Socialists and progressives are condemned to local and regional politics, not the national arena.

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My first politics cut and paste.  Enjoy Bernie Bros!

Exit polls have the UK's Conservative Party commanding a stunning 368 seats of the parliament's 650 seats. This is a world-historical defeat for the left. Indeed, it will take decades of soul-searching for Labour to recover, and this long rebuilding process will be directed by the fact that the left can't win simply by exciting its base. This was indeed the hope after Labour centrists lost badly to the Conservative Party in 2015. The then-head of Labour, Ed Miliband, who is a bit like Pete Buttigieg (check out their fathers), experienced the biggest loss for Labour in two decades. And the party turned to the far left, turned to Jeremy Corbyn, a socialist.

At first, it seemed like things were heading in the right direction. Under his leadership, the party stunned the Conservatives in a 2017 snap general election called by the conservative prime minister Theresa May. (Labour gained 30 seats, Conservatives lost 13.) This result spelled the end of May, and stirred the hope that it was just a matter of time before socialism made its return in the UK. Now we know that was a dream within a dream.

Corbyn and the far left will exit the national stage tomorrow, and Brexit will send the island in a direction that will not break it from Europe or German banks but will certainly reverse much of the gains its unions and leftist politics made in the second half of the 20th century.

Now, what kind of message does this defeat send to the US?

It is this. Socialists and progressives are condemned to local and regional politics, not the national arena. If you are going to beat a far-right conservative running for the top office, you have to be a moderate. Expect Biden to make this point to voters on the left. Do you want another Corbyn (Bernie Sanders) catastrophe in the US? We are told the radical types excite young voters and workers who really want something done in Washington. But can we be certain of this? Let's look at what happened in the UK.

Even an ad pointing out Boris Johnson's unconcealed racism, xenophobia, and homophobia had no impact. It's just chilling. The fact that these important leftist issues did not matter to a large number of white voters in the UK will not be lost on many voters on the left in the US. Expect them to be open to the advice of political analysts like Chris Truax, who is a Republican and does not like Trump. He just wants Dems to get real.

Truax wrote in USA Today in July:

...don’t treat this like a base election. Democrats are already guaranteed a nominee that will excite their base and drive a big turnout. His name is Donald Trump. Getting activists “excited” by bold policy positions is a waste of time. You could get every Democrat in California so excited that they all voted twice and it would make not the slightest difference to the outcome of the election.


His point is that issues that matter to the Dems' base mean little to those who will decide crucial swing states. If the left wants to win in 2020, it must not run on policies that have the appearance of "[burning] down the system." As a socialist, I find Truax's argument, in the light of the results in the UK, sobering and depressing. In France, in the UK, and the US, we really have come down to two choices for national leaders: moderates or the far right. After all, if we in the US had a democracy as democratic as the one in the UK, Clinton would be in power now. In short, expect the Dems (and the far left) to be more than spooked by Corbyn's fall and Boris's world-historical success.

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/12/12/42264852/jeremy-corbyn-is-a-...

 

 

 

Ah yes, the "far right" meme that always appears in any analysis of a conservative victory that is written by a leftist.  Interesting that the author does not refer to Corbyn as "far left", but in these times even Mao and Lenin aren't assigned that label so no one should be surprised.  When you are as far to the left as most of todays progressives, anything to the right of center is labeled "far right".

News flash:  Boris Johnson does not exhibit "unconcealed racism, xenophobia, and homophobia" and as long as you insist on portraying your political opponents in the worst possible light you will continue to suffer humiliating defeats like this one.  Long may it continue.

It would also help not to make an unrepentant anti-Semite the head of your party, but that's another conversation.

 

>It would also help not to make an unrepentant anti-Semite the head of your party<

 

Can't disagree, maybe they should try a white nationalist...it worked for Republicans. 

centrists dems support the trump agenda. sad times. 

"First cut and paste"

Not a great first go at it. Kinda reads more like a Thom thread than anything else.



                                                  P-heat / Tampax   

                                                          2020

 

 

I don't know if the Bernie - Corbyn comparison is that compelling.  Its true that they are both self-described democratic socialists, but Bernie has two big things going for him:

First, Bernie is perceived to be a political outsider.  Somebody well outside establishment politics.

Second, he is honest.   You see what you get and nobody, even the most strident conservatives, have any doubt that the guy is honest and sincere in everything he says and does.

Those are two traits that Donald Trump has too and went along way in helping him connect with the people and getting him elected.   And when I say Trump is "honest" I don't mean he tells the truth.  Everyone knows he lies about everything (often in a grandiose and over the top fashion), but he is unfiltered and speaks his mind without concern about the consequences and that appeals to many people.

thod p-nutz is pretty good. nice work. 

and agreed, ken. the U.K. comparison holds no weight, but centrists need something to yell about. right JR. 

bernie is by far the most trusted candidate running. not even close. 

The article is based on a phoney premise. Corbin lost not because people don't want a leftist, but because he's been a wishy-washy traitor to his party and voters over the last two years. He was doing great two years ago and looked easily slated to become the next PM of the UK. Then, he threw his chips in with the Brexit movement, essentially aligning himself with the far-right (go suck an egg, Thom). Then he said that he was for it but not really, then against, then let's have a referendum. His constituents were not in favor of Brexit and he has shown himself to be a flake who just goes wherever the political wind blows. That's why he lost now. And, this is a very different reality from Bernie Sanders.

>>>News flash:  Boris Johnson does not exhibit "unconcealed racism, xenophobia, and homophobia" and as long as you insist on portraying your political opponents in the worst possible light you will continue to suffer humiliating defeats like this one.  Long may it continue.

Lol, Thom. You really are pretty dumb....Have you ever heard of google?

https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-record-sexist-homophobic-a...

On a side note about yesterday's British elections, the Scottish National Party did very well too and it sets up the possibility of another independence referendum in the near future.   The last vote on independence back in 2014 was close (55-45), but the majority of Scotts oppose Brexit and it might give the independence movement enough steam to vote in favor of independence the next time around.   If that happens, Scotland will certainly want to join the EU, which would present an interesting question of what to do with the border.   Rebuild Hadrian's Wall? 

>>When you are as far to the left as most of todays progressives, anything to the right of center is labeled "far right"

Lol, they label everyone to the right of Bernie as far Right. Who cares what the fringe minority thinks?

When you are as far to the right as most of today's Trumpettes, anything to the left of center is labeled "far left"

T hom

are you right handed?

 

how far right would you classify yourself ?

scale of 1-10 

1 is farthest left

10 farthest right

5-6 are " centrist"

anyone can play

im an independent, "older" and prob a 3-4 with no real baseline criteria with which to judge

3.14

To clarify: I am 100% down with Bernie and his agenda and wish the country was ready for cataclysmic change like Bernie proposes. Like I want it bad for my offspring to grow into adulthood with that kind of world.

But I believe that at this time of chaos in our history, normal middle American folks want shit to just go back to normalcy and aren't ready for a Bernie (which is a bummer). The mad man needs to leave and whatever that takes is what we all need align on.

 

Get real man, do you think a bunch of steel workers in Ohio would vote for a branded socialist?  I already know what your answer will be: Bernie is the best and #1 in every poll...yadda yadda

 

That UK election scares me as a leading indicator to the rise of nationalism around the world. 

centrists on healthcare :: europe can have it, we're not europe. 

centrists on socialism :: u.k. said no so no way bernie can win. 

 

fucking think for yourself for a change, JR. or maybe you lready are and that's the issue? 

Jesus, now I've seen everything. So people attacking xenophobic, racist, homophobic, sexist and discriminatory policies are now far-left. 

But people who sell every policy to corporations, do everything they can to prevent humans from improving their lives, who support war and pollution are NOT far-right. They're just the right. Ok. 

Well, that's exactly why the entire right-wing IS far-right these days. They have sold their policies over the past 20, 30 years, gradually more and more onto the side of taking away all benefits from people and the environment so as to up their right-wing credibility. As I have seen all too clearly in my country (and as I called from the beginning), there is no such thing as a moderate right-winger these days. The right has sold its soul to the economic machine (along with most of the left) and lost any sense of compassion or empathy with their voters. So yeah, when people start talking about taxing the mega-rich and creating opportunities for the poor and downtrodden, it's easy to label them far-left, but the truth is, they're just left. They are the small percentage of people speaking with any kind of sanity against the corporate control of reality. So basically, your moderate dems are the right. Your moderate repubs are borderline far-right and what we call the far-right is just this absurd manifestation of the worst characteristics of humanity ever. They're not even human, really.

Have you seen (Tods) penis...

no. Neither has he 

 

>that's exactly why the entire right-wing IS far-right these days<

 

 

Back in the early 2000, John Dean said something to the effect that he was still a Goldwater Republican, but his views were considered left of center. 

Wrong...

Warren Sanders will be America’s next president — here’s why: Robert Reich

https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/elizabeth-warren-will-be-americas-next-...

>Back in the early 2000, John Dean said something to the effect that he was still a Goldwater Republican, but his views were considered left of center. <<

 

precisely. the national narrative has shifted so far to the right that "goldwater republicans" are now considered liberals or moderates. nixon would be considered a liberal these days. so thom, please....stfu and go watch hanity or whatever hate radio you listen to.

Lets remember that if the Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party were to run in America they would be somewhere between Sanders and Warren on the US political spectrum. 

He'd be between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio at best

UK

- spends far less on military than US, I suspect, have not researched it.

- has government healthcare

 

Sounds like BernieWarrenville to me, why am I wrong (I have NO problem with being corrected, maybe I'll learn something)

Boris Johnson is all in on Medicare for all and ran on a platform of giving more money to the NHS, believes that climate change is man made and won't be pulling out of the Paris accords, pro life, and is fine with a tax rate of 45% over $150k in income. He is a fucking raging Pinko commie in the US. 

 

My point is how radical the Republican party in the US is. We have just gotten used to it.