In many ways I get the Bernie Princesses who are petulantly never Biden to the point of feeling justified in “punishing” Democrats by voting for the Ol’ Pussy Grabber. They believe that Sanders has the magic elixir that will solve all of our problems and if the rest of us weren’t so thick, we’d see that. By casting the issue of not supporting Sanders as a character flaw that the rest of us have, they feel even more justified in abusing us. After all, it is human nature to ostracize those that display significant differences than the normative behavior of the group. Don’t believe me? Just ask any high-functioning Autistic person.
Oh, hello! Happy Autism Awareness month!
Election 2016 was the Great Civics Lesson for the American electorate. It is a gift that keeps on giving. This week’s installment is the lack of understanding of how democratic governance works as displayed by the Bernie Princesses. To be fair, only about 25% of Sanders supporters qualify as princesses — the policy pea of a Medicare buy in option under their mattress is just too much for them to vote for; better to have a 7-2 conservative SCOTUS majority and a single-party pseudo-democratic GOP dystopia than have anything less than Medicare for all. That’ll teach those centerists!
What the Bernie Princesses don’t get is the role of a politician like Sanders in our national politics. The best he could hope for is what he’s achieved: shifting the Overton window leftward. He’s made democratic socialism and a national healthcare system possible. The concepts are now part of the national dialogue. It’s on the table and seriously being considered. And, mot importantly, we’re compromising with him by not just proposing improving the ACA, but by improving the ACA by allowing a public option.
As I’ve said in posts past, the heart of democracy is compromise. If you aren’t willing to compromise no matter if your Smitch SmcConnell, Gnewty Gringrinch, MAGAts, Tea Partiers — my how far Ted Cruz has fallen that he doesn’t even make the list of never-compromisers any more — or Bernie Princesses — then you aren’t a democrat. You are not an adherent to and believer in democracy.
Because of the necessity of compromising with the minority, democracy is inherently centerist. Policies and laws are constantly being pulled towards the center from the extremes. By moving the extremes — the Overton window — we move the center. It’s not sexy or dramatic, but that’s the way it works. And, Sanders has proven masterful at picking his time and executing his electoral politics. He has maximized his influence over the Democratic Party’s platform. You’d think his supporters would be ecstatic.
Okay, maybe ecstatic is a little too much. Proud? Pleased? Happy? And, they might be if they had a better appreciation for how democracy worked.
The Repubes have already rejected democracy and are working as hard as they can to create their GOP dystopia and disenfranchise the rest of us. They’ve already poisoned the well by injecting it with hyper-partisanship: when every decision, even those about social distancing, for example, are tinged by partisan politics, there is no social trust. Once we lose trust in each other and our institutions, then we have a greatly weakened society. It’s what the Repubes are banking on. They want to use the Ol’ Pussy Grabber and now COVID19 as a wrecking ball on the norms that prop up our culture, so they can fill the vacuum with a corporations and profits first fascist regime.
I hope that the left does not get similar ideas. Democracy is a less than perfect system of governance, but it is preferable to the more authoritarian alternatives. The only way we keep it, though, is by understanding the way it works: compromise with the minority, elect people of integrity to office, follow our rules, norms, and traditions, and be informed on the mechanics of democracy, the government, and issues we face.
If we can keep our democracy — and that’s a big if after SCOTUS’ Wisconsin decision — we just might end up with a stronger democracy. But, we’ll need everyone — including the Bernie Princesses — to be out voting blue no matter who.
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The image was found using a Creative Commons search. It was found on Flickr. Little Boxes Princess and the Pea Bed was created by Sesi Ackland. It was posted by Torley. It is licensed as Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.
The Psy of Life 
All I can say to the Bernie Princesses is please do not vote for an alternate candidate. You will be throwing your vote away. The most important thing we can do is defeat the wannabe dictator of the very evil Trumpenstein. Only after we get the 45th dotard out of office can we start to legislate Bernies overall goals.
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Howdy Jerry!
The Bernie Princesses believe that a Clinton presidency would’ve been and a Biden presidency will be as bad as Trump. They don’t have an answer to the possibility that we will stop living in a functioning democracy and start living in a single-party pseudo-democratic autocracy if Trump wins a second term. They believe that we’ve been living in fascism for years before Trump was elected. They have no real answer for why Bernie’s massive popularity and correctness did not sweep away all opposition in the primaries and see him election. They all claim to have voted for him as did all of their friends. And, threaten that if we keep being mean to them, they won’t vote for Biden. Unfortunately, for Bernie, they didn’t vote for him either. They have no answer for Biden having flipped all of Sanders’ counties from 2016 except for those in California and a few in Texas.
All this is from my interactions with them on Twitter. It’s as stupid as it sounds.
The Bernie Princesses are a lot of hot air, little actual work towards winning an election, and less actual voting. Unfortunately, 24% of them voted against Clinton in 2016 and about the same percentage are threatening to do the same now. They’ll never come round, so there’s no point fretting over it.
Again, it is as stupid as it sounds.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Reblogged this on cabbagesandkings524 and commented:
Calico Jack – Some people will refuse half loaf.
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It is, in large measure, the shifting of the Overton window on a number of fronts that terrifies the GOP Old Guard. After all, they have had significant success through their think tanks, Fox “News”, and preachers over the last four decades in shifting it the other way. They know it works. So, they will push the “Bernie was sabotaged” narrative to his supporters as hard as they can.
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Howdy Bob!
They really seem to be stuck in their fear of losing their grip on “power” and holding on to the old status quo of the 1920’s and 1880’s as long as possible. I guess success — in that they’ve enjoyed electoral success since Reagan — makes people more conservative — as in risk and change averse. And, now they’ve convinced themselves that they can avoid electoral accountability entirely.
The Bernie Princesses have joined the long depressing line of useful idiots that we have in the country.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Avoidance of, or immunity from accountability may be the very core definition of “power”, the ability to act however one wishes without negative consequences. This is the god-like dream of the narcissist. It is also not the way the universe works. Never the less, many still seek the Midas Touch, forgetful of the end of the story.
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