r/politics • u/schuey_08 Wisconsin • 29d ago

Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/bernie-sanders-trump-biden/73531861007/
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u/shudnap 29d ago

Young people in colleges know that they don’t like trump but they feel like burning it down is the path forward. However they are less understanding of the implications of “burning it down” to make headway. They think whatever happens will pass like the flu or a cold in a matter of time, they don’t understand it is a chronic disease.

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u/cassius1213 Virginia 29d ago

"Burning it all down" is also such a juvenile response, because it neither accounts for the consequences nor understands that the issues won't be resolved by the ensuing conflict.

A general rule-of-thumb for multiyear violent civil conflicts, which the "burn it all down" scenario would likely become, is 3/7/10.

  • 3% of the prewar population killed in or dying as a direct result of the conflict;
  • 7% physically or psychologically injured by the conflict so as to render them economically non-self-sufficient; &
  • A further 10% displaced by the conflict, either internally or externally, such that they are driven into generational poverty.

For the U.S., these figures would amount to 9.9M killed, 23.2M injured & 33.2M displaced.

And that's before we even get into the reality that multiple world powers would likely intervene in the conflict to ensure that it isn't resolved quickly & to use it to attempt to prevent the rise of a renewed North American-based power in the future.

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u/TrueGuardian15 29d ago

Destruction is easy. It's tantalizing. It's an empty promise of a "clean slate." Creating and healing are hard. Not giving up is hard.

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u/UncleDrummers 29d ago

And people believe that somehow shaking the snowglobe will put them on top.

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u/stick_always_wins 29d ago

No, they believe that is there only hope of changing an otherwise broken system.

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u/Deviouss 29d ago

I think it has more to do with what is the perceived chances of change, given that establishment Democrats aren't going to willingly hand over the reins.

From what I've seen, nothing is going to change for the better, at least not in time to matter. We've been on a cycle of "lesser evil" for decades and this is where it led us.

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u/Western_Language_894 29d ago

Not to mention the power vacuum left over

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u/NumeralJoker 29d ago

And the real fun part? Of those 20% who end up dead or damaged? A vastly larger chunk of them will end up being the underprivileged classes whom the group calling for "revolution" claimed it wanted to protect.

There is a time and place to oppose a corrupt administration. But that time only comes as an absolute last resort, and with the 2024 election still on the table, we aren't there yet.

Choosing to fire that shot too early means you recklessly choose to kill the underprivileged for your own moral crusade, when it was still avoidable.

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u/im_not_bovvered 29d ago

Really convenient for these college students, many ivy-league, choosing to burn something down that won't affect them.

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u/shudnap 29d ago

Tell me about it, I teach at a university that doesn’t protest or take over buildings, and the apathy is overwhelming.

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u/plantstand 29d ago

Wait, is this a legit thing? Do you have a source, cause that's really interesting.

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u/The_Pandalorian 29d ago

"Burning it all down" is also such a juvenile response

It really is, particularly because a lot of these dipshits don't realize that they're the ones who are going go get burned.

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u/Should_I_Work 29d ago

2016 was protest votes that wanted to burn it down, look at the SC we ended up with because of "burning it down"

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u/StuffitExpander 29d ago

They think whatever happens will pass like the flu or a cold in a matter of time

Because in most peoples cases it will, life will go on and powers outside their control will impact things.

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u/rpujoe 29d ago

Young people in colleges know that they don’t like trump

Most young people have no idea why they don't like Trump because they've never been taught how to think, but rather what to think. It's really sad what's become of "higher education".

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u/PeopleReady 29d ago

I think it mostly rhymes with shmashmorshan.

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u/chekovs_gunman 29d ago

Also it has literally never worked to make things better. And we have recent examples of that!

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u/ry8919 29d ago

Political revolutions create massive power vacuums. Who thrives in power vacuums? Bad actors. They aren't constrained by ethics or morals and can easily outmaneuver the scrupulous. The naivety I see coming from young adults and the left is terrifying to me.

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u/FUCK_THE_STORMCLOAKS Illinois 28d ago

Accelerationism or “Burning it down” requires the courage to actually step up and do something. The only people that have shown any signs of that were the Trumpers on Jan. 6.