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A
small indication of trustworthiness for a national leader is to be
widely known by an affectionate first name, Bernie
in this case. Polls indicate Bernie is the most trusted politician in
the country. I hasten to add that this is, in itself, not enough.
Stalin was known as Joe
or Uncle Joe
by many, who like tRump supporters somehow managed to maintain a
mighty delusion despite ready facts, believing that if only Uncle
Joe had known about the
purges and killing he would have stopped them. Put another way, they
became quite adept at avoiding or denying ready facts. But the
appellation holds for Bernie. Not that there aren't hordes of the
properly indoctrinated who dismiss the guy with tags like,
socialist/communist,
needing for some psychological reason a “strong leader” (like
Joe). Both sides of this equation use words like freedom, democracy,
justice but it isn't hard to decipher which side is serious and which
side is seriously misusing the language.
Bernie
begins his book with an account of the negotiations, for the
Democratic Convention in 2016, which produced what he calls the most
progressive political platform in U.S. history. When he recognized
that Hillary had the delegates to win the nomination, by hook or by
crook, he used his leverage to get 5 of his supporters on the 12
person platform committee. Climate specialist Bill McKibben and
philosopher-activist Cornel West, notably. Included in the platform
were commitments to make college tuition free, reduce student loan
debt, funding of community health centers, a public option to allow
citizens to opt into medicare at age 55 (a compromise since Bernie
favored single payer, medicare for all), a $15 dollar an hour minimum
wage, a tax on greenhouse gases, massive investments in solar, wind
and other renewable energy (not nukes), a path toward legalization of
marijuana, abolishing the death penalty, attacking the problem of
corporations and the wealthy avoiding taxes by stashing cash
off-shore, union-friendly measures, automatic voter registration...
and other progressive items, achieving 80% of Sander's goals.
Recognizing
that either Hillary or Trump was going to be president, Bernie set
out to get that across to his troops, at the convention and across
the country. Supreme Court appointments alone, as we have seen, was
issue enough to back Clinton. Obstacles to preventing the disaster of
a Trump victory were serious Republican cheating, gerrymandering, and
deception, including probably collusion with Russian hacking and
dirty tricks. Democratic victory required a huge win, to win. As we
know, 2 million (or was it 3?) wasn't a big enough win to overcome
these obstacles. But try he did. His book chronicles some of the
speeches he made on his tour to support Hillary, a tour which was
formidable for a man some considered too old to run. One could
question whether the book has a lot of filler in the form of speeches
Bernie made on this and other tours but, since they're good,
important speeches, they justify themselves. Questioning U.S. foreign
policy with its over-reliance on force, the massive military budget
and corruption, subservience to Israeli intransigence and apartheid,
collusion with dictators (right wing only if you please) highlights
Bernie as one of the very few elected officials with the courage to
go down those roads.
Asking
the question how do we revitalize U.S. democracy and create a
government that represents all the people, not just the few? How do
we bring millions of new people into the political process and raise
political consciousness? Bernie's answer is Our
Revolution, an
organization aimed to do just that. This section talks about the many
who fail to vote, the disenfranchised, the demoralized and the
uninspired. That last quality is understandable when a citizen can
feel, if not articulate, that political life is largely controlled by
a handful of billionaires and corporations. The Sanders presidential
campaign netted millions of small donations and, for Our
Revolution, millions of
contacts that could be used to further the goals of the organization,
which include electoral activity, resulting in many victories, ranging
from local state school superintendent to U.S. senator. The
democratic party split is represented by the Hillary/Bernie
campaigns, an establishment figure and a revolutionary,
and it runs across the party nationwide. Those comfortable with the
status quo and who believe only “moderate” (read republican-lite)
candidates can win versus those who believe, and have shown, that
progressive candidates speaking to the general malaise can win. These
candidates, naturally, coming out of the grass roots, express the
diversity of the population in race, religion and gender, even sexual
orientation.
The
path to U.S. senator and presidential candidate was unique to Bernie
and he lays that out for the reader, from his civil rights, anti-war
activist days, his failed runs for senate and other offices, his
successful bid for major of Burlington, Vermont, house of
representatives and finally senate. Throughout this career, it is
remarkable how consistent, from day one, has been his critique and
understanding of the extent to which a wealthy elite runs this
country for their own benefit. No one person has done more to further
this understanding across the country. His determined optimism runs
through this book and should help inspire many to join the fray.
Illustration
by the author
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