Second Chance

I hope we can all agree that Bernie Sanders is a very smart man and an extraordinarily canny politician.
He is now trying for the second time to save the Democratic Party from itself.
The first time of course, was by proffering his service as a strong candidate against any Republican contender.
I’ve been hearing the term “Berniecrat Mafia” being tossed around a bit lately, but if there was any validity to that, the party could not have refused the offer he made them. If only.
This time he is offering us the chance to mature into a thoughtful, Progressive institution with the interests of the people at large as it’s reason for existence. Right now that’s more of a PR pitch, and the people have obviously caught onto that.
There will not be a third try.
I’m sure we’ve all seen over and over the more or less veiled allusions to a third party Bernie made during the primaries. Despite the confusion it unleashed at the time as people desperately begged him for an Independent run in 2016, it was necessary to put it out there.
It wasn’t in reference to this cycle. It was a warning from Bernie, not his adherents, that failure of the Democrats to get back to their Gold Standard of FDR-style Democratic Socialism would leave Progressives no choice but to form a party of their own, with Bernie as the author of it’s guiding principles.
If the Democratic Old Guard tries to cling to the failures of the past and see them as victories (you know, “correct” the record) there will be a real DemExit. Half the party will walk. Bernie wouldn’t even have to walk; his decision to serve out his term as the Indy that Vermonters voted in may have been partly in anticipation of this possible turn of events. Canny.
If you have been a Hillary supporter please recognize that her time is past, and if you fail to see that, so is the Democratic Party’s.
I wouldn’t be bothering with this if my desire was to see some kind of purge, or strengthen any animosity in the party.
If even the most ardent Hillary supporter, whose only concern was to see a woman as president and hang everything else, can get past that, I should have no problem doing the same. We can work together.
Right now the Old Guard is all that stands between us and the Republicans. We can’t just make a clean sweep, nor should we. Even bloody revolutions don’t work that way. They are no more monolithic than Progressives. We need to embrace them as they allow us to, and meet them on the common ground we all share.
We need all hands on deck, and we need them right now. We need as many more hands as we can recruit, but they have to be hands that pull in the direction of the change we so desperately need. The Republicans, through no fault of their own, have outdone us in populism. Make no mistake, populism was all along the favorite to win this election. The respective political establishments refused to see that their games were largely up. There is too much information available, especially to those who know how to access it. (and they do, despite accusations to the contrary)
It’s a new game with new players now, and there are about to be many more.
That’s been the key all along. #DemEnter.
Bernie fought his way onto the scene through the resistance of the party leadership and a virtual Media blackout with the preposterous idea that if he told the American people the truth, they would prick up their ears at the strange sound and try to locate it’s source. He was right. Again. As virtually always.
How is it possible to be right so often, as demonstrated by all those cautionary videos over the years? Simple. Bernie’s agenda is one of service to the public. Most public “servants” know pretty well what results they are after when they screw up time after time. They are serving, but not the public, so every effort requires a sales pitch with varying degrees of smoke and mirrors. When you hold the people’s interests foremost, you have no reason to deny them the truth.
Is it really so remarkable then, that Bernie inspired so many people who had taken no interest in politics before, or brought back so many who had turned away in disgust?
That is why his new position as Chair of Outreach could not be more perfect.
Members of the committee serve as liaisons between Senate Democrats and the advocacy groups and intergovernmental organizations that want to work with them. What better way to bring in Progressives?
And Progressives are what is needed if we are going to be competitive in future elections. At any level. We need to already be looking to take back the Senate in 2018, but we should be looking at our local school boards and everything else, too.
I hope Bernie continues to take the bull by the hairs and goes all out on recruitment, complete with rallies and birds. Non-voters are the biggest voting bloc, and more of them lean Left than Right.
If we build it, they will come.