Eugene V Debs is the best example for why that’s not the case.

They haven’t, neoliberalism is in opposition to genuine progressive policies. The closest we’ve gotten are piecemeal such as the ACA. Which, don’t get me wrong, was a phenomenal improvement over the previous healthcare system, but was still a Republican written bill and was only implemented due to the grassroots movements and organization that demanded concessions.

Biden, on the domestic front, was certainly the most progressive since FDR. Specifically when it comes to labor but also some debt relief. But the admin did a terrible job communicating this. Additionally, these policies, while they certainly have helped, were not enough to genuinely address the material needs of everyday Americans. People want radical change. Incrementalism has not stopped the working class from being squeezed between rising costs of living and stagnant wages. However, his foreign policy was far from progressive and deeply unpopular. If the campaign did run on the radical progressive change people want, as indicated at every opportunity, they would have been far far more likely to win

He was able to, it was a deliberate decision not to

Along with the (at a minimum) thousands during the genocide, and more currently through their illegal restriction of letting in humanitarian aid in violation of the ceasefire

While I do agree that voting for the lesser evil is the correct thing to do for harm reduction and advocated for people to do so during the campaign (as I did and advocated others to as well), ultimately this points to a much larger issue with our supposedly representative institutions. Unfortunately, the reality is the vast majority of people do not vote on the basis of harm reduction or lesser evil. Most people are too busy working paycheck to paycheck and tuned out of politics. Unless they are offered concessions, they have no interest in politics. That said there any plenty of popular policies that would gain their interest, policies that would improve their material conditions. Good policy, good communication, and good politics are all needed to follow through and deliver those concessions to the American people.

Foreign policy on facilitating genocide, the economic hardships that every working American is experiencing, and immigration were all and still are critical issues for voters. Which is exactly why in order to win an election, a campaign needs to offer concessions to voters to earn as many votes as possible. Something the Democratic Party’s Campaign decisively chose not to do, and in fact did the opposite.

Instead of trying to secure hundreds of thousands to millions of constituents by supporting a permanent ceasefire and weapons embargo, a policy vastly supported by the Democrats own voter base (in addition to the majority of also independent and Republican voters), they instead alienated those voters by more than just ignoring their valid concerns. They instead chose to arrest thousands of student protestors, gave billions of dollars to a genocide at the tax payers expense consistently for 15 months, actively suppressed the voices and representation of the main victims of the genocide, and campaigned with Liz Cheney (who was actively involved with the Bush-Cheney foreign policy in the middle east and enthusiastically pro ethnic cleansing of Palestinians). They chose to do all that instead of represent the view of the majority of their constituents and abide by domestic/international law. And that was just one of the major issues, along with going right-wing on immigration, and continuing neoliberalism economic policies, that tanked the approval of the Democratic Party.

Under the policy spoiler you can find a whole bunch of policies that are overwhelmingly popular with every American and would improve people’s livelyhood (Such as codifying abortion rights, universal healthcare, good public housing, renter’s rights/protections, cracking down on price gouging, trust busting, public infrastructure projects). It would be the best way to fracture the Republican base of support, but it would require going after the bottom line of corporations. What was more important for the Democratic Party during the election? Doing everything possible to gain votes to win against the fascist Donald Trump, or prioritizing monied interests at the expense of public support and the election?

Dismantling public education has been deliberate, so has the expansion of right-wing propaganda to all forms of media. Both are done at the behest of capital owners to divide the working class

If they did that they’d have to admit that Israel keeps violating the ceasefires on a daily basis

No one who’s aware of the details of the Abraham Accords under Trump’s first presidency would think that Trump was in anyway better.

So how was Trump able to come off as the ‘dove’ candidate? He did this same strategy of framing himself as a peaceful ‘dove’ in 2016 against Clinton. I put dove in quotes because anyone who pays attention to Trump’s actual foreign policy knows that’s not remotely true. High propensity voters aren’t fooled by this but plenty of low propensity voters sure can be. Trump was only effective as framing himself as a Dove because of how terrible the Biden admins Foreign policy was for the last fifteen months. If Harris pivoted from Biden on Palestine, as the vast majority of all voters wanted and as required by domestic and international law, Trump wouldn’t have been able to frame himself as a Dove. I’m fact, if Harris not only pivoted but harped on Trump’s connection to Netanyahu, it would’ve been incredibly easy to frame Trump as a warmonger cozying up to genocidal fascists

This was also pushed for by the Biden admin behind closed doors. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has had bipartisan support for decades. The main difference is that Trump can’t help himself from saying the quiet part out loud

We went from Genocide Joe to Genocide Don. If the Democratic Party actually listened to the demands of their constituents, demands that were vastly popular (and not just on Palestine), we wouldn’t be in this fascist Trump regime

Anti-zionism is not Antisemitism. Your conflation of the two is genuinely antisemitic.

Zionism is anti-Semitic at it’s core, it other-izes Jewish people, and justifies the violent settler colonialim of Israel as in the defense of all Jewish people, which only serves to further fuel genuine Antisemitism at the expense of Jewish people globally. Zionism is also an inherently fascist ideology. The ethnic cleansing of the native people of Palestine has always been fundamental since it’s inception as a colonialist movement. Adi Callai, an Israeli, does a great analysis of how Antisemitism has been weaponized by Zionism during its history.

The IDF using Palestinians as human shields is nothing new.

Here’s an entire comprehensive list. Which was, again, discussed in Leeja Miller’s video…

https://indivisible.org/resource/explainer-how-senate-democrats-can-delay-defy-trumps-agenda-procedural-hardball

The Democrats are responsible for losing this election to an unpopular fascist by failing to represent the demands that the majority of their constituents were demanding. Start demanding more from your representatives.

Lmao, I can’t believe that’s what you got from the video. That was not remotely her point. Her entire point is that the Democrats should be using everything within their polical power to obstruct and delay everything the Trump Admin is trying to do. She gave multiple examples of exactly how they can do that. That’s the bare minimum the Democratic Party should be doing. I already participate in local community organizations.

Dems have plenty of options available even as a minority party, they just aren’t doing so.

On some domestic policy issues it is, it’s not on foreign policy or immigration. It is in the sense that it delays Fascism, it’s not on the sense that it doesn’t change that Fascism is the inevitable outcome of neoliberalism. Either way that doesn’t change my main point about the parties and grassroots opposition

It always has for white supremacists, but recently Trump and Musk have emboldened them. They are no longer hiding behind dog whistles, they’re now seig heiling enthusiastically in public

They are still the minority, anti-fascism is needed now more than ever. Nazi’s should never feel safe expressing their racist ideologies in public

At least she and Biden attempted to negotiate peace.

No, they really didn’t. That was the whole problem

The rhetoric coming out of the White House, when it has been focused on peace or restraint, rather than continuous war, has been undercut at every turn by its actions. The constant supply of weapons — $17.9 billion of bullets, bombs, shells, and other military aid in the past year — has allowed Israel to keep waging its war on Gaza, and in recent weeks, expand that war to Lebanon and threaten to escalate its conflict with Iran. Despite documentation of U.S. weapons being used in probable war crimes, and credible allegations that Israel is committing genocide in its war on Gaza, the bombs have continued to flow.

Year of Empty Rhetoric From the White House on Israel’s Wars

The diplomat said Egypt rejected similar proposals from the Biden administration and European countries early in the war, which was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel. The earlier proposals were broached privately, while Trump announced his plan at a White House press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-egypt-trump-displacement-bc1c43f80655190824a5de4eb1d310cc

While I do agree that voting for the lesser evil is the correct thing to do for harm reduction and advocated for people to do so during the campaign, ultimately this points to a much larger issue with our supposedly representative institutions.

Unfortunately, the reality is the vast majority of people do not vote on the basis of harm reduction or lesser evil. Most people are too busy working paycheck to paycheck and tuned out of politics. That said there any plenty of popular policies that would gain their interest, policies that would improve their material conditions. Both good policy and good communication is needed here. As well as good politics to follow through and deliver those policies.

The much larger issue is whether the Democratic Party, which is supposed to represent the working class (at least since the New Deal), is genuinely interested in listening to and fighting for their voter base (working class people) or are instead prioritizing the desires of the Donor Class who provide a significant amount of money to the Party (as well as the Republican Party) and who’s capital interests are opposed to the voter base. To me it seems clear that the Democratic Party prioritizes the donors at the expense of the voters.

And if that is the case, we have a serious issue. No one is genuinely representing the material interests of the vast majority of Americans. Both parties are completely captured by corporate interests and one only serves as a controlled opposition, creating a rachet effect towards Fascism.

In that case, I think the only way forward is grassroots. Community organizations and unions that do genuinely represent the material needs of the working class. Which is also a problem because unions have been systematically dismantled for decades, we are only recently seeing a resurgence. Non-profit organizations are under serious threat of being labeled terrorist organizations and cut out from all federal funding with no evidence needed. Despite that, I still think it’s the only real way forward. Especially with the Democratic Party refusing to recognize the reason for their loss (they instead decided to blame it on their advocation of trans rights, which is completely unacceptable and untrue)

They did apply a lot of pressure during the primary. The total uncommitted in the Primary was 706,591 (Which may have been undercounted) which is absolutely massive for a primary. On average, general turnout is twice that of primary turnout. The Democratic Party knew that at they were risking at least 1.4 million votes by ignoring the issue. Here Are 34 Polls That Show A Ceasefire & Weapons Embargo Help Kamala Win. They also knew throughout the whole campaign that a vast majority of their constituents wanted weapons embargo and permanent ceasefire (required by domestic and international law), plus a majority of independents and Republicans. There was no valid reason for the Democratic Party to ignore the demands of that many voters, especially if trying to win an election

You clearly have no idea how US elections work at that level. The single candidate with the most votes wins.

Which is exactly why in order to win an election, a campaign needs to offer concessions to voters to earn as many votes as possible.

Something the Democratic Party’s Campaign decisively chose not to do, and in fact do the opposite.

Instead of trying to secure hundreds of thousands to millions of constituents by supporting a permanent ceasefire and weapons embargo, a policy vastly supported by the Democrats own voter base (in addition to the majority of also independent and Republican voters), they instead alienated those voters by more than just ignoring their valid concerns.

They chose to arrest thousands of student protestors, gave billions of dollars to a genocide at the tax payers expense consistently for 15 months, actively suppressed the voices and representation of the main victims of the genocide, and campaigned with Liz Cheney (who was actively involved with the Bush-Cheney foreign policy in the middle east and enthusiastically pro ethnic cleansing of Palestinians). They chose to do all that instead of represent the view of the majority of their constituents and abide by domestic/international law.

And that was just one of the major issues, along with immigration and the economy, that tanked the approval of the Democratic Party. If the Democratic Party wanted to actually win against Trump they would have done everything to gain as many votes as possible. They chose not to. They threw the election and let an unpopular fascist win.

Obviously not, which is why it’s completely insane that the Democratic Party refused to represent the majority of their constituents who wanted a permanent ceasefire and weapons embargo for an entire 15 months.

Instead opting to arrest thousands of student protestors, gift Israel billions of tax payer dollars for genocide, deny any voice or representation of the victims of the genocide, all in opposition to public sentiment and domestic/international law. One of the major reasons, along with immigration and the economy, that tanked the Democratic Party’s campaign.

They threw the election and lost to an unpopular fascist. If they were trying to win they would have been offering popular concessions to earn as many votes as possible.