@Imaus
I don’t think Bernie is power hungry at all and using power hunger as a slight on Bernie in support of Hillarylikes is really a bit much. He is rightfully proud of changing a lot of the discourse in American politics and he will not let all those supporters down. Bernie is mainly talking about a movement, a grass roots movement and should that movement not come to fruition to be at least as strong as in 2016 I no doubt expect him to make way for other candidates, like he eventually did with Hillary.
Also, how do you figure Bernies democratic socialist ideology to be older or more outdated than the more liberal ideology of the centrist?
Liberalism is a child of the late renaissance and socialism is a child of early industrialism so even on a crude timeline you cannot make that stick. In truth such a comparison is never going to be valid anyway. Both ideologies evolve with the times, and if we can be so generous to not brand Hillarylikes proponents of 17th century politics we should extend that grace to 21th century socialist as they do not propose 19th century politics any more.
Your view of the US still being a first world country with unique know-how and services to an industrial or agricultural second and third world is just not true anymore. Every nation on earth have an educated upper and middle class. If there is a first, second and third world it ignores all borders. We have a world where 26 people own more assets than 4 billion people. In America you have three people owning more assets than the bottom half. The direction especially after the citrizens united ruling is that you in practice can buy elections and policy in America.
Hillarylikes are not really interested in changing the direction but maybe tweak small parts of it. They give it token shrugs of sympathy but in practise wilful ignorance at best. In essence they are the new old conservatives. Bernie and friends wants to change this direction and make nation working for all citizens. That’s what America needs and that’s what the world needs because like it or not and while significantly waning the USA still have a responsibility in setting standards and directions for the rest of the world.
Bernie is talking about a movement, sure. His Justice Democrats, the greater Progressive Movement, and these 'Socialist Democrats' still, in four years, have barely won races or put anything into motion on the ground. Where it matters. Talk is all Career Politicians do, but it is action, action that holds, that matters. Bernie has not impressed me there. And he did made way - so much that he stepped out of the light and basically acted as a neutral partner after the DNC convention instead of being a attack dog for Hillary or a rear-guard for the critical Midwestern states. 12% of the 13,000,000 who voted for him *
flipped* to Trump, while 9% more turned to Third Parties; and who knows how many stood home and didn't vote? That's almost 3 million alone, right off the bat, breaking ranks.
That doesn't scream someone, or a powerbase, who wants to actually see something be built, it tells me he wants to be the one building it; but then he lost and trampled off.
Democratic Socialism is more dead than Social Democracy, which itself is languishing and flip-flopping. Bernie also tries to draw strength from the Old Left; the Left of Socialism, Labour, Unions, and Factories; while the New Left took over in the US with the Civil Rights Movement, Feminism, 'Identity Politics' and the like. Understanding the differences between the Socialists and Social Democrats is clear. We all want to overturn Citizens United, do something about the wealth distribution in this world - which yes, still has a plethora of agricultural states, resource extraction states, non-diversified states, FEUDAL states, early Capitalist ones, regressive Socialist ones with State Capitalist Markets, etal - and address many of the same issues from 2016. The difference is the Social Democrats actually have a record of picking up the pieces of a nation and reforging it to something viable, while Democratic Socialism was a fifth Column for the Cold War's Political Second World at best or worthless sideliners at worst as we saw with 80s Labour.
America can't just jump from Neoliberalism 'Hillarylikes' or whatever schizophrenic monster the Right has become to some Democratic Socialist cold-water bath. Christian Democracy, Social Liberalism, and Social Democracy are the steps in between which we're seeing a movement towards ala 'Progressives', and even that shift alone has the 'Moderates' decrying it for being 'Hard/Far/Alt Left'. Social Democracy, which we've lagged behind for seventy years, is the solution, not Bernie who doesn't even recognize what that is despite being 'closest' to it and being told off by Denmark's PM that no, they're not Socialists, and Socialism is not a good, or prevalant, thing, Social Democracy - and now Social Liberalism - is.
