2008 and 2012 had natural "counterstrikes" for when the Right went on the attack: charge racism.
If Hilary is the nom, then the natural riposte for attacking her is the charge of "sexism".
What if it's Bernie? The likely Right attack wlll be the dog-whistle word "socialism". A word that makes American conservatives growl and American progressives cringe.
We haven't had an effective socialist movement in the US since WWII. We haven't had a truly progressive Democratic candidate with any clout since the party insiders stole the VP nom from Henry Wallace at the '44 convention. Since then, we've had a mostly unbroken string of right-leaning Democrats (or left-leaning Republicans calling themselves Democrats).
The exception being that Obama ran as a true progressive, but when it came time to make good on his platform he balked and steered hard-right in terms of most of his policy choices.
So how do we fight back against the perjorative "socialist"? Is the American left ready to take ownership of a progressive agenda in deed as well as in word?
Please note that I do not want to talk Bernie up or down in this thread. I want to talk about the underlying ideological issue that pre-dates him and has been underlying Democratic politics for almost 80 years now.
If Hilary is the nom, then the natural riposte for attacking her is the charge of "sexism".
What if it's Bernie? The likely Right attack wlll be the dog-whistle word "socialism". A word that makes American conservatives growl and American progressives cringe.
We haven't had an effective socialist movement in the US since WWII. We haven't had a truly progressive Democratic candidate with any clout since the party insiders stole the VP nom from Henry Wallace at the '44 convention. Since then, we've had a mostly unbroken string of right-leaning Democrats (or left-leaning Republicans calling themselves Democrats).
The exception being that Obama ran as a true progressive, but when it came time to make good on his platform he balked and steered hard-right in terms of most of his policy choices.
So how do we fight back against the perjorative "socialist"? Is the American left ready to take ownership of a progressive agenda in deed as well as in word?
Please note that I do not want to talk Bernie up or down in this thread. I want to talk about the underlying ideological issue that pre-dates him and has been underlying Democratic politics for almost 80 years now.
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