I’ll preface this by saying this is my first diary here, even though I’ve been here a few years. Be gentle.
Five more states have voted, and it’s looking nearly certain now that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination for President. That’s only a small part of what I’m writing about here, though, and it doesn’t mean the progressive base doesn’t have a lot to be proud of — and a lot left to do. There’s a bit of digressing and going off on tangents…. okay, a lot of digressing and tangents... but it all leads somewhere important in the end, so dig past the break and read on.
When Bernie Sanders first confirmed what many of us were hoping, that he’d run for President and give us a more progressive option in the Democratic primaries, I was thrilled. I had an idea from the start that he probably wouldn’t be able to pull off winning it all, but I threw my support behind him anyway. He aligns with more of my positions than Hillary did at the time (and still does now to a slightly lesser degree), but that wasn’t the only reason. The way I see it (and this is just my opinion), this was never really about winning. It would have been nice, but there’s a much bigger picture to behold.
What this was about, and what we did, is quite possibly even more important than winning the nomination. We’ve shown that the most progressive parts of the Democratic Party’s supporters can be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. We’re pulling the party away (kicking and screaming if need be) from the centrist triangulation tactics that won Bill Clinton the Presidency in the 1990s and towards progressive principles that it appeared they’d abandoned. You can say we forced her there, or you can say we’ve shown enough numbers are there to make it safer for her, but regardless, Hillary has tacked left hard during this campaign. She’s had to become a better candidate, fighting tooth and nail to win progressive votes instead of staying in her comfort zone. Having a Rolodex full of corporate donors at the ready isn’t the advantage it once was, as we’ve seen throughout the primary as well as downballot as progressive challengers become more emboldened. Just look at what Sanders did with an average donation of $27 against the Clinton juggernaut.
I’m using the past tense in that last sentence for a reason, though. With Hillary’s wins tonight compared to those of Sanders, the nomination is, for all practical purposes, all wrapped up. Yeah, there’s a mathematical chance Sanders could still edge ahead right at the finish line, but it’s a damn skinny tightrope of a path. We’re talking the width of fishing line here. Please face reality: this phase is over.
I said “phase,” yes. I did mention a bigger picture. We’re far from done, that’s why. For me, at least, it was never about winning the nomination. Pulling that off would have been awesome, sure, but it’d have been lagniappe on top of what is the bigger, much more important goal. We as progressives are showing that we can’t be set aside or ignored anymore, and we need to keep the pressure on in the battles ahead to keep pulling the Democratic Party further away from the 1990s. We’ve already shown this in how far left Hillary’s had to go just to survive the primaries. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s some places in this country where the “centrist” Democrats are about the only ones who can get elected right now, especially in really tight or lean-red districts and such. If they can displace a Republican, especially a Tea Partier or someone in the pocket of the Religious Right, that’s fine. Displacing a Republican from office is always a good thing! But that’s only the first step, and in the areas that even just lean blue, we’re showing enough strength of numbers to make better progressive candidates more viable in those places.
If we keep the momentum going as we turn our focus to downballot and local elections, we can build up a wave of blue in the remainder of 2016, in 2018, 2020, and even beyond. Those $27 average donations that propelled Bernie to keep the race from becoming a curbstomp can be turned towards local candidates that support our values like he has. In turn, it’ll show these candidates that it can be advantageous to go full bore in showing their progressive bona fides instead of campaigning like they’re scared to be seen as anything left of center. Hopefully it’ll even help firm up the backbones of some of them so they’ll be more vocal about not being in the pocket of corporate donors like Bernie has. Eventually, candidates even in red areas will have to campaign less as a “less worse Republican” and more as a better Democrat in order to get out of primaries. (Or at least, that should be the aim.)
Now, if you don’t like what your options will be come November, focus downballot and work towards getting more progressives into the lower offices, ready to step up for the next election cycle. That’s the real goal here. Bernie didn’t come from nowhere to be propelled to the success we gave him in this cycle. Burlington stepped up first by electing him mayor. Vermont stepped up after that to elect him first to the House, then to the Senate. We need to step up, and we’ve shown in this cycle that the numbers are there! Take the time and energy you’ve put into Bernie’s campaign and send it to the cities, counties, legislative and Congressional districts, and the states themselves to get us some viable progressives for next time, and the cycles after that. The deeper of a bench we can build, the more we can move the line leftward. The more we show that we’re sticking around, the less viable the status quo becomes. This in turn gives us more of a chance to put the policies we want to see into action and show that they work, making it harder for Republicans to use “progressive” or “liberal” as epithets while they choke on the “results” of what’s happened in the states they’ve enjoyed a stranglehold on.
I guess after all the tangents and digressing, what I have to say can be summed up thus: Bernie’s numbers may be impossible after tonight, but it was never just about winning the nomination for some of us who support him. There’s a bigger picture. We’ve shown we can marshal the numbers to stock the elected Democratic ranks with more in the mold of Bernie and/or Elizabeth Warren. Now we have to do it.