Bernie Sanders
Related: About this forumWhich campaign matters more: Bernie Sanders’s or Jill Stein’s?
Got this from one of my single payer listservs.
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18142/holier-than-bernie
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), in a press release from his congressional office, likewise lauded the courts commonsense reading of the Affordable Care Act. Then, Sanders said, What the United States should do is join every other major nation and recognize that healthcare is a right of citizenship. A Medicare-for-all, singlepayer system would provide better care at less cost for more Americans.
Therein lies the difference between Clinton and Sanders. She supports reforms within the narrow parameters of Washington liberalism. He seeks unapologetically progressive structural change.
Yet, the purist Leftand the Green Party and its socialist supporters in particularopposes Sanderss electoral ambitions. Jill Stein tossed her Green Party hat into the presidential race on June 22 during an appearance on Democracy Now! She admitted that she and Sanders share a similar vision, but explained that when she loses on Nov. 8, 2016, that vision will not die, it will not be absorbed back into a party that is essentially hostile to that vision. This begs the question: What has the Green Party and its vision accomplished in the 15 years since Ralph Naders 2000 campaign?
The Green Party and its supporters count talented writers and activists within their ranks (some of whom contribute to this magazine), but their theory of national electoral politics is as defective as their understanding of the long and discouraging history of third-party campaigns. The Green Party motto appears to be: If at first you dont succeed, keep doing exactly the same thing.
In our electoral system, third-party presidential campaigns do not challenge the bipartisan neoliberal establishment. On the contrary, such quadrennial rituals only reinforce the political impotence of the Left, while preserving the purity of the third-party voter. The fact that Sanders is attracting massive crowds in the early primary states is far more unsettling to the guardians of the status quo than any Green Party candidate. Reporting on Sanderss success in Iowa, the New York Times observed: Clinton is far ahead, in the polls, fundraising and name recognition.
Her mix of centrist and progressive Democratic views may yet prove more appealing to the broadest number of party voters as well, while some of Mr. Sanderss policy prescriptionsincluding far higher taxes on the wealthy and deep military spending cutsmay eventually persuade Democrats that he is unelectable in a general election. Apparently, if his policies fail to convince Democrats he is unelectable, the New York Times will try its best to do so.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,733 posts)eridani
(51,907 posts)Third parties can win if they take voter contact seriously, which Socialist Alternative has done. The Greens never have.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)Next time would be the first time, of course.
OBblueMeanie
(14 posts)Dr. Jill Stein is a flake. Bernie is doing it the right way, running as a Democrat.
eridani
(51,907 posts)--that average voters are policy wonks.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)The Dems went too far right for me after Bubba was elected. (I still recall the stampede of elected Dems declaring "I'm not a LIBERAL." I felt I didn't leave the Democratic Party - It left me.
I have since given up on the Greens. They are going nowhere fast. I'm now a registered Democrat. Again.
eridani
(51,907 posts)However, I noticed that in 2000, Nader asked us to lobby to get him in the debates. in 2004, Kucinich asked us to join our local party organizations and talk to our neighbors. That's when I lost the Green delusion that average voters are policy wonks who make their decisions based on 10 point platforms.