Sanders policies considered too idealistic are common sense elsewhere

[Redstreak 6,653]

As the prospect of Donald Trump in the White House moves from ludicrous to terrifying, it’s time to reconsider the electability question. Despite polls suggesting that Hillary Clinton is more likely to lose the general election than Bernie Sanders, her supporters routinely argue that Sanders’ program is too radically utopian to have a chance. Often a note of condescension is injected: Young people support Sanders because they want free stuff. Once his proposals are seriously considered, it’s argued, any adult will reject them out of hand.

Although countless analyses have been devoted to the demographics each candidate needs to win, one demographic has not been part of the national conversation. Sanders won the first global Democratic Party primary by a landslide —  69% of the vote — that the media hardly noted and never analyzed. Democrats Abroad, the overseas arm of the Democratic Party, organized the election, which took place in March, to represent citizens who live outside the U.S., a group the Democratic National Committee considers the 51st state.

Expatriate Democrats could choose to send primary election absentee ballots back to their home states, or they could participate in the global primary, which will send 21 delegates to the party convention in July. Ballots could be cast by fax, email or snail mail in the global primary, or at one of 104 polling places that were organized in cities from Lima to London. (Since I was traveling at the time, I faxed my ballot, but my daughter sent me a festive photo showing her feeling the Bern in Berlin.)

Of the 8 million Americans who live abroad, 34,700 participated in the global Democratic primary. Although the sampling is not huge, it’s considerably larger than that used for polls that play crucial roles in the electoral process. While we are wondering what drives young Latinas or older white men to support this or that candidate, we ought to consider why 69% of Democratic voters who live in 40 countries preferred Bernie Sanders.

The answer is quite simple: The Sanders proposals that may strike Americans who have never lived in other countries as impractical and outlandish are simply common sense elsewhere — especially in Canada and Western Europe, where the majority of Democrats Abroad voters live. Universal healthcare? The U.S. is the only developed country that lacks it. Family leave? While it is nice that San Francisco just mandated six weeks of paid leave for new parents, Germany mandates 14 months — 16 if both parents share the time spent at home. Free college tuition? Britain recently tripled its college tuition fees, though it’s still the case that a year at Oxford will cost you a fraction of a year at a middling American college. In the rest of Europe, free tuition, and interest-free loans for living expenses, are the rule.

Early in the campaign, Sanders made a rhetorical mistake by appealing to Scandinavia as a model for realizing his proposals. “We are not Denmark,” was Clinton’s withering reply. His choice of such a small country seemed only to underline the impracticality of his proposals for the United States. Why didn’t he name a major player on the world stage?

The obvious choice would be Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy, which manages to provide its 80 million citizens benefits unheard of in the U.S. Importantly, the word “benefit” isn’t used for these programs. Healthcare, education, publicly sponsored arts and labor regulations that include family leave and long vacations are considered to be rights, not favors.

If you want to understand the difference between our two countries, just try to explain the concept of sick leave to a German. “But what happens to people who are sick for longer than the allotted time?” she will ask you, aghast that Americans find the German system equally incredible: If you’re sick for more than three days, a note from the doctor will be sent to your employer, who cannot legally withhold your salary. Like any system, this one is occasionally abused, but not even Germany’s most business-friendly political party would consider amending it.

The Germany of World War II plays a major role in American consciousness. Basic — often simplistic — knowledge of the Holocaust is offered in schools at all levels and assumed in popular culture. Knowledge of the last 70 years of German history, however, and the ways in which Germans have worked hard to confront their past, is woefully lacking. “German” to many still means “Nazi,” making it hard for Americans to look at Germany as a model of anything.

But Germany is a model worth emulating: Its economy remains one of the strongest to emerge from the 2008 financial crisis. It has managed to preserve much of its manufacturing base in the process of becoming a dominant player in a globalized world. It is a major industrial exporter. Its success has gone hand in hand with laws and practices that American workers, blue collar or white, would be grateful for.

Real knowledge of daily working life abroad has shown expats that the revolution Sanders proposes for the United States could be just a matter of course. Voters at home should take heed.

 

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-neiman-sanders-global-democratic-primary-20160603-snap-story.html

[Duella Dvil 11,555]

God damn it. now i have to clean up all this tea you just spilled, THAAAAANKS

[FATCAT 60,886]

Tell me something I don't know. Sanders plans aren't revolutionary around the world, but they are revolutionary in America. I hope that, through either a Sanders Presidency, or a systematic rise of progressive candidates, we can change this for America. For the sake of my children, and their children.

[DrewStevens 5,249]

His ideas are not as extreme and idealistic as many people say... But that doesn't mean America is capable of achieving them in a short term. 

All those countries have achieved those things thanks to years and years of development and political changes. America still has a long way to come before thinking of some of those things.

[FameHungry 146]

I still can't believe America doesn't have paid maternity leave. 6 weeks is nothing. It really sounds like a hassle living there when you have to pay for everything, and it's not cheap either.

 

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

2 minutes ago, FameHungry said:

I still can't believe America doesn't have paid maternity leave. 6 weeks is nothing. It really sounds like a hassle living there when you have to pay for everything, and it's not cheap either.

 

This

Don't even talk about Paternity Leave

Luckily, Hillary has proposals related to fixing this issue, along with child care fees in general that seem pretty reasonable, and shes probably going to be President, so

~~~~

OT: This is true

If only people had realized that and the DNC put their chips into Bernie, or at least split their support earlier on  

 

[FameHungry 146]

Just now, ItsTommyBitch said:

This

Don't even talk about Paternity Leave

Luckily, Hillary has proposals related to fixing this issue, along with child care fees in general that seem pretty reasonable, and shes probably going to be President, so

 

Tell me about the child care fees actually?

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

2 minutes ago, FameHungry said:

Tell me about the child care fees actually?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-child-care_us_57313fd7e4b096e9f09275b6

Read away

(I think this article describes the current issue with the costs of child care, but if it doesn't message me and I can elaborate to the best of my abilities~)

[venusfly 17,885]

Why does nobody call out Trump's policies for being too ideological and economically impossible?

[Luc 4,776]

5 minutes ago, LG said:

Why does nobody call out Trump's policies for being too ideological and economically impossible?

Because that wouldn't have an effect. Nobody votes Trump because of his detailed policy, they vote for Trump as a person and that's it. 

 

Germany is a good example for austerity, bad priorities and labour liberalisation in Europe. Scandinavia was good, but perhaps using the UK as an example would've been better: they have universal healthcare and low(er) tuition fees. The UK doesn't come across as anything radical. Only thing is that the UK has big inequality. France is like an utopia for labour unions, but it causes big unemployment..

[PopBitch 1,218]

1 hour ago, Luc said:

Because that wouldn't have an effect. Nobody votes Trump because of his detailed policy, they vote for Trump as a person and that's it. 

 

Germany is a good example for austerity, bad priorities and labour liberalisation in Europe. Scandinavia was good, but perhaps using the UK as an example would've been better: they have universal healthcare and low(er) tuition fees. The UK doesn't come across as anything radical. Only thing is that the UK has big inequality. France is like an utopia for labour unions, but it causes big unemployment..

The UK has high taxes to achieve those things.  That will never fly with the American voters.  Their mindset is lower taxes.  

[Luc 4,776]

15 minutes ago, PopBitch said:

The UK has high taxes to achieve those things.  That will never fly with the American voters.  Their mindset is lower taxes.  

Sanders' policies can only be achieved through higher taxation (and improved efficiency) and nobody denies that. But Denmark, with government revenue of 49% of GDP, taxes way more than the UK with 39% (and Germany and France both tax more than the UK).

[LebaneseDude 6,146]

Looking at other countries and trying to emulate them causes more problems than they solve. Each country is unique in both its financial circumstances and its culture. Each must be considered independently.

What Clinton meant by "We are not Denmark" is exactly that. You are not Denmark. You are the USA. 

You are not Germany. You are the USA.

What works there may not work here. The method of implementation used there may not be applicable here. What work in general in Europe work because of their cultures and relative financial normalization.

And no they are not "common" elsewhere. The central ideas he has mostly happen in Europe, where the author has conveniently left out how much these countries are currently struggling with their systems.

Also this author has failed to outline why that is the case.

Furthermore, this author is resorting to xenophobia in order to justify why people are turned off by Sanders proposals, as opposed to making a proper dissection of what the USA needs and wants.

That's the issue here. Sanders keeps selling his ideas but has dodged every opportunity to explain how he will implement them and in what order. It is no surprise that his supporters are just as misinformed. 

Of course that doesn't stop his cult of personality.

[bionic 50,111]

Gun control is common sense elsewhere.

[Eighteen 5,430]

ppl love guns here. and we have the NRA that will attempt to squash any attempt to oppose guns and gun lovers and people who sleep with their guns and people who use the barrel as a sexxx toy etc.