The Trajectory of Bernie Sanders's Campaign

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It has increasingly become clear to all of us that Bernie Sanders is trying to accomplish a lot more than simply get elected President.

Barack Obama had indicated that he was interested in a run about four years before he ran.  By the time he was ready to begin his campaign, there were basically two things that had to be done: the several wars we were engaged in had to be brought to a close; the economy had to be salvaged, and Health Care legislation had to be got underway.

With Bernie Sanders, it is clear that he wants to bring the influence of big business into government back to pre-1980 levels, which is a huge undertaking.  The reining back of People's United --or whatever the heck it is called-- is part of this; Republicans had put in place an enormous amount of systemic mechanisms to encourage continued increase in conservative influence on all levels of government.  Gerrymandering was only a small part of this; stacking the Supreme Court, fooling with the Senate rules, and a number of trivial-seeming arrangements that have a large cumulative impact are all part of the clever onslaught on the free and impartial operation of government.  A look at the train-wreck-in slow-motion that is the UK makes clear how these things are done.

In order to get anywhere, Bernie Sanders needs to have a huge majority in Congress, and a large majority in the Senate.  Furthermore, these people must have the courage to support an agenda that the Business Lobby will totally hate.  Over the next six months, any liberals among us who have the energy and the courage to get into the fight will have to mobilize their friends to find people who are willing to run for Congress, who are not cynical, and who are not afraid to be unpopular, and be vilified by Fox News, for surely that will happen.  The several industrialists who control the conservative media will unleash a lot of money to discredit everyone who supports Bernie Sanders, and the others who run for office with the intention of supporting him.

First, it has to be made clear that supporting Bernie Sanders is something that will meet with approval by a large sector of the population, even though right now it has been given the appearance of tilting at windmills.  (God help us if conservatives get hold of that image.)  Secondly, we actually have to find people willing to run for office, and sign petitions to get them on the ballot.  There is an arch to this sort of effort, and one wonders whether the Bernie Sanders campaign has timed it correctly.  If they had started much earlier, the campaign could have fizzled out by now.  If they started any later, there would not have been time to complete it.  We have to assume that it was timed correctly, and jump in to help.

Unfortunately, the Democrat pragmatists, under the leadership of the Clintons, play a dangerous game with Big Business.  We have made some headway, especially with Health Care, where Obama has made clear to a lot of people who never had Health Insurance before, that Medicare works.  But that's just the start; a spotlight must be shone on the excesses of Health Insurance companies, and the games they play.  The Clintons appear to be unwilling to alienate Big Business.  To my eyes, alienating Big Business is unavoidable.

So the takeaway is this: we must not let the campaign implode; Bernie is not the only one who must get elected.  There is work to do.

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