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Exclusive: Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump (www.usatoday.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/news@lemmy.world
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[–] 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Young voters delivered GA in 2020, and what did Dems do with that majority?

Biden immediately dropped all pretense of doing immigration reform because an unelected senate parliamentarian said no, offered no meaningful student debt relief, didn’t legalize cannabis, and is drilling for oil at record rates - more so than Trump did. Dems had yet another chance to codify Roe, and blew it. Biden even left in Louis DeJoy as postmaster general. Now he’s mischaracterizing peaceful student protesters as violent radicals, while actual thugs in riot gear and stars of david are free to descend upon them and beat them into submission.

Don’t blame young people for having eyes and ears and paying attention - Biden had his chance, and blew it in favor of his donors’ interests. It’s a tale as old as time, and if you have any interest in actually galvanizing youthful voters, you’ve got to offer something better than the outmoded views of geriatric, genocidin’ Biden.

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  • [–] -3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Downvote me if you want but it's still a fact that older voters vote more reliably and therefore get better representation. I don't know that GA was that large of a deviation but even if it was, in general the younger vote still can't be counted on.

    Either way, your comment is case in point (if not also a bit misinformed) - if the youth vote is going to abandon the Dems after one election you can kind of see why they might consider spending more time and money going after a more reliable bloc.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I love your framing here, “youth vote is going to abandon the Dems.” lol!

    The youth vote delivered a majority for the Dems, which was squandered yet again, because democrats don’t actually want to lead. Dems clearly are a fundraising organization, not a political organization.

    Shouldn’t the DNC have to do something to earn people’s votes? Instead they spit in our faces as they continue to serve the corporate donors.

    So fine, let them continue to court boomers. Because that will obviously work forever.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Correction - you were the one that implied the young people were going to abandon the dems: "Biden had his chance, and blew it"

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago*

    You're missing their point. Biden didn't abandon younger voters because he never supported them in the first place. He talked a good game so he had their support which is why he won in 2020. Now that it's clear they never had his support yes, they will abandon him.

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  • [+] -6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    as somebody with a cumulative $130k in student loan debt, whose loans just went into repayment last year, don't fucking speak for me on whether i think Biden is trying to do something about it. needless to say i'm following that topic, and i see the efforts Biden/the current admin is making, and i see it repeatedly thwarted by right-wing politicians at fed and state levels.

    every time i read a statement like yours, i get the feeling it's coming from someone who isn't in repayment yet.

    edit - or a right-wing troll

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I hear you on student debt forgiveness, Biden has done $144B, which is a little under a tenth of the total. I give that to him as part of the 10% of his campaign promises he has actually delivered on, but it’s not nearly enough. And holy hell did he screw up delivering on that - telling all those borrowers they were getting relief, only to snatch it away from them some months later in a most confusing and disorganized way. Truly inept.

    Why not forgive all the student debt? The cost of higher learning in this country is absurd. Especially when you consider that many of these universities are land grant institutions. The commodification of education was a huge mistake (thanks W Bush for eliminating the tuition cap and opening the floodgates). Biden himself authored the legislation which prevents students from declaring bankruptcy when they inevitably get crushed from the massive amount of debt brought on by pursuing degrees. This is how they tag team us, to cement corporate hegemony. Here is a perfect example where Biden has a chance to make things right, but of course he wants nothing of it.

    Instead, Biden sends billions overseas to massacre brown children. All the while preventing the UN from doing anything about it to keep civilians safe.

    Instead, Biden locks in over half of Trump’s $2T tax cuts for the rich and corporations. Recapturing those alone could have paid for all the student debt. Literally all of it.

    So yes, you’re correct that repugnantcons play their part to ensure corporate domination of our lives. But realize the Dems are also fiscal conservatives, and also extremely pro corporate, and they are complicit in this great robbery as well.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    yes, even though i didn't get my $20k forgiveness, i'm sure current admin would be SUPER SUCCESSFUL in pushing through forgiveness of all student loan debt. no pushback from the right at all. /s

    yes, even though the right is attempting to dismantle education at all levels, i'm sure the left could absolutely succeed in making quality higher ed free for everyone in a single term, no problem. /s

    seriously though, i don't think it's worthwhile to pin our hopes on any administration achieving hugely improved outcomes on any complex issue in one or two terms. on a societal level, i think things decay and fall apart more easily than utopia is realized. i'm hoping for slow progress. i'm not holding my breath or shooting myself in the foot voting third party right now and expecting a miracle.

    final thought as i write this - has utopia ever been realized on any significant scale? only for some, and only for a time.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Congress passed Trump’s $2T tax cuts for the rich and corporations without too much concern over how we’d pay for it, why does the cost of education need to be held to a different standard?

    Can’t argue about the right’s war on education though. With their voter base dwindling and dying off, they’re getting increasingly more desperate to manufacture a voting populace incapable of questioning their failing governance.

    Regardless, while I agree it won’t happen overnight, I also think we can achieve this “utopia” far more quickly than you imply. Never before has humanity had the means at its disposal to delegate fulfillment of our basic needs to our tools, but now we can thanks to advanced technology and AI. The challenge is going to be convincing the elites to relinquish their vice grip on society, which is what they exploit to increase their capital hoard and leverage it to keep all of us on the grind, fighting to survive or otherwise fighting pointless culture wars with each other. Part of that equation is of course modern day indentured servitude in the form of student loans.

    Challenge yourself! Dare to dream of how we could, instead of why we won’t.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    i don't approve of the tax cuts. look, i'm middle aged and my future doesn't look good. i'm hoping for... well, a better old age and death than the one that honestly seems likely. i talk to a lot of people without a place to stay, food, safety, or medical care.

    my point to you was, i'm not going to not vote for Biden because he didn't manifest total financial freedom for me in the last four years. i don't think third party has a chance right now, and i'm terrified for myself, my family, and the people i work with if we get Trump.

    i genuinely believe splitting the left will only enable Trump to win, and i'm not convinced there's any coming back from that. as bad as things are for most of us, i believe it can get a lot worse - and some of the the people i work with tell me what that looks like in places where government isn't functional at all any more.

    i don't believe there is anyone in any party who is going to eliminate my student loan debt in the next four years. but i am grateful that i paid $0 this month instead of the $800 it would have been.

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