Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/19/not-him-us.html
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Andrew Yang also supports Medicare for all.
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Well, yes, but he also supports just giving everyone lots of free money and loves Dr. Oz’s snake oil, so I think Bernie’s a better choice, overall.
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Personally I’m hoping that Elizabeth Warren wins it
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I’m a little surprised by this. It’s not like there’s a big difference between Sanders and Warren, and for so many of the high-profile left-leaning reps to commit to Sanders…to me, shows a lack of pragmatism. Especially with Warren currently out front, it pits Warren vs. Sanders again, splitting the progressive backing and making Biden more viable.
All in all, not a great thing for ending up with a progressive candidate. Seems like something you’d do only if you really had big misgivings about Warren. Or, didn’t have a good sense of pragmatism, which I have wondered about AOC.
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I’m fine with either Warren or Sanders as the nominee. It’s great that AOC is backing Sanders during primary season. If Warren ends up the nominee, I’m sure AOC will gladly endorse her, too.
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The reality is that “WE” don’t win unless “WE” give either of them a congress that will push the agendas in the correct direction. The House and Senate must turn blue also.
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it’d be very nice if she was the one i sigh a bit and vote for though instead of biden but i’ll probably go bernie in the primary… going to keep an eye peeled and if it looks like a landslide might shift to ensure at least a progressive gets the spot. i feel genuinely conflicted and i’m mostly dealing with it by reading books on statistics, spots betting, and the global brain to go full nate silver in my apartment
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Yeah, no knock to Warren, but all this talk of her surging and Bernie slipping, well, lets just see who gets the primary votes. I’d love either of them, but for me Sanders is ground zero for progressive policy. If he manages to become POTUS for a term, all these other good candidates will still have their chance - I’m counting on them.
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That sums it up. These neoliberal UBI proposals always somehow allow room for increased profit opportunities for landlords and large incumbent corporations. Oh, and they’re also always contingent on wiping out every other social welfare plan, including SSI and Medicare and Medicaid and disability (at least if you’re realistic about getting enough GOP support to pass it).
I’m all for a UBI and think increased automation and off-shoring will eventually necessitate it in the U.S. I’d prefer it be done in a way where the priority is benefiting everyone instead of the top economic 10%, but it’s unfortunately likely going to end up something like Yang’s approach.
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[Your gif]
Warren: Currently supports most of Bernie’s policies
Sanders: Is Bernie
Yeah, but if she’s supporting same policies, we could have that AND have a woman for POTUS 
I’ll do what it takes to vote against Trump, but I really, really want to see a woman in the White House in my lifetime.
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That’s awesome. And she probably will win. DNC will not, 100% guaranteed, allow Bernie Sanders to win. The man single handedly shifted the whole party to the left. After 30 years of fighting for Medicare for all, many others are copying that.
But sure, let’s repeat 2016
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Um, no. A closer look reveals that Warren is quite the centrist compared to Sanders.
She’s more progressive than all others on that recent debate stage, except Sanders, but seeing the two of them as basically the same would lead to a lot of disappointment on the left, were she to become prez.
Many on the liberal, and even left wing side of the ledger, want to argue that Bernie and Elizabeth Warren are identical when it comes to policy and politics. This is patently false. Both in style and in substance the differences are significant.
To begin with, Warren is a relative newcomer to the left-wing cause, describing herself as a Republican and a conservative into the 1990’s. Why would you hold this against her you might ask? Aren’t left-wing ideas minority ideas and aren’t we trying to win people over to them? Well yes, but imagine supporting the Reagan administration and Bushes as they murdered thousands in Central America, race baited “welfare Queens,” incarcerated millions, and rolled back much of the regulatory structures enacted by labor and the New Deal? This wasn’t some idealistic Young American for Freedom yearning for a purer land, but a full formed Harvard Professor trying to roll back the historic gains of the 20th century.
For instance, look at her plans and policy formulas that will tax the rich and deliver health care for all.
I guess they are okay but they seem to miss the fundamental issue that has motivated Bernie Sanders his entire life–who wields power and for whom? And when implemented, do they fundamentally alter our institutions?
Whether it’s her approach to healthcare, foreign policy, civil rights, monopoly pricing or most importantly labor, Warren’s policies fail to fundamentally alter power in the United States, Bernie’s do. The distinction is important here. A Warren presidency risks repeating the same mistakes made by Obama’s administration.
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The DNC changed their entire platform to shift it closer to Sanders.
Sanders held multiple campaign events to support Hillary.
I’m not sure why you feel they wouldn’t support him if he was the frontrunner.
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He wants to change campaign finance. If that happens how are they going to make money? Simply: self-preservation. He is the only one who promised not to accept money from rich donors.
Just as a side mention: Elizabeth Warren is not 100% committed to"Medicare for all" https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/14/elizabeth-warren-medicare-for-all-sanders-044457
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Righto. And she’s not committed to refusing money from fat-cat (and inevitably expectant) donors either.
Her campaign treasurer, meanwhile, is “a key benefactor and rainmaker for Democratic political committees” with a fat Rolodex of wealthy liberal super-PAC donors. Add to this the fact that Warren has stated clearly that she’ll drop her big-donor ban during the general election if she wins the primary, and a picture starts to emerge of a candidate who is not particularly committed to keeping the donor class at arm’s length.
Warren was schmoozing in Silicon Valley and Martha’s Vineyard right up until her reelection to the Senate in November 2018. By her own account, she intends to revive the practice if she wins the nomination in July 2020.
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So your theory is that because Bernie Sanders wants to ban corporate donations to the DNC, they’ll refuse to back him if he’s the frontrunner, because the DNC would prefer to have Trump as President than to give up getting big-money donations (which they won’t get if Trump is president).
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It would be interesting to see what the financing opportunities might be with UBI. To run with the arbitrary $1k/mo figure… could a co-op of 40 people committ to $40,000 per month in loan payments, virtually risk free, and finance a loan for land purchase and development of their own micro 'burb?
The same thing might be possible on a smaller, 5-10 person scale.
Leveraging UBI to create Universal Basic Housing almost seems a necessity, to ensure the money doesnt immediately get snagged by capitalist grifters.
ETA: sorry for the off topic post! Had to get the idea out before I forgot it. Go Bernie! Go Warren!
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