Progressive Politics

Personally, I advocate for voting third party rather than abstaining, which provides a quantifiable data point that there are votes to be won on the left.

The widespread protests over Palestine on campuses and elsewhere also help establish that this contingent of voters exists.

The Democrats calculus was that they could win by moving right and picking up moderates and centrists, and so they attempted to "call the bluff" of the left, on the assumption that for all the noise we were making, at the end of the day, we would fall in line behind the lesser evil, as has often happened in the past. The attempt to win over centrists failed, and the assumption that the left was bluffing also fell through.

The party may have an understanding of why they lost, even if they won't say it because it makes them look bad and admitting it would strengthen the left's negotiating position. If they genuinely still don't get it, and aren't going to, then they obviously aren't useful as a vehicle to get policy enacted, and we should focus on building an alternative from the ground up, no matter how difficult it may be.

The policies I believe in are not merely "preferences" or things that I think are good ideas. There is a certain minimum set of policies that need to happen. The planet is dying, and the economy is getting worse all the time, the fascists are the only ones offering any sort of "alternative" to the status quo, and so long as that's true and the status quo is declining, their victory is assured.

The gulf between what has to happen and what politicians tell us is "allowed" to happen is widening further and further. If they refuse to do what's needed and cannot be pressured to, then they need to be replaced.