Bernie's Right! We Need a Democracy That Responds to All of America, Not Just the Powerful.

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

02 April 16

illary Clinton attacks Bernie Sanders for being a “single issue” candidate: “If we broke up the big banks tomorrow would that end racism? Would that end sexism? Would that end discrimination against the L.G.B.T. community? Would that make people feel more welcoming to immigrants overnight?”

What she fails to see is that ending the dominance of Wall Street, large corporations, and billionaires over American politics is the prerequisite to everything else that needs doing. We can’t hope to reverse climate change as long as big money has a strangle hold on our democracy. We can’t overcome structural racism, sexism or discrimination against the LGBT community, or achieve equal opportunity and upward mobility for the poor, unless we reclaim our government from the moneyed interests. We can't rebuild the middle class when giant corporations and Wall Street make the rules. We can’t have a sensible foreign policy when giant military contractors have disproportionate influence. We can’t have a sensible health care system without limiting the power of pharmaceutical companies and for-profit insurers.

In other words, the only way toward an economy that works for all of America and not simply for the powerful and privileged is by way of a democracy that’s responsive to all of America, and not only the powerful and privileged. And the only means of achieving a democracy that’s responsive to all of America is by reducing the power of the moneyed interests. This is what Bernie Sanders’s “political revolution” is all about.

This is not “single-issue” politics. It is essential to the politics we must create in America.

What do you think?