General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders: What's Wrong With America Looking More Like Scandinavia? [View all]True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)There is nothing less relevant to this discussion than the Republican Party and what it thinks or will do. Absolutely nothing.
But there are two sets of people who are relevant, that many of us (meaning you, in this case) "talk down to", and that's not going to be a sustainable strategy.
The first group is the half of Democratic voters closer to the middle than to the left - the ones so painfully afraid of their own values they nominated someone in 2004 who voted for the Iraq War even when the smell of fascism was still fresh in the air, and mostly opted for an unapologetic Iraq War supporter in 2008 even with Obama as an alternative.
What is your plan to win over enough of those people to a candidacy as different from the status quo as Bernie Sanders' to secure the nomination?
I assume you are already convinced enough about Bernie Sanders to support him, so why are you still more concerned about having him preach to you than to people different from you?
I'm satisfied that he shares my values well enough, so now I will wait to see how well he can grow beyond that beginning: If he can convince people whose values are not identical to his own that he is a reliable vehicle for their voices and their interests, not just some guy they happen to agree with.
And that speaks to the second group, who is even more nebulous and irrational: The nonpartisan general electorate. What is your plan for them? Hectoring them on the vagaries of anarcho-syndicalism because just saying "Government works when good people work it" would feel insulting to people he already brought on board a long time ago?