Berning For All

They tried to ignore him, but Bernie Sanders kept going. They tried to dismiss him, but the crowds he drew and the states he won made that impossible. Now they are telling him to drop out of the race for the good of the party. But whose party is it? It is the party that has ignored its liberal base for far too long. It is the party that became too timid to stand up for so many of the things that made it great! It is no wonder that so many men who were or are blue collar workers feel betrayed by the system; their unions were busted, their real wages were greatly decreased, and many of the jobs they depended on were exported. Furthermore, many of them have lost their pensions! And the Democratic Party let this happen with barely a peep of protest coming only from liberals the establishment was ignoring. The success Bernie Sanders has achieved thus far, regardless of whether he is nominated, is changing that. 

I am sure future historians will call this the year or the election of discontent. On the rational side of the political spectrum Bernie Sanders has become the voice of the disaffected. I say the “rational side” of the political spectrum because Bernie advocates positive changes to deal with real problems. He is correct in saying that the alternatives to a liberal agenda are more of the same lame policies we have been following or Herr Trump, the neo-fascist fraudster who scapegoats racial and ethnic minorities and tells his followers that he will make America “great again” by kicking the crap out of the bad guys as only he can define “bad guys.”

The one thing Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have in common is that they have both demonstrated that the discontent of such a large segment of our society makes the status quo unsustainable. The people who are bright enough to connect the dots are reacting to the devastation caused by trickle down economics and Republican obstruction by demanding real and substantial changes. This is reflected in the Pew Research Center polls indicating that the number of Democrats describing themselves as liberals has increased and that this change in ideology is particularly pronounced in the millions of younger voters who represent the future. Indeed it is the enthusiastic, one might even say militant support of Bernie Sanders by these self described liberals that has delivered such a powerful kick to the right butt cheek of the Democratic Party that even the establishment has been forced to turn farther to the left than it wanted to turn.

With all the well deserved media coverage of Hillary Clinton's masterful smack down of Donald Trump it is all too easy to ignore news of one of the most important changes Bernie Sanders has inspired. President Obama had expressed his willingness to decrease the benefits of Social Security by changing the way cost of living adjustments are calculated.  Now he is backing away from that position, and he is actually advocating an expansion of Social Security benefits. Similarly, Hillary Clinton who was giving non-committal statements about Social Security has reacted to Bernie Sander's direct challenge on the subject by tweeting “As always, I'll defend it, & I'll expand it.” These are big, important changes, as is Hillary Clinton's recently found opposition to TPP.

I think it is safe to say that Bernie Sander's political revolution has begun, and that is a good news for the majority of us. But there is a phenomenon we must bear in mind and guard against. In the early stages of most revolutions progressive moderates invariably try to address fears that the changes proposed by the revolutionaries are too radical or big, and in doing so the moderates institute ineffective reforms that anger everyone and make the rebels even more radical. That is why I am not real eager to see Bernie Sanders drop out of the race. Hillary Clinton will be the nominee, but I want Bernie to push her and the Democratic Party as far to the left as he can before he endorses her. I also want him and his followers to become gadflies that bite politicians at all levels of government and thereby make meaningful changes inevitable. This country needs the party of Franklin Roosevelt to act like the party of Franklin Roosevelt again.