The ones I know are uninformed dolts. My Republican sister-in-law IS an extremist crackpot, but at least she expresses an interest in the world.
4 Likes
Agreed. We could have had universal healthcare back in the 1970âs but the âmustnât rile up the right wingâ factions weighed in.
For every major gain for Democrats, itâs been the same (Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, EPA, etc.): pass something moderately to the left of center and then spend decades fending off Republicans trying to gut it outright or âreformâ it to death.
Meanwhile Republicans stake out a maximal position and force Democrats (and it hasnât been that hard) to give ground so âitâs not so badâ. Thatâs how we got Obamcare without a public option.
13 Likes
Abolishing ICE would be going too far left, not proposing universal healthcare. Trump won even though he said he wanted to have the best universal healthcare.
OT: Looks like Florence will make a turn once it hits shore. This should spare Virginia of heavy rain.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT06/refresh/AL062018_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind+png/152637_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind.png
2 Likes
The reason why they are in the minority is because of their policies. The ACA caused many democrats to go down and continued the decline of white congressional democrats from the south. In the deep south states, white democrats are almost extinct in Congress. Democrats have been losing seats in the deep south to republicans, not progressives. No republicans voted for the ACA, which allowed them to demagogue it as âsocialized medicineâ (complete with âdeath panelsâ) and tie it around the necks of democrats like an albatrossâŚwhich caused many of them to run away from it in the midterms that followed. Progressives consistently underestimate the sheer amount of damage that the ACA did to democrats and the party as a whole. It didnât really become popular until long after it was passed. When you mess with healthcare, regardless of the party, you will incur a political backlashâŚand when your party holds the presidency losses will ensue (normal losses due to control)âŚeven without something as polemic as the ACA.
FinallyâŚSandersâŚconfiscatory tax rates, free thisâŚfree that. Democratic policy on taxes is already derided at every turn by republicans. Sanders takes it to another levelâŚa level that most americans will find hard to stomach. Yes, you want that universal health care, but what is that universal healthcare going to cost EVERYONE going forward? Not to mention that single payer will require an increasingly larger funding pool as the population grows larger and ages. The NHS in the UK is currently grappling with a myriad of problems (including the number of doctors in the system)âŚthe main one being continued funding. That country is only 20% the size of the US (in population) and they will soon have to raise more taxes to get the funding they need to stop the bleeding. In the US the funding requirements will be much higher year on year. Republicans will seize on single-payer with more froth than they did over the ACAâŚand the consequent political backlash will likely cause considerable amounts of congressional losses for democrats. 32 trillion over ten years is a huge down payment on a program that will only grow in size (and funding requirements) going forward. Doctors in the US graduate with about 2 times the student loan debt (nearly $200k) of UK doctors, who have tuition costs capped. This will have repercussions for the number of doctors who question becoming a doctor as a lucrative profession going forward.
I have such fond memories of the second Carter Administration.
3 Likes
Maybe our candidates should appeal to Democrats.
5 Likes
Thatâs why I keep saying that progressives need to show.
While thereâs nuttin wrong with moderation, its gets irksome to watch guys sit on the sidelines, because theyâre âmessagingâ.
5 Likes
If by âcenter-leftâ you mean, being a Social Democrat, I agree completely. Medicare for all and a living wage for workers are both winning platforms. Even my Trump loving parents thought universal healthcare is a good idea. At least they did until Fox News told them it was a âCommunistâ agenda. In any case, Corporate Dems (what I would consider âcenterâ) are a dying breed and rightfully so. The extreme left concerns me, but thatâs probably a discussion for another time. 
1 Like
Can someone explain to me what âtoo far leftâ means because I always thought it meant general disagreement with anything RepublicanâŚhas it changed?
7 Likes
I gotta say, Iâm really not much for labels.
My feeling is that the country has been slipping in this direction for decades, and the decline has been greatly exacerbated by the GOP. All the things that those perhaps somewhat left of me might want are all truly admirable goals, but will not be achieved in one fell swoop / election cycle.
There will be enough work needed by Demâs, moderates, and independents, just to undue the bigly damage that Dotard has already inflicted on the country, once he is indicted / impeached.
To start that process, we need to get the GOP out of control at every level, ASAP.
6 Likes
Historically many, if not all, of the popular government programs and policies in existence have started on the Left or far left. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Equal Rights, Reproductive Rights, Voting Rights, 40 hour work week (now all but lost), minimum wage, child labor lawsâŚall Lefty ideas and all very popular.
6 Likes
I will agree with this, but only because their policies (âfreeâ trade, the ACA, tax policy, deregulation) are hardly distinguishable from those Republicanâts. Point in fact: Democrats moved too far to the right! They need to move back at least to where they were in 1936.
As for the NHS, you can thank a string of Tory and Neoliberal âLabourâ governments for that. They deliberately starved it for funding so that they could claim that Socialized Medicine Doesnât Work. Meanwhile in the rest of the world that takes it seriously, it works, on the whole.
As for Sanders, every poll Iâve seen says majorities of Americans support his policies, including solid blocks of Republicanâts. And they wouldnât be âfreeâ. In fact, WE ARE ALREADY PAYING FOR THEM. We pay double for healthcare while leaving millions out in the cold, and the money we shovel into the gaping maws of student loan corporations as reimbursements for loan defaults, every year, as Corporate Welfare, could pay for tuition-free higher ed for every qualified student in the nation without burying them in economy-stultifying debt.
2 Likes
Priority 1, woo voters on the left, right and center with Medicare-for-all and get-money-out-of-politics. Priority 2, the search for the ever elusive independents.
1 Like
Left, right or center, what are Democrats running on in the upcoming election? I follow this stuff and really donât have any idea what the national party is running on.
1 Like
Thanks Jimmy, and try not to bang your thumb with the hammer, mâkay?
I think that history will look far more favorably on Carterâs Presidency than weâve even seen to date. Establishment Dems felt threatened by Carter and only half-heartedly, if at all, supported this âoutsiderâ and Reagan manipulated the Iran Hostage Crisis to completely undercut a sitting a President and prevent his re-election. Carterâs Post-Presidency has been a shining example to everyone on public service that politicians talk about but never manage to actually put any effort into. I respect and admire President Carter.
That saidâŚ
âI donât think any Democrat is going to vote against a Democratic nominee,â and he insisted that heâs not asking the left to sacrifice its goals, only to see that winning elections is necessary to accomplish any of them.
I think a large number of Democrats stayed home or voted for Stein in the last election. It wasnât just generic âprogressivesâ or independents that âenabledâ Trumpâs election.
Bullshit. Of course youâre entitled to your opinion but still, bullshit.
Agree with all of that. It will take decades to repair the damage this administration has inflicted upon our nation and democracy. We do have an immediate healthcare crisis brewing on two fronts though. Medicare is broke and in desperate need of reform and the ACA has been sabotaged by the Republicans, possibly beyond repair, even at this stage. I do believe it is time for a major overhaul on that front and it makes more sense to do that now that throw billions or more at the two individual programs to only essentially put a band-aid on a gaping wound. Itâs time to combine the programs and take it to a Medicare for all system. IMHO.
I appreciate what Carter is saying, but trying to be center-left, and trying to please everybody, hasnât worked for the most part. The GOP still controls most state legislatures, still has most of their gerrymandered districts in place, and controls both houses of Congress. The democrats might as well take a chance, and go hard-left.
2 Likes
Nope. Not even close.
3 Likes