Dem
46
Ties
2
GOP
52
Yesterday, we wrote this:
Bernie Kvetches: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who won reelection on Tuesday, thinks he knows what went wrong for the Democrats:It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they're right.This is typical Bernie: Big words, but little connection to the real world. What, exactly, does he propose Democrats should do? Should they, for example, talk about raising the minimum wage? Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did that. Should they actually INCREASE the minimum wage? Biden tried, and was stymied by the filibuster and by pro-corporate types in his very narrow Senate majority (ahem, Kyrsten Sinema). As a sitting U.S. Senator, you would think Sanders would know this. Meanwhile, the Biden administration supported strikes by walking union picket lines, created blue-collar jobs with the CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act, helped secure union pensions that were underfunded, and tried to help low-income folks who have student loans, among other initiatives. This does not sound like Biden and Harris "abandoned working class people" to us.
Predictably, that generated quite a response:
R.W. in Seattle, WA, writes: I think Bernie Sanders is basically right in his criticism of the Democratic Party.
Bernie is correct in pointing out that inflation-adjusted wages are lower for working class Americans than they were 50 years ago, and that the U.S. is the only major country without healthcare for all and without guaranteed family and medical leave. The U.S. also has the greatest wealth inequality, has the most expensive healthcare, and the highest incarceration rate of all rich countries. Yet Democrats rarely talk about or campaign on any of those issues.
You attempted to counter Bernie's argument by pointing to Biden/Harris's support for unions and student loan forgiveness. But these are issues that affect few people in the poorest half of the country. Few workers belong to unions and less than half of adults have ever attended college. To them, student loan forgiveness is just another give away to the "elites." Raising the minimum wage would help the poorest workers, but it hasn't happened and has never been a major priority with Democrats, so poor workers are not impressed.
On a related note, Democrats seem to buy into the "American exceptionalism" mindset of conservatives. Except for the richest 10% of Americans, quality of life in the U.S. is worse than in every other of the 40 or so rich countries of the world by pretty much every indicator: lifespan, child mortality, violent crime rate, incarceration rate, high school graduation rate, leisure time, and so on. Yet Democrats rarely talk about public policy in, say, Denmark, as an example for the U.S. to follow.
The U.S. system is rigged against the middle and working classes. Our tax code is so biased towards the wealthy that Warren Buffett's tax rate is half that of his secretary, and Donald Trump apparently pays no taxes at all. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are talking about this and trying to change it. Other Democrats would do well to fight that fight, too.
M.R. in New Brighton, MN, writes: In your response to Bernie Sanders' assertion that the "Democratic Party has abandoned working class people," you are ignoring Biden's student loan forgiveness program. This plan basically rewarded college grads who can't manage their finances. Now that may not be strictly accurate, but it doesn't matter—it was seen as a scheme to give money to the privileged. Non-college grads justifiably reacted with resentment; it helped drive them out of the Democratic Party. The message this sent to non-college grads was very clear: You're not one of us. Unfortunately, we have now discovered that a lot of them were listening.
J.S. in Camp Hill, PA, writes: It was strange to see these two things in such close proximity...
You wrote that "Where did all those Biden voters go?" is a question that "will haunt Democratic operatives, not to mention political commentators, for months or years."
Not 100 words later, in the "Bernie Kvetches" section, you seemingly blast Bernie Sanders for being out of touch with reality when he says that the Democrats have lost their working class base.
This seems like a pretty reasonable explanation. And if the Democrats dismiss it as flippantly as you did, we're in for a long streak of electoral losses.
K.J.M. in Somerville, MA, writes: You dump on Bernie Sanders (when he's once again 100% right) and you actually think Gov. Tim Walz (DFL-MN) is a viable candidate after he and Kamala Harris crashed and burned this week? Your solution is to be more like the GOP? Haven't you people (yeah, I said it) learned yet that, when given the choice between a real or fake Republican, they will go with the real Republican every time?
For 20 years (yes, since 2004) I've visited your site nearly every day. Maybe today that stops. I am not happy to say this, I'm actually pretty sad.
What will it take for you to finally admit damned near all your predictions about this election season were wrong? Once again, the Democrats (and all the pollsters) have failed the U.S.
D.C. in Portland, OR, writes: I noted your comment on Bernie Sanders' response and agree with your criticism. He identifies the primary cause of our dire situation and at least to some extent I agree with his assessment. What he fails to articulate is a practical path to achieving the goal.
The vast majority of Trump fans support him because their personal economic situations have declined, often to the point of misery.
These folks have been receptive to the propaganda that China and Mexico and immigrants and liberals and Democrats and trans folks and on and on, are to blame for their miseries, when the root of the problem—the true enemy—is financial inequality.
It is no coincidence that we have simultaneously, record numbers of billionaires and houseless individuals.
Resources are limited and if they are systematically extracted from companies as profits for the owners, inevitably that will impact working conditions and renumeration. It will also affect the communities where these companies exist, either through direct harm or lack of engagement.
But that is exactly what lowering the highest tax rates has achieved. When you have to sacrifice 70-90% of your assets to the government through taxation when liquidating your profits, you are much more inclined to instead reinvest in your business, its employees and the community.
So Bernie is absolutely right on the principles, but how on earth can we make them reality, when the folks most impacted by the negative consequences have been brainwashed into blaming their sad lot on minorities and immigrants and whoever else they are conveniently able to punch down on?
Somehow we need to educate Trump voters and redirect their anger; Elon Musk is the beneficiary and product of their suffering, not their friend.
Jumping to the topic of "who" needs to lead Democrats from here is the wrong question. Rather we must first reflect on how it might even be possible to win back some of these financially hurting families, to the Democratic camp. Education or de-cultification or big warm hugs—I don't know. "How?" and not "Who?" is the question.
Other than D.C. in Portland, the other correspondents seem to have missed our point.
First, any person who grossly exaggerates their arguments should expect to be tuned out. If Sanders wants to say the Democrats haven't done enough, or that there are other things they could do, or that they should work harder, then that's fine. However, to say that the Party has "abandoned" working-class people isn't fair, and isn't honest.
Second, and more importantly, Sanders is very right about many of the issues and problems he points to. However, he is all talk. It's easy to identify problems. It's much, much harder to solve problems, particularly when you have a political system designed to limit change.
Sanders has been a United States Senator for 18 years. That is a position of actual power. He is currently chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, with the Democrats having the majority. He could write bills on any of those subjects and work like hell to get them through the Senate. The House would kill the bills but he could turn that into a major campaign issue, as in: "the Senate passed a bill to raise the minimum wage but the House Republicans killed it. Vote Democratic."
Do you know how many bills he's gotten passed into law in that time? Three. And two of those were to rename post offices, which means his only substantive bill was the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013. That was more than a decade ago, and before he became one of the most high-profile politicians in America. Since skyrocketing to national fame, he's used his fame primarily to re-deliver his stump speech over and over again, on TV, at conventions, at rallies, etc.
Again, Sanders has a lot of good observations. But, as they say, "if you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem." And the Senator seems rarely, if ever, to deliver any solutions. In this way—long on talk, short on solutions—he's actually a lot like Donald Trump. And so it's not too surprising that there are lots of Sanders-Trump voters. (Z)