This is what many here in the Clinton camp fail to see. They see an election, their team, her, and they’re with her. So we see few posts about issues, many posts about personalities, and lots of polling from that camp. (Those are the positive posts.)
Electoral politics and this one election is only one part of the Bernie supporters’ campaign goals. This election is just a start. As Bernie says, we need a political revolution and even electing him is not enough.
An article in the US version of the Guardian gets what many on this establishment blog choose not to see:
Despite the “Bernie” thing, Sanders presents his persona as no more than the sum of the ideas and principles he puts before the electorate in pursuit of a “political revolution” against a political system in thrall to corporate cash. It’s a project he hopes will outlive his candidacy, and even his person.
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“A campaign has got to be much more than just getting votes and getting elected,” he told an interviewer soon after launching his run. “It has to be helping to educate people, organize people. If we can do that, we can change the dynamic of politics for years and years to come.”
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That’s not a win-or-go-home presidential bid.
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Sanders’ campaign looks more like an extension of the extra-electoral politics of phenomena like the Occupy, Black Lives Matter, Fight for $15 and Dreamer movements, small-d democratic citizen activism bypassing political institutions beholden to narrow, moneyed interests.
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The metric of his campaign’s success is not simply whether voters in the primaries or in November “feel the Bern”. He has made clear all along that, win or lose, it’s the after-Bern that counts.
The Guardian: Why Bernie Sanders' movement is much larger than this election, by Tony Karon
There is much more. I only surveyed some key points.
To Clinton supporters, if you want to understand us, read the article.
The Democratic Party must change or die. We are seeing a loosening of the oligarchic two-party system in this election. The Democratic Party must reject a corrupt campaign finance system, job-killing trade agreements, a dysfunctional criminal justice system, Wall Street, and so much more.
It must decide: will it be a party of softer, gentler plutocrats or will it be a party of a rainbow coalition of working people.
When Bernie is nominated, the battle is not just for his election. It is for all of us.
This is not about one person; it is a political revolution.
Issue activism goes hand-in-hand with electoral politics.