How Bernie Sanders Broke the Democratic Primary [View all]

[OKNancy]

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/01/31/how-bernie-sanders-broke-the-democratic-primary/?fbclid=IwAR05F2Ytbq8SYl3z_eVlybq0Mjvo52GuXeEYpj4EyPKTqacrguKXcxpwrXg

There’s something insidious about making promises you can’t keep.

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By promising transformative policy changes that have virtually no chance of passing, Sanders makes his opponents’ still ambitious but much more realistic proposals appear weak by comparison. By refusing to be specific about how much his plans will cost, he avoids criticism that burdens more forthright candidates. And by sayingthat he will get his plans enacted through a political revolution that would be “unprecedented, certainly in the modern history of this country,” Sanders makes it difficultto challenge his unproven theory of change.

It’s not that Sanders doesn’t have noble motivations or the right general idea on many issues. He does. We need to significantly reduce the costs of health care and higher education. We need to raise the minimum wage and raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy. We need to lessen our adventures overseas that don’t advance American interests. Sanders deserves immense credit for shifting the Overton window on many of these issues during the 2016 campaign. But he is not having the same impact in 2020.

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Much like Donald Trump in 2016, Sanders is standing out in a crowded field by making promises he can’t keep. He’s not giving voters an honest assessment of how he will improve their lives. Like an airbrushed magazine model who makes real people look bad by setting an impossible standard of beauty, Sanders is harmfully distorting our view of other candidates by refusing to stick to reality.

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Sanders is often praised for his honesty and authenticity. But in this respect he is actively misleading voters. Most of his promises depend on Congress to keep them. There is virtually no evidence that, even if he becomes President, he will have the votes necessary to enact any, let alone all, of these ideas. Critically, that isn’t just because Republicans are standing in the way—it’s because there is not enough support among Democrats either.