Whats Next for Bernies Revolution?
What’s Next for Bernie’s Revolution?
Christopher D. Cook
UTNE Reader
But in this most unusual election year, Bernie Sanders and his passionate supporters aim to break that pattern. Sanders’s call for a “political revolution” ignited a fierce urgency that had been percolating under the surface of America’s stultifying politics—and initiatives such as Our Revolution and Brand New Congress, and smaller “Berniecrat” clubs and networks sprouting from the grassroots, are carving new pathways for progressive reform. The passion of the post-Bernie movement is undeniable. Within days of Sanders’s first public mention of Our Revolution in late June, 24,000 people expressed interest in joining. The group’s August 24 launch inspired more than 2,600 house parties around the country, and more than 240,000 viewers on Facebook Live alone. Brand New Congress, meanwhile, is touring the country to build support for running more than 400 reform candidates in 2018.
The Sanders campaign pulled off a remarkable feat, espousing democratic socialism and empowering young movement people while running a professional political campaign. Now Sanders and the people who supported him are struggling to turn that accomplishment into a sustained independent movement to build real political power.
Both the Our Revolution and Brand New Congress platforms are works in progress. Senator Sanders’s communications director, Michael Briggs, says Our Revolution is “thinking our way through” the process and criteria for its endorsements: “We don’t have a hard and fast rule about who has to support what in order to get an endorsement.” Jackson says the platform that emerged from the Democratic National Convention was “the most progressive so far . . . The candidates we endorse would have to support that.” But he sees this as a “stepping stone,” adding candidates backed by the group “should go farther.”
On its website, the Brand New Congress lays out some goals: “We want to end the poverty and suffering of tens of millions of Americans, reverse the effects of climate change so the world does not end by 2100, end our policies that keep ruining the lives of millions abroad by destabilizing their countries, and restore our democracy to go back to representing all of the people instead of just monied interests.”
The group’s core principles include government investment in a “massive rebuilding project in partnership with businesses in America”; creating “a 100 percent renewable energy society in as short a time as possible”; reforming a criminal justice system that “unfairly targets people of color” into one that “spends its money on integrating offenders back into society”; repealing Citizens United and “getting rid of the revolving door between Wall Street and our government”; and advancing policies to “further the rights of people of color, women, and LGBTQ people.” When the group launched, there was no mention of war, intervention, or military spending.
Norman Solomon, cofounder of RootsAction.org and a delegate to the Democratic convention who coordinated the Bernie Delegates Network, says the group must be willing to fight: “To have the power to force congressional action, progressives are going to need to effectively organize while showing some sharp teeth. The power to launch primary challenges—credibly threatening corporate Democrats with defeat—is crucial.”
= new reply since forum marked as read
