“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
The old order is failing. Many of my more established Democratic Party friends are still trying to use an archaic logic during this election cycle, and it is dangerous to both our party, it is destructive to progress, and it is detrimental to the future of our nation.
In 2008, Americans rose up behind a dark horse candidate with sweeping promises of change. He offered hope that there was a better path forward and for the last 8 years I have devoted thousands of hours of my time helping to be a foot soldier in that fight. But far too many Democrats sacrificed real change and reform at the alter of what they perceive to be electability by selling out progress, which was a major goal of the corporate astroturfed Tea Party.
The result? In 2010 and 2014 Democrats got spanked. We raised more money, we made more phone calls, and we fought like hell, but without a party willing to fight, it’s all for naught. 2012 was a decent year, but with the lack of real reforms on the ground could have been far, far better.
I can only hope at this point that my fellow Democratic Party voters don’t take the wrong path yet again, the “centrism” path that thinks that raising big money and automating GOTV will magically motivate people to turn out to vote. It won’t, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz should have been fired for her failures long before she began rigging the debate schedules to help Clinton.
That’s not how we grow our party. We grow our party by being authentic, by standing up for REAL change and reform, for a NEW New Deal and then fighting for it in every district in every state of the nation.
’”Ive 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 May 17, 1952 to Americans for Democratic Action
trumanlibrary.org/...
Bernie Sanders is expanding the Democratic Party. He is bringing in throngs of millennials, independents, third party activists, and best of all many of those people that are eligible to vote but never do because they don’t see any fundamental differences between the parties. All of these groups are critical to expanding our party, but are being actively rebuked by Clinton surrogates who assume that once they bash Bernie into surrender, that all those people will magically just move over to support Hillary Clinton. They won’t. They are ONLY in this for someone like Bernie, they will not donate to Clinton, or make phone calls for her, or try to convince their friends to vote for her, etc.
Bernie is the REAL DEAL, and he offers a Real Deal for America that people love:
Expanded Social Security
Medicare For All
Free tuition at public universities
12 weeks paid maternal leave
Breaking up the big banks
$1t road and bridge repair
End Corporations United
Reinstate Glass-Steagall
$15 minimum wage
Tax the rich
It is why even though most Democrats are still favoring Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders consistently does far better against Republicans. Bernie has already won over all the groups that we should be trying to bring into the fold and welcome to a broad new coalition.
As a candidate for the Minnesota State Senate, this also affects me personally. I can talk to anyone about basic economic issues and nearly everyone agrees with Bernie (even if they disagree with some of the finer points about how to fix it). But this support for Bernie among non-Democrats is why he is doing so much better here against Republicans than Clinton:
In Minnesota Clinton beats Trump by 5, Bernie wins by 16%
In the metro, Clinton beats Trump by 27, Bernie by 34%
In the Suburbs Clinton loses to Trump by 5, Bernie by 4
In Greater MN Clinton loses by 5, Bernie WINS by 15%
This choice is actually quite simple: if we are content with a contracting Democratic Party, low voter turnout elections, constantly playing defense, and stalemate with the conservative Republican obstruction machine, by all means, vote for Clinton. If we want an expanded Democratic Party, high voter turnouts, taking the fight to regressives, and defeating obstructionism, we have to CHANGE the rules of the game and support Bernie Sanders.