2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumRobert Reich
I suppose its more fun to read about personalities than about the great U-Turn our political-economic system made around 1980 from an increasingly inclusive society to an increasingly fragmented one but its impossible to understand the Bernie phenomenon without this context. And the movement Bernie has fueled is less about Bernie than about the takeover of America by a relative handful of wealthy people, giant corporations, and Wall Street banks, and the absolute necessity of reversing this.
What do you think?
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JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Everything else flows from those problems.
Race and violence are also problems. I do not think that the economic disparity causes the oppression based on race or the violence, but somehow acknowledging the reality of all these problems and summoning the courage to deal with them so as to reduce them requires the same underlying progressive viewpoint.
I think we can do this.
The income disparity and the unhealthy economy affect all Americans negatively.
Racial oppression and violence affect large segment of the population, but the uniting issue, the issue that unites most Americans is the issue of economic inequality.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)They are the same ones who specifically state that he is wrong to highlight the economic problems. We have gotten fucked for the last 35 years despite 8 years of President Clinton and almost 7 years of President Obama. It hasn't been enough to turn the tide against what we have lost. In the case of both aforementioned presidents, a large hole was left for them to repair (more so for President Obama). We need something along the lines of Franklin Roosevelt patching. That will take decades even if we start pushing now.
And still people want to back the 1%er who represents Wall-Street.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Probably because too many followers are underwater.