@rbreich Informed centrism does not exist. There is only socialism and liberalism on the left and conservatism and reactionism on the right.
Only people who are very ignorant do not actually have a "lean."
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the WW2 Generation and the Silent Generation made centrism work ok for a time, but that was in an America that no longer exists- an America that was strongly protestant and culturally white. Minorities and non-whites fared less well in that era. Now that the USA is multicultural and non-white dominant, centrism no longer works. We are simply too diverse. Older generations were able to make it work because society was far more homogenous than it is today.
Centrism in US politics was all but dead by the late 1990's. Clinton's moral escapades and flexible morality. shamelessness and elastic sense of truth opened the door for what we "enjoy" today.. Centrism was dead long before we realized it.
@Felis_Catus_Domesticus @rbreich I think what people thought was centrism in those days was actually anti-reactionary conservatism. It was a good thing! I wish we had that still.
Not sure I wish it back, simply because I think the demographics of the US have changed too much for it to work the way it once did. I do miss the stability, although it verged on a feeling of stagnation at times.
At this point the Dems are as beholden to corporate money as the Republicans.
That sweet corporate lucre.. that's why.
Bernie tried to show them a better way, via $10 donations..
but it's easier to get your checks from 1-3 billionaires than to try to court and please 10 million individual $10 donors.
This formula is why campaign finance reform is so desperately needed.
The shitshow we are now living in is largely a systemic problem. time to change the system.
@Felis_Catus_Domesticus @rbreich
true but:
1. we won't get campaign finance reform until we vote in those candidates that enact it. merely stating a goal with no way to achieve it is meaningless
2. we are stuck with two parties until we get out of our shitty FPTP voting system
3. bernie isn't the only person in the democrats working for the changes we need
so we can't drop out and whine
we need to show the fuck up, especially in the primaries, and take over the democrats
Enjoyed your interview with Dave Sirota recently
@rbreich can someone not be center-left and still vote democrat?
not sure i understand what the point of this post is.
