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Bernie Sanders
Related: About this forumBernie Sanders, the new actiivism and the fight to raise the minimum wage
Bernie Sanders is running for president. And you can look at that a few different ways. The cynical take is that this is theatrical, a pretense to grant the appearance of a primary campaign without challenging the expected outcome of a Hillary Clinton nomination. But Sanders certainly doesnt think of it that way, having raised over $2 million in the first 48 hours since his announcement.
The way I look at the Sanders campaign is through the lens of another campaign: the fight to raise the minimum wage. When that battle was left to Washington, it floundered. But outside agitation unified the Democratic Party over the past week around a true living wage, forcing politicians beyond where they felt comfortable. The story reveals the power of activism based on principle, and a Sanders campaign can serve as a conduit for this kind of work.
<snip>
Finally, last week, Democrats in Washington upped their offer to a $12-an-hour minimum wage, and actually got more support for it than the $10.10 proposal just a couple years earlier. When the Obama administration endorsed, it completed a shift from $9 to $12, a 33 percent increase, in just two years.
Thats how activism works. You make a stand on principle, build a coalition, and force politicians to get out in front of the parade. You create a constituency where one didnt previously exist. And thats precisely the promise of a Sanders presidential campaign. If his issues are popular and every indication in the polling is that things like a higher minimum wage and more equality of income are and he can build the same kind of grass-roots movement that ignited the fight for $15, then it challenges not just Hillary Clinton but everyone who wants to lead within the party to recalibrate and come closer to his ideals.
<snip>
http://www.salon.com/2015/05/05/how_bernie_sanders_could_make_2016_very_very_interesting/
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Bernie Sanders, the new actiivism and the fight to raise the minimum wage (Original Post)
cali
May 2015
OP
djean111
(14,255 posts)1. The trick is to be able to differentiate those politicians who actually want to raise wages, from
those who have just decided they need to pander for votes and/or those who have assured their owners that they are merely looking to get reelected, and would never actually do such a thing.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)2. K&R....
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)3. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!