Ted Rall's Bernie Bio Has Extra Relevance in the Wake of the Democrats' Presidential Defeat

[portlander23]

13. Case in point

For instance, I don't agree with an artificial increase to the minimum wage of $15. Not because I don't believe that workers shouldn't have decent wages, but I know the impact this will have on small-medium sized business owners - if they can't match the increase they will fire workers- so how about a phase out- an incremental increase. Ideally I would love the minimum wage to be around $24 to match inflation, but growth, as it stands, makes it difficult for struggling businesses to meet the target of $15, let alone my wish ($24) Does this make me less of a liberal?

This is precisely the right wing critique of the minimum wage. That raising the minimum wage puts too much of a burden on business and will cut jobs.

The position from the left is that if businesses pay workers less than a living wage and government has to step in with programs like food assistance, then we're all subsidizing employers.

I also believe one of the reasons Crony Capitalism has become rampant is because the FDA has fallen into "regulatory capture", needs regulatory reform, because as it stands, companies enjoy monopolising the market without competition from smaller start ups or companies on the up and up - should I stop calling myself a liberal?

While regulatory capture is a real problem, the notion that regulations exist to protect entrenched players is the libertarian critique of government regulation.

I can't say much about your position on education as you've not made and specific proposals. I do think education should be funded by the government up to the PHD level or even trade schools. It just makes economic sense to invest in a person as you more than make it back in tax revenue.

But yes, this market-view of the world is in fact historically less liberal than the Democratic party has been before Carter, and certainly before Clinton.

When we look at the exit polls, it's clear that class issues were a major issue in the election:

Stop Obsessing Over White Working-Class Voters
Joshua Holland
Rolling Stone

It's true that in 2016, non-college whites swung to the GOP by a 15-point margin relative to 2012. But Clinton underperformed Obama among voters of all races who make less than $30,000 per year by an identical margin. If the pundits were churning out hundreds of columns about how the Dems need to win back low-income voters, it would likely have a more salutary effect on Democratic policy.

Economic justice does matter. It's hard to imaging that the working poor wouldn't have been attracted to a platform that proposed education and health care as a right, a real commitment to living wages, and a move away from free trade agreements that move jobs to the lowest cost labor markets across the globe.

So, I don't think this is a superficial difference. The primary showed that there is a very real rift on the left, and I haven't seen any evidence that it's gone away.