Why Some Leftists Will Not Vote for Joe Biden

Here’s my honest, fair assessment on why some Bernie supporters will not vote for Joe Biden…Show more

First, let’s start with Kyle Kulinski’s rationale because he’s arguably the most influential Bernie supporter with millions of followers between Twitter and YouTube.

When it comes to current events, many leftist arguments originate with him. He said he will not vote for Joe Biden because Joe Biden doesn’t support at least one-of-his-top-five-positions: “Medicare for All, free college, living wage, ending the wars, and UBI.”

If Joe Biden supported one of those positions then Kyle Kulinski said he’d vote for him in 2020.

Kyle Kulinski’s view is that he doesn’t want to keep rewarding the Democratic party with his vote because it signals to the party that they can continue to ignore leftist demands while taking leftist support for granted.

But what is better? If Joe Biden gave 10%, 10%, 10%, 10%, 100% on each of those positions, or if he gave 50%, 50%, 50%, 50%, 50%?

With the latter, leftists are getting more of their agenda through even though Joe Biden fails their ideological purity test on each issue.

The truth is that Joe Biden is overall the most leftist Democratic nominee in American history with a running mate who has a Senate voting record further left than Bernie Sanders therefore many centrist Democrats believe they have moved far enough left to satisfy the leftist wing of the party.

After all, some of the things Biden/Harris are running on are a $15 minimum wage, free public college for families making under $125,000, a universal housing voucher program, a public option, a $2 trillion dollar green energy plan, a $775 billion plan for caregiving, and a $700 billion “made in America” plan. Biden’s plans come to at least $10 trillion, which is three times the cost of what Hillary Clinton proposed in 2016.

“You know what, Joe Biden will become the most progressive president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And that, in this moment, is what we need.” — Bernie Sanders

But a lot of leftists who are persuaded by that platform still won’t vote for Joe Biden, somewhat paradoxically to Kyle Kulinski’s desire, because they feel he compromises too much!

It’s not good enough he holds those positions today he should have held them 10 years ago!

This is why even if Joe Biden did support Medicare-for-All there are still many on the left who wouldn’t vote for him because they don’t think he’d actually fight for it.

I think this is a fair critique given that in Joe Biden’s previous presidential runs and throughout his long Senatorial career he was known more of as a centrist bipartisan backslapper by supporting such policies as a federal spending freeze and a balanced budget amendment.

Ultimately, many leftists believe time is on their side.

If Joe Biden wins in 2020 he’ll either seek reelection or have VP Kamala Harris take the ball from there, which could arguably stall the leftist agenda, but if Joe Biden loses then not only will it be easier for democratic socialists to get the nomination in 2024, but it’ll also be easier for them to win the presidency as it is the political norm for the country to change parties in the White House after 8 years.

And not only that, but after 8 years of Trump and a more diverse electorate, leftists could be set for a landslide victory in 2024 and be able to push much more of their agenda through in a way that could be difficult with a non-democratic-socialist in the White House and a more evenly divided Senate.

From a leftist perspective wouldn’t it, therefore, be better to wait until 2024 instead of Joe Biden making marginal gains now?

During radical times, moderate success can be a liability. If Joe Biden wins, Republicans will be in a better position in 2024 to run the “change” candidate, i.e. somebody whose younger, more charismatic, more ideologically-pure, more ethnic, and more anti-establishment, such as the increasingly popular 2016 Republican runner-up Ted Cruz who currently has the #1 podcast in the country.

Of course, it’s a big gamble to bet on 2024 (even for disillusioned conservatives in the reverse case) because if 2016 has taught us anything it’s that a lot can happen from now till then.

And so although many leftists are not actively cheerleading for Trump to win in order to create their dream 2024 scenario because there are so many ways that Machiavellian strategy could backfire, it’s enough of a hope for many leftists to keep their pom-poms at home.