling out with the Sanders faction somewhat. Yang was closer to what I always wanted and the whole ERMAHGERD ITS NOT SOCIALISM thing turned me off. However, I did ultimately go Sanders because while Yang did represent my ideology, he did so somewhat poorly, abandoning medicare for all, and going to the center, and I just thought Sanders was a stronger and more electable candidate at the time.
2022- I did shift more toward that Yang wing in fine tuning my proposals. I understood in part why Yang went for a public option, I just felt like he didn't stop there or do it for the right reasons. Yang kind of felt like he'd sell out his convictions just to compromise and make others happy and it kind of turned me off from him. Still, the differences between myself and this emerging "leftist" camp started piling up. I never wanted socialism. Yes, I wanted significant change, more than the democrats offered, but my ideology and priorities are markedly not in line with them. This is why I'm "left out left" and not an outright "leftward progressive" on pew's typology report.
2024- Differences continued to pile up. Leftists didnt appeal to me at all, especially as they shifted away from economics to purity test over Palestine. In some ways I actually agreed with the moderate wing more. And even on economics, I feel like the core ideological distinctions between my ideology and mainstream leftism were piling up. I mean most of it comes down to UBI and the moral stance on work, but that is VERY significant in terms of the solutions we want. I want UBI, they want a more jobist vision. And while they do more than centrists, sometimes their policies are mutually exclusive to mine for budgetary reasons. We just evolved in different ways.
2026- In 2026, I find I'm not even super pro medicare for all any more. This breakthrough ironically came after reading El Sayed's book and redoing the numbers again for my own project. It's too expensive. And it might not even save as much money as I thought. Don't get me wrong, you can do it, but I'm not sure you can do it...AND fund a UBI. And I kind of really want a UBI. It's my top priority. And that's the thing. In my ideology and my envisioning of a progressive New Deal type proposal, UBI is the centerpiece, everything else gets pushed around it. And a public option makes budgetary sense. BUT...the mainstream progressive left are jobists. They arent anti work, they just want more fair work, and possibly to own the means of production. THey support medicare for all and a green new deal, and while I am in favor of more moderate proposals there, wanting to fulfill those priorities while letting UBI do the real heavy lifting, again, the ideological difference is rather large here.
So...idk what my future in the democratic party and the progressive movement is. I understand I dont meet a lot of modern leftist purity tests, in 2026, the two things they want absolute purity on is Israel and M4A. M4A i kinda understand as if I felt we could fund both easily enough, I myself would want both. I do think M4A is better on paper. I just aint willing to abandon UBI for it so I'd go with my backup framework, which is a public option.
But yeah. I'm no longer as attached to the progressive movement as I was, especially as mainstream dems move left. Like, Michigan is a good barometer of the three paths the dems can take. Haley Stevens is just...no for me. Abdul El Sayed is progressive, I like him. But IM not super attached to his policies. Mallory McMorrow and that middle ground is actually where I'm at outside of UBI. Like a progressive democrat, but not a DSA style socialist.
Still, I understand McMorrow comes off as insincere AF, shes an awful candidate, and push comes to shove, choosing between Haley Stevens and Abdul El Sayed, El Sayed is the guy I'd want. He's more honest, less compromised, and yeah, while Im not ride or die on M4A, I also recognizie it has potential. And if anyone can design such a policy properly, it's this guy. He literally wrote the book on it. So...yeah. Push comes to shove, between the centrist faction and the DSA faction, make no mistake, I'm pro DSA. BUT....if I had my way, I'd do things a bit differently.
Still....in a realignment, the DSA representing the left is a positive development, as it would pull the entire overton window left where even I seem like a moderate. Compared to where we were in 2016, we're much further left. Like, I have to remember, I didn't change a ton MYSELF in the past decade, the factions are realigning around me, with me mostly just fine tuning my ideas and making smaller, more incremental shifts in my own worldview.
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