The Democratic party's philosophical shift reminds me of what happened with Apartment Life vs

[Baitball Blogger]

Metropolitan Living.

For those who don't know, Apartment Life was a very cool magazine that would teach you how to use available materials in order to furnish your apartment. It was creative inspiration for those with tight budgets. And I liked it because it also legitimized experimentation in repurposing. I mean, people could actually walk into your apartment and see a shelf made of painted cement blocks and pinewood and think it was cool.

The whole time I was in college I would leaf through the pages of the magazine, looking forward to the day I had my first apartment. And I knew when that day arrived, one of the magazines that I would select to earn my free Columbia Records was Apartment Life.

Okay, so on or around the year that I rented my first apartment, they discontinued Apartment Life. They did it because they were following the generation that had grown into their first professional careers and they felt that they had lost their customer base. In response, they came up with Metropolitan Living.

I leafed through a Metropolitan Living and looked at the pages of "grown-up" stuffy furniture and was sourly disappointed. It was a shitty sales pitch for Ethan Allen as far as I could tell. Not that I dislike Ethan Allen, just that I wasn't ready for it. That kind of furniture was meant for people who were rooted. It's like the rest of us who were still young and mobile, still looking and searching for a permanent place to set roots, were left behind. One of the early disappointments, now that I was living in the States.

So, we come around to the subject of this metaphor. When I see this infight between voters over the remaining candidates, I see the same thing. It's one extreme over the other. And I don't understand it. The Democratic party is supposed to be a Big Tent. So why aren't our leaders reflective of the needs of that diversity? Why aren't our leaders as interested in protecting the welfare of those who are still working their way to prosperity? At the same time that they make sure that those who have managed to set roots don't get wiped out by medical or financial misfortune -- which is often exacerbated by leeching nonsense that gets passed in our legislature?

I mean, we are the Democratic party. Be democratic.

[TwilightZone]

1. "It's one extreme over the other."

Not really. Biden represents the mainstream and the "establishment" as Sanders supporters never tire of telling everyone. Sanders represents his movement and the anti-establishment, including a subset of Democrats. Warren is somewhere between them, closer to Sanders, but not as close as many insist.

None are extreme, but they're also not equally representative of the big tent that is the party.

Just because we act like they're extremes on DU doesn't make it true. In the real world, one is mainstream, one is a bit off mainstream, one is a bit more off mainstream but none are extreme. They're much more alike than not.

Regarding your second-to-last paragraph, I believe that all of our major candidates are interested in, concerned about and would fight for all of that. I just don't see the disconnect that many continue to insist exists, Sanders in particular.

I'm not even really sure what philosophical shift you're talking about. If you're asserting a similar notion to that of Sanders, that the Democratic Party has ignored the middle class and the working class, I'd have to vehemently disagree.

I agree that their should be more diversity in our representation, and we still have a lot of work ahead convincing people to vote for it. Biden and Sanders have the opportunity to address it in a small way now with their VP choices, should one of them win the nomination.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. I am not a supporter of Sanders.

But he has resonated with surprising quarters. I have spoken to the young, but grown children of diehard Democrats and they are voting for Bernie. These are very informed kids, so they are seeing something that I obviously don't see, and I suspect that the answer is somewhere in my post.

[TwilightZone]

9. We keep hearing that, but there's no evidence of it.

We've been hearing for five years that he's inspiring this massive wave of new voters, particularly young people, but it has yet to materialize.

Didn't happen in 2016. Big crowds and big fundraising didn't translate to votes.

Hasn't happened so far in 2020. He claimed that it happened in Iowa and that turned out to be false. He actually underperformed in IA, NH, and SC, and was about on par in NV. SC turnout was way up, but based on results, they were there to support Biden, not Sanders.

You know when it did happen? 2018. The youth vote was up significantly and he wasn't running for anything and he only endorsed a handful of candidates, mostly in his related coalitions. Most of them lost. The vast majority of Dems who won House seats, for example, were moderate Democrats who had no affiliation with Sanders.

So, what motivated them in 2018? It wasn't Sanders.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. I only have the testimonial of the family I wrote about.

80 year old Auntie is hysterically upset. She tried to curry my support to change their minds, but stopped when she realized I was voting for Elizabeth Warren.

[TwilightZone]

11. Anecdotes aren't data.

Your family is only representative of your family. Just like DU is representative of nothing more than a niche website with a specific audience.

We often make the mistake of assuming that our own experiences are representative of everyone's experiences, and they simply aren't. My experiences aren't even representative of my neighbor's, much less the entire country.

Reality is much more complicated. And reality shows, through the composite of elections, that Sanders simply isn't delivering on the promise. Are some people excited? Sure. That doesn't prove anything on a larger scale.

It's vital to his movement that he convince people that the belief is true, even if it isn't. Clearly, he's convinced a lot of people that it is. In fact, it's pretty much conventional wisdom at this point, as you alluded to.

Five years' worth of collected experience, however, shows that it's just not true.

[Baitball Blogger]

12. Well, Bernie does have a base. If you're looking for facts.

We just don't know how big it is.

[5X]

2. Same as it ever was,

follow the money.

[malaise]

3. Great post

and it's true of so called liberal democratic parties across the planet.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Thank you malaise.

[malaise]

7. It's why I love AOC

Hope she never changes

[Baitball Blogger]

8. The next few years will be very interesting.

[uponit7771]

6. 30 yrs in one place anywhere ever is establishment,