Bernie Sanders is no spoiler: He’s trying to cure centrist complacency plaguing Democratic Party

[TalkingDog]

To forestall the inevitable alert.

Per GE 2016 via Skinner: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1013&pid=7292

You are permitted to support Bernie Sanders' efforts to influence the platform and the party


http://www.salon.com/2016/06/21/bernie_sanders_is_no_spoiler_hes_trying_to_cure_the_centrist_complacency_thats_plaguing_the_democratic_party/

“In this view right-wing opposition is not to be dislodged, let alone defeated,” writes Karp. “At best, it is to be resisted from within the walls of the Democratic Party fortress known as the White House. ‘The next Democratic presidential term will be mostly defensive,’ writes Jonathan Chait — no more or less than a ‘bulwark’ against Republican extremism in Congress… Seldom do establishment Democrats stop to consider whether this negative mentality — both disturbingly complacent and profoundly uninspiring — has contributed to the steady evisceration of the party at the state level.”

Sanders rejects fortress liberalism, while Clinton — who has described herself as “kinda moderate and center” — will in all likelihood be running her presidential campaign on a platform of fortress liberalism and what author Thomas Frank described as “militant complacency” in a recent editorial. In other words, Clinton will be campaigning as the lesser-evil candidate against the sexist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic demagogue that is Donald Trump; and considering the sheer toxicity of Donald (according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, 70 percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the billionaire), this will probably be enough to win in November. But it certainly won’t increase voter turnout or lessen the political discontent that has become so widespread. And it won’t bring about the kind of sweeping reform that the Sanders campaign has advocated.