I’m not even advocating third-party voting.
I was referencing 2016 because the party needs to admit that Trump WASN’T the fault of Sanders supporters…you aren’t saying that it is yourself, I know that, but the repetition of the claim by Clinton people has had a major effect on the attitude of Sanders supporters towards the party-and since the only votes we have any real chance of adding to our total from 2016 are the votes of people on the Left, there is a need to treat Sanders people with respect.
What I’m arguing for is a major, positive change in the culture of the party. The current approach-simply EXPECTING that the insurgents or simply the runner-up campaigns will automatically support the ticket clearly doesn’t work.
Why NOT make it a process of negotiation, a process of integrating the insurgency into the party through compromise and some degree of acceptance?
This isn’t specifically about Biden, or Hillary-it’s about how the party has basically blown it in bringing in the votes of insurgents since 1968.
And as to being “owed” something for one’s vote-I’d say there ARE a few things people are owed, especially people who have been left out in the cold by the party in recent decades, in particular in the post-1976 period when the party repudiated every aspect of the New Deal-Great Society heritage and became a party that was only liberal on issues that don’t ask the rich to make any sacrifice.
In exchange for their votes, people are owed these things, in my view
- A decent level of respect for their convictions, coupled with the possibility of getting the party to act on those convictions;
- A basic amount of personal respect-respect for the work they did for their candidate and the energy they put into fighting for their causes
- A promise that they have at least the chance of having a real say in what the party stands for and how it is run.
Is it really unreasonable to expect the Democratic Party to offer the things on that list to young people who have just entered politics and whose votes are needed if we are to win?
What is there to lose from treating young progressive insurgents-as well as everybody else, including the black and brown people the party largely left out in the cold in the 1980–2008 era, including the labor movement, including the poor-with that level of respect?
What possible downside could there be?
