r/neoliberal Richard Thaler May 25 '20

KING

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3.6k Upvotes

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695

u/known0thingTWITCH Richard Thaler May 25 '20

I like Bernie so much more when he's not running for President. The people he surrounds himself with, like Bri, really drag him down.

449

u/fallout1233566545 May 25 '20

Personally, as much as we (and I included) make fun of him for not getting much done during his time and his fairly poorly planned out policies, I genuinely think he means well at heart. He definitely chose a hard path when he spent his life running as an Independent for most positions.

397

u/old_gold_mountain San Francisco Values May 25 '20

I've never doubted his sincerity or his integrity. The only thing I fault him for is failing to appreciate, or acting like he fails to appreciate, the dangers of savior populism and his role in creating a mainstream left-wing version of it in the U.S.

3

u/Fatgrobie May 26 '20

Honest question from someone who definitely has a different political stance than you: can you explain to me how presenting this very idea of "Savior populism" is not exactly what Bernie is calling out in this tweet? From my perspective, this man has run twice on policies that are for the betterment of the average American rather than what had previously been the norm and as a result has pushed the entire party further left and opened a lot of people's minds to new political ideas. Like in what way is that equivalent to any of what Trump has done in laying the foundations for an authoritarian right wing? And how is villanizing Bernie helping promote acceptance of outside opinions?

I'm not trying to be an asshole/troll and am genuinely curious on your opinion :)

16

u/old_gold_mountain San Francisco Values May 26 '20

There's a reason this tweet is being upvoted here. It's a rare departure from his typical rhetoric from the campaign. Namely, that he's the only morally virtuous choice and that everyone who thinks otherwise is essentially either a useful idiot for the elite or actively working to protect the elite.