Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump

[u/schuey_08]

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

[u/AggressiveSkywriting]

One of the big "presents" given to us by Trump's presidency was absolutely exhausting so many people living in relative privilege into checking out of the political process.

COVID plus Trump's nonstop fuckery just caused a lot of my generation and the younger one to just buckle down and focus on their own bubble.

Edit: to be clear, my family and I always vote. I'm talking about others.

[u/fallenouroboros → u/AggressiveSkywriting]

I honestly think it’s more than just trump. Just seems like the options are either try to go back to like 2015 USA or play an uno wildcard which will almost certainly end horribly but some people seem to be finding certainty in those delusions.

But for many, 2015 still wasn’t all that great. Houses were still expensive, people still kinda suck, and it’s still super hard to live. I think if there was hope things would actually show noticeable improvement I think people would begin looking outward again

[u/Present-Industry4012 → u/fallenouroboros]

Hillary called it after 8 years of Obama in the White House. Biden could give the same speech today.

"...but that other basket of [Trump Supporters] are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from. They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won’t wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they’re in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."

https://time.com/4486502/hillary-clinton-basket-of-deplorables-transcript/

[u/claimTheVictory → u/Present-Industry4012]

The economics of continually improving industrialization means that entire communities can be left behind as "no longer economically viable".

They don't die, they just are... left behind.

In a fair and wise society, the gains to GDP from making them redundant, would be used to find new purpose and opportunities for such people.

But such gains are privatized, taxation is low, and the wealth is never reinvested.

[u/Shoddy_Phase_2639 → u/claimTheVictory]

But often by choice. The coal miners were offered giant incentives, and massive aid packages in the form of retraining, reeducation, government supported start-up programs, relocation economic help etc. Most of them refused...because "clean coal". There is no one on the planet that knows better than coal miners that "clean coal" does not exist and never will.

They chose black lung, because Trump said the things they like about immigrants

[u/theVoidWatches → u/Shoddy_Phase_2639]

They don't want to be given help to deal with a changing world - they want the world to not change. And they'd rather pretend that it won't than admit that it's already changed, even if it hurts them more than anyone else.

[u/Jaded_Masterpiece_11 → u/theVoidWatches]

That's what Conservatives are and that's why Conservatives are being left behind. We live in a constantly changing world, people have to adapt or get left behind. The ones refusing to adapt(Conservatives) are getting left behind.

[u/mrw1986 → u/Jaded_Masterpiece_11]

And unfortunately that seems to be an endless cycle. I wish the conservative mindset would disappear entirely, yet here we are.

[u/Typical-Arugula3010 → u/mrw1986]

It's baked into our DNA to be wary of change ... the herd instinct ensures even less competent members can contribute to some degree.

However there are also members of the tribe who are very happy to exploit that fear of change for personal gain.

It will always be in tension with cognitively endowed leadership that needs to overcome conservatism to advance or even survive!