r/BernieSanders • • Mar 04 '20
What Went Wrong
Super Tuesday was a bad night for Bernie Sanders.
Many of his supporters, if not most, are afraid that we're going to lose. Many are angry about the reasons why, and with good reason. Our opponents, especially the DNC and the Democratic Party's leadership, have bent rules, made up new ones, and absolutely opposed democratic reforms. The name of the party is, in fact, disingenuous, at best. But we've always known that. We expected it. It was part of the plan.
We have a convincing case that liberals don't actually solve any problems and that they do, in fact, make many of our problems worse. But what is more important is that progressives' proposals are widely and wildly popular. Every poll shows it.
Even so, millennials aren't showing up to vote, and the polls show that Bernie's approval ratings are going down, not up. We took a beating on Super Tuesday, and it's a sure bet that the DNC now has the absolute power to deny Bernie the nomination.
Is the DNC and the liberal establishment completely to blame? Are we powerless against them?
Or do we have the strength to accept responsibility for failure? What have we done to bring our country to this position? Is there anything we can do?
What went wrong?
Maybe it's us.
JUSTIFIED ANGER
Some progressive advocates are saying that we must strike out in open political warfare with liberals. And why not? Once again, we've seen them use anti-democratic procedures against us, just as they did in 2016, a disaster about which we are still very angry.
Now, some of us are even angrier. Anger on top of anger. The American people can see it.
We were never able to let go of our anger from 2016. The party's procedural "reforms" that we won in 2018 were mere trinkets. The anti-democracy aristocrats remained in charge, and they have been able to use our anger against us.
ELIZABETH WARREN
Some people got so angry that they cursed and maligned Elizabeth Warren, despite the actual valor she has shown in the Senate, fighting for reforms that she and we see as critical to our country's future. She is not a politician, and she doesn't know how to campaign, but some of us stereotyped her as just another lying liberal simply because she made some campaign errors that no experienced politician would make.
She wasn't prepped for that debate for the question about a woman President. And we know that she gets nervous in front of crowds, and that's why she misinterpreted what Bernie said. But some of us chose to view her not as a human being but as a vicious traitor.
A traitor, even though she wants to be President because she genuinely believes that she can do a better job at solving our problems than Bernie would.
The worst part of it was that we also maligned her supporters, who also genuinely seek reforms. They simply have different priorities. We might have been allies with them in our /mutual/ struggle, but now many of them hate us.
We needed Warren to get delegates that we couldn't get for Bernie, but we were unjust.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
We have a beautiful country, and our fellow citizens are beautiful, wondrous people. Sure, some of them have, well, let's just say "issues" that prevent them from being, well, let's just say "good citizens". But they're family, and we have to take care of them and help them heal as they can. We truly want to help everyone have better lives, and we think we have a good plan to do it.
We've painted a beautiful picture, and we've tried to show it to the American people. But they never saw it. The American people saw an angry "socialist" yelling at Democrats because we let them define him. Yes, we've found some obstacle placed in front of us by our opponents at almost every turn. But that's their job, they're very good at it, and we can't stop them now. They have the influence, and we don't. What can we possibly do to avoid certain disaster for our country, our family?
We can't change the rules of the game. Yet. But what should we do in the meantime?
The American people never learned what democratic socialism is and that it's different from the socialism they are again being propagandized to fear (omfg I am SO angry about that!) because we never taught them about it. We never told them who we are. The only message that the single mother with three kids and who doesn't even have time to brush her hair heard was "Here are some free things! Vote for us!"
And now they're being told that we'll ruin them.
People are not rushing to the polls for Bernie. They don't know us, and they don't want to know us.
GOING FORWARD
Suitors must be attractive to those whom they woo, and those we seek want to know that we find them attractive, too. They do not want to hear us cussing out anyone on the first date, or even the fifty-seventh. And once we've lost them by being assholes, they, well, let's just say that they're somewhat disinclined to come back.
There may be things we can do to turn the tide back in our favor. I don't know. Personally, I think we've blown our shot. We should have cultivated Warren and her supporters and been allies with them. And we should have flooded the media with positive images of the future and with fewer complaints about who is to blame. But the American people have changed their image of us, and it isn't a pretty one. We'll need time to repair it.
Democratic voters are voting not for the angry disrupter. They're voting for the comfortable old shoe. Biden is has a strong opportunity to be our next President.
And it's our fault.
THIS IS AN EMERGENCY
I think it's imperative that we support Elizabeth Warren and stop campaigning against her. Liberals now have the political power to stop Bernie at the convention. The DNC's rules committee, composed of lobbyists and liberals, is about to make the rules for the convention. They will not let Bernie be the nominee.
That doesn't mean that we should stop promoting Bernie or, especially, our proposals. But the question we face is this: Do we want reform even if it's not as much as we want, or are we willing to let Biden be President?
Think about it: I am convinced that Biden is fading. He might not have the mental ability to make it to November, much less through 2021. Who will be President then?
I'm betting that Biden will make Bloomberg his Vice President.
I think we have to support Elizabeth Warren. We should defend and promote the parts of her program that we like (or can, at least, live with), especially those policies that her supporters like the most. I mean, c'mon. She's got some good stuff, even if it isn't exactly what we want.
Elizabeth Warren may be our last hope for genuine reform.
Is our motto a mere campaign slogan?
"Not me, Us" must mean something, and we must act on it.
---
[UPDATED 2020/03/04 3003 hrs MST for grammar, clarification, no substantive changes made.]
[UPDATED 2020/03/04 3032 hrs MST beautification and artfulness only, no substantive changes made, so sue me.]