Thread by @GregTSargent

This is an interesting exchange between @EricLevitz and @karpmj. Central Q is: Why is the progressive left that brought us the Bernie movement much less critical of the Dem establishment (and successful Ds like Harris, Whitmer et al) these days? I have a few answers to this. 1/

https://twitter.com/EricLevitz/status/1826003193949757650

One is that during the Biden years, the left (at least in Congress) genuinely was brought into the tent to negotiate over the biggest priorities, such as during the talks over Build Back Better, the biggest econ rebalancing effort proposed in decades. 2/

In the end, the original BBB was sunk primarily by Joe Manchin (and to a lesser degree Kyrsten Sinema), Which is to say the real obstacle to the most ambitious economic reform effort in decades was just two Senators. The party was plainly united behind this effort otherwise. 3/

People forget this, but an original version of BBB passed the House with virtually every single Dem voting for it. This included Dems from districts full of those wealthy suburbanites who are widely believed to be the real obstacle to more egalitarian possibilities. 4/

What this confirmed for many progressives in Congress is that those wealthier elements of the Dem coalition, and the Dems representing them, may not be the primary obstacle to a more egalitarian future. See @Jacob_S_Hacker and company on this. 5/

cambridge.org/core/journals/…

@Jacob_S_Hacker This suggested structural factors in our politics are the more serious obstacle to that future (@EricLevitz nods at this). The malapportioned Senate, which placed BBB in hands of one man from a deep red state, is more to blame for its failure than resistance in the party. 6/

@Jacob_S_Hacker @EricLevitz Also: Virtually every Senate Dem appeared ready to end the filibuster to pass the more progressive elements of the Biden agenda. Again, largely sunk by Manchin. So a hidebound, reactionary attachment to anti-majoritarian features of Senate appeared vanquished in the party. 7/

Here again you see a party-wide awareness that *structural impediments* are the major obstacle to progressive/egalitarian reforms w/wide popular appeal. Establishment Ds are now largely united w/progressive Dems in Congress behind readiness to combat this at next opportunity. 8/

In short, Dem Party is now united behind aspirations for a much more egalitarian future in a way it hasn't been in recent decades. You see this in unity of convention speakers behind a politics that delivers for working people, as @zachdcarter argues. 9/
slate.com/news-and-polit…

@zachdcarter I can't promise that this unity behind structural reform in service of a more progressive/egalitarian future will hold if Dems do win a trifecta. Maybe it won't. But the prospects for it seem better now than I think many realize. I suspect lots of progs agree with this. 10/10

For clarity, adding that if not for Manchin and to a lesser extent Sinema, something like original BBB likely would have passed Senate as well as House, so resistance to egalitarianism among establishment and/or moderate Ds in any broader sense wasn't the key obstacle here.

FIN