"The Problem with Bernie Sanders," by Ashley Smith

[stevenleser]

5. An interesting POV but it along with other posts in support of him dance around the real issue

if there was significant grass roots support for policies further left than that which the typical current Democratic candidates offer, we would see that in the form of victories by candidates espousing these views at the local and state level.

How many socialist party incumbents are there in state legislatures around the country?

The answer is you can count them on your two hands. There are extremely few in even the most progressive states in the country.

These races don't require a lot of money to win and you can get around and meet with most of your constituents to let them know your policies. If there was support for these kinds of candidates such that we can imagine a realistic chance of a Presidential candidate getting to 270 electoral votes, you would see a lot of victories at the state and local level by candidates with these views.

And to be sure, these candidates are out there competing for these races. They just dont get a lot of votes.