Peel posted:

so i'm british and something akin to this happened recently with us, as you may have heard

no not brexit. 2015 general election

the tories were stupid and incompetent and we had a milquetoast nonentity in charge of labour but it looked like they'd scrape it out anyway. but then the polls were wrong and the tories got a majority and 18 months later the country is imploding and labour is still in disarray.

so the sanders talk is similar to our corbyn talk. the old party establishment just wasn't working at all so we tried something new. and we've had a year of corbyn now so i can say some things about the experience

1. if you make a serious push to make the party go left (not just nonbinding platforms, but credible left policy) there will likely be deep deep resistance. the idea is anathema to a lot of wealthy liberals (not leftists) with entrenched power. you'll also face a hostile press which will make its peace with trump, or just with congressional republicans, or with leadership figures of the democratic right given permanent platforms to undermine you in the name of Seriousness.

2. corbyn genuinely isn't a very good politician but we have no alternative because our dnc-equivalent could slam down the door to any replacement if they were able to force him out. we're obligated to keep him due to the party civil war. try to make sure you don't get stuck in the same position.


but there's some good signs too. corbyn's rise was met with sheer panic and total resistance, sanders seems to have better relations with the dnc wing at least in public. and you can make a credible claim that the democratic coalition is the genuine majority of the country, just hobbled by suppression, gerrymandering, etc. it's harder to make that claim in the uk for labour.