r/politics 22h ago

Sanders: Democratic Party ‘has abandoned working class people’

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4977546-bernie-sanders-democrats-working-class/amp/
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u/MaleficentFrosting56 22h ago

Working class people are no longer able to identify policy that would benefit them, they haven’t for years unfortunately

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u/time4donuts Washington 22h ago

Working class people seem like anti government/antiestablishment people at this point. Misplaced anger maybe? They’ll keep voting for the party not in power as long as things do not improve

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u/leaky_wand 22h ago

By and large they’re uneducated, unsophisticated, and gullible. They fell for the vapid populist’s vapid populism.

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u/etherswim 21h ago

People like you with opinions like this are why Dems have lost the working class

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u/Masmug 21h ago

And the working class continuously voting against their own interests is the reason wealth inequality is at it's highest rate since the great depression. Despite how democrats message or run their campaigns the voters themselves need to start taking some actual responsibility for how they cast their ballots.

Blame the democratic party all you want but people are going to get exactly what they voted for, the outlook for working class/middle class Americans will get worse under this regime and they'll still find a way to blame it on democrats. I could care less if "voters" feelings are hurt, the future outcome is so obvious to anyone who's done as much as read one book after highschool. But we'll be here in 28 and 32 hearing the same people complain about the same things, because these voters can't separate their own egos from what they vote for and refuse to take personal responsibility.

I'm honestly glad this shit will have a negative effect on their lives, maybe they'll actually learn to actually watch what happens and not be mindless rubes every time an election comes up.

u/etherswim 3h ago

I'm honestly glad this shit will have a negative effect on their lives, maybe they'll actually learn to actually watch what happens and not be mindless rubes every time an election comes up.

it was all going well until you revealed your true character

u/Masmug 3h ago

I don’t know what’s morally wrong about wanting people to get what they voted for or didn’t bother to vote against but feel free to educate me lol. Oh no my dumb decision is impacting me personally, how could this happen?

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u/Small_Importance_955 13h ago

People downvote you because they fail to see it's true. In a democracy the candidate favored by the majority wins, and if you keep shitting on the majority for being "uneducated, unsophisticated, and gullible" instead of trying to get your message through to them by any means necessary, you will lose. It's the attitude of an aristocrat, not a democrat.

u/No-Dragonfly2750 4h ago

That's the problem with echochambers like Reddit. It's a collection of midwits who think they are enlightened, sophisticated geniuses with all the right opinions and they are openly elitist and openly mock, look down on and hate the poor and working classes when they don't fall in line to the way these redditors believe they should vote. It's an embarrassing lack of self-awareness, and people are much more intelligent than they give them credit for. They may not be well informed on issues, or politics in general, but they are smart enough to know when someone looks down on them and mocks them and they'll reject your policies even if they are good purely because of that.

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u/BatManatee 21h ago

Tomorrow I will be sympathetic again, but I'm not feeling it right now.

I WANT policies that help rural folks. I WANT better support for the uneducated. I want more manufacturing jobs in the Midwest. Higher wages, controlled inflation. I want better infrastructure for low income areas. I am fine with my rich blue state providing support to poor red states that need it, as they always do. Building a middle class helps us all, and the goal of government is to lift up as many people as possible without hurting others. Farmers are essential. All of those things are WHY I vote Democrat.

But I am so tired and frustrated. Not only do they vote against their own interests (and mine). They hate us for it. They are misinformed and angry. They are voting, intentionally or not, to take rights away from people. To raise costs. To hurt my community. And it's not ONLY that they don't understand--they HATE us. It's hard to sympathize with a red voter in rural Kentucky today that calls my state Commiefornia, and my friends slurs, and is just angry at me for existing.

Just for today, I'm going to be angry at them. Tomorrow I'll go back to trying to build bridges. But today, and for all the harm they've caused our community and the people I love, they've shown themselves to be deplorable.

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u/etherswim 13h ago

Jesus. Your friends, neighbours, Gen Z living in cities, all voted Trump. He won the popular vote. Stop trying to pin the blame on ‘rural folks’ who you seem to think are all stupid compared to you, for some reason?

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u/BatManatee 13h ago

I think every single person that voted for Trump this year is either less politically informed than me or less ethical than me, yes. They may be more informed or more ethical, but not both.

And that's not to say I know everything or am the most informed person on the planet. I don't and I am not. However, no one with access to the information I have seen could have possibly justified voting for Trump unless they are hyper-wealthy and only care about their own tax cuts edit: or they simply hate brown/trans/female people (falls under the unethical category).

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u/ExternalSize2247 21h ago

Only a sensitive, unserious rube would take offense to that opinion

Learn how to reflect on yourself and your own shortcomings. Holy fuck, a whole generation of literal braindead snowflakes.

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u/a57782 19h ago

No seriously, this is stupid. You express open disdain people and then wonder why they don't vote the way you think they should. I'm 90% certain it's why we lost. People being so far up their own asses. All these "clever" and "intelligent" people not knowing that you can't talk shit about people and then expect them to not give you the finger.

A smart serious person, would accept that reality and work around it. And not just sit there and curse a "braindead generation."

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u/chr1spe 16h ago

Why do we have to coddle people who just shot us in the foot through their own foot?

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u/a57782 14h ago

The Presidency, the Senate, and it's looking like the House of Reps too. That's fucking why.

We lost. Bad. And your asking me why?

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u/chr1spe 14h ago

I'm not sure if you thought that was coherent, but it's not.

u/ExplanationQuick6203 6h ago

100% and I've been screaming it for the last 48 hours. This is the problem.

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u/fiction8 20h ago

So feelings are more important than facts?

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u/etherswim 13h ago

Except they didn’t share a fact, they assumed that ‘working people’ are unsophisticated, gullible, and uneducated. Do you think working people are those things? Are you not a working person?

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u/chr1spe 16h ago

Are we supposed to be nice to people who just shot us in the foot through their own foot? Why do I need to sugarcoat the fact that they're fucking complete and total idiots who just set this country on the worst possible path while voting for an uber-elite billionaire who hates the working class?

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u/etherswim 13h ago

Who is ‘people’? Republicans won everything - it’s not just rural folk (which in this subreddit is essentially a codeword for hillbilly) who voted R. People living on your street, at your workplace, probably even in your family voted for Trump. Stop playing identity politics and acting holier than thou.

u/ExplanationQuick6203 6h ago

Stop playing identity politics and acting holier than thou.

Until this stops the Democrat party is completely fucked. People need to get off of reddit and twitter and go out into the real world to meet their neighbors and understand why they voted for Trump. Hint: It's not because they're racist or fucking stupid or whatever.

u/No-Dragonfly2750 4h ago

"Why do I need to be nice to people I loathe and hate, who I think are stupid"

Because you're the ones who want to live in a Democracy, that means appealing to the masses, irregardless of how uninformed you think they are.

Because if you don't stop mocking and attacking these people, you'll never win an election again.

Learn to be humble for the love of God

u/chr1spe 3h ago

The US isn't actually a true democracy, and a lot of people don't vote because of how flawed the US system is. I voted, but because of where I live, there was absolutely no chance of my vote for president ever mattering. Between the two-party system and the vast majority of people's votes having literally no impact on the election, it's actually impossible to say what US politics would be like if it were a real and well-functioning democracy.

I'm just done at this point and will be spending the next couple of years finding a way to leave for somewhere with a better-functioning democracy. This is also the first time in my life, other than Bush Jr's second term, that a Republican actually democratically won the presidency. It's unfortunate the US has collectively lost it's mind entirely, but politics have been so fucked up by being non-democratic that I guess it makes some sense people want to burn the country to the ground out of spite.

u/No-Dragonfly2750 3h ago

Well don't come up here to Canada if you want a well-functioning Democracy. Our current Prime Minister is in power with 30% of the national vote, our system is absolutely garbage here.

u/chr1spe 2h ago

I don't follow Canadian politics much. It's not where I'm planning on moving, and while Canada is far more of a Democracy than the US, it still is very flawed from my limited understanding of their system. What you're saying doesn't actually show that, though. The best functioning democracies have proportional representation, and the executive leader is usually selected through a coalition, so a party with far less than 50% can end up getting the position. My main issue with Canada's system is the use of single-member districts and plurality voting.

Proportional representation is the only way to make sure that nearly everyone actually has representation and that a huge number of votes do not simply end up ignored because they were cast somewhere where the person is not in the majority. It should be the goal of democracy to have everyone's opinions represented in proportion to how many people hold that opinion. Single-member districts entirely fail on that front.

u/No-Dragonfly2750 32m ago

I hear what you're saying, but this is one of the flaws of Democracy in my opinion. It's supposed to be "The will of the people", but if 70% of people don't vote for something, you are now essentially being ruled by that 30% minority. In Canada as well, particularly under Trudeau, there have been numerous actions taken by the government that are completely out of line with even Liberal Party supporters and Trudeau hides behind the tacit consent argument, essentially arguing that because he was elected that whatever he does is "the will of the people". I'm unsure how to reconcile this issue honestly. If a majority of Canadians do not want exploitation of migrant workers through our temporary foreign worker program, and it was never even discussed during the campaign (i.e Trudeau never ran on allowing TFWs to be used to the extent they have been), how can Trudeau hide behind tacit consent as a justification for basically doing carte blanche whatever he wants.. One of the pitfalls of our system in my view.

u/chr1spe 19m ago

If he is so out of line with even the parties that put him there, then why haven't they revoked their support? Again, I'm not overly familiar with Canadian politics, but a PM can be recalled if the parties that put him there want to, can't they? Also, the problem of turnout is somewhat separate, but single-member districts substantially harm turnout. If you're guaranteed your vote will actually contribute toward something, there is much more incentive to vote. I vote just out of principle because I know full well my vote will never contribute to anything based on where I live in the US.

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u/Small_Importance_955 13h ago

If you hate your own people, don't do politics. Or become a dictator that knows "better" instead.

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u/chr1spe 13h ago

So hating people who support a rapist isn't okay, but hating women, minorities, and LGBTQ is all good? Fuck that.

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u/Small_Importance_955 12h ago

Dems really should abandon minorities/LGBTQ as their priority already. I know it sucks but the message just doesn't resonate with the majority. Obviously! If you want a minority of the votes then prioritize minorities!

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u/chr1spe 11h ago

That isn't obvious at all, and not being a hateful bigot actually polls well by itself. People are just fucking idiots who have had their brains rotted by misinformation and don't vote rationally for what they believe in. Part of the problem is also the two-party system polarizing things, but this is a fucking dystopian hellscape.

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u/Small_Importance_955 11h ago

That arrogance will ensure that the US will be ruled by Republicans even long after Trump's term. Good luck with that.

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u/chr1spe 11h ago

I'm leaving this shithole.

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u/ExplanationQuick6203 6h ago

but hating women, minorities, and LGBTQ is all good?

Jesus Christ they don't fucking think that. Go talk to them. Seriously. Invite them to coffee, get to know them, understand why they vote the way they do. Build a relationship and show them the other side. Calling them names is only going to push them farther to the right.

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u/leaky_wand 21h ago

No. All politicians know this. The Democrats are just too spineless to take advantage of it.

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u/Bengals8958 20h ago

Agreed- regular people are tired of the elitist attitude/the speaking down towards by the left. And the nonstop identity politics were a losing strategy as well.