Many so-called Democrat
‘moderates’ would prefer Donald Trump to retain the US Presidency than for
Bernie Sanders, or another genuine leftist, to defeat him.
In this sense they are
mirror-images of establishment Republicans, such as George W Bush and Colin
Powell, who publicly expressed support for Hillary Clinton during the 2016
contest.
In the course of this week’s
heated Democratic Party primary debate, former Colorado governor John
Hickenlooper warned that “you might as well FedEx the election to Donald Trump”
if the party adopts radical platforms. Such as Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare for
All’ plan, the Green New Deal and other game-changing initiatives.
The ensuing passionate
exchange clearly exposed the two camps in the Democratic Party: the ‘moderates’
(representatives of the party establishment whose main face is Joe Biden), and
the more progressive democratic socialists (Bernie Sanders, perhaps Elizabeth
Warren, plus the four young congresswomen baptized by Trump as the “Dem Squad”,
and whose most popular face is now Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.)
This struggle is arguably the
most important political battle taking place today anywhere in the world.
It may appear that the
moderates make a convincing case.
After all, are democratic
socialists not simply too radical to win over the majority of voters? Is the
true struggle not the contest for undecided moderate voters who will never
endorse a Muslim, like Ilhan Omar who keeps her hair covered? And did Trump
himself not count on this when he brutally attacked the ‘Squad,’ thereby
obliging the entire Democratic party to show solidarity with the four girls,
elevating them to the status of party symbols?
For the Democratic Party
centrists, the important thing is to get rid of Trump and bring back the normal
liberal-democratic hegemony which his election disrupted.
Deja Vu
Unfortunately, this strategy
was already tested: Hillary Clinton followed it, and a large majority of the
media thought she couldn’t lose because Trump was unelectable. Even the two
Republican Presidents Bush, father and son, endorsed her, but she lost and
Trump won. His victory undermined the establishment from the Right.
Now isn’t it time for the Left
to do the same? Because, as with Trump three years ago, they have a serious
chance of winning.
Of course it’s this prospect
which throws the entire establishment into panic, even allowing for Trump’s
pseudo-alternative. Mainstream economists predict the economic collapse of the
US in the case of a Sanders victory and establishment political analysts fear
the rise of totalitarian state socialism. At the same time, moderate Left
liberals sympathize with the goals of the democratic socialists but warn that,
unfortunately, they are out of touch with reality. Yet, they are right to
panic: something entirely new is emerging in the US.
What is so refreshing about
the leftist wing of the Democratic Party is that they left behind the stale
waters of Political Correctness, as recently seen in the ‘MeToo’ excesses.
While firmly standing with anti-racist and feminist struggles, they focus on
social issues like universal healthcare and ecological threats, etc.
Far from being crazy
socialists who want to turn the US into a new Venezuela, the left wing of the
Democratic Party has simply brought to the US a taste of good old authentic
European social democracy.
Indeed, a quick look at their
program makes it abundantly clear that they pose no greater threat to Western
freedoms than Willy Brandt or Olof Palme
did.
All Changed
But what is even more important
is that they are not only the voice of the radicalized young generation.
Already their public faces –four young women and an old white man– tell a
different story. Yes, they clearly demonstrate that the majority of the younger
generation in the US is tired of the establishment in all its versions. Also
that they are skeptical about the ability of capitalism as we know it to deal
with the problems we are facing, and that the word socialism is for them no
longer a taboo.
However, the true miracle is
how many who have joined forces with “old white men” like Sanders represent the
older generation of ordinary workers, people who often tended to vote
Republican or even for Trump.
What is going on here is
something that all the partisans of Culture Wars and identity politics
considered impossible: anti-racists, feminists, and ecologists joining forces
with what was considered the “moral majority” of ordinary working people.
Bernie Sanders, not the alt Right, is the true voice of the moral majority, if
this term has any positive meaning.
So no, the eventual rise of
the democratic socialists will not guarantee Trump’s re-election. It was
Hickenlooper and other moderates who were actually fedexing a message to Trump
from the debate. Their message was:
“we may be your enemies, but
we all want Bernie Sanders to lose. So don’t worry, if Bernie or someone like
him will be the Democratic Party candidate, we will not stand behind him – we
secretly prefer you to win.”
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