Ah Bernie, what could have been...

He was re-elected because he won the war and was a good leader at the time, nothing really to do with socialism. He navigated a depression for the American people and they loved him for it

FDR was much closer to being a Social Democrat than a Democratic Socialist. They sound similar but are quite different. Hell I think Bernie is closer to a Social Democrat, too. He praises the Nordic model and they're textbook social democracies.

Bernie wound up having a far greater political impact in the country than anyone would have believed 10 years ago. He didn't have to become president to influence a shift....democrats have gotten alot better overall on domestic policy and the way Bernie inspired millions of us to demand this from the dems we vote for was hugely impactful imo.

We have to face that loads of high ranking "moderate" Dems would prefer a Republican to a progressive.

If a Republican gets in office, it makes it easier to get people vote lesser of two evils.

If a progressive gets in office, it's really hard to unseat them. They can barely manage to get House Reps out for moderates even with AIPAC money.

If Bernie had won 2016, he'd have gotten to name the DNC chair, he could of solidly ended in the failed neo liberal experiment.

We were really fucking close to fixing things, but after NH got their delegates stolen, I don't think itll happen.

I honestly think if a real progressive wins a presidential party primary, the standing party might disregard it.

This is all Hillary and the DNC's fault and I will never fucking forgive them.

Have you ever seen the man in the high castle? Well, we're definitely not in the worst timeline, but missing out on pals like Bernie shows that we're definitely not in the best either...

He also put Japanese Americans into internment camps, his New Deal policy led to institutional racism (red lining), and he ordered the FBI & IRS to investigate someone further left than him because he was worried they posed a political threat.

(Source on that last one: https://www.history.com/topics/crime/huey-long )

His left wing credentials are a bit lacking.

Bernie ain't the first one that the corporate Democrats blocked either.

I have no idea who this is because I'm not American.

From the comments, I assume his name was Bernie?

That's right. Filibuster proof control for 4 months of the last 24 years.

You can go even further, filibuster proof control for 4 months of the last 44 years.

The man, the legend.

But doesn't this only prove that it was the man and not the ideology who got voted?

I reckon FDR has managed to do as much as he could because he is already wealthy and doesn't have to worry much about funding election campaign. He did not have to beg to rich people and businesses for funding in exchange for doing favours for them. After all, there is strong correlation with how much campaign funds you have with thei likelihood of winning the election.

Let's run through the recent story so people have it:

(First on FDR, that was before 45 years of anti-communist rhetoric, which frankly turned into anti-government-policy rhetoric.)

Jimmy Carter: Told people to conserve and got voted the fuck out.

Bill Clinton: After successive losses Bill figured out "it's the economy stupid". And when you run against an incumbent (Bush senior) you have to run from the center. So that's what he did. And he won.

Gore: After the population hopefully warmed up with Bill Clinton, he stuck his head out left with climate change. And bam he lost the election. Thanks 3rd party protest voters!

Obama: So guess what Obama learned? Don't stick your head out. He ran on broad "hope", hoping the ambiguity would be enough considering Bush's disastrous wars. And he won.

Hillary Clinton: After the population hopefully warmed up with Obama, she stuck her head out just a tiny itty little bit left with the Map Room to fight climate change. And guess what happened? Bam she lost. Thanks protest non-voters!

Biden: Just like Obama learned from Gore, Biden learned from Hillary that you don't stick your head out left. And he was running against an incumbent, so once again when you do that you run center. He's actually been governing more from the left, but he ran center.

And people are amazed that they don't run an extreme left platform? Every time they stick their head out a little itsy bitsy tiny bit left they lose. And the next guy learns to go to the center to win.

So how do you get them to move left? By giving them victories. Consistent and overwhelming victories. Because when they lose, like they've lost 20 years out of the last 24 years, they will go to the centre to find votes. You don't get big steps without the small steps.

Because after the third, you're likely to get more corrupt.