Simpich writes: "The Republicans are a political party. The Republicans are few in number and can’t even outspend the Democrats much of the time. But they know how to organize and attract people who have widely divergent interests."
Bernie Sanders and Nina Turner - running mates in 2020? (photo: BernieSanders.com)
16 May 17
he Republicans are a political party.
The Republicans are few in number and can’t even outspend the Democrats much of the time. But they know how to organize and attract people who have widely divergent interests.
The Democrats are greater in numbers and can’t even attract a majority of the people who are their natural base: the working poor and the struggling middle class.
The Republicans are the only effective political party.
The United States needs a second political party.
I don’t care what its name is.
It could be the Democratic Party, if a lot of things change.
I hear that thirty nascent progressive political parties will be attending the Left Forum in New York City this year. Maybe one of them will become the new political party.
Maybe the Democrats will get their act together, straighten up, fly right, and devote themselves to organizing the organized. Maybe the Democrats will become an effective second party.
I don’t care which. I don’t want to exalt form over substance. Whatever entity stands for Medicare for All – ending poverty – stopping the war machine – election integrity – that’s the party that should run this country.
I am convinced of one thing. Whether the Second Political Party is a new party or the Democrats, none of the things I want are possible unless a new progressive party challenges the Democrats from the left. It’s just not possible otherwise.
Buckle up your seatbelts.
“Draft Bernie for a People’s Party” is on a roll.
That should be no surprise. All the polls show Bernie Sanders as the most popular political leader in America.
According to conventional logic, that makes Sanders the presumptive Democratic Party nominee.
There is one big problem – and it’s not Bernie’s age.
A young, vibrant running mate will make him unstoppable.
We need hundreds of leaders like Bernie Sanders in office.
The Draft Bernie Party now has Cornell West on board. The plan is to field progressive candidates all over the country in 2018, challenging the complacent Democrats.
Thank God.
Can you imagine if Bernie Sanders had been elected President in 2016? Upon taking office, he would have had 500 of the 535 congresspeople hating him.
There is no way we are going to have progressive candidates without a progressive motor right alongside.
Sorry folks, but the Democratic National Committee (DNC) simply can’t do the job.
The latest example: The DNC is the focus of a class action lawsuit in Florida for tilting the 2016 primary process in favor of Hillary Clinton.
The lawsuit filed against the DNC seeks damages on behalf of three “classes” of Americans who have been arguably disaffected by the DNC’s actions: donors to Bernie Sanders, donors to the Democratic Party whose financial donations may have been used fraudulently, and members of the Democratic Party broadly who were allegedly denied the benefit of impartiality offered in exchange for their participation in the Party’s electoral processes.
The DNC’s defense: The lawsuit should be thrown out because the Party has the freedom to determine its nominees by “internal rule,” not voter interests, and thus the party “could have favored a candidate.”
However, the DNC’s charter clearly articulates that it is the responsibility of the party and specifically, its chairperson, to guarantee a fair Presidential primary process.
Maybe the best solution is for an effective Democratic Party. If that’s what you believe, there is only one solution: The DNC has got to go. A new national committee has to be formulated – one that is responsive to the people.
And for any Democratic Party to continue, it must be fiercely challenged by a progressive third party. As a registered Democrat, I stand behind the effort to Draft Bernie for a People’s Party.
Its leaders? Bernie staffers, delegates, and supervolunteers who never stopped after the 2016 national election was over. Who could be better?
Draft Bernie will be putting up candidates in the November 2018 elections. All over the country.
The plan: “We challenge Republicans in districts where Bernie’s message resonates but Democrats have been incapable of making gains.”
This would build the base for Bernie and the progressive movement in 2020.
At the same time, hardcore Bernie supporters like Stephen Jaffe will be challenging Nancy Pelosi and other establishment Democrats in the Democratic primaries in 2018. Jaffe’s platform? “We are all socialists. Medicare, Social Security, the military, police departments, fire departments, and public schools are all examples of economic socialism.”
We should all support Stephen Jaffe. Honor Nancy Pelosi for her service. It’s time to move forward.
An inside-outside strategy.
That’s what it will take.
Along with free and fair elections. That is a tectonic battle in and of itself. Ossified political operatives control the nooks and crannies of the election process in thousands of counties throughout the USA. They are the ones who collect the votes – and count them.
What will get rid of them? Only a political tsunami – a grassroots movement that throws these operatives out at the county level.
A complacent Democratic Party is doomed.
A complacent progressive movement is doomed.
What we need is a fair fight – both inside and outside the Democratic Party.
After the 2018 and 2020 primaries, we can unite for the national elections.
Meanwhile ...
May the best party win. With Bernie Sanders. And a cross-racial, multi-class political movement.
