From The Progressive Populist
As we start to consider prospects for the 2016 presidential race, progressive Democrats who are unsettled at the prospect of Hillary Clinton sweeping to the Democratic nomination should start looking for alternatives. And in our view the most promising alternative choice for progressive Democrats is Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has run as an independent in Vermont, where he served eight terms as the state’s at-large congressman from 1991 to 2007. He co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus in 1991 and he was elected to the Senate in 2006 by a 2-to-1 margin. He has remained popular, winning a second term in 2012 with 71% of the vote. Caucusing with Democrats, he became chairman of the Senate’s Veterans Affairs Committee in 2013. Working with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sanders steered to passage the Veterans’ Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014, a bill intended to reform the US Department of Veterans Affairs in response to the VA scandal of 2014.
Even as an independent, Bernie Sanders is a better Democrat than most in the Senate caucus, as the agenda he puts forth in "12 Steps Forward for America" shows. He is not afraid to talk like a New Deal Democrat. Sanders supports expansion of Medicare to cover all Americans; and he would ensure the financial stability of the Social Security Trust Fund by eliminating the cap on taxable incomes so that millionaires pay their share. He has worked to protect the US Postal Service from Republican efforts to privatize the mail service. He supports a $1 trillion program to put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure. He has been active on climate change, sponsoring a bill that would have set up a cap-and-trade system to limit carbon emissions. He supports public disclosure, transparency of campaign finances and a constitutional amendment to reverse the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision that overturned state and federal restrictions on corporations getting involved in politics.
Sanders has been traveling around the country, including the strategically important states of Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as South Carolina, Mississippi, Minnesota, Wisconsin, California and other states, talking to people and testing possible support for a grassroots campaign. He recently told John Nichols of The Nation that he has found “a real hunger in grassroots America for a fight against the greed of the billionaire class, which is wreaking havoc on our economic and political system.” He expects to “make a decision within the first few months of 2015” on whether to make a bid for the presidency. If he does run, he said, “I will not play the role of a spoiler,” who might tip the 2016 race to a right-wing Republican.
We think it would be best if Sanders ran in the Democratic primaries, where he can engage Hillary Clinton in debates and give Democrats a serious progressive populist choice. A CNN/ORC poll in November showed him in fourth place among potential Democratic candidates in 2016, supported by 5% of respondents. He trails Clinton’s 65%, Elizabeth Warren’s 10% and Joe Biden’s 9%. (We think Warren is seriously not challenging Hillary, after signing a letter in 2013 urging Clinton to run, repeatedly saying she is not running for president, and recently rejecting MoveOn.org’s offer to raise $1 million to draft her; but Warren admirers won’t give up hope.) Andrew Cuomo, Deval Patrick and Jim Webb each got 1% in the poll.
Meteor Blades noted at DailyKos.com (Dec. 7) that progressives need to build a movement and an infrastructure to create a political environment where a candidate like Sanders can actually be elected president. “If we are ever going to rise above being mere ankle biters, we need to build both,” Blades wrote. “Nonetheless, having Sanders in the 2016 race, seriously in it, repeating his populist message, encouraging the party to move left, would be very good for Democrats, for progressives in and out of the party and for the nation.”
We agree. And Hillary could use the competition. Progressive Democrats of America have a petition at pdamerica.org to encourage Sanders to run as a Democrat. You can contact Sanders via Bernie.org or phone 802-862-1505.
See the rest of our editorials at The Progressive Populist. Reprinted with permission.