lots of political news out there...articles on the new leftist bent in the party nudging more conservative democrats to "the center" ( whatever that is )...the rise of "democratic socialism" and the reaction of a president suborning political violence...all part of american politics...past and present...it is clearly possible to run a successful election campaign calling yourself a "democratic socialist" on a local level...mayor, councilman, district representative to congress...like-minded people tend to congregate...human tribalism is probably genetic...so it isn't surprising to find some wandering in whoretown...succeeding in say a statewide campaign might be more difficult...many more congregations to convince...sanders is the only one i can name off the top of my head with much in the way of ability in this...and, as much as he is loved, his moment may have passed as the democrats do as much as they can to split their party as badly as it has been since humphrey's days...a national campaign as a "democratic socialist" may be challenging if not political suicide...2020 will mark a century since the last attempt by a self-proclaimed socialist to gain the presidency...eugene v. debs ran that year...against the likes of warren harding and james cox..he received 3.4% of the vote...913,693 people voted for him ( women voted in that presidential election for the first time incidentally...i haven't clue about the impact that had on debs' chances ) which stands as a record number of votes garnered by a "socialist" to this day...a cautionary tale there somewhere...he received no electoral votes...nor did he in 1900, 1904, 1908, or 1912...a symbolic candidacy at the best of times...the past is not the future...the future is indeterminate and the farther out you extend your event horizon the more variables that you cannot hope to see become involved in events...there could be a "democratic socialist" president...we could all just stop driving our automobiles too...it is a matter of probability...and the probability of a second term for trumpy is not zero...to think so is foolish and pretty much self-defeating...it has always been a very conservative country with pockets of left leaning people ( coincidentally many of those areas are located where there was a strong union presence..a possible motive for the hegemonic culture to want to snuff them out )...radical turns in politics...beyond the roosevelt years ( and that was more capital saving itself )... have generally been rightward...the next election is along way off...no one has the inside scoop and trump will not go quietly...neither will his yahoo base.
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