Probably not much.
What we need to do is get progressive candidates who can win Southern and rural voters.
Bernie got clobbered in the South against Hillary. So would every other progressive candidate that might try to win.
This puts the winning of a Democratic primary out of reach of *any* progressive candidate until they figure out how to reach these people.
It CAN be done. Create a WPA 2.0 that puts people to work. The term"handouts" is an ugly Republican term but Republicans have shown over the last 40 years that they are a lot better at controlling the narrative than progressives or even neoliberals.
Rural voters and Southerners don't want "handouts", even though statistically they probably lead the nation in getting them.
They want jobs. And they don't want jobs at call centers or Amazon sweatshop warehouses.
They want to work with their hands.
A WPA 2.0 can give them that. They can rebuild their towns and cities, and urban areas can benefit from it, too.
It's only a matter of time before Democrats lose the poorer urban areas in elections.
Democrats abandoned the poor and the so-called blue collar vote a very long time ago. With full cooperation from Democratic voters.
Biden is exactly what Democratic voters voted for.
There is only one way to fix that. Get these young turks who have won a few seats to offer things with staying power.
A universal income is not gonna cut it. That's just a big money suck with no long term improvement for people's lives or livelihoods.
Real jobs funded by the government as in the old WPA, free healthcare for all, and substantial investments in education will help everyone. Historical statistics show that the costs of these programs will not even be noticed as the econoomy improves and people regain spending power.
Currently, 80% of Democratic politicians are Republican Lite.
So the job of progressives is to flip that 80% to 20%. That starts at the bottom, not the top.
Maybe Biden will pull an FDR but it's unlikely. Look at the Democratic Senators he'd have to push such an agenda through. Not happening. Not until that 80% becomes 20.
