Comments by "Brandon M" (@brandonm949) on "CNN Panel Sides With Bernie Over Gutted Budget Bill" video.

  1. I kinda think this whole "working from outside the power structure" is why progressives are failing so much. It's difficult to do and it projects the sense that we don't belong. Democratic voters support stuff like Medicare for All, free college, and a living minimum wage at an 80% clip. Sometimes more. Why are we letting politicians who don't support these things define the Democratic party? Let's just be the Democrats. In the same way Trump convinced Republicans that nationalist authoritarianism defines their party, let's convince Democrats that social democracy defines theirs. Because in a way it already does.
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  2. Exactly. If we had 52 Democratic Senators, none of this would have been a problem.
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  3. This. Even the "bipartisan" infrastructure bill that's laden with corporate giveaways got the support of 38% of Senate Republicans. They're truly heinous people.
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  4. Of course. That just doesn't work well when so many voters act against their own interests.
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  5. And even Morning Joe goes on a populist rant every now and then
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  6. It's $1.75 trillion over 10 years, and paid for by increased taxes, mostly affecting corporations and the rich. So your sarcastic point is actually correct. Also, the stock market's been doing great over the last year so I'm not sure why you think your retirement's in danger.
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  7. - Universal preschool - $550 billion in climate spending, mostly in tax credits/subsidies for clean energy - 1-year extension of the child tax credit monthly payments - Limiting child care costs to 7% of income - Higher wages for child care workers - Something like $100 billion toward building affordable housing and rent relief - Adding hearing to Medicare - ACA subsidies to give more people health insurance - Tax code changes that mostly raise taxes on corporations and the rich It sucks watching things get cut from the amazing original bill, but without that framing, it's still a good bill that we should pass and then brag about.
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  8. Because passing nothing suggests that voting for Democrats is a waste of time. Rewarding voters for their votes in some way is important. If you pass something, you can message it like this: Electing 50 Senate Dems gets you $2.65 trillion of stuff you want (BBB + the bipartisan infrastructure bill). Electing 52 Senate Dems probably would've gotten you $4.4 trillion of stuff you want. Electing 48 Senate Dems would maybe get you $0.9 trillion of stuff you want (the bipartisan bill got 69 votes in the current Senate, I assume a Republican controlled Senate still would have passed it). More Democrats = more of the stuff you want.
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  9. So organize it. You'll notice the problem pretty quickly. Getting 12 million people to protest together is difficult. The 2020 Summer of BLM was huge and accomplished basically nothing. You're gonna have to get it way bigger than that. I truly hope you'll prove me wrong but I don't see that happening.
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  10. Sorry Trumpers, I can't hear you over this AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE!!!
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  11. It's not, it's still a pretty good bill. Just less good than it used to be.
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  12.  @IskandarTheWack  I'd still prefer to give people universal preschool, child care price controls, a bunch of clean energy spending, and some corporate giveaways, as opposed to giving them nothing. Going through all this and giving people nothing would be a political disaster. And keeping Democratic voters is important for the progressive agenda.
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  13.  @IskandarTheWack  A precedent that Democrats are useless and we should vote for the semi-fascists instead. I remember 2016. Not passing a bill here could be a disaster.
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  14.  @IskandarTheWack  In that case, I would go back to "it's a pretty good bill". Also, you give the American electorate way too much credit. We'd be lucky if they used half the logic you just did.
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