Let this be a reckoning. In 2016, I warned that Sanders, and Sanders alone, could defeat Trump. The country was ready — desperate — for revolutionary change. The air was thick with a demand for something real, something that spoke to the soul of working people. Yet, the Democratic establishment fought this truth tooth and nail. They threw their weight behind Clinton — the so-called “safe choice” — dismissing those of us who saw the storm coming. They believed the path to victory lay in moderation, in reaching to the middle, as the books and scholars of traditional politics have always taught.
And here we are again. In 2024, they turn to Harris, who walks beside Liz Cheney, while Sanders is cast to the shadows. The outcome? Trump has won the popular vote. Once again, the establishment was wrong. Wrong in 2016, wrong in 2024 — will you be wrong again in 2028?
The first rule of climbing out of a pit is to stop digging. The path forward is not to cling to what’s safe or comfortable. We need a revolution, a Progressive Revolution, to remake this country in the image of its people, of its working class. We must stop abandoning those who work day and night just to scrape by.
Imagine an America where healthcare is universal, where housing is within reach for all, where wages rise with the dignity of labor. Picture stronger unions that give workers a voice, reproductive rights that are unbreakable, and a minimum wage that lifts families out of poverty. We need to tax corporations and the wealthy, and we must put that wealth to work — on roads, schools, infrastructure. And, for God’s sake, we need to stop being the party of war.
This is the vision. Big themes. Bold narrative. A sweeping agenda for working people, not concessions to the privileged few. Subtract a few goals, add a few more if you must. The core of this vision — justice, equity, dignity — must not waver.
And let me say this, to those who’ve been ignored, belittled, and alienated for nearly a decade: to the supporters of Sanders, to those who stayed home on Tuesday because they could no longer recognize the party that once claimed to fight for them — we owe you an apology. A true one, unflinching. And we must give you a reason to believe in us again.
Be humble. Learn. Or prepare to be left behind by history itself.
