Bernie Sanders’ virtual tie with Hillary Clinton in Iowa is nothing short of astonishing. There now can be no doubt that the political winds are changing direction in America. No longer can any candidate justify their corporate donors and Super PACs by assuring us that it is the only way to win. No longer can they marginalize us by saying that progressive values are just ‘fringe’ beliefs. No longer can they tell us to grow up, quit dreaming, and fall in line. For far too long, disaffected voters have dropped out because they have felt that they could not have any real effect on a system that is blatantly rigged. This campaign has changed all of that.
The standard alibi given by politicians to justify their seemingly endless courtship of big money donors and corporate America is that it is the only way to win in an age where corruption is the status quo. We are told that we must accept this less than savory influence in our democracy if we want to continue receiving our scraps from those with a seat at the table. Bernie Sanders fundraising totals, including an amazing haul of $20 million in January alone, have proven that we no longer have to serve those who may prefer to make a meal of us. The rejection of dark money has not only failed to become a hindrance to Sanders’ campaign, it has given the common citizen a reason to believe again. With an average donation of 27 dollars, Sanders’ small donor coalition has amassed a whopping $75 million for the populist candidate in 2015. This level of fundraising combined with the incalculable value of grassroots efforts, both inspired by the same integrity that was supposed to be an insurmountable hurdle, is more than enough to reestablish the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as a true force in American politics.
When Bernie Sanders first announced his intention to run for president he was polling around 3%, and was written off as a ‘fringe’ candidate. This was understandable in spite of the fact that polling has also shown that public opinion is with him on a multitude of issues including; reducing income inequality, reforming campaign financing, regulating Wall Street, expanding Social Security benefits, raising the minimum wage, investing in infrastructure, rejecting free trade deals, lowering the costs of student loans, etc. It was a matter of fact that the independent senator, and self-described “democratic socialist”, could not possibly compete with the formidable Clinton political machine. His unapologetically progressive positions might have been able to win him a seat in the liberal leaning Vermont, but it would never fly with Middle America. The consensus of the pundits was logical, pragmatic, and almost universally held. There was only one problem with this assessment. It was absolutely wrong.
There were many indicators that Sanders was more than just a ‘protest candidate’. The media chose to ignore them in favor of the more cautious narrative of Hillary Clinton’s inevitability. The enormous rallies and record number of donations should have been red flags that something special was going on, but, instead of acknowledging these achievements, the tone deaf media conglomerates continued pounding the message that Sanders wasn’t a real contender. We can’t blame them really. It gets awfully lonely up there in those Ivory Towers. Despite the resulting dearth of media coverage, Bernie Sanders and his enthusiastic band of supporters have kept up a message of truly systemic change that has resonated with those that get the opportunity to hear it. The stalemate in Iowa with Clinton puts Sanders on equal footing, and should be enough to, at the very least, end the media’s aversion to giving Sanders any serious consideration.
Sanders could be a transformational figure on the same level as Ronald Reagan was for conservatives, except, of course, he would basically be attempting to reverse all the damage done by the Reagan administration. Starting an all-out ‘War on Drugs’ and firing 11,000 striking air traffic controllers was radically reactionary. Gutting mental health funding and maliciously ignoring the AIDS epidemic was the work of an extremist. Slashing taxes for the most wealthy people in the country from 70% to 28% and the mass deregulation of business were foundational changes. The massive build up the armed forces, and military industrial complex, to levels far exceeding those during the Vietnam War was revolutionary. Prior to Reagan, most of these acts could have been political suicide. Now, they are so deeply ingrained into our society that many cannot remember that these events truly changed the paradigm of American politics.
Those same radical changes terrified the Democratic Party so completely that they took a dramatic turn of their own and birthed what was essentially an entirely new version of the party known as the Democratic Leadership Committee, or “Third Way.” Bill Clinton was the first to legitimize this newfound ideology, and so when he was elected, he advocated very moderate proposals that did little to reverse the devastating effects of Reaganism. In fact, he doubled down on some of the big mistakes he should have been trying to correct. As a result of his ‘Tough on Crime’ and ‘Welfare Reform’ proposals, mass incarceration rose more sharply under Bill Clinton than it did during Reagan’s tenure. Instead of working to reverse the decline of union membership and protecting American industries Bill Clinton gave us NAFTA. Instead of bringing back some of the strict regulations on the financial sector, these ‘New Democrats’ went along with the repeal of Glass-Steagall, and further opened up the derivative market. As a result of this philosophy of centrism, we cemented the idea that the best path forward was to continue on the rails laid down by Reagan, and in doing so doomed an entire generation of Americans to poverty and prisons.
These are the reasons behind Bernie Sanders’ call for a “Political Revolution.” It is not a fanciful dream for high minded ideologues and the politically naive. It is pure pragmatism, and we have historical examples on both sides of the spectrum. Transformative figures like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Wilson Reagan created lasting change by striking a chord that resonated with the populace, and Sanders might be singing in harmony with the disaffected American voter who sees that establishment politics has failed. As Sanders said in his speech after the Iowa caucus, “I think the people of Iowa have sent a very profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment, and by the way, to the media establishment. It is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. What Iowa has begun tonight is a political revolution.”