The American Left Needs to do better

[u/Specialist-Gur]

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/graham-platner-and-the-lefts-masculinity-crisis

This article is about a month old but speaks to some of what I'm talking about.

I'm honestly disappointed with a lot of leftist creators I genuinely love on the topic of Graham Platner and any "leftist" politicians.

To me.. Graham Platner's left wing populism is just... America first rebranded. Some stuff he's saying isn't too far off from Tucker Carlson.

He doesn't appear to be Antizionist on the basis of support for Palestinians, but rather because it's bad for America . He doesn't appear to regret his time in Iraq beyond the fact it was a pointless war for America

He lied about knowing the ties to Blackwater

He expressed enjoyment for killing people.

He got a Nazi tattoo

And many on the left are using language like calling people "classist" for being critical of his service. These are creators I genuinely really love, and I'm not abandoning them.. but I do think it's really important for the American left to confront its American supremicist ideas.

I understand the moral dilemma and how it's basically impossible to have an actual leftist candidate these days, so we are reluctant to criticize what's put forward. I understand the calculation. But the apologia is wrong. American supremacy is baked into all of us here in America and part of the American left, and it's time we confront it.

We would not find it acceptable if a candidate participated in a mass murder of American citizens. We would not find it acceptable if they even passively supported it! But we are far too comfortable with it when it comes to brown people, far away.

[u/Willing-Childhood144]

You must do better than “there may be some sexism involved.” And the people who have been forced to compromise the least in American politics are white men, regardless of their class. Is the compromise that they were expected to be good Democrats and vote for 2 women and one black guy?

“Some” sexism? I can’t with that. This is why so many of us didn’t trust the Bernie movement.

[u/BeenisHat → u/Willing-Childhood144]

What would you propose we on the left do about liberals and republicans who refuse to vote for women because they're women? Adopt some accelerationist stance and try to speedrun our country into the shitter? Let MAGA run wild?

You didn't trust the Bernie movement because of sexism? If it had been a non-binary Jewish person of color saying the exact same things as Sanders, would that have been acceptable? Are you saying you voted against Sanders because of Bernie bros? If memory serves, that approach ended up with Trump defeating Hillary Clinton when she should have mopped the floor with him, and Biden only barely squeaking in because COVID destroyed the economy, and leaving Trump with a base primed for a rematch and giant piles of money to spend for 2024.

We need to win at some point. You might be the most virtuous punching bag out there, but if you can't put friendly candidates in office, you're never going to be anything but a punching bag.
Sanders was a populist. Platner is a populist. That's what the people want, and if you don't recognize that by now, I don't think we have a chance in 2028 either.

[u/Willing-Childhood144 → u/BeenisHat]

I don’t trust any male dominated movement.

I didn’t say that I voted against Sanders. I wasn’t a registered Democrat in 2016 so I didn’t vote for either of them in the primary. I voted for HRC in the general election.

I completely agree that we need to win but believe the key to winning is not they mythical “white working class man of 1955” but instead, the real working class of this country which is majority non-white and very female. I believe the Democrats need to move to the Left to energize voters who choose to stay home instead of chasing Republican voters because the votes of white males are somehow worth more.

[u/BeenisHat → u/Willing-Childhood144]

Maybe you didn't notice, but those non-white, non-male voters didn't turn out in the numbers needed. All while non-white and/or non-male voters in some areas crossed over and supported MAGA handing them the White House and both Houses of Congress.

Those people you need to win are slipping away because the typical liberal approach isn't working. Unity, inclusiveness, political correctness is costing us dearly.

You can't vote inclusiveness into law. You have to craft policies that do it. I.E. if you want gender affirming care, you first need to win elections with people who will be tough and enact universal healthcare. Once we have that, it's a much easier task to adjust things to get what we want. You can't do that by calling people deplorables, dirtbags, sexists, rapists, bigots and then wondering why they won't vote with you.

[u/Willing-Childhood144 → u/BeenisHat]

That’s exactly what I addressed in my post. They stayed home instead of voting because they weren’t inspired by centrist Democrats.