Thread by @N7IRL

It's a frustrating experience to be in a position where I am absolutely of the stance that fuck the Democrats and their twiddling while Trump burns things down and fuck the DNC and their desperate need to hold onto power but also fuck "leftists" who can't grasp reality.

It's absolutely correct that the DNC has this incredible contempt towards the average voter and especially young voters, and that the Dems wasted time they SHOULD have used pursuing impeachment from the goddamn start.

And it's completely true that where we're at with Biden is in large part because the DNC is this entrenched machine with a lot of pull that has done shit all to actually fix the issues that make young voters get a disproportionately small voice in our electoral system.

But it's also just basic reality that we're in a system where this is what we have.

Because the other option is actual fucking fascists and those who are willing to allow fascists to run roughshod if it means they get their money.

And so if you're looking to make serious fucking change starting from the presidency down?

You're dealing with the Dems and the DNC.

And this election has made it clear that "the DNC is the problem", while true...IS NOT CONVINCING DEM VOTERS IN GENERAL.

The Sanders camp has, twice now, attempted to ride to victory on the back of the idea that your average left-leaning voter is extremely frustrated with the DNC and would 100% get behind the notion that the DNC and the Dems must fall in line behind the left.

And it kind of turns out that right now, not enough voters actually seem to be getting more swayed by that than by what they see Biden as promising.

And I REALLY, REALLY FUCKING NEED for Sanders supporters to stop arguing this shit by arguing with what SHOULD BE.

It doesn't have to be RIGHT for something to be TRUE.

It's TRUE that Biden seems, inexplicably to anyone who's actually paying attention to what he's been doing or saying, to appeal to voters who absolutely would be better off under Sanders' policies.

THE ENTIRE POINT

OF THE GODDAMN PRIMARY PROCESS

IS TO TAKE A POSITION THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE FUCKING OBVIOUS

AND TO TRY TO FUCKING MAKE IT OBVIOUS TO PEOPLE.

And it seems pretty clear that for a lot of people, that wasn't done.

It was a risky wager from the beginning to put so much into the idea that Bernie was already the clearly superior and thus clearly more popular choice and people just needed to be excited into going to the polls.

Now it looks like outreach really WAS needed.

It was always going to be tough, in a country where our leaders spent decades fearmongering about socialism, for a left-leaning candidate to actually pull a lead over a centrist.

Because right or wrong, one FEELS safer for a lot of people.

And the Sanders camp basically wagered that enough of the population was already tired enough of the status quo and of the Dems being the left-most party while still being right-of center on a lot of things to overcome that.

...And we seem to have lost that wager.

It's probably a very good sign that so much of the young voters in this country went for Bernie. It bodes well for the future.

But you can't just point to the support you ALREADY have when people challenge you to reach out more.

Repeatedly the campaign has chosen to focus on energizing an existing base instead of trying to expand.

Building a diverse and excited base is good and great but you also have to bring in the people who are hesitant.

And I know there's been a lot of bullshit where people who were NEVER going to support Bernie have latched on to the Bernie Bro narrative?

But also there's a lot of regular people who spent a lot of time undecided because PROMISES aren't ACTION and supporters' actions spoke loud

However fair or unfair the narrative has been, the fact is that there's been a lot of loud, large-platformed voices willing to loudly, boldly, and wrongly assert things about what everyone else needed to do to get in line behind Bernie, which built NOTHING.

For every Biden-supporting centrist who latched on to how toxic the Bros are regardless of actual interactions, there's a bunch of people who might have leaned towards Bernie who watched the "bend the knee" bullshit with trepidation.

And again, you can point all you want at how people SHOULD be deciding who to vote for.

The idea of Biden as the safer candidate is indeed illogical!

But Trump is in the goddamn White House, logic and reason flew to Mars years ago.

People vote on feelings.

So yes it's fucking awful to be left-leaning and have to deal with the fact that the left-most party is centrist at best and to realize that with a number of huge, survival-at-stake issues we're going to have to deal with a party that needs to be cajoled into action.

But unless you can pull an actually leftist party out of a magic hat, this is what we had to deal with. This is what we were always going to have to deal with, barring managing to get more soc dems and socialists into enough local and state positions to force change.

And fuck, I still see Sanders-supporting types arguing like we DON'T have fascists in the goddamn White House.

Was getting Sanders into the presidency actually going to be the anti-Trump magic bullet people want to dream of? Because I have doubts.

It's looking like Biden, the not even slightly best choice we had before us at the start, may well malarkey his way into the nomination.

And people calling themselves leftists are going to have to decide what they want to do under a Biden presidency if it comes to that.

I still maintain that the GOP, barely pretending to actually be in any way devoted to democracy at this point, is going to flat out cheat their way into keeping the presidency and likely steal a few other positions as well.

And we SHOULD HAVE been voting based on who'd be the best candidate to be in the office, not based on some bullshit about who has the best chance to beat Trump.

Because again, the GOP will cheat their way to victory and he'll once again win without having actually won.

But if by some miracle all their skullduggery somehow doesn't work and we actually get a Dem in office?

It will be worse than it could have been but still better than under Trump. And the Dems for all their flaws aren't intentionally cruel.

Whatever you think about what Biden will or won't do it's far better to be in a position to pressure a party that's not actively being driven to cruelty for its own sake than the other option.

And if you want to actually push things where some of us foolishly hoped they already were, as far left as we'd hoped to dream they already are?

That means working to reshape at every level instead of relying on pushing someone to the top and hoping the change trickles down.

To treat Bernie not getting the nom as the point at which to give up would be a betrayal of everything the people who canvassed and phone banked and organized for the campaign fought so hard for.

Change is still possible even under the lesser option.

It has been for a long while now the lot of the left to strive to be the conscience the country lacks on a lot of issues.

Though, given some of what's calling itself left now, the left might need to examine its own conscience.

But it means losing more often than not.

It means recognizing that the fight against the carceral state, the fight against the military-industrial complex, the fight against wealth inequality, the fight for reproductive access, these are all ongoing struggles with hard-fought victories.

It also means recognizing that a lot of people fighting for these things might not necessarily align with you on everything politically and that it's possible to acknowledge these disagreements without erasing people's work.

(Like, for example, insisting that not endorsing a particular candidate means that Rep. John Lewis hasn't spent his entire LIFE fighting for justice)

If you're actually devoted to getting everyone healthcare that's not going to bankrupt them?

That fight can be fought under a Biden administration.

Little secret, we'd STILL be fighting the fight under a Sanders admin too, trying to get everyone on board.

To insist that it has to be one candidate, that it has to be the right candidate, or you sit it out would be to wager that under another Trump term you'd survive just fine, long enough to make it through, and that we'd still have a democracy at the end of it.

And a lot of people already haven't survived.

How many more won't if he remains?

I will do what I need to to make sure this is the LAST Trump term.

I would hope others will do the same.

Even if it means holding your nose the whole time.

We can gripe that it's not a less shitty system but if it was less shitty we wouldn't be dealing with Trump in the first place.

We wagered that people would see the appeal in an idealist and it's kind of looking like that's not the case among enough voters...yet.

In an ideal world everyone grasps that taking care of EVERYONE's health benefits EVERYONE.

In the world we have a lot of voters seem to value radically reshaping our healthcare system LESS than other considerations, like getting Trump out.

If you're calling yourself part of the left but value having been right about Bernie more than pushing hard even when we don't win, then fuck you.

I don't have to like nor agree with people's motivations for voting Biden to acknowledge it's what's happening right now.

Honestly, anyone enthusiastic about Biden (and anyone enthusiastic about any of the centrists who ran) is suspicious in my mind.

But I'm not going to change a fucking thing by stubbornly insisting that Bernie's obviously the better choice.

It was always going to be more useful to try and appeal to people where they are to make the case that what Sanders and Warren have been offering has been better than anyone else the Dems fielded.

That didn't happen. And here we are.

And no amount of pointing out how shitty Biden has been about making the case for himself is going to change that he was never going to actually need to.

The DNC and the Dem establishment always had the advantage here.

I can hate that things work that way and also acknowledge that if you're looking to change shit, that's the framework you're working with.

If you want to force that framework to change, well...consider what that means doing, and if you're up to it.

Honestly, I think more of the self-styled left is enamored of the IDEA of revolution than interested in actually going through with standing up to the rest of the country and saying, "THAT'S ENOUGH".

Even at this point, people have too much to lose.

I'm not looking to overthrow the two major parties and force what needs to be changed.

I don't think many really are.

Talk of revolution is easy.

Actually making things better is hard work.

And if it does come to revolution? What does that actually mean? What comes after?

What gets torn down, who suffers, and what replaces what came before?

The right has it easy, they tear shit down without worry of who gets hurt.

It's one thing to note that it's a handful of billionaires holding everyone hostage.

Another to acknowledge who they've left dependent on them holding things up.

Can you address that without letting the most precarious become collateral damage?

We don't have to LIKE the way things are to understand that what needs to be opposed is so entrenched that to radically reshape things becomes more more difficult even as it becomes more necessary.

And real people get hurt.

I don't have the answers to how we keep everything from collapsing from pandemics and climate disaster and whatever else capitalism and the wealthy have left us terminally incapable of properly responding to.

My soul says the motherfuckers need to be held to account for their crimes against humanity.

My brain says it's a lot more complex than large crowds and guillotine platforms.

Maybe I'm entirely wrong and what we need is to absolutely reject the entire system that entrenches partisan power and guides the populace from one ineffective, compromised clown to another right now.

But I don't see how without a lot more suffering.