Sunday, April 24, 2016

Steven Rosenfeld — No One Thought It Was Possible: 12 Ways the Sanders Revolution Has Transformed Politics

When Bernie Sanders launched his presidential campaign a year ago with a brazen call for American revolution in politics, economics and social justice, no-one—not even the candidate himself—could have imagined what the still-fighting campaign would bring.
“The media likes to portray this as a fair fight on even footing,” campaign manager Jeff Weaver said last week. “They seem to forget that when we started our campaign on April 30, we barely registered in the polls. We didn’t have a political organization. We didn’t have millionaires waiting in the wings. Quite frankly, we didn’t have a whole lot. And then millions of people came together in a political revolution.”…
AlterNet
No One Thought It Was Possible: 12 Ways the Sanders Revolution Has Transformed Politics
Andrew O'Hehir

12 comments:

Kaivey said...

I hope Bernie wins. The thought of that war mongering liberal hawk getting in power causes a shudder. Sam Harris is another liberal hawk that bothers me. He might not be a neoliberal, but he is still a liberal hawk. People like him and Kilary, who is an arch neoliberal, could trigger WW3.

I hate the liberal hawks as I much as I do the extreme right. Bill Mahor is a liberal hawk too. I think he has got it wrong about Islam. The Koran may be brutal but try reading the Old Testament. I tried to read it once but it turned my guts inside out. After that any faith in God I might have had just vanished.

Most Muslims don't take the Koran any more literally than most Christians take the Bible literally. But some fanatics do, the authoritarians who are full of hate. These people are found in any religion.

I still like Bill Mahor, though, and he has a redemptive side. He tends to be moderately left wing, and he is incredibly funny. He gives the Right a real good hiding. I agree with much of his rational atheism.

I have suffered from chronic depression and fibromyalgia all my life, but I worked really hard at my job becoming highly skilled at it. Since retiring early, though, a miracle seems to be happening, and I might be recovering. I'm not on any antidepressants drugs. I live on my small pension.

I was working 60 to 70 hours a week for years on end, which was due to neoliberalism, so it's lovely to have spare time now.

I'm learning to play piano and the guitar, and I program my own music, which I'm getting better at. I have a lovely small house which has a pretty garden I enjoy. And all around me is beautiful countryside, but I live at the edge of London so I get the best of both worlds, as they say.

I'm learning mindfulness and I go for long mindful walks in the countryside. It is magical, and the world is becoming a safe place to live once again. It's becoming hush and benign, which gives gives its nurture and sustenance freely.

I go dancing doing Lindy Hop and jive and I have lots of lovely friends now, and a sweet girlfriend who loves me unconditionally, it seems.

I don't want the neocons wrecking all that I have worked so hard for. They are posturing against Russia too much, a country that could blow the world to smithereens thousands of times over. It has weapons far superior to the US because its armament industry is not milking the tax payer producing shoddy, but very expensive goods. Russia is very secretive about its weapons, understandably.

Kilary and the rest of the right wing neoliberal hawks must be stopped.

This post started out small and ended up becoming a mini autobiography. It was put together on my tiny mobile phone so there night be some mistakes in it. It's not easy to see them in this tiny window of about 1cm x 4cm's.

Ignacio said...

People keeps using that word... revolution. It doesn't mean what they think it means. For now there hasn't been any revolution, just like there wasn't one during/after Obama election.

Wait to be disappointed and all that energy go into waste, just in case... most likely outcome.

mmcosker said...

Agree with Ignacio. Won't be a revolution until there is a larger understanding amongst politicians of our monetary system.

Peter Pan said...

Bernie is not fooling actual socialists:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/04/25/sand-a25.html

Matt Franko said...

Bob from there:

"Clinton has flatly refused to release the transcripts, which would expose her flattery of financial parasites whose reckless and criminal activities crashed the US and world economy and caused untold social devastation."

This is ABSURD... these people give their hated "banksters" waaaaaayyy too much credit... doesnt help at all... logically it implies that "banksters" are the problem and not policy...

Listening to Bernie's radio spots this week in MD... you would think "Wall St" and "banksters" are responsible for everything... its a bad message...

Ignacio said...

It's the same as crediting wealthy people as 'job creators' and 'wealth creators' because they want to tax them to oblivion... Or giving in to 'charity' as a solution to ANYTHING, instead of acknowledging the state should actually come with real solutions instead of charitable people being charitable (and using that for tax loopholes, sight).

"Lefties" buy into the "right" narrative because they use the same framing as them, instead of completely trying to change the framing. That's why we got Austrians/Marxists going hand on hand with their gold buggery.

Anyway, a revolution implies that there has been a change of state, point me to what state has changed? If there is not outcome, is just mental masturbation. Until it's materialized in some way, there is no 'revolution' of sorts.

When revolution happens, you will know it, and it won't be pretty. Revolution historically usually means a radical change of the state of affairs that on aggregate means things end up being worse (at least for a few generations).

I hope there was a political evolution in the West, not a revolution, that get us closer to a better functioning system. Instead we keep talking about 'hope' and 'change' and revolutions that only exists in our minds, not real things happening.

Unless Bernie splits off the Democratic party and tries to channel that energy into an alternative that will actual produce changes in the laws, it won't happen. The same thing may be the case with Trump if TPTB within the GOP decide to ignore the electorate and not nominate Trump, that may actually trigger a 'revolution' within the GOP breaking down the party. For now the Democrats have a good hold on the party power structure and most people will fall into the line, with the young new voters not doing a iota about it and going back to their homes as the establishment gets away with it (most likely outcome for now).

Dan Lynch said...

Article assumes that the Sanders campaign has been a success. It hasn't -- Bernie has lost, and at 74 years old, there will be no "next time."

No, he hasn't pushed Hillary to the left. She and Bill are already beginning to pivot right and that trend will accelerate once Hillary is nominated. Yet Bernie will endorse Hillary anyway, sellout that he is.

Over the weekend Bernie attacked smoking, even suggesting that tobacco should be outlawed. Well, smokers are predominantly poor and working class. What kind of idiotic "populist" attacks the poor and working class? He's clueless, completely out of touch with the heartland.

Peter Pan said...

This is ABSURD... these people give their hated "banksters" waaaaaayyy too much credit... doesnt help at all... logically it implies that "banksters" are the problem and not policy...

The belief that markets self-regulate was absurd.

Listening to Bernie's radio spots this week in MD... you would think "Wall St" and "banksters" are responsible for everything... its a bad message...

Well neither Bernie or the Trotskyists are in paradigm.

Peter Pan said...

Bye bye Bernie, and don't let the door hit you...

Simsalablunder said...

"its a bad message..."

It's a good political message.

Jonathan Larson said...

Too many people are confusing Sanders with ideas whose time has come. Neoliberalism is an obvious flop for about 95% of the world's population. Something will replace it Whether they are Sander's ideas is not especially important. In fact, I believe the USA public is already several clicks to the left of Sanders.

In the early 1980s, I got interested in the political ideas of the early 20th century—most especially LaFollette's Progressivism which became Teddy Roosevelt's ideology, economics as an evolutionary science as penned by Veblen, and the monetary ideas of almost everyone from the Greenbackers to the Nonpartisan League. This has been endlessly fascinating but it doesn't exactly lead to many conversations. So instead, I sometimes get into the character of an early Populist / Progressive and without identifying a single source or author, will engage in political discussions as if it were, say, 1914. The results are amazing—a wide range of folks from small farmers to welders, to engineers, to mechanics—the whole range of folks doing the necessary work of civilization can be convinced by the same political arguments that convinced their great-grandfathers.

I am pretty sure that Sanders just got the ball rolling. Those who would diminish this accomplishment are in for an interesting surprise. Given the youthful energy of the typical Sandernista, I wouldn't be at all shocked to see neoliberalism eventually become a human rights violation or a capital crime.

Calgacus said...

Jonathan Larson: No time to say more - but - absolutely right! "Getting into character" sounds like a great idea.

I wouldn't be at all shocked to see neoliberalism eventually become a human rights violation or a capital crime.

No, its well-deserved fate will be worse. It will become unfashionable. People will laugh at it.