General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Go F*ck Yourselves: Bill Maher Goes Off on Liberal Purists Who Didnt Vote for Clinton [View all]JHan
(10,173 posts)Tearing up a trade agreement or demonizing the TPP would not improve the situation, in fact, we may pay the price, literally, for the latter. Barriers against protectionism, which helped lower cost of living, are now in vogue again thanks to the rise of nationalism (and its sister protectionism) which will not help consumers. What she should have done better was point out Trump's lies but many on the left agreed with Trump's take on trade.
Insane.
Selling the false idea that tearing up a trade deal would bring back jobs, or the scaremongering about the TPP, harmed even Obama -Why would any voter resentful about the economy, vote for someone who allied herself so closely to a President who defended a trade deal they were told would make their lives a living hell - and which was a lie?
The poor arguments of the far left poisoned the well. These arguments were anti-globalist in nature - how many times do we hear of wicked "globalist bankers", "globalist corporations", "globalist" once a word signifying a belief that global cooperation is necessary to solve global problems, has become a smear. All these arguments served to do was feed Trumpian rhetoric.
We do have a problem with the 1% accumulating assets in excess of GDP, and their risk behavior, and hatred of taxation but what enabled that risk behavior and hoarding of wealth were policies from the right, like Reaganomics , tax cuts, "invisible hand of the market" nonsense and trickle down economics.Yet, the far left was too busy screaming "neo-liberal!" at "establishment" democrats and many on the right were only too happy to join in, probably laughing their asses off while they did it.
Hillary is an incrementalist on Healthcare, she should be. Why is that punished? Wouldn't the smarter thing be to fix the ACA and work on convincing voters who don't want "socialized medicine" that a more robust form of universal healthcare is worth it? Instead, what did we get? Both left and right hated on the ACA, not on the fact that Republicans blocked fixing it - but the ACA itself, the flagship legislation of the Obama Administration, was criticized as trash which in turn reflected poorly on the legacy of Obama, making it all the more difficult for a Democrat to succeed a two-term Democratic President.
No matter how you look at it, the far left and liberal purists enabled Trump into office. They wanted "change", they got it.