Bernie Sanders
Related: About this forumBeware the Blue State Model: How the Democrats Created a "Liberalism of the Rich" by Thomas Frank
This is a very interesting article by Thomas Frank. I think it does a good job explaining the change in the Democratic party over the past 25 years from one base on the New Deal of FDR to the Clinton's Third way. It explains the central conflict between Sanders and Clinton supporters, neoliberalism vs. social democracy. I think the Democratic party currently is an unhappy marriage of two different parties.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/29/beware-blue-state-model-how-democrats-created-liberalism-rich
When you press Democrats on their uninspiring deeds -- their lousy free trade deals, for example, or their flaccid response to Wall Street misbehavior -- when you press them on any of these things, they automatically reply that this is the best anyone could have done. After all, they had to deal with those awful Republicans, and those awful Republicans wouldnt let the really good stuff get through. They filibustered in the Senate. They gerrymandered the congressional districts. And besides, change takes a long time. Surely you dont think the tepid-to-lukewarm things Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have done in Washington really represent the fiery Democratic soul.
This is a curious phenomenon, is it not? A blue state where the Democrats maintain transparent connections to high finance and big pharma; where they have deliberately chosen distant software barons over working-class members of their own society; and where their chief economic proposals have to do with promoting innovation, a grand and promising idea that remains suspiciously vague. Nor can these innovation Democrats claim that their hands were forced by Republicans. They came up with this program all on their own.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)He's got a way of cutting through the bullshit and hand waving and directly addressing what is happening.
What has happened to the Democratic party is horrific. Almost as much as the republicans, now corporate money calls the tune and too many Democratic politicians dance to it. And Hillary is a great dancer.