Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

OK, Sandernistas. What Do You Want?

Greg Sargent flags Clinton asking the Sandernistas to join her coalition.  He wonders what this might look like.  As Stephen Stromberg notes, Sanders actual proposals are unrealistic.  In particular, Sanders has suggested that he can expand the welfare state, especially in health care, without taxing the middle and working class at the levels necessary for it to work.

So, Clinton has sort of laid down a gauntlet: Why do you want from my election?  Let's say they ask for the $15 minimum wage.  Let's say that somehow Clinton get a $13 minimum wage through Congress.  Will people see this as a necessary progress?  Or will it simply disillusion the people who are waiting for their revolution?

Many - though certainly not all -  Sanders supporters suffer from the same unicorn problem that afflicts the far right.  They want what they want, and they are unwilling to accept that sometimes you only get half a loaf.

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