Monday, February 10, 2020

The Class Split in the Democratic Party



I feel weary from seeing fellow Democrats claim Bernie is an extremist, or could never win. It's hard enough to argue with all the Trumpsters, without adding fellow Democrats to the list. A lot has me worried lately though on the political front.  I find myself thinking this split is going to get Trump in the door again. It's really got me worried.  A repeat of Trump in 2020, would destroy our lives. Please vote blue which ever way it goes for us to be spared that. I may have to take a vomit bag to the voting booth,  if it's Biden or Bloomberg though.

The country will go deeper into fascism if Trump wins. He's already attacked every environmental law and ones that bring good things to people lives. When you find yourself having conversations about leaving a country you have lived all your life in, that says something. I and my husband have had those conversations. However we hit the the giant barrier of poverty and my disability keeping us out of any new country. He lived in Europe and knows it's more expensive. Canada doesn't take disabled people. My health is too precarious to go to a developing nation.


The Democratic party is split in two. I plan to vote Blue to get the Orange faced Menace out of office, no matter who it is, but I am deeply disappointed at the hatred for true progressive agendas in the Democratic party. Some of the moderates outside a few social issues, to me sound just like Republicans. Too many of them flip flopped like Mayor Pete, claiming to be for Medicare for All in 2018 and definitely going back on this probably after his wealthy backers screamed "No Way!". The megacorporations and 1 percent are directing the show.

We need a third party in this country but because the two party system is so entrenched and any third parties closed out, I understand why progressive politicians like Bernie and AOC decided to work within the confines of the Democratic party. The monkey business to close them out like the conveniently malfunctioning voting app in Iowa, seems extensive. Watching Hillary Clinton come out to put down Bernie, like she wants to help re-elect Trump is disgusting beyond measure. Some rich boomers who seem to want to keep the status quo same as it ever was, are only putting up barriers to any true progress in this country.

There are class differences which are splitting the Democratic party. Urban professions and older boomers with higher incomes, seem to go for the moderate or neoliberal candidates. One can understand that they do not want their taxes skyrocketing. People after all do vote often in their own self interests, but even here, Trump has raised taxes to have them go for war mongering. At least Bernie would let us use our taxes to better lives for average people instead of more corporate subsidies and wars. 

Poor people, millennials, blue collar and others like myself support Bernie. While many of these more moderate or neo-liberal people are well intended and are allies on many social issues, economically they are not as keen to any radical changes to the system. Some don't realize that for a majority of Americans, the system is no longer working for them, wages have dropped, cost of living increases to Social Security has flatlined, the jobs are gone, and hope of any corporate involved Democratic politicians making any changes to their daily lives, just isn't going to happen. Many of us realize that Obama gave too much space to Republicans. This helped grow the role of the Democrat party playing good cop to the Republican party being the bad cop.  Another moderate Democratic president like Banker Joe, who will enable Republicans as they grow more extreme will worsen all of our lives economically.



Republicans always scream about the cost of everything and tell people a "better society" is a pipe dream as they pour trillions into the coffers of the billionaires.  Sadly they have gotten people to believe that to improve society would "cost too much", and one can see this influence on neo-liberals and moderates in the Democratic party too. We really have two right wing parties now with the Democrat party having a more moderate "right wing", and a progressive wing. This is a problem. Trump could benefit off the split that is now entrenched in the Democratic party.

Neoliberalism supports capitalism and still believes in that old but now dying concept of the American dream. Old ideas about the "bad commies" here also influence moderate Democrats who are outraged at too many social programs. We are way overdue for a new FDR and investment into failing American infrastructure. What is sad is Trump has plenty of socialism paid out to corporations where more of them don't pay any taxes and his billionaire buddies but people scream bloody murder once someone says maybe the wealth should be shared with average folks and improve their lives and day to day society.

The neoliberal and moderate Democrats still believe in the system. Those with good lives in a system that works for them are going to see the world in an entirely different fashion. For many of the poorer, we realize the system is failing. All I have to do is go down 2 miles down the street to see the shacks, the dead mall, the bridge I am afraid is going to crumble into the river, and know America is not some gleaming suburb like many of these moderates live in, it's becoming a third world country.

The system is not working and this is a HUGE GAP, people who believe in the system are not going to want major changes to it. If they can pay their bills, and live good lives, and have money and savings for their children's college, why upset the apple cart? They see the progressive wing as "radicals" who may upset the nation. Many do preach compromise with the Republican party and I know being the age I am now, the days of bipartisan dealings and compromise were far different before the Republican party became so extreme. Fiscal conservatives weren't necessarily religious extremists.

Some of us have survival at stake. If Trump or others end one social program, Medicare D, or Social Security [SSD in my case] or do the huge 20-30 percent cut to subsistence level checks they have already threatened, my future in America may be short lived. People are dying now from lack of medical care or limited medical care. We know my husband has very limited care where immediate symptoms are treated but there is no diagnosis or long term care. The numbers of homelessness are growing. The same jobs that gave older boomers good lives are no longer there. Millennials are despairing of ever having families or any futures. Suicide rates are skyrocketing up. Gig employment is now growing in number. So many people keep voting for those who want to bring more economic oppression. Obama was in office while disabled people didn't get cost of living increases for over 8 years.Why should people vote for those who have only the same things to offer?

Many of these moderate and neoliberal Democrats simply don't live in the same world economically or otherwise. They are buffered from viewing the extreme poverty in the USA. Sometimes I wonder if some even don't realize it exists. I've met people like that who think America just consists of nice surburban houses and shopping districts with plenty of money. Neoliberal politicians don't  admit the depth of poverty in America. Hillary Clinton in 2016 kept waxing on about the problems of the middle class while ignoring the existence of the working class or poor. In her world, they literally don't exist.



Many moderate and neoliberal Democrats see poverty as only limited to a few "inner city" ghettos and have the empathy to understand that racism is a major problem that has affected African Americans and other minorities and affected many lives. However they still live in this dream bubble that "hard work" can make anyone move up in American society and that America is the "land of opportunity." They can afford healthcare, education and transportation. They have expendable income for different stable lifestyles instead of the people who scramble to live or depend on low income jobs that do constant lay-offs.

What makes this even more complicated is many moderate Democrats are good people, they care about social justice, they are giving people, they have empathy to fight racism and for gay rights, but I do think some don't understand how deeply the system has failed for so many and for the young. They don't understand what it means when young people have lost hope for the future or the fear and angst of Gen X middle aged people who never got to enjoy any stable economic foundations to build a life upon and our realizations that our old age if we live so long will be a very dangerous and precarious one, without any major changes. They don't understand that life in the "ghetto's" is getting harder and harder and there's less jobs for minorities, and that if you drive a little bit even into rural America or further downtown, you can see all the cracks in the facade growing deeper and wider.

Many still believe that education will win the day, and that people can move up in this system, if they work hard enough, and this is simply not true. Meritocracy is not just a religion for Republicans but has influenced Democrats as well. They may remember Roosevelt thinking "He saved America from the Depression" but ignore the fact that on many levels with suppressed wages and globalism, America entered a new Depression 2.0. Here too, classism itself leads to some problems within the Democratic party where "ignorance" and "lack of education" as seen as the poverty producers instead of the injustice built into the system as a whole. As the rules are written for a few winners at the top, and for more to become losers, this is ignored and the myths hold sway about a "level playing field". The moderate/neoliberal Democrat will admit that racism is a bad influence and will stand up for identity politics, but ignore the impact of class.



Even moderate Democrats will complain about free stuff. We know Republicans have been. One thing to note is neoliberals support often the same war machine, that Republicans do. More and more corporations pay no taxes, which makes the tax burden on individuals even worse. Sadly many of these politicians are corporate funded, which means even within the Democratic party, the agendas of the corporations are pushed well over those of the people. Don't forget Democratic politicians get kick backs and are just as bought off. Hillary doesn't mind more war and corporate subsidies but when a politician like Bernie claims he wants to help families, the disabled and average folks, she says he is "promising the moon".

One sign of this is Bloomberg another billionaire being seen as a viable candidate. They rewrote the rules of the debate to let him come in.  We already had one billionaire with Trump and now the moderate/neoliberal Democratic party wants to push another one down our throats. So a billionaire who is out of touch going to care about the needs of people who struggle in America? I doubt it. There's not only "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" who vote Republican but plenty in the Democratic camp too. However for those who have faced tough times long enough, cognitive dissonance gets them to finally face reality. No billionaire is going to fix a system that allowed them to become a billionaire in the first place. As America sinks into fascism, more compromise and moderation is not the answer.

Bernie's Real Obstacle is not Trump, It's the Democratic Establishment

Will the DNC betray us in 2020?

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