• hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
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    4 years ago

    Those individual supporters are invested enough in the spectacle of their politics that they’re not the ones to be convincing.

    OK, then who are we convincing?

    • happybadger [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      The people Bernie was going after. My point is that there are enough barriers toward reaching them through that avenue that it may as well be off the table. In the best case scenarios for it happening, you just get variations of what happened to Bernie. That's all a massive investment of money and manpower which tied itself to one specific thing happening from the demographic that becomes socialists if you explain what socialism is to them and the demographic that hates socialists. They're a big group sure, but they don't believe in punching fascists or owning guns by and large. They don't support the people or policies or underlying theories that the left brings to the table. Building a coalition with them just gets you liberalism with a rehabilitated image while turning them into socialists opposed to the party is something with so many institutional barriers to it that the reward doesn't match the investment. It's Push Him Left but for countless individuals who usually have something to lose under socialism and whose every other source of information is reinforcing the views they already have.