The Only Way Bernie Sanders Can Keep His Political Revolution Alive
In April, I voted for Bernie Sanders in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary and wrote a piece about why I thought he should stay in the race, despite having almost no chance of winning. I believed, and still do, that in the absence of a multi-party system, hotly contested primary races are healthy for American democracy.
There is no longer a race for the Democratic nomination. Sanders has not conceded, but Hillary Clinton will soon be crowned the nominee here at the DNC in Philadelphia. She won more states, more votes, and the majority of pledged delegates.
Sanders moved mountains. His campaign pulled the Democratic Party further to the left than it's been in a long time and put issues like campaign finance, Wall Street accountability, and banking reform on the mainstream agenda. His job, however, is not done. I'm not talking about staying in the race or duking it out for superdelegates. I'm talking about his responsibility to keep alive the progressive fire he ignited by using his power to defeat Donald Trump and help good down-ballot candidates win their races.
That means Sanders must start accepting that Clinton beat him. Recently, he seems barely able to utter her name. He also needs to admit that for Donald Trump to lose (Sanders recently sent an email to his supporters saying this was his campaign's new goal), Clinton needs to win. He has to endorse her and soon. So far, he has only said that he will be voting for her, and that took some prodding. This doesn't mean giving away his support for free: No matter how scary Trump is, Sanders is right to demand that Clinton earn his endorsement by shifting her stance on issues that matter to Sanders's constituents. The candidates themselves have had one such meeting; I'd hope that his and her staff are working behind scenes to lock in this alliance, because - there's no way around it - for her to win in November, she needs Sanders voters.
She's got a lot of us already. Many who feel the Bern, me included, don't think twice about pivoting to Clinton; the specter of a Trump presidency looms too large. But there are some who are not convinced, and they fall into two camps.
First, the potential defectors: Sanders voters who could go for Trump. A recent Washington Post poll found that 20 percent of Sanders voters are considering voting for Trump - up from 9 percent in March. As unconscionable as it may seem, this has been long brewing. Back in February, Matt Taibbi noted in his insightful piece "How America Made Trump Unstoppable," that the GOP candidate was "cannily stalking the Sanders vote." When stumping, the businessman would reference the issues where he and his Socialist rival see eye-to-eye (Taibbi mentioned trade and Clinton's monied backers; there are other issues, such as the inflated costs of medical drugs.) Trump is no longer being coy. In several speeches this month, Trump called directly for Bernie supporters to join him. On June 22, for example, he opened his remarks to the press by condemning "the insiders [who] wrote the rules of the game to keep themselves in power and in the money," and then added, "That's why we're asking Bernie Sanders's voters to join our movement: so together we can fix the system for all Americans."
I'm reminded of something my parents taught me when I was young: the political spectrum is not a straight line - it's a horseshoe. There is a point where you go so far left that you feel closer to someone on the far right than you do to the centrists "on your side." Right now, Trump is peering across that narrow gap, smiling at the disillusioned Sanders voters, saying: Hey, take that small leap. It's better than the long, dreary walk back to Clinton at the center. Whether or not they jump might be out of Sanders's control, but by endorsing Clinton, Sanders makes potential defectors feel like the distance between him and Clinton isn't as great as it appears after the contentious primary season.
There is another undecided group. The danger with this contingent is not that they vote for Trump, but that they don't vote at all. (Clinton might not need as many of them as once forecasted, but she needs some.) Known as the Bernie-or-bust movement, they are progressive, they are diverse and they are young. They are epitomized by my 19-year-old sister Eve.
Eve is a true Millennial: She cannot fathom life before the internet and rolls her eyes when I ask her to explain Snapchat to me for the fifth time. Our family has strong political roots (our mother met my dad when she was arrested on anti-Vietnam war protest charges and he was her lawyer), but Eve has never been interested. She wore her disdain for anything remotely political like a badge of honor.
Then came Bernie. Shortly after Sanders announced his candidacy last year, my sister brought him up in conversation. After getting over my shock that she knew the name of an obscure presidential candidate, I reacted like a condescending older-sister: I told her she was delusional, there was no way a radical - a socialist no less! - could be a contender. She'd say to me: "Jean, he's real. All my friends love him. He's going to win. You'll see."
She was right. He didn't win the nomination, but he won the hearts and minds of millions more people than anyone expected, especially young people like her. Eve was a changed person: She donated to his campaign (multiple times), waited in line for seven hours to hear him speak (she abhors lines), and starting tracking down Bernie baby gear to outfit my infant son. She watched every Democratic debate and wanted to discuss his core issues. She was excited to vote.
Now, she's in that depressed, disillusioned place with all of us Bernie-lovers. Half a year ago, she was Bernie or bust. This past weekend, I asked her if she is going to vote for Clinton in November. "I don't knoooooow," she groaned, with the annoyance of a teenager who's been asked that question one too many times by a grown-up. She's mad at Bernie for even saying he's going to vote for Hillary. Eve wanted him to take his fight to the convention. When I challenged her on whether Sanders trying to flip superdelegates to overturn the will of the people goes against everything Sanders stands for, she mumbled something about how he needs to do it so he can get into office and then govern "for the people." Before she finished her sentence, her voice trailed off, maybe realizing how illogical the argument sounds. She bounced back: "I just hate Hillary!"
That Clinton inspires such hatred is another article (or dissertation) entirely and probably has something to do with her gender. She is a powerful woman, with traits that we admire in men and admonish in women. But, the fact my sister is no longer ruling out voting for Clinton is important. She told me that her friends are in the same bind. "Would Bernie coming out and asking his supporters to vote for her make a difference?" I asked. She gave a defeated sigh: "Yeah, I guess so."
Herein lies the irony of Sanders. The campaign that, at first, was all about the message, ended up being a lot about him. Young folks like Eve look up to him. They trust him. They believe he is the one politician who has "the people's" interests at heart.
Bernie must now use that power for good. He ignited a movement and I can't let him off the hook by allowing him to fade from view. He owes me and Eve and all his supporters more than that.
So, Bern, here's my plan of action for you:
First: negotiate with Clinton to push her as far left as possible on policy and then endorse her - soon. Then get out there and tell everyone to vote for her. Don't just send emails. You don't have to stump together holding hands, like Elizabeth Warren does, but make speeches in support of her and connect with voters in person encouraging them to vote for her. Do this across the country, especially in swing states, for five months.
If that feels like a bitter pill to swallow, you can wash it down by supporting down-ballot candidates who are more closely aligned with your values and political vision. You recently said that you want your followers to keep the political revolution alive by voting for progressive candidates down to the lowest levels of government. While this is welcomed, it's also frustrating because you should have been doing this all along. You liked to say that creating a revolution isn't a one-man job, but you didn't back up this claim. It took you until April to throw your weight behind anyone. Many other little-known candidates who could have benefitted from your popularity and fundraising prowess - including Pennsylvania's senatorial candidate John Fetterman - you all but ignored. You can make it up to them, and to us, by continuing to not only endorse progressive candidates in name, but also by fundraising for them, stumping for them, and if necessary, putting the money we, your contributors, gave you to work for their campaigns.
Lastly, please accept that you are partly responsible for not winning the nomination. Yes, Clinton had superdelegates and the entire political establishment on her side. Yes, the corporate media sandbagged you and, as Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! pointed out, ruined the election for all of us by letting it be turned into a reality show. But you didn't win because not enough people voted for you - and that's partially due to your own mistakes. There is a concept in feminism called intersectionality. First coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, it's the idea that systems of oppression such as racism, sexism, classism, overlap and interact constantly and dynamically. Time and again, you failed to connect the dots between your campaign's primary issues and other injustices. You alienated potential supporters by not listening well enough to people of color or to women or to other groups who don't see everything through a class lens.
That said, there's no turning back the clock. The only thing to do now is to follow through on your promise of political revolution by stopping another scarier revolt led by a racist billionaire from occurring. Whether or not you wanted it to, the cult of personality took hold of your campaign and you can't shirk it off. You've got to do your part to help elect politicians who share your vision of the future. We, "the people," will thank you.
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