Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Bernie Sanders' Moment Of Truth: These Are the Political Fights He
Could Win Right Now
________________________________________
Bernie Sanders' Moment Of Truth: These Are the Political Fights He Could Win
Right Now
By David Dayen [1] / Salon [2]
July 21, 2015
Bernie Sanders explicitly wants to start a political revolution in America.
Judging from the crowd of 11,000 supporters in Phoenix on Saturday night,
that has already taken place. Within a short period, Sanders has become the
most electrifying presence on the 2016 campaign trail, attracting bigger
crowds than any presidential candidate of either party. He has the
grassroots army that he says is the critical component to progressive
change. Now the question becomes what he will do with it, immediately,
before any primary vote is cast.
After some unfortunate tone-deafness [3] dealing with a protest from
#BlackLivesMatter activists at Netroots Nation - something the campaign is
already working to correct [4] - Sanders rallied audiences in Phoenix,
Houston and Dallas over the weekend. At the Phoenix Convention Center, the
notably young crowd has gotten to know the democratic socialist's positions
so well (probably from his applause lines being tweeted on the campaign
Twitter feed [5]) that they repeated them in real time, like lip-synching at
a concert. He has captured the imagination of a segment of the population
who feels ill-served by the narrowness of our politics.
Among liberal millennials in their formative political years, Sanders offers
truth-to-power rhetoric that speaks to the disappointments of the Obama
years, on issues like Wall Street's power, the takeover of government by the
wealthy and the need for single-payer universal health care. Sanders' path
for sustaining real change is entirely based upon bottom-up organizing. "The
key mistake of the Obama Administration," Sanders said [6] last year to
Bloomberg, "was to more or less disband the grassroots network that he had
put together to get elected."
Now Sanders has that grassroots network, or at least a critical mass of
people willing to listen to him on the issues of the day. There is no more
prominent voice on the American political left today, save for Elizabeth
Warren. And Sanders is arguably more visible right now, with news-making
rallies and a growing email list (the campaign won't say how big).
This gives Sanders an opportunity to show exactly what can happen when
politicians use their popularity as an organizing tool. Because there are
winnable fights happening right now that could use his attention.
For example, the federal highway trust fund [7] faces a deadline at the end
of the month, with plenty of potential downsides. The House passed a
five-month patch setting up a more permanent fix that pays for
infrastructure with a misguided tax amnesty for large corporations that park
earnings overseas, which has been pushed in recent weeks [8]by Chuck
Schumer. Senate Republicans, thinking they may get a better deal with a
colleague in the White House, are scrambling to find money for a two-year
patch, including making significant cuts to the federal employee retirement
program [9].
The payment options for infrastructure are pretty awful, compared to simply
putting a user fee on the roads that need fixing through a small increase in
the gas tax. Liberal Democrats have the power to shape what happens next,
and the first stage of the endgame is happening in a matter of days. So
where is Sanders on that? What's he telling his supporters to do about it?
Tied up with the highway bill are negotiations around the expired
Export-Import Bank. Though most of the Democratic Party now supports Ex-Im,
in the past Sanders has been staunchly against it [10] as an example of
corporate welfare and outsourcing, earning praise even from the likes of Ted
Cruz [11]. Congress will try to resurrect Ex-Im soon. If Sanders still
believes it helps ship jobs overseas, is he prepared to ask his new
followers to help him stop it?
Similarly, within two months we will have a Congressional vote on the
nuclear deal with Iran. Foreign policy items go completely unmentioned in
Sanders' speeches, but at hisSenate website [12] he called the deal "a
victory for diplomacy over saber-rattling." President Obama just needs
one-third of either house of Congress to maintain the nuclear deal, again
giving power to the liberal bloc. The votes will occur in September. Is
Sanders prepared to organize around that?
There are more short-term issues up in the air, from the fight over the next
appointment [13] to the Securities and Exchange Commission to the inevitable
battles over the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling and the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (which Sanders has already engaged on). What's his
strategy?
The model for organizing from inside the Senate comes from Elizabeth Warren,
who uses her platform to push on short-term issues. She doesn't always win,
such as with the Citigroup-written derivatives loophole [14] snuck into a
federal spending bill last year. But she knows how to leverage her power and
the citizens who believe in her message. She stopped Antonio Weiss from
becoming the number three leader at the Treasury Department and has now
apparently stopped Keir Gumbs [13], a lawyer who actually held seminars with
corporations about how to evade taxes, from joining the SEC.
Warren derives her success from picking winnable fights and forcing fellow
Democrats to take her side, because of the promise of being aligned with the
emergent Warren wing. She is respected on financial reform and issues
affecting the working class, and when she speaks up, it matters and can
change policy.
Sanders has never had this platform for his issues before. But one email to
his list (which he reportedly writes himself [15]) or the mention of a
particular topic on the stump could have significant organizing value. He
has nationwide house parties [16] coming up next week, over 1,500 of them,
where he could spread a particular message, if he chooses. Tell Chuck
Schumer not to give multinational corporations a bailout. Tell Democrats not
to undermine diplomacy. Tell the President that prime regulatory seats
should not be sold to Wall Street executives. And then he can supplement
that with phone calls and protests. There's an opportunity to operationalize
his candidacy.
Making change is about more than giving a well-worn political speech. It's
about active engagement, challenging bad ideas pushed by powerful people and
demanding something different. Sanders knows this: it's the entire basis for
his candidacy. But he could put it to work before anyone goes to a caucus in
Iowa or a voting booth in New Hampshire. Things are happening right now that
will impact millions of Americans. If Sanders is making the argument that he
will be an organizer as President, he has to show that he can be one as a
candidate, too.
David Dayen is a contributing writer to Salon who also writes for The New
Republic, The American Prospect, Politico, The Guardian and other
publications. He lives in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter: @ddayen
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [17]
[18]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/bernie-sanders-moment-truth-these-are-political-figh
ts-he-could-win-right-now
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/david-dayen
[2] http://www.salon.com
[3]
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122329/bernie-sanders-and-martin-omalley-
failed-their-blacklivesmatter-test
[4] https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/622858056582438912
[5] https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/
[6]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/liberal-activists-see-bernie-sanders-
as-champion-for-causes-failed-by-obama/2015/07/19/8b5fc752-2e09-11e5-8353-12
15475949f4_story.html
[7]
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/scheduling/248384-this-week-highway-fu
nding-stalemate-looms
[8]
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-corporate-tax-plan-20150714-story.html
[9]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/07/16/senate-gop-report
edly-target-federal-employee-retirement-plans-for-highway-funds/
[10]
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/25/wingnuts_and_liberals_bizarre_role_reversal_
why_export_import_bank_politics_are_so_perverse/
[11]
http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=7810&DateTime=7%2F16%2F20
15+10%3A56%3A08+AM&Term=%22Bernie+Sanders+%22&PlayClip=TRUE
[12]
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/sanders-statement-on-
iran-nuclear-agreement
[13]
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/democrats-corporate-and-progressive-wings-d
icker-over-sec-opening-2015-07-17
[14]
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/16/inside_wall_streets_new_heist_how_big_banks_
exploited_a_broken_democratic_caucus/
[15]
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/07/18/summer-sanders-fall-sande
rs/FWFu6n73iroD98e4og2baM/story.html?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1
[16]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bernie-sanders-says-july-29-is-the-mo
st-important-day-of-his-campaign/2015/07/17/b20680e6-2c9f-11e5-a5ea-cf74396e
59ec_story.html
[17] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Bernie Sanders' Moment
Of Truth: These Are the Political Fights He Could Win Right Now
[18] http://www.alternet.org/
[19] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Bernie Sanders' Moment Of Truth: These Are the Political Fights He
Could Win Right Now
Bernie Sanders' Moment Of Truth: These Are the Political Fights He Could Win
Right Now
By David Dayen [1] / Salon [2]
July 21, 2015
Bernie Sanders explicitly wants to start a political revolution in America.
Judging from the crowd of 11,000 supporters in Phoenix on Saturday night,
that has already taken place. Within a short period, Sanders has become the
most electrifying presence on the 2016 campaign trail, attracting bigger
crowds than any presidential candidate of either party. He has the
grassroots army that he says is the critical component to progressive
change. Now the question becomes what he will do with it, immediately,
before any primary vote is cast.
After some unfortunate tone-deafness [3] dealing with a protest from
#BlackLivesMatter activists at Netroots Nation - something the campaign is
already working to correct [4] - Sanders rallied audiences in Phoenix,
Houston and Dallas over the weekend. At the Phoenix Convention Center, the
notably young crowd has gotten to know the democratic socialist's positions
so well (probably from his applause lines being tweeted on the campaign
Twitter feed [5]) that they repeated them in real time, like lip-synching at
a concert. He has captured the imagination of a segment of the population
who feels ill-served by the narrowness of our politics.
Among liberal millennials in their formative political years, Sanders offers
truth-to-power rhetoric that speaks to the disappointments of the Obama
years, on issues like Wall Street's power, the takeover of government by the
wealthy and the need for single-payer universal health care. Sanders' path
for sustaining real change is entirely based upon bottom-up organizing. "The
key mistake of the Obama Administration," Sanders said [6] last year to
Bloomberg, "was to more or less disband the grassroots network that he had
put together to get elected."
Now Sanders has that grassroots network, or at least a critical mass of
people willing to listen to him on the issues of the day. There is no more
prominent voice on the American political left today, save for Elizabeth
Warren. And Sanders is arguably more visible right now, with news-making
rallies and a growing email list (the campaign won't say how big).
This gives Sanders an opportunity to show exactly what can happen when
politicians use their popularity as an organizing tool. Because there are
winnable fights happening right now that could use his attention.
For example, the federal highway trust fund [7] faces a deadline at the end
of the month, with plenty of potential downsides. The House passed a
five-month patch setting up a more permanent fix that pays for
infrastructure with a misguided tax amnesty for large corporations that park
earnings overseas, which has been pushed in recent weeks [8]by Chuck
Schumer. Senate Republicans, thinking they may get a better deal with a
colleague in the White House, are scrambling to find money for a two-year
patch, including making significant cuts to the federal employee retirement
program [9].
The payment options for infrastructure are pretty awful, compared to simply
putting a user fee on the roads that need fixing through a small increase in
the gas tax. Liberal Democrats have the power to shape what happens next,
and the first stage of the endgame is happening in a matter of days. So
where is Sanders on that? What's he telling his supporters to do about it?
Tied up with the highway bill are negotiations around the expired
Export-Import Bank. Though most of the Democratic Party now supports Ex-Im,
in the past Sanders has been staunchly against it [10] as an example of
corporate welfare and outsourcing, earning praise even from the likes of Ted
Cruz [11]. Congress will try to resurrect Ex-Im soon. If Sanders still
believes it helps ship jobs overseas, is he prepared to ask his new
followers to help him stop it?
Similarly, within two months we will have a Congressional vote on the
nuclear deal with Iran. Foreign policy items go completely unmentioned in
Sanders' speeches, but at hisSenate website [12] he called the deal "a
victory for diplomacy over saber-rattling." President Obama just needs
one-third of either house of Congress to maintain the nuclear deal, again
giving power to the liberal bloc. The votes will occur in September. Is
Sanders prepared to organize around that?
There are more short-term issues up in the air, from the fight over the next
appointment [13] to the Securities and Exchange Commission to the inevitable
battles over the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling and the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (which Sanders has already engaged on). What's his
strategy?
The model for organizing from inside the Senate comes from Elizabeth Warren,
who uses her platform to push on short-term issues. She doesn't always win,
such as with the Citigroup-written derivatives loophole [14] snuck into a
federal spending bill last year. But she knows how to leverage her power and
the citizens who believe in her message. She stopped Antonio Weiss from
becoming the number three leader at the Treasury Department and has now
apparently stopped Keir Gumbs [13], a lawyer who actually held seminars with
corporations about how to evade taxes, from joining the SEC.
Warren derives her success from picking winnable fights and forcing fellow
Democrats to take her side, because of the promise of being aligned with the
emergent Warren wing. She is respected on financial reform and issues
affecting the working class, and when she speaks up, it matters and can
change policy.
Sanders has never had this platform for his issues before. But one email to
his list (which he reportedly writes himself [15]) or the mention of a
particular topic on the stump could have significant organizing value. He
has nationwide house parties [16] coming up next week, over 1,500 of them,
where he could spread a particular message, if he chooses. Tell Chuck
Schumer not to give multinational corporations a bailout. Tell Democrats not
to undermine diplomacy. Tell the President that prime regulatory seats
should not be sold to Wall Street executives. And then he can supplement
that with phone calls and protests. There's an opportunity to operationalize
his candidacy.
Making change is about more than giving a well-worn political speech. It's
about active engagement, challenging bad ideas pushed by powerful people and
demanding something different. Sanders knows this: it's the entire basis for
his candidacy. But he could put it to work before anyone goes to a caucus in
Iowa or a voting booth in New Hampshire. Things are happening right now that
will impact millions of Americans. If Sanders is making the argument that he
will be an organizer as President, he has to show that he can be one as a
candidate, too.
David Dayen is a contributing writer to Salon who also writes for The New
Republic, The American Prospect, Politico, The Guardian and other
publications. He lives in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter: @ddayen
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [17]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[18]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/bernie-sanders-moment-truth-these-are-political-figh
ts-he-could-win-right-now
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/david-dayen
[2] http://www.salon.com
[3]
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122329/bernie-sanders-and-martin-omalley-
failed-their-blacklivesmatter-test
[4] https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/622858056582438912
[5] https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/
[6]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/liberal-activists-see-bernie-sanders-
as-champion-for-causes-failed-by-obama/2015/07/19/8b5fc752-2e09-11e5-8353-12
15475949f4_story.html
[7]
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/scheduling/248384-this-week-highway-fu
nding-stalemate-looms
[8]
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-corporate-tax-plan-20150714-story.html
[9]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/07/16/senate-gop-report
edly-target-federal-employee-retirement-plans-for-highway-funds/
[10]
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/25/wingnuts_and_liberals_bizarre_role_reversal_
why_export_import_bank_politics_are_so_perverse/
[11]
http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=7810&DateTime=7%2F16%2F20
15+10%3A56%3A08+AM&Term=%22Bernie+Sanders+%22&PlayClip=TRUE
[12]
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/sanders-statement-on-
iran-nuclear-agreement
[13]
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/democrats-corporate-and-progressive-wings-d
icker-over-sec-opening-2015-07-17
[14]
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/16/inside_wall_streets_new_heist_how_big_banks_
exploited_a_broken_democratic_caucus/
[15]
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/07/18/summer-sanders-fall-sande
rs/FWFu6n73iroD98e4og2baM/story.html?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1
[16]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bernie-sanders-says-july-29-is-the-mo
st-important-day-of-his-campaign/2015/07/17/b20680e6-2c9f-11e5-a5ea-cf74396e
59ec_story.html
[17] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Bernie Sanders' Moment
Of Truth: These Are the Political Fights He Could Win Right Now
[18] http://www.alternet.org/
[19] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
