Don’t be so sure about the unpopularity of the Berniecrat agenda. I read a pretty interesting analysis the other day that really showed that the center of political gravity in America is economically to the left and culturally to the right. Populism basically. But the donors in both parties are the opposite, economically to the right and culturally to the left, especially as compared to the base in each party.
The difference between the Berniecrats and mainstream Democrats like Kamala Harris is not on cultural issue, they agree there. The difference is on economic issues, but if the Berniecrats win that, I do think it would make the Democrats more popular, not less. But also not as well supported financially.
The reason we ended up with Social Security is FDR was concerned about a primary challenge from, I believe, Huey Long. If I recall, Huey Long had a platform that the government should give everybody a basic salary. It was a really popular idea and FDR was politically backed into a corner; do something similar or potentially lose a primary challenge. Thus, we got Social Security. And, to ensure the point was made, the politicians immediately violated one of the requirements of the act by giving benefits to people already 65 or older who had never paid into the “trust fund.”
This was economic populism and classic giveaway politics in one motion. Even some Republicans supported the measure as, unlike Obamacare, they were included in setting it up. Incidentally, one of their most stringent requirements was that the system would never, under any circumstances, be used as an identity card, (because; mark of the beast) but, of course, it immediately was. All through school that SS number was my student number and today you can’t do any banking or credit applications without coughing it up.