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Related: About this forumThe Truth About the Sanders Movement
Paul Krugman's Conscience of a Liberal Blog
The Truth About the Sanders Movement
May 23, 2016 6:17 pm May 23, 2016 6:17 pm
In short, its complicated not all bad, by any means, but not the pure uprising of idealists the more enthusiastic supporters imagine.
The political scientists Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels have an illuminating discussion of Sanders support. The key graf that will probably have Berniebros boiling is this:
Yet commentators who have been ready and willing to attribute Donald Trumps success to anger, authoritarianism, or racism rather than policy issues have taken little note of the extent to which Mr. Sanderss support is concentrated not among liberal ideologues but among disaffected white men.
The point is not to demonize, but, if you like, to de-angelize. Like any political movement (including the Democratic Party, which is, yes, a coalition of interest groups) Sandersism has been an assemblage of people with a variety of motives, not all of them pretty. Heres a short list based on my own encounters:
1.Genuine idealists: For sure, quite a few Sanders supporters dream of a better society, and for whatever reason maybe just because theyre very young are ready to dismiss practical arguments about why all their dreams cant be accomplished in a day.
2.Romantics: This kind of idealism shades over into something thats less about changing society than about the fun and ego gratification of being part of The Movement. (Those of us who were students in the 60s and early 70s very much recognize the type.) For a while there especially for those who didnt understand delegate math it felt like a wonderful joy ride, the scrappy young on the march about to overthrow the villainous old. But theres a thin line between love and hate: when reality began to set in, all too many romantics reacted by descending into bitterness, with angry claims that they were being cheated.
3.Purists: A somewhat different strand in the movement, also familiar to those of us of a certain age, consists of those for whom political activism is less about achieving things and more about striking a personal pose. They are the pure, the unsullied, who reject the corruptions of this world and all those even slightly tainted which means anyone who actually has gotten anything done. Quite a few Sanders surrogates were Naderites in 2000; the results of that venture dont bother them, because it was never really about results, only about affirming personal identity.
Continued at NYT
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Cha
(295,927 posts)yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)4.CDS victims: Quite a few Sanders supporters are mainly Clinton-haters, deep in the grip of Clinton Derangement Syndrome; they know that Hillary is corrupt and evil, because thats what they hear all the time; they dont realize that the reason its what they hear all the time is that right-wing billionaires have spent more than two decades promoting that message. Sanders has gotten a number of votes from conservative Democrats who are voting against her, not for him, and for sure there are liberal supporters who have absorbed the same message, even if they dont watch Fox News.
SunSeeker
(51,378 posts)realmirage
(2,117 posts)Stuckinthebush
(10,816 posts)I dare someone - a scrappy soul - to post this over there with a poll. The tithe of the post could be:
"Which one are you?"
Provide the link then have the poll choices by number. Priceless!
brer cat
(24,402 posts)The Achen and Bartels piece referenced in the OP, points out that the Sanders supporters were less likely than Hillary supporters to favor the policies he has offered including higher minimum wage and increasing government spending on health care. It seems there is less of an ideological commitment than an adoption of campaign labels.
Cha
(295,927 posts)NYT!
Bet he's not done yet.
SharonClark
(10,005 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,111 posts)Most attack Krugman instead of discussing what was said. Yeah because insulting someone always wins you an argument.
LisaM
(27,762 posts)There really are different subsets.
Gothmog
(144,005 posts)BootinUp
(46,928 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)NAILED it.
Hekate
(90,202 posts)anotherproletariat
(1,446 posts)jimw81
(111 posts)Are from the Occupy wall St movement and far left regressives. Plenty of members of the movement openly admitted on Twitter. That's why you have West and Zogby trying to mess with Dems position on topics like Israel.