logoalt Hacker News

loeglast Monday at 8:51 PM1 replyview on HN

Bernie isn't the only member of the left and has positions that are a little idiosyncratic among that group; this is one area where he diverges.


Replies

mondrianlast Monday at 9:28 PM

Structurally speaking, being left and pro-open borders is incoherent. The left is about collective power controlling labor supply and using it to tamp down corporate overreach. Open borders and H1B that allow corporations to side-step local worker bargaining power are squarely antithetical to being Left.

I think 'liberal progressives' that are mainly concerned with identity representation, not working class power, are rhetorically bundled as 'far-left'. To people who buy that, Bernie Sanders (a Leftist) and Kamala Harris (a Third Way liberal progressive) are both far-left. It's incoherent but rhetorically potent.