2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Ticked off millennials are taking on the Democrats [View all]thucythucy
(8,103 posts)since the future is impossible to predict.
I recall some of my Green friends telling me that Gore would be just as bad as Bush II. Since we never had a Gore presidency, it would be impossible to say, but my strong sense is that under Gore we wouldn't have had 9-11, the Patriot Act, the Iraq invasion...and we would have made a hell of a lot more progress on global climate change.
Similarly, I'm old enough to remember people telling me a Reagan presidency would be fine--certainly no worse than Carter. Again, this turned out to be a hugely unfortunate belief. It was under Reagan that the true assault against unions began (remember PATCO?). It was under Reagan that we first heard it was a grand idea to "drown government in a bathtub" that "you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all" "that a primary source of air pollution is trees." The Contra war, arms for hostages, the war on drugs and "just say no"--ignoring the AIDS crisis--pandering to the NRA--stuffing the Supreme Court with wingnuts like Thomas and Scalia--all that began under Reagan.
And I've read enough history to know that in 1932 the left in this country was arguing there was no difference between Hoover and FDR. Just as, in Germany, it was argued that Social Democrats were actually "social fascists" and a Hitler regime would be just what the German left needed as a shot in the arm for the real revolution.
To make the "lessor of two evils" argument in a winner take all system means that you're at least tacitly supporting the greater of two evils. Not that I'm comfortable really with the whole notion of "evil"--which tends I think to mix religion with politics.
I'm sure there are Bernie supporters (and BTW, I voted for Bernie in my state's primary) who will sit this one out, just as there were progressives who sat out Reagan vs. Carter, and, by voting for Nader, Bush II vs. Gore.
I notice you only addressed the very last statement I made. Any thoughts on the rest of my post?