Year: 2019
Bernie’s Revolution
Bernie Sanders in the Vermont Freeman Weekend edition back in November 1969:
The Revolution is coming and it is a very beautiful revolution. It is beautiful because, in its deepest sense, it is quiet, gentle, and all pervasive. It KNOWS. What is most important is this revolution will require no guns, no commandants, no screaming “leaders,” and no vicious publications accusing everyone else of being counter-revolutionary. The revolution comes when two strangers smile at each other, when a father refuses to send his child to school because schools destroy children, when a commune is started and people begin to trust each other, when a young man refuses to go to war, and when a girl pushes aside all that her mother has ‘taught’ her and accepts her boyfriend’s love.
The revolution comes when young people throughout the world take control of their own lives and when people everywhere begin to look each other in the eyes and say hello, without fear. This is the revolution, this is the strength, and with this behind us no politician or general will ever stop us. We shall win!
Bernie wrote a lot of stuff. Some of it is pretty out there, I hear. But regardless, it is a paper trail. And you can tell he’s been thinking and refining his ideas for much longer than his political career. This is who we need; a human. Not a symbol, a figurehead, a billionaire, nor a political weathervane.
Trump can have Twitter. Bernie’s campaign should get on Micro.blog, the man needs a blog.
Ribeira Sacra
DSA’s Endorsement Process
Now, Democratic Socialists of America will start the endorsement debate process amongst chapters and the National Political Committee. It’s democratic.
Bernie Is Running, Thank God
Bernie Sanders finally announced his run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Even in a crowded field, I think he is the right person for the task of taking down Trump.
Meagan Day had a good article on his announcement and why we should support Sanders over at Jacobin:
Some progressive voters may want to gravitate toward another candidate in the crowded field. But don’t be fooled — if you seek economic and social justice, you should support Bernie Sanders for president.
Why? Because there’s a class war raging, and Sanders is the only one running who sees it, and who wants to build working-class forces to fight back.
Day also addresses this liberal desire to endorse someone plays more identity politics:
In a race where progressivism is in vogue, his platform will be hard to run against without changing the conversation. Other candidates and their proxies will argue that Sanders can’t represent the interests of women and people of color because he’s an old white guy. But whatever the importance of symbolic representation, the social-democratic reforms Sanders proposes would do incomparably more to materially transform the lives of hundreds of millions of ordinary women and people of color.
Yes, he’s old and white. He’s also been using the same language on class, corruption, and inequality for decades. We don’t need a symbol; we need a movement. With Bernie, the vestiges of 2016 and the enthusiasm around bold progressive ideas of this election cycle can leverage his campaign to be that movement’s electoral foundation. In a video announcing his run, he asks for one million volunteers. I think the Democratic Socialists of America will endorse him sometime, and there are ~50,000 members with real grassroots organizing power.
Go, Bernie, Go.