No surprise, I’m deeply disappointed Bernie did not win the nomination. I’m also disappointed by the convention which in some ways overtly sidelined the left to appeal to “moderate Republicans”. But it comes as no surprise. Tacking to the center is a standard tactic when primaries are over and Hillary would not be the first or the last candidate to do it. This year though, it carries an under-appreciated risk. Back in March, I said it may not be the best strategy for this cycle, since Trump jumps about all over the place on the ideological spectrum. I haven’t seen anything yet that changes my views on the matter.
Anyway, I’m going to make a case here to continue working within the Democratic party. You may not be ready to do it today. You may not be ready to do it in November. All I’m saying is you may want to think about it.
Why?
- The relative ease with which Bernie leap-frogged all other candidates to capture 43% of the primary vote is encouraging. It’s a sign that the Democratic primary voter is open to left-leaning policies and candidates. None of the centrist, center-right candidates sparked any interest and numerous others self-selected out of contention assuming Clinton would suck the air out of the room. This happened even with Bernie’s numerous alleged “drawbacks” as a candidate (name recognition, socialism, shouting, etc. etc.)
- Bernie showed us the right candidate will not lack funds. A candidate who sparked the interest of ordinary voters managed to raise more money, faster than the single best fundraising operation cultivated over decades.
- Many within the Democratic party tried to sway the primary towards Clinton. Others worked to be fair. The thumb on the scale was not as bad as many of us feared it would be. Now it is true that establishment Democrats might have been caught off guard this time and they’ll do a better job of derailing a left-wing candidacy next time. But we can up our game as well.
- The demographics of the result favor the left. Younger voters leaned towards Bernie by large margins.
- It’s abundantly clear that the electorate understands the relation between politicians and campaign contributions. And they don’t like it. Politicians who rely on high-dollar fund-raising will start with a handicap in the Democratic party. It is so damaging, the Hillary campaign had to come up with various strategems to reduce their average donation amount.
- Income inequality is front and center among the Democratic electorate. We need to continue pressing Democratic politicians, but they have heard the message and know it demands a response.
- It is actually possible for a non-hawkish candidate to be a contender for the presidency. That implies state and legislative primary contests should be well within reach for a non-hawk to win.
- There is a lot of work to be done to move the Democratic party towards better fair trade, fair labor, and on climate change, environmental policies with teeth to them.
Building a viable third party at the national level is a long-term task. Unless you think it can succeed quickly, we will need to ally with Democrats, perhaps expanding the model the Working Families Party does.
To be effective in any sort of collaboration, it’s important not to be bothered by the slurs so many have thrown about so freely this year. BernieBros, BoBsoWhite, Deadenders, or in kos’ words “trash”. There seems to be a new one each month. Just as racists seem to never tire of coming up with racist slurs, some Democrats revel in inventing new insults for the left. It’s a waste of time to get upset over them. Michelle Obama had a good line in her speech “When they go low, you go high”. We should follow that maxim.
We need to take honest and fair criticism seriously. This, for example, is a painful run down of fumbles made by the campaign while reaching out to black voters. Read it.
For left leaning candidates to be successful, they will need to present a constructive message. Much like Bernie did. A purely oppositional message is very unlikely to lead to victory. Protest candidates require the stars to align perfectly if they wish to win.
It should go without saying that none of this “be nice” and compromise stuff applies to activists and protestors. They have no such responsibilities, but focusing on the issues they care about. And on that score, the Democratic party seems far more interested in managing the minutiae of the convention pageantry than in listening to activists. Perhaps that’s understandable in an era of TV based politics, but it was a disappointment that Nina Turner wasn’t given the speaking slot she was promised.
Instructions for the counter-revolution.
Part of the stage management was an attempt to drown out the chants from the Bernie camp. Look, this is all part and parcel of politics. It’s fine that people wanted to chant and other people felt it necessary to chant over them. It’s good that they felt strongly on either side to do that.
That said, most of the Bernie chants should have been completely unobjectionable.
No More War: Shouting over this one is the weirdest thing. Are we to gather the Democratic party is for war? And what’s up with the USA chant? I understand the convention was designed to appeal to Republicans, but not that long ago we were mocking them for their relentless faux-patriotism and war lust. What just happened here? Here’s an alternative strategy to tackle this chant that I would have liked to see. Have the speaker say: “To the people saying ‘no more war’ we agree with you, war should be last resort” would have been beautiful to hear from the podium consistently.
Stop the TPP makes no sense to shout over. This is part of the platform and a policy position Hillary has adopted. Trying to have it shouted over just provides even more fodder to the rumors that Clinton plans to reverse course on this if elected.
I can kind of understand not wanting to hear Walk the Walk and Ban Fracking Now. Those are clear criticisms.
In the end I think it boils down to this. The senior politicians and their teams who run the convention are used to operating within organizations with strict hierarchies. That’s what they do most of the year, in the US legislature, state legislatures or the DNC and state parties. There are rules that govern decorum, format, interaction, sometimes written down, sometimes not. Few people who spend most of the year in that kind of environment are going to feel perfectly comfortable with an activist protesting them. That’s just human behavior and conditioning.
I don’t think there’s a lot of value in getting worked up over it. Just continue doing what you do, and know that some Democrats understand and appreciate what you’re doing:
So if you agree that there's too much inequality in our economy, and too much money in our politics, we all need to be as vocal and as organized and as persistent as Bernie Sanders' supporters have been during this election.
We all need to get out and vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, and then hold them accountable until they get the job done.
That's right, feel the Bern!
That’s Obama by the by.
