One dominant narrative in this current political race and last night’s debate is this idea that some of the candidates live in the “real” world where you make compromises to get things done because “you know how to work with Republicans and they don’t” and then there’s Bernie who lives in a fantasy of Medicare and free public colleges & preschool for–which we “can’t afford and don’t have the support for even in the Democratic party.” This narrative persists because it sounds really plausible. It has, as the fake Stephen Colbert once coined, “truthiness,” which is the ring of truth without actually being true.
This is actually a false choice. As one experienced political observer put it, “both these options seem unlikely to me in the current political climate. Only there’s a big difference. I know for a fact that the “real world” option doesn’t exist. There is absolutely no compromise on healthcare or climate change that today’s Republicans would agree to. This is the true fantasy. There are not things that would get done if Democrats would only reach across the proverbial aisle. They have reached repeatedly and there are no hands outstretched. Trying and failing to work with Republicans typified the Obama era. Do we really want to go back to that? The other option of a creating political revolution across the country which elects Bernie Sanders along with a new majority seems equally implausible but unlike the bipartisan option it hasn’t repeatedly been tried. This interests me and has my attention.”
