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Let me try to drive the point home another way. Of course, I am not saying this is true of each and every voter. However, I feel some leftists need to realize how much they sabotage themselves when it comes to obtaining the support of many reachable voters.
Through life experiences, living in these communities, talking to family members, friends, and other voters, I realize that for many black voters, concerns about electability are very serious. Not because they are in love with moderation, incremental change, or flippant about other people's suffering. It is because these primary voters, either directly or indirectly tell me that they know the black vote, even acting in coordination, doesn't have the sufficient power to swing the general election easily. So they have to take the consideration of centrist whites on the margin. They have to consider who can win by gaining enough support from Midwestern, suburban, and other marginal white voters.
Even when Barack Obama came along, one of the keys of him capturing so much of the black vote, especially with older folk, was to show he would win over centrist whites.
This is heartbreaking to me. That you have people that have face systemic oppression, all their damn lives now have to take into consideration the preferences of people that will sell them out in an instant if the GOP finds the right social issue to prime their white identity. It is heartbreaking to me because it should not be that way. Our entire electoral system is rigged to weaken the black vote. Restricting early voting, closing polling places, closing DMVs, voter ID laws, gerrymandering through redistricting, gerrymandering through mass incarceration, voter roll purges all weaken the black vote, make voting populations way more conservative. In return, people have to make calculations in primaries as to who will perform best in these conservative-leaning races.
That is why when Bernie suggested the lack of Democratic wins in the deep south was because of the party righting off white voters was so damn offensive to me. Like really famb, the issue is not going after the voters that for generations actively supported disenfranchising your most loyal voting block. Furthermore, I saw some Sanders supporters being mad at Jim Clayburn playing kingmaker and swinging SC to a landslide to Biden, and in turn, started things going downhill for Bernie. Besides Sanders's lack of outreach to local figures, and not realizing his anti-Democratic message might rub people the wrong way, think about why there is not a cohort of black progressives in the deep south to counter people like Clayburn's endorsement. This distorted system, most prevalent in the deep south, and severely hurt black progressive the most. They run city races, municipal races, mayoral races, state-level races, for races in the justice system and flame out. Not only because of the systemic swinging of the voting populace to more white/conservative because other black voters think "welp white folk not gonna vote this him/her, and if a Dem/liberal doesn't win, things will get even worst." So the black community is cheated out how political power and the little they get liberals beat out leftist for it. And naturally, in turn, liberal and centrist tend to cosign other liberals and centrist.
No, instead of being furious at the system weakening black political power to the point black progressive get squeezed out, the mostly white Marxist/socialist/leftist American movement turns their frustrations primarily toward the black voters themselves. They say they are doped by scheming affluent liberals, that they don't understand their oppression, they are low information, flippant about many of their concerns. Worst, they are ignorantly complicit in their own oppression. That is the line
rexanglorum
crossed, and that is why I have such and strong reaction to it. Of all the ways forward for the leftist movement, many of them chose to indulge in think that is at best counterproductive and at worst vile. Like I try my best to convince people always to go the most progressive option, but when I see a leftist undercutting that causes, and their cause, I really get frustrated. I want progressives to control every level of government, so I sit back and watch the leftist petulance like...
I know old habits die hard, but why not see how the current strategy is not working.
Beyond that, the class first messaging is not working. The intersectionality message usually comes out whenever needed, but it comes off an insincere or convenient a lot of the time. I don't know why many view it as compromising to their principles or distracting if you talk about economic equality and racism as parallel struggles. Bernie himself tried to transition his messaging to fit this strategy. I still think he came up short.
And why I get so heated
rexanglorum
is that he takes the behavior, ideology, and destructive acts of the worst actors in the Democratic coalition, and that to attack black voters, just because they voted for the same guy in the primary. Even worst, after the 2016 defeat, the Bernie faction demanded understanding for the people who condemned every one of us to Trump. At a minimum, even if you felt black voters were doing something destructive, why not give them the same consideration you requested for many midwestern whites.
In the end, if you want more black support, make empowering them at the ballot a bigger priority. Free these voters from having to consider feelings of bad actors their coalition. Help give them the power to be able to take more risks at the ballot. Otherwise, stop ******* throwing tantrums when these voters don't do exactly what you want.
Through life experiences, living in these communities, talking to family members, friends, and other voters, I realize that for many black voters, concerns about electability are very serious. Not because they are in love with moderation, incremental change, or flippant about other people's suffering. It is because these primary voters, either directly or indirectly tell me that they know the black vote, even acting in coordination, doesn't have the sufficient power to swing the general election easily. So they have to take the consideration of centrist whites on the margin. They have to consider who can win by gaining enough support from Midwestern, suburban, and other marginal white voters.
Even when Barack Obama came along, one of the keys of him capturing so much of the black vote, especially with older folk, was to show he would win over centrist whites.
This is heartbreaking to me. That you have people that have face systemic oppression, all their damn lives now have to take into consideration the preferences of people that will sell them out in an instant if the GOP finds the right social issue to prime their white identity. It is heartbreaking to me because it should not be that way. Our entire electoral system is rigged to weaken the black vote. Restricting early voting, closing polling places, closing DMVs, voter ID laws, gerrymandering through redistricting, gerrymandering through mass incarceration, voter roll purges all weaken the black vote, make voting populations way more conservative. In return, people have to make calculations in primaries as to who will perform best in these conservative-leaning races.
That is why when Bernie suggested the lack of Democratic wins in the deep south was because of the party righting off white voters was so damn offensive to me. Like really famb, the issue is not going after the voters that for generations actively supported disenfranchising your most loyal voting block. Furthermore, I saw some Sanders supporters being mad at Jim Clayburn playing kingmaker and swinging SC to a landslide to Biden, and in turn, started things going downhill for Bernie. Besides Sanders's lack of outreach to local figures, and not realizing his anti-Democratic message might rub people the wrong way, think about why there is not a cohort of black progressives in the deep south to counter people like Clayburn's endorsement. This distorted system, most prevalent in the deep south, and severely hurt black progressive the most. They run city races, municipal races, mayoral races, state-level races, for races in the justice system and flame out. Not only because of the systemic swinging of the voting populace to more white/conservative because other black voters think "welp white folk not gonna vote this him/her, and if a Dem/liberal doesn't win, things will get even worst." So the black community is cheated out how political power and the little they get liberals beat out leftist for it. And naturally, in turn, liberal and centrist tend to cosign other liberals and centrist.
No, instead of being furious at the system weakening black political power to the point black progressive get squeezed out, the mostly white Marxist/socialist/leftist American movement turns their frustrations primarily toward the black voters themselves. They say they are doped by scheming affluent liberals, that they don't understand their oppression, they are low information, flippant about many of their concerns. Worst, they are ignorantly complicit in their own oppression. That is the line
rexanglorum
crossed, and that is why I have such and strong reaction to it. Of all the ways forward for the leftist movement, many of them chose to indulge in think that is at best counterproductive and at worst vile. Like I try my best to convince people always to go the most progressive option, but when I see a leftist undercutting that causes, and their cause, I really get frustrated. I want progressives to control every level of government, so I sit back and watch the leftist petulance like...
I know old habits die hard, but why not see how the current strategy is not working.
Beyond that, the class first messaging is not working. The intersectionality message usually comes out whenever needed, but it comes off an insincere or convenient a lot of the time. I don't know why many view it as compromising to their principles or distracting if you talk about economic equality and racism as parallel struggles. Bernie himself tried to transition his messaging to fit this strategy. I still think he came up short.
And why I get so heated
rexanglorum
is that he takes the behavior, ideology, and destructive acts of the worst actors in the Democratic coalition, and that to attack black voters, just because they voted for the same guy in the primary. Even worst, after the 2016 defeat, the Bernie faction demanded understanding for the people who condemned every one of us to Trump. At a minimum, even if you felt black voters were doing something destructive, why not give them the same consideration you requested for many midwestern whites.In the end, if you want more black support, make empowering them at the ballot a bigger priority. Free these voters from having to consider feelings of bad actors their coalition. Help give them the power to be able to take more risks at the ballot. Otherwise, stop ******* throwing tantrums when these voters don't do exactly what you want.
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