By Anthony Cody.
The Bernie Sanders candidacy offers the American people several important opportunities that should not be missed. First and foremost, he offers us the chance to put forth a principled candidate as the Democratic nominee. If this is accomplished then we can begin the hard work of reclaiming the party from the careerist sellouts that have been in charge for decades. He has said he will replace Debbie Wasserman Schultz as chair of the DNC, and there are many more changes that can be made to ensure more democracy in the party. We can seriously take on campaign finance reform because the party will have a standard bearer who will have prevailed without billionaire support.
While this is by far the best opportunity, it is not the only one. There is another set of opportunities that await if Sanders fails to get the nomination.
To consider this, we have to engage in a bit of speculation, because the options depend somewhat on how history unfolds in the next few months.
For the second opportunity we have, let’s assume that Sanders fails to secure the nomination, but that the Democratic party leadership recognizes that Clinton doomed without the enthusiastic support of millions of Sanders voters. As a result, Clinton and other party leaders embrace key parts of the Sanders platform – a $15 minimum wage, real campaign finance reform, breaking up the banks, health care for all, an end to the super delegates, no more imperial wars, and end to mass deportations, criminal and racial justice reform, and so on. In this case it is possible that distrust of Clinton and party leadership could be overcome, and she could build a winning coalition to defeat Trump. If, and this is a very big if, she and party leaders stayed true to these principles, then the Democratic Party could once again become a party capable of representing working and poor people. I do not rate this possibility as very likely, unfortunately.
There is a third scenario that is less optimistic. Let’s assume for our third possible future history that Clinton secures the nomination through the use of super delegates and insider maneuvers. And she and party leaders believe (as they seem to believe now) that everyone will flock to vote for her because Trump is such a loathsome alternative, and therefore make little effort to win over Sanders voters. They do not embrace campaign finance reform, or any of the other key elements of the Sanders platform. Let’s assume, for the sake of this speculation, that Clinton actually manages to defeat Trump. While she is far more vulnerable to him than Sanders would be, she still could defeat the misogynistic blowhard. And we should support her, although it will be tough to muster much enthusiasm.
Under this scenario, we have a third term of Clintons in the White House. Based on the first two Clinton terms, and on her more recent work as Secretary of State, we can expect more corporate trade deals, more promotion of globalization and privatization, more military aggression, and little in the way of real change. In education, it will likely be a continuation of the Obama administration’s approach. Given that the Gates Foundation is one of the largest contributors to the Clinton foundation, I expect their influence to remain high in the White House and at the Department of Education.
This provides us with a third opportunity. The Sanders candidacy has helped elevate the political awareness of millions of people, who have seen the very undemocratic nature of the Democratic Party. Sanders is running as a Democratic Party candidate in part because the entry barriers for a third party candidate are so very high. If Clinton prevails – but in so doing discredits the party and herself as its leader, there is a very real opportunity for a third party to emerge with sufficient strength to overcome the two party lock on our process.
Independent voters now outnumber those registered as Republicans or Democrats. A new party could appeal to many of these disaffected voters, as Sanders has done. It would not be easy to build, but Sanders has assembled the coalition, and identified the core issues such a party would fight for. He has demonstrated the electoral viability of such a party.
If Clinton is elected, Sanders followers should push hard for the issues we care about. We should protest war and corrupt trade deals. Protest the privatization of public schools, and build community-based coalitions that can offer local and statewide candidates for office. A new Labor party could connect these local struggles because, as we have seen in the fight over public schools, the nation’s billionaires are conducting a coordinated campaign against democracy and popular control of our schools – and we need a nationally coordinated movement in response.
In order to allow these opportunities the room they need to develop, Sanders supporters should continue to push hard for his candidacy until the last vote is cast in Philadelphia this summer. If he is the nominee, of course we defeat Trump and organize support for the key elements of Sanders’ platform, because he will continue to have an uphill fight to bring about his vision of a more just and democratic America. If Clinton is the nominee, then we continue to push her hard on these issues as well. But once November is behind us, if the Democratic Party remains addicted to campaign donations from billionaires, and pays lip service to working people while negotiating trade deals and selling out public schools, there will need to be a big change. A new independent Labor party should be actively considered.
(A preemptive note to those who will accuse me of handing the election to Trump: If Trump defeats Clinton, it will because of her failures as a candidate, not a failure on the part of Sanders and his supporters. Clinton must, like any other candidate, earn every vote she gets. I will support her over Trump, if she is the nominee. But we cannot continue to elect lesser of two evil candidates when the future of the planet is at stake.)
ira shor
Very interesting scenario, thank you for the roadmap. Even if Hillary makes Platform concessions to Bernie’s camp to win their support, there is absolutely no way to enforce the platform once the Nov. election ends. Hillary will follow her own political career and values, which are to represent Wall Street and her family interests. Discussions now of how how to launch a viable independent political party should continue from your opening. The only hope to rescue public education and the public sector generally is to consolidate the millions of supporters aroused by Bernie into a long-term political opposition.
Katy
Thank you, Anthony. I wish Bernie’s presidency was a sure thing.
John T Smith
I am really disappointed with the misleading and unfair characterizations of Hillary Clinton here. I don’t see any difference between the tactics used by the Republican slime machine and the attacks made against Hillary by many of the Sanders supporters. I could share the reasons why I think Hilary is a better choice, but would it matter? I watched Ralph Nader and his supporters give the presidency to George Bush in 2000. Now to my horror I am watching a similar dynamic, which will insure a Trump presidency, We seem to ignore the fact that Hillary has a 3 million popular vote lead over Bernie Sanders, and a pledged delegate lead of 270. Even if Bernie Sanders were to get 65% of the vote the rest of the way he still ends up with less pledged delegates. I would like to live in dialogue and work towards our common goal of stopping the destruction of our public schools. A good place to start would be to tone down the anti-Hillary rhetoric.
Anthony Cody
John,
Thanks for your comment.
Can you specify how I was unfair or misleading regarding Hillary Clinton?
You would like to declare the race over. Hillary Clinton herself did not follow this path when running against Barack Obama in 2008 — why should Sanders or his supporters?
If she becomes the nominee and faces Trump in November, Hillary Clinton will need to earn every vote, including the many independents and Democrats such as myself who now support Sanders. Acting as though she is entitled to this support because she is the Democratic nominee, or even because Trump is so terrible, will only get her so far.