Thread by @aaronhoyland

Thread: Because I'm a deeply stupid person, I'm going to briefly wade into American politics.

I can understand how exciting it must be for progressive Americans to have a candidate like Bernie to rally behind. Finally, someone espousing honest-to-goodness progressive values.

Medicare-for-all! 100% renewable energy! Free college! I can only imagine how energizing it is to have these ideas platformed on the national stage. And he's polling so well! No wonder the Bernie bros and gals can't wait to get out of bed and spread his message far and wide.

Unfortunately, there is a cold, hard truth to America. We saw it in November 2016. We saw it when George W. Bush's approval rating hit 90 (NINETY!) percent the weeks after 9/11. And we saw it yesterday with Biden's success.

America is not a progressive country.

America lets people be buried under life-ruining debt if they fall ill. America spends ~$700 billion a year on its armed forces. America routinely restricts voting rights and abortion rights and allows regular citizens to own military-grade firearms.

I struggle to even explain how foreign and utterly horrifying these seem to an outsider.
"What do you mean, diabetics have to ration insulin?"
"Wait, so you're saying someone can walk into Wal-Mart with an AR-15 over their shoulder?"
"You pay HOW MUCH for out-of-state college?"

These are not qualities of a progressive country. And these qualities do not exist because no one has ever questioned them. They exist because, when questioned, the majority of the electorate has decided they should continue to exist.

Even the very idea of the American Dream is but a shallow rebranding of the bootstrap mentality. If only you worked hard enough, you too could be the next Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. This isn't a bug; it's a feature.

You want to fundamentally change the system? That doesn't come from presidential elections. It comes from boring, grassroots activity. Local elections. State legislators. You can't dismantle a pyramid by dropping something heavy on the top.

And in the meantime? You have to look at and acknowledge what your country actually is, not just what you want it to be. Bernie winning the nomination doesn't change any of this. You can't change the very fabric of your country in a single election cycle; it takes decades.

Don't be surprised if Biden wins the nomination. He is what America has shown time and time again it wants. Mainstream democrats aren't scared of Bernie just because he's "too radical". They're scared because we've seen scant evidence that the US as whole embraces those values.

And if he does? Grit your teeth and vote for him. He is a deeply-flawed candidate, but guess what? You only get one choice. We've seen what happens when people decide to sit out the election because the democratic nominee isn't progressive enough.

Your alternative is going to spend his day live-tweeting Fox News, dreaming up childish nicknames for his political foes and asking medical experts why you can't use a flu vaccine against a virus that isn't the flu.

Vote accordingly.