LogFAQs > #943540220

Dancedreamer posted...

Progressive ideology is very popular. It's not the problem. If you put Universal Healthcare to a vote, it'd probably win big. Bernie Sanders has done a lot of work making progressiveness appealing. Unfortunately, he can only do so much. In part because he's not the best at the political game. It's what a lot of people like about him, but it didn't make him many friends and allies. People are pretty easily manipulated. And that's why progressives haven't taken over the party in the way they'd like to. They need to start playing the political game. As much as it might pain them.

I think this mindset is part of the problem. Medicare for All is a simple phrase to say and it gets mass support because of how simple it comes across. Your average voter doesn't have to think about it. The SECOND you start asking "where's the money coming from to pay for this?" is when it starts to lose support. It doesn't matter how many times you dodge the question "Will this make taxes rise?" with "You'll pay less for healthcare", because Republicans already reject the idea just because Democrats want it; and conservative Democrats are fiscally-minded and worry about where funding is going to come from things.

A lot of progressive ideas that Bernie pushed in the past two campaigns sound GREAT in a vacuum. If you were able to just HAVE those things (Medicare for All, Free College, Free Daycare, etc.), OBVIOUSLY they're popular. But when you have to implement them and deal with collecting and allocating funds, that's when issues start to arise and you start to lose that broad support.

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