Summary
Historians suggest Democrats might have fared better against Donald Trump by embracing the economic issues championed by Senator Bernie Sanders, who has long pushed for a focus on “bread-and-butter” concerns for working-class voters.
Despite Kamala Harris’s progressive policies, polls showed Trump was favored on economic issues, particularly among working-class and Hispanic voters.
Historian Leah Wright Rigueur argued that Sanders’ messaging on economic struggles could be key for future Democratic strategies.
Sanders himself criticized the party for “abandoning” the working class, which he said has led to a loss of support across racial lines.
We tried. Biden’s Build Back Better bill had a lot of pro-working class stuff in it. We just couldn’t pass it with Manchin and Sinema resisting.
Details are important.
This is about messaging, not policy. Most people don’t really pay attention to actual policy, so it’s more about convincing your average Joe you’re working for them. Bernie had that, Biden and Harris didn’t.
Well put.
I think the inherent problem with the build back better deal is it’s still framed within the neoliberal trickle down economics of post Regan America.
Would it have increased some workers protections and child care, sure. But it would ultimately be a gift to the shareholders and owners of corporations able to tap into the 3 trillion dollars of funding.
Americans are tired of progressive bills that vicariously improve their lives by further bribing the economic class that actually have their boots on our necks.
People are tired of seeing headlines that the American economy is doing fine while they struggle to put food on the table. Nobody cares if your bosses retirement portfolio is breaking records when they have to pull overtime to maintain the same quality of life they had 20 years ago.
Funny when it was the more neoliberal, pro-business dems that shot it down, shortly before leaving the democratic party. There’s really not a whole lot of corporate profits to be found in here, though, despite the rampant misinformation floating around online. It actually raised corporate taxes, which is not a neoliberal policy position:
https://schakowsky.house.gov/build-back-better-act#:~:text=The Build Back Better Act invests in securing universal preschool,and the universal preschool initiative.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/build-back-better/
Yeah, they split it into two bills, one with all the stuff that was intended to pass, and the one with all the stuff they ran on that they never intended to pass.
Funny how it still almost passed, then. Unless you’re proposing a grand conspiracy where they all actually secretly were lying about their intentions. Such a conspiracy theory would be a strong claim, and those require evidence. Perhaps in the thousands of individual staffers and advisors to each member of congress you could find a whistleblower indicating such a conspiracy? Otherwise it’d have to be as airtight as Jewish Space Lasers.
It was never in any danger of passing. Centrists had Manchin.
This sounds like conspiracy again, where this was all orchestrated. You can believe whatever you want, that’s part of living in the free world. But to actually be something worth considering, there should be evidence of this orchestration that can be found among the thousands of people that would’ve had to have been involved. Has AOC or Bernie or any of their staffers spoken of any orchestration?
There doesn’t need to be orchestration.
If that’s true, then the bill failed by a slim margin. It almost passed, and had the support of the majority of the democratic party, including passing the House of Representatives. This is an important detail.
Shot it down? The bill passed in 2022 after being modified to hell by special interest.
If it’s not going to be implemented directly by the state it means that it’s going to be implemented by private businesses. Those private business owners are going to walk away with the lion’s share of any money they accept from the government.
It’s almost like corporations aren’t a monolith of mutual aid and support. You don’t think Raytheon wouldn’t support raising some taxes if it meant they could funnel a ton of government funding towards the privatized military industrial sector?
No, that is a false claim. It was not passed by the Senate and never became law. We can certainly criticize our neoliberal factions, but we should do it factually instead of weaving whatever narratives we find most convenient. Unless you’re confusing it with the Infrastructure bill, which did pass. They were linked at one time, but were separated after both failing became likely.
https://ballotpedia.org/Build_Back_Better_Act
My dude… The inflation reduction act is an amended version of the build back better deal. What are you talking about?
On July 27, Manchin and Schumer announced the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the final result of these negotiations, surprising other congressional Democrats.[192] The bill, which includes provisions on tax, health care, and climate and energy spending, was introduced in the Senate as an amendment to the Build Back Better Act. On August 7, the Senate passed the bill on a 50–50 vote with Vice President Harris breaking the tie.[193] On August 12, 2022, the House passed the bill on a 220–207 vote.[194] President Biden signed it into law on August 16.[195]
Fine, technically true I suppose. But when you gut something that comprehensively and change its thrust, I think it’s a little disingenuous to call it the same thing. It had all the workers rights stuff stripped out of it.
edit: Disingenuous on the bill author’s part, not yours. Though tbf, they did rename it.
There are always enough Manchins.
Yep. That excuse does not fly.