It’s not that both sides are the same; it’s that both sides are terrible to the point where Dem establishment being incrementally better than the GOP has ceased to matter. Especially when virtually all the heavy lifting for social equity—the main delineation between the Dem establishment and the GOP—has been done by the people in recent memory.
The Dems eventually jump aboard, but take Clinton’s stance on same-sex marriage. She didn’t publicly support it until 2013!
Or Obamacare. It’s terrific that so many more people have access to health insurance now, but how meaningful that access is remains debatable. The lack of a public option leaves it open to predatory insurance companies to manipulate the system for higher profits:
“Centene, which signed up to sell plans in more than half of the 81 counties that were at risk of being barren next year, also saw a business opportunity. Since the overwhelming majority of Obamacare customers qualify for income-based subsidies, they will be largely immune to huge premium increases and unlikely to drop coverage. That gives a lone insurer incredible power to set higher rates.”
Whenever “a business opportunity” and health care collide, someone is going to get screwed badly and you can bet your life it won’t be the insurance companies or the politicians.
In some ways, the Democratic establishment is, in fact, worse b/c they sit around with their media enablers, patting themselves on the back for being Good and sincerely caring about the underprivileged/working class. Except the general arc of the country makes it pretty clear that neither party—as a collective—gives more than lip service to their plight.
The rhetoric and motivations are certainly night and day, but the results seem pretty damn similar. So either Democratic leadership is full of shit or they’re constantly outmaneuvered by the GOP. In either case, I fail to see who continuing to support it, as is, produces a workable solution.
