So every Tuesday it seems there is a street market with lots of farmers’ market stalls in front of the gallery where Bernie Sanders’ campaign has daily canvass launches. It makes me so hungry. Yesterday, I lent my phone to a volunteer at the gallery (it’s part of a non-profit peace project) while she sorted out a quick problem for the gallery’s founder’s child while tending to their street market booth, and I browsed the market to see what I might find to ease the hunger with my last two dollars. I still had my clipboard, turf, and literature in one hand, and had a sticker and my “Bernaste” Birdie button on. While I waited patiently in a long line in one of the net-draped tents to buy a delicious-looking peach, one of the other vendors came into the tent and started a conversation with the cashier in front of me, and I only noticed the short part of the conversation which included something about Governor Jerry Brown’s endorsement. It was something of a “did you hear about that?” and a look of disgust and and a headshake. Then he dipped out of the tent and returned to his stall.
When it was my turn to purchase I was told it looked like I picked a very good peach. I asked what the substance meaning of the conversation I had observed re: Jerry Brown’s endorsement. She said the other vendor liked Bernie. I explained that as a former farmer’s market grower in Minnesota I appreciated Bernie’s support of the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program that puts vouchers for fresh & local produce in the hands of low-income seniors and offered her the bilingual lit piece that says “Para Presidente” and she said that she likes Sanders and would vote for him. “We all like Sanders” she said, with a Spanish accent.
At the end of the day, I noticed far more vendors taking home lawn and rally signs than I have seen before.
I guess Governor Jerry Brown is not as in touch with the people as he was during my previous stays in California, e.g. when he was Mayor of Oakland and I lived & worked in Berkeley. He will be one more super delegate that will have to be nudged to vote with the popular vote in his or her state’s primary or caucus, and not with the Wal-Mart/Wall Street consensus of Super PAC donors.
The peach was delicious, if just a little bitter at the core near the pit. Maybe that’s a metaphor for our party at the moment. The insiders and ‘establishment’ is bitter but the opportunity for real progressive change is ripe for the picking, and Bernie Sanders and is campaign are still able to enjoy the larger, sweeter parts of the fruit that’s being harvested. It feels like a big Bernie win is at hand here! More and better Democrats to be elected in the new season!