Political Revolution: This is what Democracy Feels Like
Here in Colorado we have much to celebrate this week. It seems that U.S. News and World Reports ranks Denver as the top city to live in, and Colorado Springs comes in fifth according to the same survey report. And on Super Tuesday, Colorado’s Democratic voters caucused, and Bernie Sanders won that vote. But beyond the win for Bernie and his presidential campaign there was something significant happening in our caucusing places. The political revolution Bernie has been talking about for many months is underway, and Colorado is definitely on board.
In June 2015, Bernie spoke to a large crowd at the University of Denver. In fact, the crowd was larger than that as an outdoor overflow area had to be set up to handle the thousands of people who could not get in the main indoor arena. When I looked around the room, the crowd was largely older and mostly white. By the time I saw him speak again in the Denver Convention Center in February 2016, the crowd of 20,000 had changed significantly. There were much younger people in large numbers, and the crowd was quite obviously more diverse. That made me happy and hopeful about the upcoming caucuses.
But when caucus day arrived, I will admit I was concerned about whether or not all of these fabulous rally crowds would actually translate into crowds of Bernie voters attending their caucuses. Even though I knew there was an incredible ground game here for Bernie for many months, first begun with Progressive Democrats of America house parties, and even though I had been part of the National Nurses United Bernie Bus both times it came through Colorado, I worried about all the negative hype flowing from the mainstream media about Millennials and their turnout numbers. I need not have worried.
When I walked into my caucus site in Denver on Super Tuesday, it was overflowing with people waiting to sign in. One woman I spoke with was terrified about what the outcome might be. She was a strong Bernie supporter, and she faced some daunting life challenges that she believed will be made better by policies she has heard articulated during the campaign. She was scared that the DNC super delegates would crush any hopes for Bernie to secure the nomination, and she felt that was fundamentally wrong. I assured her that Bernie is still very much in the race and urged her not to worry so much about the mainstream media commentary on the primaries.
more: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/donna-smith/66293/political-revolution-this-is-what-democracy-feels-like