Why I am Rooting for Bernie Sanders in 2020

[GeneralMacArthur]

8) A Sanders failure is still a win for me. If Sanders loses the election, socialist economic policies will go the way of the dodo for several years in this country. Trump will then have to survive a likely recession, as well as a 2022 bloodbath in congress.

You do realize that if Sanders loses it will also likely be a bloodbath in Congress for the 2020 Dems, right?  The Dems might not even retake the House in 2022 because the Republicans will score another victory right before redistricting.  And even if they do, just imagine what another 2 years of unified Republican government will do to this country.  The top motivation for the Democrats this year needed to be win-at-all-costs, because the potential negative impact of continued Republican control far exceeds any difference in potential positive impact between Sanders and someone else.

Overall based on points 2 and 8 it seems like you mostly want Sanders to get elected to just to see him fail, so we can get through this cancerous phase and return to rational liberalism (point 1 entails policies that virtually every candidate agrees on).  Yet you also relentlessly harass me on this forum (including point 9) for vocalizing the same sentiment.  We both agree that a Sanders presidency is going to end in "frustration, disillusion, and depression" for the left, whom you also apparently oppose (and oppose them by supporting their candidate).  Maybe you hate Biden and Buttigieg so much that this is the best you can hope for.  Me, I want a little more from my president than just pissing off people I don't like.

You've also missed, in point 3, that Sanders' economic rhetoric isn't just divisive, it's leading to the creation of a new factional wing.  Before Sanders, socialism in America was basically just Kshama Sawant (whom he had open his rally here in Seattle a week ago).  Now, directly because of him, you have all these socialists building a movement and running for office and acquiring power; he is driving young people in their direction.  Obviously the message of this wing is extremely divisive and hostile.  But this is yet another faction gaining power in the party in addition to the ones you listed.  Just look at that 2024 thread with AOC at #1.

Giving him the presidency is just going to exacerbate things even though he will inevitably fail.  Trump has been able to hoist Trumpism on the GOP and run anti-Trumpists out of the party in spite of the failure of his ideology in practice.  In both cases this is going to be the most long-term impact.  The GOP will have to spend the next decade or more contending with Trumpist candidates and trying to cleanse itself of the toxic ideology of Trumpism.  Similarly the Democratic Party will have to spend a decade or more contending with socialist insurgent candidates inspired by Sanders and contending with the ideology of the socialist faction and things like rent control, wealth tax, state control of industries, farmers on the fed, anti-business policies, etc.

[GeneralMacArthur]

Honestly, if you hate Sanders and socialism so much, the best way to win is to let him have the presidency for four years. Democrats are well-known for cannibalizing themselves. If his time in office is as disastrous as you expect, then congrats, you've turned a whole generation away from far-left policies. But if you go for a brokered convention and nominate Biden, you will just be playing into the young socialists' narrative of victimhood, corruption, and abandonment by the powers-that-be.

Sanders is the one who pushed my generation into far-left policies in the first place.  He is the one who got them totally invested in a narrative of victimhood, corruption and abandonment.  Yes, the cataclysmic failure of his nomination (and unlikely administration) may finally snap them out of it.  But they wouldn't need to be snapped out of it in the first place if not for him and his lies.

In 2014, there was no clamoring for socialism, there was none of this dejection and fury.  Occupy Wall Street had faded into a whimper.  I was 22 at the time and the mood among millenials was just overwhelming apathy and Daily-Show-inspired "lol both sides are bad" bulls**t.  The one good thing I will say about Sanders is that he yanked them out of that apathy.  But there are plenty of ways that any number of politicians could have done that.  I frequently compare Sanders to Beto because Beto also brought huge appeal and excitement among young voters, but did it in an inclusive, honest, progressive way.  You could compare him to Obama as well.  Sanders yanked them out of their apathy by telling them that things are terrible and they need to be angry, very very angry, and direct that anger at their own party.  He mobilized them by saying "only I can save you, you must elect me at all costs."

And what happens at the end of it?  Sanders brought young people to the place they're at, and he's set them up for extreme failure, frustration and disappointment.  In the long term, it would be better if they'd never gotten involved at all.