Goddamn dude, Bernie's fall from grace is actually tragic if you think about it... remember when he used to mobilize a lot of young people, full of this beautiful positive energy? It was really touching, this hopeful feeling that maybe things could be okay after all.

I mean, I obviously wasn't there in the US, far from it, but he actually made me feel like I wanted to have a positive, hopeful figure like him that I could count on here in my country as well.

Remember that video when he was giving a speech and a bird landed on his lectern? That's the kind of thing that would be too over the top cute and inspiring if you saw it in a movie, but it fucking happened in real life. You could see how happy the crowd was, truly a moment that happens only once in a lifetime, and it all just slipped away.

God, liberal democracy is such a fucking meat grinder.

[–] NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net 47 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It didn't just slip away, it was taken, because the capitalist class is too desperate and short-sighted to save their position with another dose of social democracy like they did with FDR.

[–] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

They weren't short sighted; the capitalist class prefers fascism over even a slight hint of socialism.

Fascism shifts the blame of economic issues onto minorities from the owner class, whereas even something as moderate as mild social democracy still critiques the owner class.

[–] BurgerPunk@hexbear.net 14 points 4 months ago

That actually is short sighted though. The empire is dying. Bernie and those kind of policies represented a way to gently wind down and create a soft landing for the decline.

You're exactly correct about why they rejected though! They refuse to allow any concessions, or admit that its over

[–] HamManBad@hexbear.net 6 points 4 months ago

Yeah but if their biggest fear is UN soldiers occupying the US and FEMA camps and all that, they should stay away from fash shit. Because that's where fash shit ends

[–] mayo_cider@hexbear.net 33 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I was already pretty deep down the leftist pipeline, but I'd lie if I said Bernie didn't influence me

For a second I believed in electoralism and thought that there was a nonviolent option left

[–] Findom_DeLuise@hexbear.net 38 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Bernie was the compromise candidate. Now he's just compromised.

[–] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 4 months ago

Bernie, along with Kyle Kulinski are who got me into socialism to begin with (or rather, started me down the line. Richard Wolff is actually who got me into post-capitalism idiology).

[–] quarrk@hexbear.net 6 points 4 months ago

Pretty cringe to admit this but oh well: I started reading Marx specifically because I wanted to learn more about what socialism was, without hearing it from a biased source. I wanted to hear it from the man himself. And although I considered it for a time before Bernie, I think his unashamed self-description as a socialist pushed me to actually read.

[–] coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

return my $27 old man

[–] peeonyou@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago

and my $4k+

[–] axont@hexbear.net 23 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I was a "Bernie killed Rosa" type in 2016, but around 2020 I do admit I did feel an inkling of something. It did feel like an energy was possibly coalescing, finally becoming something coherent out of the confused masses.

But I'm still coasting on that. Try to think about just how rough it was to be a self-identified leftist in 2003. When there truly was nothing. All we had then was the band RATM and chat rooms full of 80 year old Trots.

[–] coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago

way back when being a leftist meant listening to Radiohead because you could tell they also thought something was wrong

[–] TheDeed@hexbear.net 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Covid snuffed out a lot of energy in 2020 tbh

[–] axont@hexbear.net 2 points 4 months ago

A lack of a plan and a shift to electoralism killed 2020, but covid didn't really help either. A broader movement failed to materialize from the George Floyd protests.

There was some success however. No one wants to be a cop anymore, so their numbers cropped

[–] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 20 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

did that bird support bombing yugoslavia?

[–] NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net 34 points 4 months ago

"biden is the strongest candidate we have" is a sign to just shut down your party and burn the headquarters tbh

[–] WhyEssEff@hexbear.net 24 points 4 months ago

guy who's been in a coma since 2021 (they take the title at face value)

[–] Sbebg@hexbear.net 23 points 4 months ago

Bernie the type of guy to get shaken down for his lunch money and then give his leading part in the play to the guy who did it

[–] Balefirex@hexbear.net 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

lathe-of-heaven bernie gets blamed for biden losing by associating him with toxic bernie bros

[–] NapoleonBlownApart@hexbear.net 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Tin foil hat time

This is so when Biden crashes and burns, they can say that progressive Democrats are idiots who cost the election, and now they have a mandate to become more conservative.

[–] TrashGoblin@hexbear.net 18 points 4 months ago (2 children)

That's not tinfoil hat time, that's just what they do after every election.

[–] BurgerPunk@hexbear.net 9 points 4 months ago

100-com

if they win- it's because we didn't go left and appealed to moderate(tm) fascists

If they lose- its vecause we went too far left and lost the moderate(tm) fascists

[–] NapoleonBlownApart@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago

They usually don't bother to set up a play like this though.

[–] shreddingitlater@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

wonder-who-thats-for

[–] HumanBehaviorByBjork@hexbear.net 9 points 4 months ago

agni-pain

[–] FortifiedAttack@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago

Boy, I sure can't wait for all the usual liberal cucks to soyface about the next "Here's how Trump can still get arrested" copium once he's president again.

"Prosecutor Dick Masterchud is definitely gonna arrest Trump soon!! Dick she wrote!!! Dicks out for Justice!!!"