enact Publicly Funded Elections (PFEs) and end the ability of the very wealthy and corporations from buying our politicians and thereby controlling our government! It is to return us to Representative Democracy, which we have lost, as our former Representatives now only represent their Donors.

After that is accomplished, we can set about fixing the other problems we face, such as busting up Wall Street banks and the media oligarchy. Auditing the Pentagon to discover there is enough fraud, waste, and abuse to properly fund public education and social services! Climate Change will not be properly addressed until we end corporate control. Ending corporate influence over our judicial branch (trust me, I know a thing or two about this subject)! There is so much that needs to be done! Bernie is the hope and change I naively thought I was getting with Obama. While Obama has been great on many things, he still has the corporate strings attached that make him do their bidding when it counts for them.

perfectly stated! Thank you!

Bernie is about restoring representative democracy so the people and not even himself gets to decide what they want.

since it is essentially a tax that is levied at several stages and would be applied to all sales.

Perhaps you are thinking of tariffs or excise taxes.

Yes that is a big factor in this.

This may be why Sanders' campaign seems more about his supporters than him. You can see it right here: many many Clinton supporters spend lots of words complaining about Sanders' supporters and not so much about what Sanders' positions are... except to say they are unrealistic and impossible...usually because of Congress. But of course Clinton has the same Congress to deal with and Shiva only knows why anyone thinks she's gonna get more traction. Clinton gets praised for being a Clinton most of the time. It's a name brand, as we can see with the GOP now using Bill (or trying to) to smear Hillary....sorta "a Clinton's a Clinton" kinda thing.

Exactly. There goes *that* argument.

And I think it's even worse.... because with conservatives, there is an illogical, irrational absolute hatred of all things Clinton. (which of course brings Bill back into the equation. So much baggage comes with Hillary)

Is it fair? Of course not. Since when did that matter?

It also works the other way. Name recognition is her strongest hand. Being a woman is next. Both having nothing to do with actual policies.

Baggage.

Thanks Bernie for energizing the Progressive Left!! They will be much needed in order to give Hillary a Democratic Party Majority in the Senate and for the Dems to pick up seats in the House!!

I've talked to all of our candidates except fro Deborah Ross in NC. They are, for the most part, liberal mainstream Democrats. I don't know if they meet your exacting specifications for Sanders-style progressives.

Is being exacting.

Liberal and progressive doesn't mean being pro choice while giving Corporations and Wall St and the political and economic oligarchs a free pass.

Hillary will lose in the general election.

The people excited for Bernie, who are not already strong democrats, will not come out for her. At the same time the name Clinton will energize the teabaggers to come to the polls.

Even if she does eek out a win in the general, she will not have coat tails to speak of.

I believe Bernie is not so full of himself and will do whats best for the Country and will campaign with Hillary in General.

I agree hootinholler. I think that Hillary is very vulnerable to Republican attack, that it will be effective, and that she will lose the general election.

She is as establishment as you are likely to find, and her tiny attempts at populism are 100% campaign bullshit. I don't see the movement remaining viable if we're stuck with a right wing congress and conservadem president for another four years.

Thanks for the excellent and well thought out essay. I think you have described the current political atmosphere more accurately than anybody yet in this election cycle... Congratulations.

but I'm sure the author would appreciate it.

previously unrecognized (ridiculous!), it's that these constituencies are starting to mobilize after long quiet decades of passivity. This was always expected by intelligent analysts -- the questions were when, how strongly and in what forms.

If the Democratic Party had not been taken over by corporatist conservative elitists, it would have been truly representing and fighting for this majority all along.

of the people, by the people, and for the people.

It is above all WE who ignored our interests and enabled a plutocrat class to grow itself by taking our power and our wealth. WE are those supposedly "ignored" constituencies that political scientists watched, discussed in forums, and wrote about in long shelves of books.

The over 300 MILLION people of America will never prevail while we imagine ourselves simply victims of about 30,000 others who "ignored" us. Of course they ignored us. Their eyes were on our labor and our wealth and how to turn the one to their use and divert the other into their pockets.

The hard fact is, WE allowed this to be done to ourselves through our ignorance and irresponsibility as citizens. Remember how so many of us bought into, and are still buying into, their sucker's calls of "We have to get of the backs of business" and "regulations destroy jobs?"

Fool us once for 40 years, we're damned fools and deserve whatever we get. Until we put a stop to it.

No Whiny Victim Here.

You're correct. We allowed it to be done.

However, leadership is a two way street. The job of a leader (in a representative democracy anyway) is to both lead but also to represent. If the leaders sell out and/or ignore the people they claim to represent, the average person will either succumb to apathy and/or succumb to the Dark Side (GOP Conservatism).

And it becomes a self perpetuating cycle.

That especially holds true when people do care and want change, but feel that have no allies in the political system. Short of a violent revolution, the only way is to press for reform politics. But if the main vehicle for that ignores and stifles such movements, then it becomes even worse. When the Democratic Party Establishment marginalizes that, and insults those who advocate for that, then they are to blame.

That's what Bernie's campaign represents. People trying to get a foothold into the system en masse.

That is the opposite of "whining."

live up to our responsibilities and duties as its People. 2016 is another year and another chance to be the citizens our republic needs us to be.

if they have access to a food bank whose shelves have not already been emptied by the food insecure, or still available to those whose food stamps have not been arbitrarily reduced or cut off altogether (and who don't live in a state with a GOP legislature that has added bread to the list of basic foods that the people on food stamps are no longer permitted to purchase with their food stamps).

Bit at least the circuses are plentiful, and one of the carnival barkers has even leaked into the GOP campaign.

We live in the most representation the owners of corporations cannot block.

Some dream of and invest themselves in creating a better world for the future for all people, and some by investing in Wall St. assure that better world remains a mirage and that the only reality allowed is their own fascistic nightmare.

Even unto the demise of virtually every form of animal life and even a majority of our own species, they scoff at calls for moderation with every dollar they use to grease the wheels of the oligarchy.

It's why a liberal invested in Wall St is just as sincere as a member of PETA investing in dog fighting.

We`ve heard a lot about how much Hillary is beating Bernie in the polls. That`s no surprise to me since Hillary has the support of the Democratic machine and all its influence. What has surprised me is the strength of Bernie`s support, especially considering all the "HE`S A SOCIALIST!" attempts at smearing him.

Bernie`s positions on issues are where average Democrats used to be before we were overtaken by the Corporate Wing and before the centrist peg of our party was pushed rightward....consistently rightward.

Bernie is going to win even if he doesn`t because he has given a voice to and shown the path for those of us who truly believe that enough is enough. We can use this momentum to continue to build this movement and to proudly stand for progressive positions. Not positions that change with the wind or with the help of consultants, but positions that represent true progressive thought and action.
Bernie Sanders supporters know a genuine Progressive when they see one.

Thank you, Bernie.

~PEACE~

Well stated democrank.

.... he IS a socialist. He says so himself.

Bernie is a Democratic Socialist. What I meant was that many, including DUers, have used the word socialist in a negative way to try to smear Bernie. Personally, I`m glad he`s a Democratic Socialist and admire that about him.

.... as a smear as well as a neutral descriptive term. Unfortunately it will be hard for some people to understand it descriptively and to discuss it rationally and reasonably. The opposition will exploit this tendency.

However, this should not be a problem on DU. We should be intellectually mature enough to use the term descriptively and to discuss the pros and cons in a reasonable and rational manner.

Socialist ensures our survival as humans.

.... a socialist of any sort. He ran against FOUR socialists in 1932. He never called himself a socialist and anyone who did was just trying to smear him.

FDR was a liberal welfare statist, and a capitalistic reformer. If you believe in reform within a market based capitalistic system , it does you no good to characterize yourself (or others) as socialist.

And Denmark is not socialist:

Thanks for the thread, Armstead.

Good article.

What is described in this article is what I always loved about being a Democrat. I've been a Democrat since back in the 70's and then Democrats were Democrats! Unfortunately, too many here weren't around when OUR Democratic Party actually took stand and tried working FOR US!

Today, so many hardly even know we exist!

Thanks for the post!

For example: