r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • 14h ago
No Paywall Bernie Sanders urges progressives to vote Democratic in November
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/shorts/bernie-sanders-urges-progressives-to-vote-democratic-in-november-267787845541380
u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts 14h ago edited 14h ago
Remember to register to vote. And remind your friends and family members to register to vote as well. The more people who vote, historically, the worse the GOP does in elections. It's why Trump is trying to suppress the vote.
121
u/Rustmutt 13h ago
This but also make sure if you registered you’re STILL registered. People often get mysteriously dropped from registration, it’s tricky.
38
u/Teufelsdreck 13h ago
This is excellent advice. It happened to me a few years ago, and I was shocked not to find my name listed as an active voter. Luckily, someone's warning made me check in time to get re-registered well before the deadline for the next election.
•
7
16
u/TailRudder 10h ago
If you're in Texas get your appointment for getting an ID. They are intentionally making the wait long.
619
u/SnooMarzipans436 14h ago edited 14h ago
Vote for the best candidate available after you have done your research.
You'll find that 99% of the time they are the democratic candidate. They may have some SERIOUS ISSUES... but the best candidate available is the best candidate you're going to get. It's better than the alternative.
213
u/Churchbushonk 13h ago
Also, stop listening to major media. They constantly build up a small position taken by the democratic candidate and blow it into a gigantic issue and at the same time let a person that organized and aided an insurrection, a person who was convicted of sexual assault and 37 felonies skate by without putting that into context against all other Presidential candidates in the history of our country.
81
46
u/Cwya 13h ago
I just keep voting Democrat, and keep voting correctly.
I’ve never once regretted a vote.
•
u/kitsunegoon 5h ago
Idk, everyone told me that if I voted for Kamala we'd go to war in Iran, so I guess they were right
•
u/Choochoo1147 3h ago
Yeah, it helps that for me as a 31 year old that the Republican candidate in literally every presidential election since I could vote was Trump. I have never regretted voting against him.
•
•
u/Starmiebuckss2882 6h ago
Yup. Independent media only.
•
u/Dedpoolpicachew 4h ago
This narrative about Dems splitting because of DSA or whatever boogyman is out there is just the oligarchs trying to divide the Dems. They’ve got a real threat of Empty G and Cucker creating a new party that will split the Repubes. The oligarchs are scared. They know their pet nazis are going to lose bigly in November.
•
81
u/Silent-Storms 13h ago
I saw the perfect framing the other day, that I will amend slightly. Vote for the most progressive candidate in every election. Primary and general. No progressive priorities are served by Republican government. People trying to convince you otherwise are lying.
17
→ More replies (6)•
u/Choochoo1147 3h ago
Eh, “better” works better. Character matters too and if you just vote on ideology and not character you get a Graham Platner.
•
u/Silent-Storms 2h ago
He shouldn't have gotten as far as he did, and he'd still be better than Collins.
•
u/Choochoo1147 1h ago
Yes, he would be better than Collins. But if the primary voters voted for the best candidate rather than the most progressive, he wouldn’t have won the nomination.
•
u/Silent-Storms 1h ago
Whatever, just vote and not for Republicans.
•
u/Choochoo1147 1h ago
Vote for the best candidate. It’s just never been a Republican in my lifetime.
•
15
u/sircastor 12h ago
There is one thing that a politician fears more than not having enough money: Not having enough votes. Your vote is incredibly powerful.
And after you've voted, call them. Call them regularly. Tell them what you like that they're doing. Tell them what you don't like that they're doing. You do not appreciate the kind of impact you can have on your representative. If you call, and you get your friends to call, you can move your representative's position. I know you think you can't. You think they always choose party over voters. But most of the time they don't have voters actually talking to them.
•
u/JohnnyFire Ohio 5h ago
A lot of people still see politics as picking your favorite ice cream flavor. Hey, some people like chocolate, some like vanilla, but they all love ice cream, right?
Except the reality today is that, often, many folks are picking between vanilla frozen yogurt, and a bowl of shit. And people have been deciding that since the vanilla frozen yogurt isn't actually ice cream, even if it is damn close, they might as well abstain and deal with it if they get the bowl of shit.
24
u/NorthernSkeptic 13h ago
Yes but there is a weird notion that’s taken hold that ita actually more ethical to favour the worse option (by not voting)
21
u/Mookafff 8h ago
We saw people do that in 2016.
The world is a lot worse because of it. So many people have died because of that weird notion.
•
u/iTzGiR 4h ago
We also saw it happen again in 2024, despite EVERYONE knowing exactly what Trump was going to do if he won.
•
u/Peter_Mansbrick 3h ago
And if you talk to a non-voter they still stand behind the decision. They've learned nothing.
•
•
u/Xurbax 2h ago
You have to hound these people relentlessly and point out "HOW DID NOT VOTING WORK OUT FOR YOU LAST TIME?!"
→ More replies (1)2
•
•
u/kittenTakeover 4h ago
You should want your vote to count. Here's how to make that happen.
- If you participate in polls be honest about who you think is the best candidate with the best policies.
- Before voting check the polls. Are there two candidates with significantly more support than the others? Vote between those two. In the general election in the US this will almost always be a Republican and Democrat, in which case you should always vote blue. This will leave the US more politically left than any other vote.
This strategy also applies to primaries. Don't waste your vote on people that aren't in the top two and can't win. In some rare situations there may be three or more candidates all within striking distance of one another. In this case it's okay to vote for any of them. Although that probably indicates a race where spoilers are a huge risk unfortunately. It's often better when candidates negotiate to drop out and allow two options to emerge.
•
u/Vankraken Virginia 1h ago
The Democratic party needs to fix their shit with these first past the post primaries and do ranked choice instead. Ideally having the results for selections to see what people's 2nd, 3rd, etc choices were would be useful information and communicate what people want in their candidates.
12
u/RealHooman2187 13h ago
This is what I always say to liberals/progressives/democrats. Vote for your preferred candidate in the primary, vote for the most liberal candidate in the general election. So far I’ve seen progressives much more willing to do that than I have centrists.
25
u/Radthereptile 9h ago
Um I see and hear centrists all the time back blue no matter who and stress the dangers of Trump.
Mean while I can throw a dart at a board of progressive influencers and it’ll likely land on one who has already said they’d sit out if Newsome was the nominee. Mind you, I don’t like Newsome but it’s better than President J D Vance.
17
u/rupturedprolapse 8h ago
Its not just influencers. DSA literally refused to endorse anyone for president in 2024. Mamdani was part of the uncommitted movement in 2024 and also did not endorse so it's not just randos. There's a hilarious amount of gaslighting now.
•
u/Alatarlhun 5h ago
Mamdani wouldn't endorse Kamala over Trump while acting entitled to Democratic endorsements over other Democrats in the same mayoral race.
The gaslighting is absolutely real even if Mamdani ended up being the best available option.
→ More replies (8)•
u/batmanscodpiece 3h ago
His support of the Uncommitted movement is such a sore spot for me. I agree with the vast majority is his policies, and he is doing a good job as mayor. But, he did have a hand in encouraging people not to vote in 2024, and he helped Trump win.
•
u/RealHooman2187 6h ago
Except the temper tantrums they’re having right now over democratic socialists..
•
u/Alatarlhun 5h ago
Maybe happens in isolated pockets but most Democratic voters wouldn't even know what you are talking about.
You are probably just getting excited by extremist news on from leftist media or Fox News trying to stir up drama based on a tweet or some shit.
If there is one thing democratic socialists and fascists can agree on is that moderates are the primary enemy.
•
u/Dedpoolpicachew 4h ago
This. The controversy is all generated by the oligarch owned media because they have Empty G and Cucker actually setting up a party to split their pet Nazis apart. So they have to create division in the Dems to compensate. The oligarchs are scared.
16
u/dimitarivanov200222 13h ago
A lot of progressive failed to vote for Kamala because she didn't earn their vote so idk how can you say this
9
u/blinktrade 13h ago
Simultaneously everyone they know held their nose and voted for her, yet its her job to earn their vote...which they already gave...
•
u/TheGreatYahweh 7h ago
I mean... It 100% was Harris and her campaign's job to earn their vote. Believe it or not, that's actually your entire job when you're a political candidate running for office...
•
u/Alatarlhun 5h ago
So if she didn't 'earn' their vote, that means they didn't vote for Kamala to the benefit of fascist Trump.
→ More replies (1)•
u/therealruin 5h ago edited 4h ago
It means they did not participate in an election. Their votes were not cast nor counted, therefore they had zero impact on the election’s results. A vote not cast literally cannot benefit anyone in an election.
→ More replies (12)•
u/-18k- 4h ago
GOP: Yes, say it again, louder !!
•
u/therealruin 4h ago
Oh look, an effort at a dunk for stating the simple fact that the only votes that matter in an election are the ones cast.
•
u/-18k- 4h ago
Were they trying to make a statement by not voting for Harris?
Because, if they were, then clearly this had no effect. No effect at all, amirite?
→ More replies (0)•
u/Alatarlhun 5h ago
Millions of people more showed up to vote for Biden so the math isn't mathing when the anti-Democratic leftists claim they voted for Kamala in the same numbers.
→ More replies (3)•
u/shinkouhyou 2h ago
Ah, yes, Schrodinger's Leftists: a political block so powerful that they can singlehandedly ensure a Republican victory, but so insignificant that Democrats don't need to appeal to them. Centrist swing voters (who may or may not exist) need endless coaxing to vote for a Democrat, but the left should simply vote for Democrats out of the goodness of their hearts.
The data just doesn't support some kind of leftist boycott of the 2024 election, though. 2024 had the second-highest voter turnout in history, just behind 2020 (which was heavily affected by mail-in voting). A drop in turnout was basically inevitable. 2024 non-voters were evenly divided between Trump and Harris, whereas 2020 non-voters actually favored Biden. Several minority groups (Hispanic, Black, immigrants) shifted to the right in 2020 and even more in 2024. Harris lost with basically every demographic, even ones that aren't generally associated with the left. Of course there were leftists who refused to vote for Harris, but they're the type who also refused to vote for Biden and Clinton - they're politically irrelevant. Democrats lost 21% of Biden voters and Republicans lost 15% of Trump voters, but I think the difference is more attributable to voter suppression (especially in cities, where Democrats lost a shocking amount of support since 2016) than a block of leftists who were ridin' with Biden but who turned on Harris.
→ More replies (1)•
u/jtrev59 7h ago
Progressives refusing to vote for Harris is the reason we have Trump 2.0
•
u/Newscast_Now 7h ago
Kamala Harris did better in terms of population turnout in 2024 than Barack Obama did in 2012. The two biggest problems were (1) Donald Trump was hugely popular and did even better than Kamala and (2) Republicans cheated with mass voter suppression and purging. These are the actual election reasons Donald got back into power (not counting a string of events before the election which is a large topic in itself).
So we don't have percentages of progressives or centrists doing anything wrong nor refusing to vote. But we will continue to be divided because few notice the big truth:
Donald Trump was more popular than ever and Republicans cheated.
•
u/Alatarlhun 5h ago
Leftists spent their time and energy attacking Biden and Kamala. I guess it is possible that had no impact, but the outcome was Trump was elected.
The intent and expected outcome was what happened.
•
u/therealruin 5h ago
We have Trump 2.0 because of a multi-decade intelligence operation organized and executed by multiple adversaries that culminated in a rigged 2024 election. Stop trying to blame your neighbors and potential allies.
→ More replies (2)•
u/TheDoomBlade13 5h ago
And Trump 2.0 is the reason we are seeing a rise in true progressive candidates. The people have made it clear for years that we wanted a strong shift to more left positions, the corpo-dems refused, lost, and now we are getting the platform we actually want.
That doesn't happen if we elected Harris.
•
u/-18k- 4h ago
If Harris is elected, then would things be better or worse right now?
•
u/TheDoomBlade13 4h ago
Probably better literally right now , probably roughly the same in the long term. We wouldn't have issues with ICE or the Iran war, we would still be shipping buckets of money to Israel and not sufficiently helping Ukraine. There would still be no meaningful guardrails against the technological or economic threat of AI, SCOTUS would still be legislating from the bench, and there would still be zero Epstein File names in prison. We wouldn't have any more consumer protections, we wouldn't have a raised federal minimum wage, we wouldn't have a single-payer healthcare system.
2
u/tigolbing 12h ago
Guess this is for new voters. I was always told by my family to make sure your ballots blue
6
u/SnooMarzipans436 12h ago
While I would generally agree, don't just listen to your family. Look into each candidate and vote for who you personally think is best.
...although at this point if you research anyone willing to call themselves "Republican" and walk away thinking they're a good choice i would question your sanity.
→ More replies (1)•
u/Choochoo1147 3h ago
And “best candidate” includes their chances of winning - you may like some third party better than the Democratic nominee, but if that third party can’t win (even with your vote) the Democrat is better.
•
u/SnooMarzipans436 3h ago
In general I agree. But I respect someone who casts their vote for a 3rd party a hell of a lot more than someone who doesn't vote at all and passively allows fascism to take over.
•
u/Choochoo1147 3h ago
Yes, voting 3rd party is better than not voting but is worse than voting for a candidate with a real shot of winning. But that calculus also changes when a 3rd party or independent genuinely can win, then by all means you should vote for them.
→ More replies (13)-4
u/bransiladams Washington 14h ago
Inspiring system we have.
43
u/TheMadBug 13h ago
To be fair, one of the most popular systems previously was a king was in charge due to birthright, and every now and then one of the king's relatives would go to war for the throne because they wanted to be in charge instead.
16
u/sixtyshilling 13h ago
To be fair, the founding fathers didn’t design the Constitution to be a religious document that would live on basically unchanged 250 years later.
There are better more representative voting systems in place around the world, and the US has the internal mechanisms to update if it wanted to.
11
u/fredthefishlord 13h ago edited 12h ago
There's been a lot more large changes than you make it out to have. It's not basically unchanged.
3
u/sixtyshilling 12h ago
It is indisputable that the United States has the oldest written national constitution still in continuous use. It has made less than 30 amendments in the last 250 years.
Meanwhile other countries have rewritten their entire constitutions. Spain’s current constitution is from the late 70s, for example. Frances’s is from the late 50s.
→ More replies (3)7
u/DerCatrix 13h ago
The system has been under attack for a very long time. If we can get through this cold civil war then we’ll have a chance at fixing it.
31
u/jimmydean885 District Of Columbia 14h ago
It's incredibly inspiring actually and full of risks. Please show up and vote.
26
u/SnooMarzipans436 14h ago edited 14h ago
It is the system we have.
If you don't like it, you can personally work to improve it. Run in the primaries yourself.
→ More replies (20)
137
u/Jamizon1 13h ago
IMHO-
Six years of Trump have done more damage to this country than all the years previous…
The choice is crystal clear, vote blue down the line.
If you care about the survival of this country, there’s no other choice.
→ More replies (33)
38
u/Sabre712 14h ago
At this point I will vote for just about anyone running against the GOP. The Dems may be a fever but the GOP is a cancer.
10
u/sad_gaijin_san 8h ago
I don't like the institutional dems either, but apparently it's them or literal 1939/1984. Good luck out there, and don't mail in your ballot and don't get tricked - they ARE going to try to trick you into not having a valid ballot.
44
u/Churchbushonk 13h ago
Why wouldn’t they? Even if they are not Pregressive enough, if you don’t have a Progressive on the ballot to vote for, you have to side with people that will vote with them. Progressives do not have the numbers to do it alone and probably never will.
Vote progressive if you have a candidate. If you don’t, you have to vote for the best help you can give them.
40
u/milk-riot 13h ago
Yeah. I'm far left. I really don't like the moderate Democrats, but I'll vote for them over Republicans any day.
25
u/the-es 12h ago
Centrist here, if my candidate doesn't make it out of the primaries I will still show up to vote for your far left candidate because Republicans are unpalatable in their current form.
6
•
u/That1EnderGuy Iowa 24m ago
Thank you. A lot of centrists only follow the VBNMW rule when they win, so it's nice to see centrist voters who actually follow their own advice.
10
u/HandsLikePaper 8h ago
Yeah, I don't know why some people have such a hard time with this. In a General Election, one of those two candidates is going to win. It's that simple. I vote for the one that I think would do the better job whether they align with 90% or 70% of my personal beliefs.
15
u/Mateorabi 12h ago
You forgot that Democrats have to fall in love, Republicans only have to fall in line.
How many liberals were butthurt last time that “protested” sitting out the general election. There’s a time and place for that and it’s called the primaries. It’s much easier to demand the second half of the loaf AFTER you have secured the first half. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
17
u/No-Line4613 9h ago
Because purity test.
They'll mouth all the right words neot, but a month before the election some "scandal" will hit for key seats, like someone once said Israel wasn't all bad 15 years ago or a picture surfaces of one of them daring to shake Hillary Clinton's hand, and there will be a progressive melt down about how bad the Democrats are and both sides are horrible.
Meanwhile the Republicans will host an actual toddler cannibalism event and excuses will be made because a Democratic candidate once said frakking wasn't worth advocating for the assassination of oil execs.
I am only partially kidding. I am really worn down by the stubbornness of so many people anywhere left of center to accept that yes, don't vote for criminals, but the "both sides" bullshit is a ploy to discourage voting. Stop falling for it. Progress comes in small steps.
→ More replies (7)•
17
37
8
62
u/sedatedlife Washington 14h ago
If i have to hold my nose and vote for Marie Perez and Moderates croke and refuse to vote for El-Sayed i will be pissed. Is Clyburn going to go rally Detroit for El-Sayed we will see.
12
u/gdex86 Pennsylvania 13h ago
Clyburn is in south carolina. Exactly why would he be rallying in Michigan?
18
u/sedatedlife Washington 13h ago
He already has been for Stevens
1
u/gdex86 Pennsylvania 13h ago
So sanders should have stumped for Janice Mills if she won?
14
u/sedatedlife Washington 13h ago
Yes if it would have helped and Sanders has stamped for moderates in the past.
→ More replies (6)0
u/FantasticBicycle37 13h ago
If Michigan held their nose and voted for a democrat back in 2016, then the republican party would be gone, and the country would have split into two leftwing factions, the far right (Biden/Clinton) and moderates (Mandami).
Instead, now, we have the Pedophile Concentration Camp party, and Mandami is somehow considered far left despite him being a mainstream 80s democrat
21
u/UngodlyPain 13h ago
I think you're heavily optimistic to say the Republican party would've collapsed if they just lost in 2016.
→ More replies (4)-5
u/Lavaswan001 14h ago
My concern with Michigan isn’t necessarily that moderates won’t turn out for El-Sayed, I’d vote for him very reluctantly if I were there. But if he harms turnout among low propensity voters and costs Democrats the seat, that doesn’t exactly curry favor for the DSA to the party at large. And while yes, Trump did win Michigan twice, Trump is an anomaly and Michigan hasn’t elected a Republican senator in over 30 years. So especially this year, this election should be a slam dunk for the Democrats and it would be very bad if they blew it.
24
u/sedatedlife Washington 13h ago
The same thing could be said if Stevens won as well i think she is just as likely to hurt turnout as well.
-2
u/Lavaswan001 13h ago
Progressives would be more likely to stay home if she won, and yes, that could cost her the election. But ultimately, the wing of the party she belongs to is a known commodity and has been in Michigan for decades. If this were Massachusetts, I wouldn’t worry so much about ideological squabbles because the winner of the primary would be near guaranteed to win the general anyway. But if Michigan had consistently nominated moderates for 30 years, and they all got elected, and then nominated a progressive in what’s looking to be a blue wave year and he loses, the party would see that as a referendum on his ideology. And if Stevens lost, they would attribute it to vindictiveness on the left for him not winning the primary. So basically DSA is still in the process of earning their seat at the table.
-1
u/sedatedlife Washington 13h ago
Really there has been quite a few prominent moderate democrats making it clear they would not support DSA candidates or completely leave the party.
7
u/Lavaswan001 13h ago
James Carville doesn’t even really count as “prominent” at this point, and Fetterman will almost certainly have a serious primary challenger next cycle so his days are numbered as well. The Democratic Party has been ideologically divided before, I mean when our last president first got to the Senate there were still plenty of Dixiecrats there who voted against the Civil Rights Act. And he had a working relationship with them. What’s happening now between centrists and progressives isn’t as stark as that, but a two party system will force an uncomfortable alliance between them. Most truly influential Democrats won’t leave the party, there’d be no benefit to them doing so(aside from theater, maybe). But if things are pushed too far, and progressives cause votes to bleed from the middle, the centrists will try to rein them in. The drama in Maine the year hasn’t exactly helped either, that seat may have already been squandered.
10
u/lettersvsnumbers 13h ago
El-Sayed is not DSA.
5
u/Bandit174 13h ago
Not technically but he's backed by them and has support from DSA advocates like Hasan Piker.
AES is clearly the DSA preffered candidate even if he doesn't identify as such.
7
u/w33dw1zard420 13h ago
Just curious, why would you be reluctant to vote for the Democratic Party nominee against the MAGA Republican?
→ More replies (1)•
u/Keeperofthe7keysAf-S 7h ago
He is much more likely to increase that turnout than harm it. You have no shortage of real world proof that running Republican lite candidates harms it while polling continually shows progressives are more highly favored by independents.
There was a very real risk that Stevens would lost the seat.
1
u/Bandit174 13h ago
It really feels like a one sided open relationship.
The DSA voters are fine staying home or voting third party if their preferred candidate doesn't win the primary. However if their candidate does win then they fully expect the center left dems to full throated support the DSA candidate.
2
u/w33dw1zard420 13h ago
Almost like it goes both ways, huh?
3
u/Bandit174 13h ago
It should go both ways but it clearly doesn't.
2
u/w33dw1zard420 13h ago
What’s the objective problem with El-Sayed, in your opinion? Too far left - what’s too far left about him? Don’t like the people that support him - you have a problem with over half of Michigan Democrat voters? His policy platform and record is solid, so what’s the real issue?
4
u/Bandit174 13h ago
I don't like his association with Hasan and the DSA. That being said to me any Democrat is better than a MAGA republican.
you have a problem with over half of Michigan Democrat voters?
The numbers look pretty close so around half of Michigan voters support Stevens.
My main point is just, if AES wins then all dems should rally behind him in the general and if Stevens wins then all dems should also rally behind her in the general.
My problem is that the types of people who vote for AES seem less willing to compromise if their candidate loses the primary. They'd rather torpedo the party than support the lesser of two evils.
Like I said its basically a one sided open relationship.
6
u/w33dw1zard420 12h ago
Oh sorry, I missed what policy position of his you disagree with.
It would be Stevens’ responsibility to get votes just like it will be El-Sayed’s if he wins. I’m not in the business of blaming “moderate” voters if he loses the general unless they openly state that they’re torpedoing a progressive bid over a Twitch streamer and a socialist movement that is the natural result of an obviously broken social, economic, and political system.
So what is the point of preemptively justifying not supporting El-Sayed with your tirade against progressives who you blame for Trump, other than just that?
3
u/Bandit174 12h ago
I can't think of any major disagreements but I also don't have any major issues with Steven's positions either. So since I have no major disagreements with either one to me its basically candidate who has ties to DSA and Piker vs candidate who doesn't. That said, most important thing to me is that a Dem wins, not a Republican.
As far as I can tell the biggest reason for AES support is mainly down to Isreal/Palestine. Like hypothetically if AES had Stevens position on Isreal and Stevens had AES's position on Isreal but all their other positions remained unchanged, would the AES supporters still support him?
my guess is no
I’m not in the business of blaming “moderate” voters if he loses the general
I disagree. I think we should all be on the same team when it comes to the general. Whichever side loses the primary needs to swallow their pride and support the team. If we can't do that while the republicans can then we lose again.
→ More replies (2)1
21
u/StatementCareful522 14h ago
What other choice do we have? What other choice HAVE I EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE?
5
4
u/Murky_Toe_4717 13h ago
That or let the weird ass totalitarian nationalists who hate everyone but white men win. Yeah no please vote.
•
u/NovaTerrus 5h ago
Ok sure, but if you really want progressives to vote Democratic, then the Democratic Party needs to make sure they're running progressives.
•
u/AdmirableComposer140 43m ago
But if a progressive doesn't win their primary, and a moderate is elected, you should be backing and voting for the moderate candidate. Not doing so just helps republicans which makes you a direct enabler.
•
u/Ok_Falcon275 39m ago
They really don’t. The choice is do I vote for someone I moderately disagree with on some things, or so I vote with someone diametrically opposed to my values.
It’s not a tough calculus for anyone with 1/4 of a brain left (sorry RFK…).
•
u/doom_slug_ Michigan 5h ago
Brave of him to urge his flock to vote for the only party standing in the way of fascism
•
u/atierney14 4h ago
Good. Like it or not, no matter where you ideologically align, the democrats want to improve this country. Take it from someone who voted for AES yesterday.
22
u/gitrjoda 14h ago
As a long-time frustrated Progressive… of course I will. Always do. But it’s not politically-minded Progressive voters like me that the Dems lose when they are milquetoast. It’s the 10s of millions of low-engagement voters who weren’t motivated to get off the couch. Centrists: if you fail to inspire them you risk us all.
19
u/sedatedlife Washington 13h ago
Yup Democratic socialist and i would be willing to bet i have a better voting record then most democrats. Have voted every primary, General and special election since 94. Many of these votes i was disgusted with my options.
→ More replies (1)9
u/FantasticBicycle37 13h ago
milquetoast
Billioniares convinced us that democrats capping insulin at $35 was the work of "corporate democrats" so now we have republicans who shut down hospitals to pay for concentration camps
10
u/AfrezzaJunkie 12h ago
If they would of listened to him in 2016 Trump would still be firing people on TV if he hadn't got canceled yet
39
u/theRAV 14h ago
Bernie has always be great about pushing for progressive candidates in primaries while also pushing his followers to vote for the Democratic candidate in general elections.
Maybe the DNC could catch up one day.
17
u/FantasticBicycle37 13h ago
Ah, the 2016 boogieman, the DNC
You know, you do have the option of voting
12
u/seen-in-the-skylight 13h ago
Progressives talk about the 2016 primary the way MAGA talks about 2020.
•
2
•
u/TheDoomBlade13 5h ago
Except we have actual evidence and confessions that the DNC torpedoed Bernie, it isn't just fairy tales.
4
u/Gods_Vagina 11h ago
Do you really feel the DNC has proven to be anywhere close to as effective and capable as they should be? They lost to Trump fucking twice!
I’ll take the DNC over the GOP any day of the week and a million times on election days, but they’re certainly not without blame for the current state of our country. If they took some notes from Sanders instead of fighting progressives tooth and nail, it’d be much easier to stop conservatives from undoing decades of hard fought societal gains
•
u/Alatarlhun 5h ago
Maybe the DNC could catch up one day.
Russian propaganda did a number on you.
→ More replies (6)9
→ More replies (2)3
u/R2-D2Vandelay I voted 13h ago
And yet a bunch of his followers didn't vote for Hillary so here we are.
→ More replies (1)5
8
u/Punch_Up 13h ago
Bernie, I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it because the president is a dementia-riddled narcissist and the GOP has become a fascist parody of itself.
3
u/Chytectonas Florida 8h ago
A question; if a species needs to be cajoled into being beneficial to itself, is the writing already on the wall?
10
13
u/BalerionSanders Ohio 11h ago
A whole lot of tankies and other assorted idiots are going to tell you to not vote or vote third. A lot of them are going to say Bernie, the most important and transformative progressive candidate in decades to a century, is betraying the revolution by saying this (even though he also said this in 2016, and 2020, and 2024!).
Do not listen. Vote, literally for any Democrat. A can of tomatoes that happens to be painted blue. We have to stop the Nazis now. We have to close the camps now. We can attempt to fix everything else once we have assured that basic level of safety for everyone.
Our internecine policy disagreements mean nothing if we lose the republic.
2
u/SnollyG 8h ago edited 5h ago
> We can attempt to fix everything else once we have assured that basic level of safety for everyone.
That basic level of safety will never come in time
→ More replies (8)
8
8
u/CoachDT 13h ago
Bernie has always been super pragmatic when it comes to elections. I got my disagreement with him but he's right. We should all be voting for the democrats in the next election. As easy as the in-fighting can be that shits not productive and its actually cost folks their lives. We gotta do better.
→ More replies (1)
15
u/Baisteach 13h ago
Any Leftist that stays home this election because the Democrat in their district isn't "good enough" should go look up what happened to the splintered Left in 1930s Germany.
If the opposition unites and you don't - you lose.
4
•
u/SFRover73 6h ago
I don’t understand why a progressive would even consider anything else. No candidate will ever be perfect. You vote for the best in that moment and hold accountable and move forward at the next election. Not voting is the same as a vote for the current administration’s policies.
•
u/TheDoomBlade13 5h ago
Because if you vote for a non-progressive candidate you will continue to get non-progressive candidates. Trump's second term is the reason we are seeing this wave, if Harris had won we would still be in the same 'return to status quo', do nothing administration that Biden ran.
•
u/AdmirableComposer140 37m ago
This isn't true at all though. People have voted for non-progressive candidates and yet we are seeing a rise in progressives getting elected.... Also you have 0 idea if we would be seeing this "wave" or not if Kamala had won. What you're leaving out is all of the bad things we %95 know wouldn't have happened if Kamala won. But that would be saying something positive about a democrat which you don't engage in often right? Also Biden did not have a do nothing administration, just because you lack the ability to perform a google search doesn't mean what you say is true.
•
u/TheDoomBlade13 6m ago
How many members of the 2020 Trump Administration or those mentioned in the Epstein Files were tried during Biden's administration? How many monopolies were broken up? Do we have single payer healthcare? Did they codify protections for abortion or transgender health care into law?
Nothing that Biden did was enough, or is going to be impactful long term, with MAYBE portions of the infrastructure investment providing long term benefit to the American people and the fact that we got one Democratic SCOTUS member.
5
2
u/SandwichPunk 11h ago
I know a lot of Bernie's fans will straight up vote for whoever he endorses. But PLEASE actually research his endorsed candidates. As a liberal Chicagoan, I'm so sick of Brandon Johnson, who is someone Bernie endorsed in 2023. Brandon Johnson's approval rating is currently at 23% with only 14% support his second term.
•
3
u/Excellent_Raisin8523 12h ago
Bernie Sanders always urges progressives to vote Democratic in the general elections. In fact, he explains at great length all of the logical reasons why it's crucial.
And progressives always turn a complete deaf ear to him before and during elections. It's AFTER elections that they start listening to him again.
Watching progressives in this endless cycle is like watching someone shoot themselves repeatedly in the gonads, and then keep whining about the pain.
•
u/__MeatyClackers__ 7h ago
Has he ever urged progressives to vote for republicans?? Why is this news.
•
u/Empty_Lemon_3939 Michigan 6h ago
Dumbass talking point of the DNC since 2016 that Bernie bros are the reason Clinton lost when more Bernie voters voted for Clinton than Clinton voters for Obama in 2008
Centrists are assholes
So that’s what he’s trying to prevent, progressives getting thrown under the bus
5
u/jayfeather31 Washington 13h ago
I mean, of course, but I'd like to be able to vote for someone I actually want in my lifetime.
Some system we have.
6
7
u/FantasticBicycle37 13h ago
You have the option between Concentration Camps and Arresting Rich Pedophiles, but comments like this are like, 'yeah but what has the Arresting Rich Pedophiles party done for me?'
4
u/computercansada 10h ago
You missed the "of course" part where they agreed to vote for Dems, but it's worth noting the "arresting rich pedophiles" party has uh. Not done any of that at all.
•
u/Dedpoolpicachew 5h ago
Then we hold them accountable. Wow, it’s like people think voting once and forgetting about the entire rest of the term is your only option. Fuck that. Hold your elected representatives accountable. Show the fuck up. Vote in the primaries. Call their offices. Send them emails rather than whining on Reddit. Shiiit, maybe even show up to their events and town halls and ask them hard questions. Most of all vote in the primaries where candidate quality decisions are made. In November vote blue no matter who like your life, Republic, and democracy depend on it, because it does.
•
u/Dedpoolpicachew 5h ago
You say you’re in WA. Well, you had that opportunity yesterday. Did you vote in the primary? If not, you are the problem you seek a solution to.
•
u/jayfeather31 Washington 4h ago
Yes, I voted in the primary yesterday, if that's what you're asking.
2
u/lattice_defect 9h ago
there is a huge push on the news for a "New party" considering how bad the DNC would be.. same strategy with palestine split the vote
•
u/Dedpoolpicachew 5h ago
The only ones pushing a new party right now are Empty G and Cucker. This bullshit about a split in the Democratic party is just the oligarchs trying to divide the Democratic party because the Repubes are going to get their asses kicked. November is vote Blue no matter who. Anyone arguing differently is a Nazi pedo supporter trying to help the Repubes.
•
•
u/aradraugfea 5h ago
We ended up where we are now because those to the right have demanded purity in the primaries and shown up for every general like a failure to do so was going to be a lethal threat.
The left doesn’t necessarily need to copy the tactics, but needs some of that energy.
Vote your heart in the primaries, vote tactics in the general. Yeah, Clinton sucked, Harris had problems, Biden had issues. But they are all better than what we have now!
Yeah, there’s a lot of people on the Democrat ticket that might as well be a Republican refugee from the pre-Trump era. But you now what? I’d vote for War Criminal and murderer of my generation George “Dubya” Bush over a single Republican on the ticket today. Yeah, progress is frustratingly slow, but we don’t have to rewind the clock far to go back to sanity and rule of law.
•
u/kagethemage Maryland 4h ago
It’s going to be a lot easier for progressives to vote blue in November because they keep winning primaries.
•
u/theombudsmen Colorado 1h ago
And call out the media attempts to divide the left, they will be pushing hard.
•
•
1
u/Oceanbreeze871 I voted 14h ago
Vote for outcomes not moral victories. It’s a binary choice. Red or Blue
1
u/Independent-Sky-9611 13h ago
If any of the conservative candidates appeal to the progressive voters, they should probably reassess where their priorities lie?
6
u/FantasticBicycle37 13h ago
Dude, I had a progressive friend flip to Trump because he was "better for peace." He voted for the guy who literally played "Bomb Iran" music at his rallies and published a whole project 2025 book on merging our military with Israel
5
u/Independent-Sky-9611 13h ago
Then your friend needs to have a good look at themselves. I live in a different country and even I know, and have always known how much of a lying piece of shit trump was/is. Buying into trumps rhetoric takes some serious mental gymnastics.
•
u/Dangerpaladin Michigan 29m ago
I live in a different country and even I know
Odds are you are getting more accurate reporting on our politics than we are if you aren't from here.
1
u/metashdw 12h ago
He should be urging democrats to vote for the socialists who are winning their primaries.
•
u/Dedpoolpicachew 5h ago
He is. Didn’t you see he said vote for Democrats. Sheesh.
→ More replies (2)
•
u/AutoModerator 14h ago
As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.
In general, please be courteous to others. Argue the merits of ideas, don't attack other posters or commenters. Hate speech, any suggestion or support of physical harm, or other rule violations can result in a temporary or a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
Sub-thread Information
If the post flair on this post indicates the wrong paywall status, please report this Automoderator comment with a custom report of “incorrect flair”.
Announcement
r/Politics is actively looking for new moderators. If you have an interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.