On Monday, Bernie Sanders made a
surprise appearance at Liberty University, the largest Christian college in the world founded by the (in)famous Jerry Falwell back in 1971, and more or less a microcosm of cultural conservatism. Christopher Hayes called it on
Twitter “by far the most interesting campaign event of the cycle so far,” while Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan had a
more cynical outlook: “If Liberty is Jerry Falwell’s heaven, then it must, by definition, be Bernie Sanders’ hell. The old socialist agreed to come and speak here as a gesture of outreach and reconciliation. But if we are being honest, he was doing something else: meeting his enemy.”
Sanders’ speech was blunt, and before getting into what they might agree on, he let their disagreements be known: he supports gay marriage and a woman’s right to have an abortion -- they, of course, do not. After getting the obvious differences out of the way, Sanders ventured into a familiar subject that, as worshipers of a man by the name of Jesus Christ (who was a socialist if there ever was one), they might all agree on. Inequality was that subject, and while some of the most ardent social conservatives (i.e. Falwellians) may never be swayed to support someone who defends gay marriage and the right to have an abortion, would it really be that surprising if the more moderate social conservatives were? If there is anyone currently on the American left who could possibly gain support from working class social conservatives, it is Bernie Sanders. This may sound incredible, but bear with me.
It must be remembered that the New Deal coalition that FDR formed was not just made up of northern liberals, labor unions and racial minorities, but, strange as it may seem today, southern Democrats -- i.e. socially conservative, white working class people. This coalition dissolved in the sixties, as the Civil Rights Movement ended segregation and voter suppression, resulting in a Southern backlash and a Republican party that was all too willing to embrace racial animosities. The “southern strategy” was first used by Richard Nixon, and then perfected by Ronald Reagan. Their platforms ran on “states rights” and law and order, which allured southerners who felt the federal government had interfered with their rights to segregate and oppress. The pinnacle of dog-whistle politics (subtle support of racism) came in 1980 at Neshoba County Fair, Mississippi, as Reagan was in the final months of his presidential campaign. It was just a few miles away from Philadelphia, Mississippi, where in 1964 three civil rights workers were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, and the speech was predictably on states’ rights.
White Americans (especially from the South) have been more likely to vote Republican since the southern strategy began -- even if they are a part of the working class. According to a Pew Research Center poll, this is particularly true for white evangelicals, southern whites, and white men with some college or less. In the 2014 elections, this came through when non-college educated white voters (i.e. the white working class) voted 64 percent for Republicans and 34 percent for Democrats.
There is an obvious conflict, however, for white members of the working class who continue to vote Republican. While they mostly support the GOP because of its social conservatism, the fact remains that it is corporately owned and promotes anti-worker policies -- no one can really deny this. Another fact is that the Democratic party, while certainly more pro-worker than the GOP, has not been a party that the working class has been able to call its own since it became centrist and neoliberal in the ‘80s and ‘90s. So workers who happen to be socially conservative vote for the GOP. But what if the Democratic party became a party that fought for workers like it did during the New Deal era?
Enter Bernie Sanders. Nobody can deny that the Vermont Senator has fought for the middle class throughout his political career, and genuinely cares about working people, whether socially conservative or socially liberal. In 2015, he is reenergizing the party with some old-school progressive populism that once formed the New Deal coalition. Here’s a question: when was the last time a presidential candidate picketed with union members, as he did earlier this month? Would it really be such a surprise for people who disagree with abortion but see the reality of economic inequality to vote for Sanders?
As Thom Harmann wrote last month, Sanders has a history of earning conservative votes in Vermont:
“Despite its reputation as a place filled with liberal hippies, Vermont, like most of rural northern New England, is home to a lot of conservatives. Anyone running for statewide office there needs to win these conservatives' votes, and Bernie is great at doing that. Back in 2000 when Louise and I were living in Vermont, it wasn't all that uncommon to see his signs on the same lawn as signs that said “W for President.”
Of course, the fact that he identifies as a Democratic Socialist will scare off many conservatives, and it would be a main attacking point for the GOP candidate. Even Hillary Clinton’s campaign recently went after him with a petty red-baiting attack, reminiscent of the dark days of McCarthyism. But Sanders’ history of gaining conservative votes, his outreach at Liberty University, and his tireless fighting for the middle class may just be enough to recapture some of the more moderate social conservatives voters who have over the past few decades witnessed the Republican party become wholly owned and operated by the plutocratic class.