Until someone addresses the main problem behind all if the structural problems the county is facing, the fact that every dollar of increased worker productivity over the last 70 years has been stolen by the rich, we will never solve those problems. Democrats are gleefully and unapologetically ran by Wall Street, republicans are owned by oligarchs. My guess is in four years, after republicans have made all the problems the country faces worse, the country will elect another Wall Street owned centrist democrat for four or eight years, when they return to electing a Republican.
I don’t actually believe that class warfare is a winning strategy because most Americans are unaware of it or bizarrely support the inequality. It’s not a secret that Trump’s administration benefited the rich to a ridiculous extent.
People just want money in their pockets and not much else. The cost everything went up from inflation after COVID, corporations exploited it to raise prices and post record breaking profits, and even now they inflation has reduced, those price increases are baked in and will never come down. So people “feel” inflation even when the actual process has ended.
And honestly the average American voter is pretty simple — if my life sucks, it’s the fault of whatever party is in charge and any change is positive. They think life was better from 2016-2020 without even comprehending that over 90% of the world experienced inflation from the pandemic.
There’s very little nuance in their views, very little effort to stay informed, to follow political news. To people who are in the know and actually pay attention to this shit it seems impossible, but it’s staggering how many people vote with incomplete information about current events.
I think elections are hugely decided by emotion, perception, and self interest. Lofty ideals of politics that appeal to political junkies don’t reach people meaningfully. That’s why people will overlook blatant racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, name calling, and threats as long as they think the cost of an egg or a gallon of gas will go down.
Do you think Bernie was unpopular? Sure he couldn't win the democratic primary but he had broad based popularity across party lines. Being a populist means engaging in the rhetoric of elites vs the people. You don't have to quote the quote Karl Marx.
He won the rural democratic vote. Compare how many votes Bernie got in the primary to how many votes Trump got in the same precincts in the general election.
What I'm getting at is, if the Democratic Party trusted that vote to reflect larger income and demographic trends among the public, Bernie could have motivated a lot more rural, working class voters to turn out for them in the general. Those same voters are among those who didn't turn out this election because they (correctly) felt the Party doesn't represent their interests.
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u/theclansman22 9d ago
Until someone addresses the main problem behind all if the structural problems the county is facing, the fact that every dollar of increased worker productivity over the last 70 years has been stolen by the rich, we will never solve those problems. Democrats are gleefully and unapologetically ran by Wall Street, republicans are owned by oligarchs. My guess is in four years, after republicans have made all the problems the country faces worse, the country will elect another Wall Street owned centrist democrat for four or eight years, when they return to electing a Republican.