There’s an article that’s creating some conversations, I’ve included two of them below, and my feelings on them. Take a minute to check out the article.
Democratic Rising Star Kamala Harris Has A Bernie Sanders Problem
https://mic.com/articles/183105/democratic-rising-star-kamala-harris-has-a-bernie-sanders-problem
‘Why does Bernie Sanders have a wing of the Democrat party?’
‘Because he’s not a Democrat.’
‘Some Democrats want the independents out of the Democrat party and restore voting rights, secure or eliminate electronic voting machines, and prevent gerrymandering in the USA so that Democrats can have a chance at winning in 2020.’
‘Ah yes winning, so much more important than morals or getting shit done.’
‘In fairness, can’t get shit done if you don’t win.’
‘If you have to run on a platform of liberalism to win, what you “get done” doesn’t seem to amount to much.’
This new platform should be what then, “Set aside your women’s rights and identity politics, which will make nice bargaining chips when you win”?
“Congratulations! Abortion is illegal now. We had to sacrifice it. But what did you win? Now you can make fifteen dollars an hour working at McDonalds… in Tennessee! Because you know, you want to do that while you go to college for free and your kids are murdered in the streets by cops for being black in public. The kids that don’t go to private run prisons for smoking dope.”
“Our elections are a sham but at least we overturned Citizens United and built a border wall to appease the xenophobic right in the process. Good luck getting out of this country, liberals.”
Come to America, walk around New Jersey and admire the Jersey shore. Then, visit Louisiana and ask them how well things are going after Katrina. “What? That can’t be true. I was just at the Jersey shore, they rebuilt that place after Sandy. Wait, you’re saying that having a Republican in the White House and being black results in different treatment of a disaster than having a black liberal in the White House? Who’s your Chris Christie? I’d like to lodge a complaint.”
I looked up ‘liberalism’ and found that we (liberals) believe many citizens rely on government services for things like healthcare, unemployment insurance, health and safety regulations, Planned Parenthood, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Medicare and Medicaid. You know, a larger government that taxes more and spends more to provide services to citizens. In contrast, conservatives want to abolish or scale down, advocating partial or complete privatization of these services via an unregulated capitalist market. Like what Enron did before they went bankrupt, or the private prison system in the United States demanding more inmates.
An alternative alternative
Instead of being reactionary and tearing things down I suggest thinking about what should be done next, and sharing that with your audience. ‘I think the USA would be better for women if we elected an alt-left politician in the Democrat party,’ would be a good place to start. Who’s your boy/girl? What have they done? How will they navigate the ocean of Republicans (and Tea Party Republicans who lock arms with Independents to obstruct Democrat policy) in Congress? How do they prioritize feminism in their politics?
Joy Reid and the Alt Left
Another thread on Twitter was about Joy Reid using the term “alt left” is a nice way to frame the “expel the alt left” motive.
In defining “alt left”, my understanding of its’ history began with Bernie Sanders. An independent who chose to run as a Democrat because he couldn’t win on his own. Let us set aside Tad Devine for a moment. Many of Bernie’s supporters were “Bernie or bust,” they also decried the way the party operated and said the deck was stacked against their candidate. Their candidate was not treated the same as life-long Democrats who had campaigned and contributed time and money. When Bernie Bros did things like tear Hillary Clinton signs out of the hands of children, they became the Tea Party Republican wing of the Democrat party. That is the “alt left” to me: intolerant extremists, close-minded and disrespectful of others’ views. Not all Bernie Bros are “alt left,” and not all “alt left” are Bernie Bros. Consider Anti-Fa, the Society of Creative Anachronism wing of the Alt-Right (which is the new Republican party under Trump), Breitbart, and white nationalists. I hope that this helps you understand where I believe you stand when you make statements about Democrat candidates like the ones Joy Reid is painting with the “alt left” brush, below:
Joy Reid refers to the following people as “alt left activists” in reference to an article about Senator Kamala Harris (D-California)
Nomiki Konst, ‘Kamala Harris is in bed with Wall Street.’
RoseAnn Demoro, “I don’t think there’s any ‘there’ there.”
Winnie Wong, “She is the preferred candidate of extremely wealthy and out-of-touch Democratic party donors.”
How can Kamala Harris win over these Bernie Bros? By supporting all five of the policies that Winnie Wong lays out in the article, which are linked at the end of that same article. Which Kamala Harris already supports.
Are these people “alt left activists” who are intolerant and extreme, close-minded and disrespectful?
Those that oppose the Democrat party want us to find one issue and they want to prioritize it, using the Tea Party Republican political strategy to get it done: no compromise. This leads to nothing getting done, infighting, and obstruction at every turn. We aren’t talking about issues and facts and instead, turning to talking points and propaganda to get attention and attempt to prioritize. Because we never come to an agreement, we continue to fight one another and every step forward is met with at least one more step back.
“Alt left” is a convenient wedge to use among Democrats in this way. The conversation often goes like this, ‘Alt right are fascists, Alt left are socialists.’ I’m not sure where this started. Hillary Clinton said repeatedly she would support Bernie Sanders if he won in the primaries. Looking at the way the Democrat platform changed and listening to Hillary’s talking points in the debate after Bernie Sanders got involved, I don’t think “expel the socialists” is what her supporters are saying. The platform has become more socialist.
Also, Joy Reid is not a member of the DNC. She’s a TV host and correspondent at MSNBC. The Democrat party is not publishing things that say “alt left” “Bernie Bro” and so on. It’s not part of some plan to run negative campaigning on Bernie supporters. This is a response to reactionary politics within Bernie’s camp: the people quoted above actually represent Bernie and his new wing. And their message is one of purity politics. Tell us, alt left, who are the Democrats to field? Someone with no experience? Someone who can’t get anything done because they don’t understand compromise? Someone who has never made a mistake?
