BEYOND BERNIE: THE EVOLUTION OF A REVOLUTION

                                   

Those of us on the left know that what Sanders calls a "revolution" is only the first step in the transformation necessary to produce a just society. Some of us labor under the delusion that if we are patient, some day Americans will rise up and overthrow the system that oppresses us. Even more unreasonably, some think this can somehow be done without dirtying our hands in electoral politics. Others argue that it can only be done by building a third party to challenge the corporate Duopoly. While creating an alternative to the Duopoly will play a role in the ultimate transformation of American politics, it will take many years to realize. We simply do not have the luxury of time. The reality is that global climate change sets an upper limit on how long we have to act. Until we begin electing candidates who will stand up to the Wall Street-dominated fossil fuels industry, we are living with a sword hanging over our heads. When "liberal" Americans seem prepared to select the darling of Wall Street to represent them in the presidential election, there is too much groundwork to be done to create a viable third party before it is too late.

Clinton's success despite her high unfavorability ratings shows how far we have to go to educate the public about the need for revolution and what that will entail. We must begin with the system as it is, meet the people where they are at, and hope that by speaking to them in their language, we can lead them to question the assumptions that keep them captive of a system designed to favor the interests of the powerful. That means elections matter, even if one victory does not in itself constitute a "revolution." They provide platforms from which to educate and organize those who have not given up altogether on rescuing the US and the world from the dire circumstances we have allowed it to fall into. Sanders has shown how this can be done without depending on the very interests who control the system to get this opportunity.

The question remains as to whether the Sanders candidacy will advance the cause of a real revolution, or impede it.  If his supporters simply cave in and support Clinton, they will show that they are unwilling to challenge the practice of fear-based “strategic” voting promoted by the Democratic leadership. The grip on power of the party elite depends on successfully convincing us that voting for corporate Democrats is the only alternative to Republican rule. It is not. If their jobs depended on it, these power brokers would have to give us candidates who actually represent the People’s will.  If the majority of Democrats continue to accept the lesser of two evils logic, they have no reason to expect that the party’s steady drift to the right will ever end. If they refuse to vote for the anointed candidate of the limousine liberals, we have a chance to force change.

A lot of people have been saying since the beginning of the Democratic primary campaign that Sanders would end up doing more harm than good to the cause of fundamentally changing the system of American politics. Assuming that he would lose in the end, they pointed out that his ultimate endorsement of Clinton would serve simply to shore up a party that can no longer generate excitement among even its most faithful members because its chosen candidates are unwilling to challenge the moneyed interests that he is targeting.  The naysayer’s argument was that, like past insurgent candidates for the Democratic nomination, he would serve as a sheepherder for the Duopoly party claiming to represent “the People” by encouraging his disappointed supporters to rally round the choice of the Establishment. While this is a distinct possibility, those committed to a real revolution need to understand that we cannot succeed without learning to recognize and capitalize on every opportunity.

Whether or not Sanders wins the nomination, his amazing run presents such an opening, one we may not get again. While he can help advance the cause beyond the convention, let’s remember that he has told us endlessly that the outcome of the struggle is in our hands. We have to be prepared to respond to the very real possibility that Sanders himself will abdicate leadership in the movement he has begun, even while encouraging him to stay the course. We have to help him fight for every vote to continue getting his message out during the campaign and at the convention. We must also encourage him to set his sights higher than simply making the case for progressive policies before a convention run by politicians whose primary interest is maintaining power and who believe that can only be done by kowtowing to the corporate elite.  Words must be followed by action.

Ralph Nader recently argued that if Sanders were to lose at convention, he could still keep his word to endorse Clinton, while challenging her corporate vision. There is nothing to stop him from continuing his assault on neoliberalism and corruption that is the root cause of America’s malaise. While justifying his ongoing efforts as a way to rally his troops to defeat Trump, he can continue to barnstorm in favor of the Democrats. The key is that rather than promoting the failed policies of Clintonism, he can argue for those Democratic values that people want to believe the party represents. This will prepare us for continuing to fight for them if Clinton is elected, rather than abandoning the fight as Obama supporters did after 2008, with predictable results.

A true political revolution must be based on addressing the corruption upon which the current system is built. Sanders has gotten the ball rolling, focusing our attention on the fact that the entire progressive movement depends on dealing with this problem. With our encouragement, he can keep the movement going forward. Even without his cooperation, we can proceed on our own. He has provided us a glimpse of our collective power. We have to use it, organizing around the issue of corruption and highlighting how the consequences play out in a Clinton presidency, as they no doubt will if her policies are consistent with her atrocious record of neoliberalism, neoconservatism and generally favoring the interests of Wall Street over Main Street. 

A true political revolution must be based on addressing the corruption upon which the current system is built. Sanders has gotten the ball rolling, focusing our attention on the fact that the entire progressive movement depends on dealing with this problem. With our encouragement, he can keep the movement going forward. Even without his cooperation, we can proceed on our own. He has provided us a glimpse of our collective power. We have to use it, organizing around the issue of corruption and highlighting how the consequences play out in a Clinton presidency, as they no doubt will if her policies are consistent with her atrocious record of neoliberalism, neoconservatism and generally favoring the interests of Wall Street over Main Street.  

If we can get average Americans to set their sights that high, they might be able to glimpse the more fundamental changes that will be required to reshape the US economy and society into something that will enable future generations to not only survive, but thrive.

SANDERS V CLINTON: REVOLUTION OR CIVIL WAR?

                                                                                     

It would have been amusing if the stakes weren’t so deadly serious: The New York Times described Clinton’s narrow victory in Nevada as reassuring “an anxious Democratic Party” that she could still win the nomination despite Sanders’ surging poll numbers. While not quite saying so, the implication seemed to be that the Democratic Party doesn’t include the insurgents who support Sanders. This is a subtle indication of the obvious: there is a civil war going on in the Democratic Party, and the corporate media has sided with the Democratic establishment. In order to end this civil war, Sanders supporters must convince Democrats leaning toward Clinton to join them in a revolution against corporate rule.

While the candidates have confined themselves to occasional heated exchanges, most of the fighting has been going on in the alternative media, letters to the editor sections of newspapers, and social media. In the latter, the arguments are getting increasingly vicious. Sanders supporters are getting frustrated by what they see as the blindness of Clinton supporters to the need for "political revolution," whatever that means to them. While Sanders has never precisely defined the term, the context in which he refers to it suggests that it means creating a system where money does not determine who voters will get a chance to choose from to represent them.

If we accept this as the definition of the term, then the question becomes one of whether the millions of Clinton admirers are willing to give up the dream of helping elect the first female President in order to pursue what many consider a quixotic quest: addressing the corrupting influence of money in politics. Is that really a naïve idea? Sanders supporters who expect more from his election than just populist rhetoric do not think so. Although he has not made the point clearly on the campaign trail, Sanders doesn’t just think that overturning Citizens United is just a good idea: He has been actively working on it for years. Furthermore, he has very specific ideas about how to do it.  Not only would match Clinton’s promise to use a judge’s willingness to reverse the decision as a litmus test for Supreme Court appointment, he has already been attacking it with a more direct approach.

Sanders has introduced resolutions for constitutional amendments to effect campaign finance reform in each of the last three Congresses, the most recent one just last month. His strategy is not just overturn Citizens United, but the whole series of decisions that began when money used to influence political campaigns was declared protected “speech” in Buckley v Vallejo in 1976. Although the effort to pass a strong constitutional amendment has lost some momentum after the initial success of Move to Amend and other groups, the movement has not gone away. He could give it new life.

As a senator, his ability to advance the idea was limited by how much attention his efforts received, including in the “alternative” media. Now that Sanders is highlighting campaign finance reform in front of a national audience, the issue could form the nucleus around which to build a real movement, one that could unite not only Democrats but all Americans.  Regardless of political ideology, only the terminally naïve doubt that  it is the corruption of politics by special interest money that has frustrated efforts to effectively deal with almost every problem whose solution might affect corporate profits. As President, Sanders would be in a position to lead the effort to pass an amendment, using the power of the movement that he has begun to mobilize.

The theme of the Sanders campaign has been addressing corruption. He has returned again and again to the issue of the corrupting influence of money in politics, and particularly in elections. Although it was a point lost on most of her supporters, his pointing out in their last televised debate that Wall Street is a big Clinton backer was not an accusation of corruption.  Deftly ignoring the distinction, she played for sympathy by accusing Sanders of “smearing” her. The problem is that it is not possible to “smear” someone by pointing out relevant facts.

The sources of Clinton’s campaign funds are largely known, and she did not challenge the fact that she has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs alone. Sanders was too polite to mention that in total, she has received millions from Wall Street institutions and the industries in which they are most heavily invested (among these are the corporations that comprise the medical-industrial complex, raising questions about what makes her so sure that single payer will never come to the US even though it has been proven to work everywhere it has been tried around the world). As Sanders pointed out in frustration, it is hard to imagine why those who benefit from Washington’s corporate-centered policies would be throwing so much money at someone who calls herself their “greatest enemy” unless they understood that such threats are not to be taken seriously.

If Clinton is serious when she agrees with Sanders that Citizens United should be overturned, she should understand the importance of the fact that he is running without the benefit of SuperPAC backing or that of wealthy and well-connected establishment Democrats.  It is important to remember that the Supreme Court decision to remove the floodgates of corporate cash was based on the assumption that it did not “create corruption or an appearance of corruption.” So if we were to take her objection seriously, shouldn’t we be concerned about at least the appearance of corruption when her campaign is primarily funded by wealthy donors and corporations?

To repeat: pointing out that Clinton is very deeply enmeshed in a corrupt system is not the same as calling her corrupt.  As she points out, so are almost all other politicians. Impugning her character on this basis is a sure way to encourage her admirers to defend her against more valid criticisms.  A far more effective way to persuade them to back Sanders is to focus on the potential benefits of a Sanders win: It would prove that we don’t need to accept the candidates that the economic elite offer.  As president, Sanders can take the lead in promoting reforms like the American Anti-Corruption Act and making a constitutional amendment a litmus test in every congressional election until we have a Congress that puts our interests over those of the billionaire backers of the current crop.

That’s a pretty revolutionary idea.