General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is there an effort to take over the Democratic Party by someone outside of our Party? [View all]KTM
(1,823 posts)You dont like Senator Sanders personally, but this idea that he as an individual is trying to "take over" is silly. He is advocating for the same things he always has, and a lot of people are responding well to it. He is out fighting the same fight he always has, speaking out in favor of UHC, about the 1/99 split, about support for unions and working class voters regardless of the desires of moneyed interests. None of that is new to him, he just gave voice to a sentiment that is shared by a growing portion of Democrats.
HE isnt "taking over" but those that support the ideas he gave voice to ARE trying to influence the party, as they should.
The Democratic Party has *already* been taken over, by those that moved us to the center - and at the time that was neccessary - but we gave them too much free rein and are now percieved by many as having left behind a lot of the folks we used to support. It seems to many of us that now, having witnessed some of the failures of that move to the center and of Republican policies over the last 30 years, that a growing backlash has engendered more support for some Left positions than existed then.
The real disparity is between those who look at the past and say "those ideas will never work" and those who look at the present and say "the populace has come around, now IS the time to push leftward again."
Sanders didnt even want to run. He wanted someone else to be that voice, and when nobody else stepped in he did, because he felt "the fierce urgency of now." I still think he was hoping Warren would join the race and be that alternative voice. I wish she had, I think many saw his run as an old white guy running against a woman and that got everyones defenses up.