Bernie Sanders: REAL Leadership the Democratic Party needs
Forward- As a candidate running for the Minnesota State Senate, this is the first of a 5 part series explaining why I believe it’s critically important to make sure Bernie Sanders is the Democratic nominee. Future parts will cover issues and constituencies. For more information on my campaign, go to my website: ShawnOlson.org
The sections of part one:
1: Bernie is the most electable candidate for Democrats
2: Bernie's progressive issue stances are very popular with Americans
3: Bernie is our best chance to grow our party
4: Bernie supports the Democratic party platform and causes
5: Bernie will get Congress to pass progressive reforms
1: Bernie is the most electable candidate for Democrats
"Let me be very clear, Democrats will not retain the White House, will not regain the Senate, will not gain the House and will not be successful in dozens of governor’s races unless we run a campaign which generates excitement and momentum and which produces a huge voter turnout." ~Bernie Sanders
I need to be very, very clear about this: we will NOT have the wave election we need around the country if we allow Clinton to win the Democratic nomination. Period. Only Bernie Sanders has the trustworthiness that comes from having a consistent, honest 30 year track record as a progressive reformer that can inspire the huge voter turnout we need coast to coast.
And Bernie Sanders is electable. He has been elected to office 14 times, compared to only twice for Clinton. Bernie won his last Senate campaign with over 70% of the vote, including 25% of the Republicans, and received 8% more votes than the polls said he would in 2006. en.wikipedia.org/...
In fact, despite the disinformation spread by the corporate media and Clinton pundits, Bernie is FAR more electable than Clinton. For instance, Bernie beats Republicans by 10 points in early states, Clinton LOSES to them by an average of 3 www.nbcnews.com/... Bernie beats Republicans by 4 points more than Clinton does according a recent PPP poll www.publicpolicypolling.com/... and he beats Trump by TWICE the margin of Clinton www.cbsnews.com/... All the Polls Show Bernie Does Better Against GOP Than Hillary www.dailykos.com/...
This is partially due to Bernie's appeal to independents, who are now the majority of American voters. In a head to head matchup, Bernie cleans up with independents over Clinton 59-21%. www.nytimes.com/... When all candidates from all parties are included, Bernie Sanders gets 45% of them. The next most popular in order are: Trump 26%, Ben Carson 19%, Rand Paul 12%, Clinton 9%. ivn.us/...
The simple fact is that Clinton does not appeal to many of the non-Democrats, independents, Green Party, and unlikely voters who love Bernie Sanders, and that should be a warning sign in and of itself about Clinton's electability. She only appeals to Democrats, but is fairly universally disliked outside of our group. Clinton is the unelectable candidate thehill.com/...
Bernie Sanders: the most electable candidate that will build a STRONGER Democratic Party www.dailykos.com/... Bernie Sanders Responds to Clinton Claiming He Is Unelectable www.youtube.com/... Dear Hillary Supporters Wary of Sanders’ Electability www.youtube.com/...
And even more importantly, people are incredibly excited to support Bernie. 78% of Bernie’s supporters are enthusiastic, compared to 39% for Clinton. Clinton especially suffers a huge enthusiasm gap among millennials and independents. www.nytimes.com/...
This all stems from favorability. Clinton's trustworthy ratings are 30-54% (independents 22-54%), while Bernie's are 43-25% (40-23% with independents) d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/... Quinnipiac Poll shows Bernie Sanders has great ratings: 78-6% favorability, 86-4% honesty/trustworthiness, 85-5% cares about their needs and problems www.quinnipiac.edu/... Clinton has net unfavorable ratings overall (44-51 for -7), especially with independents (38-56%), and the GOP HATES her with a passion. That makes her electability very problematic if she gets the nomination. Bernie has strong favorability ratings (44-31 for +13). www.quinnipiac.edu/... And as this chart shows, favorability = electability. Every presidential candidate with unfavorable ratings has lost since 1980, while everyone with favorable ratings has won (except Al Gore, but Bush has higher ratings, and that's another matter).
2: Bernie's progressive issue stances are very popular with Americans.
“I am a proud progressive.” ~Bernie Sanders
Bernie’s issue positions are absolutely progress oriented, and I’m proud to support a proud progressive who has the solutions our nation so desperately needs at this critical juncture in our history. The old math dictated that the only people that can elected are centrists or conservative, but the dominate American political spectrum has shifted so far to the right compared to any other Western Nation, that we are currently going through “market correction” and the old math no longer works. The pendulum is swing back to the left, people are waking up, and there is a realization that even mainstream Democrats are more conservative than the Conservative Parties in Europe.
Clinton has “plead guilty” of being a centrist. Bernie is a progressive in terms of the current expressed American political spectrum. But in reality, on the Political Compass chart, Bernie is barely to the left of center and Clinton is upper right. politicalcompass.org/... and there are some that say that in Europe Bernie Sanders would actually be just right of center in terms of proposed policies. www.bloombergview.com/...
[Robert Reich explains why Bernie Sanders is like Paul Wellstone and can win]
Honesty and integrity, consistency and trust trump issue parity, meaning even someone as progressive as Bernie still has the respect and approval ratings needed to win. How a genuine and authentic a candidate is can inspire enthusiasm, even among those that don't consider themselves progressives. Robert Reich spells it out clearly here when he remembers how proud-progressive Paul Wellstone won: “Voters are more interested in the integrity and authenticity of candidates than the specifics of any policies they espouse.” plus.google.com/...
While there was a time when Bernie was often the lone voice for justice in Congress, and those positions were unpopular with the American public to make fighting for them seem like political suicide, people have changed their minds. Today, virtually every policy position and issue stance Bernie has fought for over the decades is currently very popular with the American public. Bernie has been consistently fighting for these very same reforms for over 30 years, so we know he isn't just telling people what they want to hear to get elected. Thanks to the paradigm shift America is going through away from right wing dogma, many of Bernie's progressive stances now have 70% approval rates, including Expanded Social Security, Medicare Buy-In for All, End Tax Loopholes for Corporations that Ship Jobs Overseas, End Gerrymandering, Debt-Free College at All Public Universities, Infrastructure Jobs Program, Universal Pre-K, Requiring the NSA to Get Warrants, Disclose Corporate Spending on Politics/Lobbying, Close Offshore Corporate Tax Loopholes, a Green New Deal, and Fair Trade that Protect Workers, the Environment, and Jobs. Chart: s3.amazonaws.com/...
3: Bernie is our best chance to grow our party
“When we stand together, we will always win. When men and women stand together for justice, we win. When black, white and Hispanic people stand together for justice, we win. When straight and gay people stand together for justice, we win. When young and old stand together for justice, we win. When working families stand together, we win.” ~Bernie Sanders
Bernie is already demonstrating how he will win the general election by how he plans to win the Democratic nomination: by bringing millions of new people into the process, people rarely included in polls. Much of the Green Party is joining the Democratic Party to support Bernie. He is drawing in hundreds of thousands of other third party activists too, as well as independents, millennials, and throngs of eligible voters who never vote. How to register to vote for Bernie VoteForBernie.org
If Bernie doesn’t get the nomination, some of these new Democrats will go back from where they came, and I'm not going to force our new friends to do anything that violates their conscience, even if I'd prefer all of them stay in the party and help us reform it from the inside. We have a genuine opportunity with an authentic, trusted leader in Bernie Sanders to not just barely win the Presidential election, but to build a broad New Deal scope coalition and inspire the wave election we need to retake the Senate and House, as well as Governorships, state legislatures, and local races, and finally enact the bold progressive reforms our nation so desperately needs. Bernie will help us retake Congress and help down ballot races.
Despite spending as much as the GOP, Democrats under the “leadership” of corporate Dems like Debbie Wasserman Schultz were spanked in 2014 when only a third of eligible voters voted. Don’t let that happen again. Support candidates that will energize people, watch us win, and we will permanently expand our Democratic Party. www.dailykos.com/...
When it comes to endorsements, they really don't matter too much, and some organizations have given them out without sufficient consultation with their membership. When they are top down decisions coming from executive boards, they have tended to gravitate towards Clinton, while those that properly poll their members after they had a chance to get to know Bernie have gone for him. Further, Bernie Sanders has many fantastic endorsements from just the right places that speak volumes. Both chairs of the Progressive Caucus, Raúl Grijalva and Keith Ellison have endorsed Bernie. Ready For Warren, Democracy For America, Working Families Party, Occupy Wall Street (first ever endorsement for anyone), the largest Anonymous cell (AnonHQ), Friends of the Earth, and the Progressive Democrats of America have endorsed Bernie. With Unions: National Nurses United, American Postal Workers, Communication Workers of America, National Union of Healthcare Workers, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Pacific Longshoremen, South Carolina AFL-CIO, New Hampshire SEIU, and the numerous IBEW locals have endorsed Bernie, and NNU even asked their members a second time to make sure that was the endorsement Nurses Union members really wanted (how refreshing is that?!). Dr. Cornel West endorsed Bernie. Even fiercely independent internet legend “Deez Nuts” endorsed Bernie Sanders! Other important non-establishment icons have also endorsed Bernie Sanders, including Glenn Greenwald, Ed Schultz, Matt Taibbi, David Shuster, Bill Maher, John Fugelsang, Bill Moyers, John Nichols, Thom Hartmann, Zaid Jilani, David Pakman, Mike Malloy, and a wide range of cultural leaders like Sarah Silverman, Wil Wheaton, Ani DiFranco, Willie Nelson, Daryl Hannah, Margaret Cho, Neil Young, Alyssa Milano, David Crosby, Lizz Winstead, Flea, Steve Wozniak, Roseanne Barr, Jello Biafra, Jackson Browne, Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon, Seth MacFarlane, Belinda Carlisle, John Cusack, Bonnie Raitt, Serj Tankian, Roger Waters, Lewis Black, and hundreds more. en.wikipedia.org/... You can endorse too: www.endorsementsforbernie.com
In the end however, the ultimate choice is up to us. We The People decide, and we Democrats have a choice between the status quo or expanding our party with a new coalition.
4: Bernie supports the Democratic party platform and causes
“I believe in a society where all do well, not just a handful of billionaires.” ~BernieSanders
Bernie Sanders has always been an Independent, but that's no reason for Democrats not to support him. Bernie Sanders has caucused with the Democrats his entire congressional career spanning 24 years. He was chosen to chair the Veterans Committee by the Democrats. But most importantly, Bernie Sanders actually is closer to the Democratic Party platform than Clinton. For instance, Bernie will fight for a $15 minimum wage (on our party platform), Clinton will settle for $12.
Some Democrats are D in name only (DINO’s), do not support the principles and issues in the platform, and sometimes act more like Republicans (pro-Wall Street, pro-big banks, pro-big corporations, pro-incarceration, pro-war, pro-big money in campaign, pro-big oil, anti-immigrant, anti-abortion, anti-racial justice, anti-LGBT equality, etc.). The issues we stand for as Democrats are on par with the issues Bernie Sanders stands for. While Democrats have allowed the policies of their party (not the platform) to shift right for 35 years, Bernie is the embodiment of a bold FDR-caliber New Deal Democrat.
“I’ve seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the fair Deal, and says he really doesn't believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don't want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign.”
-Harry S. Truman on May 17, 1952 to Americans for Democratic Action
trumanlibrary.org/...
5: Bernie will get Congress to pass progressive reforms
“Today, virtually no piece of legislation can get passed unless it has the OK from corporate America.” ~Bernie Sanders
There's a reason why Congress has approval ratings literally lower than dog shit. Too many of them are a subsidiary of the rich and big corporations. The corrupt campaign finance system that conservative “Justices” on the Supreme Court unleashed on America in Citizens United has created a crooked system whereby far too often only those beholden to the rich and big corporations have the finances to buy the slick advertising needed to get elected. The nation is broken because the system is fixed.
While some Clinton pundits erroneously claim that Bernie is somehow unable of “getting bills passed”, it's not like Bernie can't compromise when he has a willing partner on the other side willing to also compromise. Bernie Sanders is absolutely capable of being pragmatic whenever possible. www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The key is to try to make sure the government works for the people, not the rich and powerful, and if Congress is incapable of doing that, we need a new Congress. Bernie is known as “The Amendment King” because he has fought longer and harder than almost anyone in Congress for the people of America. Bernie sponsored 775 bills in his Congressional career www.congress.gov/... And when needed, he is completely capable of compromise. For instance Bernie was pragmatic enough to save a VA Reform bill that increased funding by $5 billion www.huffingtonpost.com/... Bernie Sanders’ record of pushing through major reforms will surprise you www.rawstory.com/... What Bernie Sanders Got Done in Washington: A Legislative Inventory pplswar.wordpress.com/...
The problem is that right wing Republicans in Congress that are puppets of the rich and powerful have proven for the last 8 years that their central goal is to obstruct anyone that wants to reform anything wrong our system, and any Democrat. We have witnessed an unprecedented obstruction campaign, the likes of which have never been seen in this country before (even by Andrew Jackson's loyalists in the 1820's). Republicans even obstructed bills originally designed by their party and GOP nominees Obama presented. That’s all they care about: political warfare and using Congress as a firewall to protect the profiteering scheme of their corporate overlords.
That’s why it’s so essential to have a genuinely inspirational candidate like Bernie Sanders who can create the wave election we need to get elected President and to retake the Senate and the House. Appeasement won't work with obstructionists brainwashed by Fox Propaganda, you have to defeat the Greedy Obstructionist Party with monumental voter turnout to fill every level of political office with progressive reformers. This all hinges on creating a mass movement, a “political revolution” so to speak where millions of ordinary Americans are willing to step up and do extraordinary things to retake their country and demand reform. Bernie on Overcoming Gridlock in Congress. www.youtube.com/...
