Just spoke to my mom who is a centrist liberal and never talks to me about politics. she said “I don’t think I’m going to be voting. I feel sick to my stomach about both these two.”
Two of the easiest elections in the history of this country and the dems just blew em both.
I love that the individual mandate is the hill that Biden is trying to die on. It's already been struck down by a 5-4 conservative Supreme Court (and will be challenged almost immediately if if passes to go up against a 6-3 SC), it's extremely unpopular, and it's just downright cruel. The perfect encapsulation of Third Way democrat policy.
Yeah, that is just going to make Obamacare even more hated than it already was; setting the stage for the next firebrand fascist to talk about healthcare, who will likely take M4A up and turn it into a twisted and warped version like 'Medicare For Americans' and will be part of their winning platform in 2024.
This is wishful thinking. The next firebrand fascist won't even bother with anything like that because they don't have any competition or pressure. The 1930s fascists had pressure from the Communists as well as just a more conscious working class in general. An analogy for our situation would be if the Weimar Republic banned the KPD all together and the SPD was a fringe movement (like the DSA/justice Dems are right now)
Private health insurance is far too valuable as a disciplinary tool for Capital to ever give up that battle. The thought of Medicare for All is scarier than card check or rent control for business owners. It's up there with a public bank and a government housing program in terms of "send in the CIA for a coup".
Have you read about fascist parties from the past? They usually incorporate policies that would be socialist, as a way of garnering support. Fascism did not arise and become popular just based off nationalism.
I can definitely see them acknowledging healthcare and pushing a warped version of it. It's not wishful thinking. M4A is the most popular policy in America and it's only a matter of time the fascists realize this and move towards it.
We're headed to the point where naked class conflict is all that will be left. The wealth inequality is the highest it's ever been in US history and Biden has established himself that he will be the austerity president. As we approach the point where identity politics and empty platitudes are no longer working, the class war is all that is going to be left, and yes, the next firebrand fascist that emerges is going to take advantage of that. The fascists will take the class war and talk about it from a warped context of blaming immigrants, criminals and the protesters for why the average person has a decreased standard of living.
That's a poor analogy because Germany actually had a communist party. The US don't. The left here is very very small and I don't count DSA as them. There is no potential vanguard or revolutionary left here. The left has spent most of their time infighting with identity politics and other bullshit while routinely ignoring the working class at every given opportunity. A bunch of college kids online arguing about China and North Korea aren't going to lead a revolution.
There is no working class movement here at all, and that's the short answer why the US is never going to have a revolution. The fascists are more organized and unlike the majority of the left, they actually talk to disgruntled military vets and working class people, recruiting them to their causes.
We are absolutely going to see another reactionary far right populist movement arise as a result of Biden's austerity and it will come in the form of the next fascist talking about wealth inequality and the class war. Unless the left actually pulls their heads out of their asses and starts focusing on a working class movement, we're going to be in for some serious pain in the next 3-5 years.
My point is that the fascist paries of the past only incorporated Socialist-style policies because of the existence of Communist parties, the USSR, and more militant workers in general.
Under the current conditions, there's no reason for a fascist party to incorporate Socialist policies. They don't win any support that way. Why on Earth would Trump's successor run on Medicare for All? Would you vote for a fascist who promised M4A? Would anyone you know? No, so why would they ever piss off their business owning base?
Again, to reiterate, this is WHY the coming fascists will not run on M4A or any other socialist policy.
They've already started the class war and inequality talk. The way that this gets framed in 2020 is by talking about how China and immigrants "take jobs" and "take industry". The implication is that Americans will get healthcare and comfortable lives if the WORK for it. There's going to never be a fascist who campaigns on "free stuff" like M4A.
Unless there's a competing left-wing alternative, fascists have no reason to promote genuinely populist programs. This is the same reason why Trump never mentioned "Trump care" or legal weed, or any other Leftie fantasy. He doesn't gain any votes by offering those things