Liberalism Is Exhausted: Does It Even Matter for the left Who Wins if the options are Trump & Biden? Biden has no new ideas & no sense of dynamism

[basquebromance]

The political arm of American liberalism is effectively saying that it has no better candidate to offer than Joe Biden, and no vision its current leadership can envision pursuing that looks beyond the present horizon.

I will present a better roadmap for the left, and a better vision, as we move forward and discuss this thread

 

[Jessica-stormlover]

At least Biden isn't going to kill LBGT rights, at least Biden isn't going to cut food aid and slash and burn our leadership in science. Wake the fuck up.

 

[basquebromance]

American liberalism is exhausted, but it cannot regenerate or reimagine itself, because doing so would require taking risks and breaking with pro-corporate shibboleths. When a political project has based its entire appeal on restoring equilibrium and stewarding normalcy, both are obviously impossible. The result, as the circumstances surrounding Biden’s reelection bid illustrate, is a constellation of institutions too enervated to transform themselves and too fixed in their patterns to be forced into a meaningful realignment.

Such a realignment would not actually be impossible. An incarnation of the Democratic Party willing to substitute a populist strategy for the current big donor and Wall Street–friendly approach could find fertile ground within the electorate on which to put down roots. Americans know the economy is rigged in favor of the rich. When it was first introduced, majorities of voters in both parties supported the idea of a Green New Deal. Ordinary Americans want higher taxes on the wealthy and a majority would prefer a universal, Medicare for All system that puts human need over private profit.

Pursuit of such an agenda, however, would require the kind of confrontation with corporate America that today’s Democratic mainstream gestures at when it’s convenient but dispenses with in practice. It would also require mass mobilization, the ousting of countless operatives from their sinecures, and a party culture open and dynamic enough to accommodate the challenging of incumbents.

Having defeated that vision in 2016 and 2020, Democratic grandees are evidently content to rest on their laurels, make broad appeals for tolerance, and pitch themselves as the only alternative to an increasingly menacing Republican right. Revealingly, Biden’s reelection announcement cast the president as the person best qualified to defeat the Trumpian right and win the battle for the soul of America. It’s a decidedly non-programmatic message, and one that, as the New Republic observed, notably did not include the words “abortion,” “climate,” “environment,” “gun,” “immigrant,” “justice,” “labor,” “union,” and “worker.”

In a short-term, purely electoral sense, it may be enough for Biden to defeat Trump a second time. What it does not signify, however, is a political project that aspires for a better future than the present.

 

[Augustine_]

The MAGA movement exists to burn it all down. That immediately makes Biden the better option. MAGA's top priorities are taking vengeance against American citizens, and redistributing wealth to the 1% from the rest of us.

 

[Moonglow]

Fuck Trump and fuck Biden they both suck...

 

[BULLDOG]

Defeating trump and keeping sanity in the white house is more than enough.
I heard an odd example that kinda explains it.

You may look at a new pair of shoes in a store, and they might look nice, but I know the ones I have are comfortable and the ones in the store don't look any better than what I already have.

 

[basquebromance]

I think the future looks pretty grim. I mean, we are facing really serious problems. There’s one thing that shouldn’t be ignored—we’re in a stage of history for the first time ever where we’re facing literal questions of species survival. Can the species survive, at least in any decent form? That’s a real problem.

On November 8, 2016, the most powerful country in world history, which will set its stamp on what comes next, had an election. The outcome placed total control of the government—executive, Congress, the Supreme Court—in the hands of the Republican Party, which has become the most dangerous organization in world history.

Apart from the last phrase, all of this is uncontroversial. The last phrase may seem outlandish, even outrageous. But is it? The facts suggest otherwise. The party is dedicated to racing as rapidly as possible to destruction of organized human life. There is no historical precedent for such a stand.

Is this an exaggeration? Consider what we have just been witnessing. The winning candidate calls for rapid increase in use of fossil fuels, including coal; dismantling of regulations; rejection of help to developing countries that are seeking to move to sustainable energy; and in general, racing to the cliff as fast as possible.

 

[Moonglow]

I think the future looks pretty grim. I mean, we are facing really serious problems. There’s one thing that shouldn’t be ignored—we’re in a stage of history for the first time ever where we’re facing literal questions of species survival. Can the species survive, at least in any decent form? That’s a real problem.

On November 8, 2016, the most powerful country in world history, which will set its stamp on what comes next, had an election. The outcome placed total control of the government—executive, Congress, the Supreme Court—in the hands of the Republican Party, which has become the most dangerous organization in world history.

Apart from the last phrase, all of this is uncontroversial. The last phrase may seem outlandish, even outrageous. But is it? The facts suggest otherwise. The party is dedicated to racing as rapidly as possible to destruction of organized human life. There is no historical precedent for such a stand.

Is this an exaggeration? Consider what we have just been witnessing. The winning candidate calls for rapid increase in use of fossil fuels, including coal; dismantling of regulations; rejection of help to developing countries that are seeking to move to sustainable energy; and in general, racing to the cliff as fast as possible.

 

[basquebromance]

i'm too sexy for suicide. i'll be just fine, the world is going to hell, though

 

[Moonglow]

i'm too sexy for suicide. i'll be just fine, the world is going to hell, though

You won't be so sexy as a zombie.

 

[basquebromance]

You won't be so sexy as a zombie.

i like hanging out with my bros, watching sports, and reading political books. i'm at my peak in all 3. life is good. i'm a sexy athletic nerd

NOW GET BACK ON TOPIC! ENOUGH ABOUT HOW AWESOME I AM! lol