It's Time to Look in the Mirror, Bernie: Sanders Needs to be Criticized for his Failed Theories [View all]

[bravenak]

It’s a really appealing theory, in no small part because the Democrats used to have broad appeal to white voters in the old days, and if they could win back voters that defected to the Republicans decades ago while keeping the majority of non-white voters, they’d have an unstoppable coalition.

Sanders himself is a huge proponent of this theory. In 2014, he told NPR that the reason Democrats lost the white vote is because “if you are in the working class, you are struggling to keep your heads above water.” He suggested the way to win them back is for Democrats to suggest “a massive federal jobs program.”

Critics of this theory, including myself, have suggested that, as nice as it would be to believe that it’s all about economics, the likelier reason is that white people who vote Republican simply put a priority on maintaining racial and gender hierarchies over economic justice, and that won’t change no matter how many goodies you offer them.

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/28/its_time_to_look_in_the_mirror_bernie_now_more_than_ever_sanders_needs_to_be_criticized_for_his_failed_political_theories/