Let's say Bernie ...
1. wins the nomination2. AND wins presidency, serves 2 complete terms 3. AND gets all his ideas passed: a- single-payer healthcare, plus Medicare negotiation, import drugs from Canada, accelerate getting generic drugs on the market
b- free public colleges
c- campaign finance reform
d- breaks up the big banks, bring back Glass-Steagall
e- higher taxes on wealthy and corporations and financial transactions
f- carbon tax, and more investment in clean energy
g- $15/hour minimum wage, including the tipped minimum wage
h- $1 trillion infrastructure spending (including transportation, electric, water, broadband, airport, seaport, dam, levee)
i- fair trade renegotiations of existing trade deals
j- expanded Social Security, with lifting the cap so it has no funding problems
k- 12 weeks of paid family/medical leave
l- mandatory paid vacation days of 10 per year
m- minimum of 7 paid sick days per year
n- universal childcare
o- universal pre-K
p- immigration reform, including a path to citizenship
q- criminal justice reform, police body cameras, legalize marijuana, ban for-profit prisons, eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing
r- early voting expansion, Election Day a federal holiday, felons can vote, automatic voter registration
s- expanded Planned Parenthood
t- the Equality Act, to ban LGBT+ discrimination federally in employment/housing/medicine/finance/education/public-accommodations/etc.
u- fully fund and expand the VA
v- expanded SSDI program for the disabled so they get bigger paychecks
w- expanded youth jobs programs
x- the deficit shrinks, the budget even balances with all the new revenue
y- unemployment remains low
z- there's no major foreign policy blunders
The list is based entirely on his Issues page, I think I included everything important:
https://berniesanders.com/issues/ 4. AND he leaves office in January 2025 with at least a 51%+ approval rating
All 4 come true. That's a given, not up to debate in this thread, no matter how unlikely.
(And disclaimer: I'm actually a Hillary supporter. But this is interesting to speculate about.)
What's the impact on U.S. politics? What changes?
Do Democrats basically become conservatives, wishing to conserve the status quo, with Republicans truly just becoming the party of attempts to repeal, and the only action being in foreign policy? Perversely, could Democratic turnout go down, increasing the likelihood of repeal? Would there still be something for Democrats/progressives to campaign for, and not just be conservative on?
I'm especially thinking about the impact of real campaign finance reform and the other voting reforms. As well as just the power of people seeing these policies not destroy the economy or "freedom"; since then repeal based on ideological grounds becomes less appealing or at least less urgent.