Adapt To Change Or Perish

Hopefully, the rise of the progressive movement as embodied by the Sanders candidacy of 2020 will convince the DNC that the status quo they have for so long tried to protect and preserve no longer has a basis in reality. To think otherwise and opt for moderation when facing the winds of change during this election cycle will condemn the Democratic Party to an even more resounding defeat than it experienced in 2016. For the sake of the country and the planet, adaptation with perspective is the order of the day.

Making Socialism Commonplace

While Sanders' highlighting of a kind of corporate socialism on display during the government's bailout of Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 was spot on and appropriate, his candidacy might be better served by referencing the existing functional, popular, and successful socialistic programs from which all Americans currently benefit. These include but are not limited to publicly funded police and fire services, the construction and maintenance of our roadways, a K-12 educational system, a national network of library services, the National Park Service, the safety net of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Perhaps framing the Medicare-For-All proposal as a cost effective expansion of an already successful publicly funded program, Sanders can put in better perspective the practical benefits of an active socialistic policy that operates as an instrument of the common good. In this regard, he might also underscore the advantage to employers a national health care system will afford. By absolving business owners of the responsibility of providing health care for their employees, it will make available resources to reinvest into the company in the form of higher wages and the resulting increase in production as well as the possible expansion of the company's infrastructure.
In this way, misplaced and erroneous comparisons to Soviet-style authoritarian rule can be dispelled as the a red-baiting and disingenuous tactic it is designed to be. It might also be helpful for the Sanders campaign to emphasize its connection to a long line of American social democratic thought the recent history of which includes FDR, Henry Wallace, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Paul Robson, Keith Ellison, and Robert Reich, just to name a few. The current policy offerings emanating from the Sanders' movement can therefore be seen not as radically new proposals but rather as an extension and result of a much larger continuing body of progressive thought. When viewed in this manner, the corresponding programs of publicly funded higher education, broadened universal child care, the elimination of crippling student debt, and the guarantee of a living wage can now be regarded as policy decisions made in accordance with progressive principles of basic fairness, an adherence to humanistic values, the fulfillment an authentic democratic vision. Going forward, Bernie will be well-advised to bring greater attention to these fundamental elements underlying his movement and message.

Bernie Sanders: The People's Choice

As Democratic elites and their surrogates continue to downplay, minimize, and overtly subvert the Sanders candidacy he nevertheless enjoys widespread support across the spectrum of actual Democratic constituents. He currently enjoys the highest favorable rating from Democrats nationally (71%), by far exceeding his closest rival, and his 19% unfavorable rating is the second lowest behind Elizabeth Warren. Sanders is now on track to receive, at least, a plurality of the votes prior to the National Convention and likely will carry the will of the people into even a brokered convention. The challenge then for the DNC will be to either honor the decision of the rank-in-file electorate or submit to pressure from elites and their influence over the superdelegates who very well may decide the eventual nominee and in the process risk losing the party's base in favor of maintaining a 'status quo' that in reality no longer exists.

Laughing Through The Tears

What I find comical about Barr's remarks regarding White House interference is that he is feigning displeasure over being thwarted from doing his job by the president's tweets when the job in question is to do DJT's bidding in the defense of his favored and convicted cronies! It is as if to say: 'I'm doing my damnedest here to carry out your corrupt intentions if you'd just shut up and let me get on with it'! This is beyond The Swamp...we're now dealing with the deep regions of middle earth where the cauldrons of hell brew new forms of evil duplicity on a daily basis.

The Enduring Base of the Democratic Party

In nominating a centrist, establishment candidate the Democratic Party will on the one hand secure the traditional white, older vote and, on the other, risk losing, alienating, and otherwise discounting the ever-growing progressive base as represented by the under 40 demographic and, in so doing, set the stage for the same result it suffered when offering the centrist HRC in 2016.
The Democrats simply cannot win without bringing out young voters and offering a genuine appeal to POC. In the wake of the disastrous and blatantly racist Stop and Frisk policy employed under Bloomberg in NYC and in spite of his belated and disingenuous mea culpas, his candidacy threatens to turn away the exact base of support required to defeat the incipient neo-fascist currently residing in the White House.
The upcoming election will be decided by the ability of the Democratic nominee to rally the heretofore neglected, disenfranchised, ignored, and undervalued segment of the electorate that stands ready to give full support to a meaningful agenda inclusive of and responsive to the needs and aspirations of those who will come next.

The Good Old Days

I am old enough to remember a time when the Republican Party was led by principled conservatives with whom one might engage in  reasonable debate and respectful disagreement. It is now infused with sycophants, obstructionists, prevaricators, and apologists for an ethically bankrupt president and a manifestly criminal enterprise.

Ten Points Toward A Progressive Vision

In response to a friend's request to list ten important points/ideals/values of a progressive agenda with full recognition that this enumeration represents my conception of a progressive vision for what might be possible for the future of this country. It is, therefore, necessarily incomplete...please feel free to contribute additional information, aspirations, and projections. The friend specifically indicated that she preferred ten 'bullet points'. Although I tried to be succinct, a bullet point presentation was never a real possibility!

1) A complete rethinking of how we the people decide to allocate public resources for the the benefit of the common good.

2) Universal health care as a human right; not a privilege to be acquired.

3) Creating a sustainable living environment by ending our reliance on fossil fuels and seriously developing solar, wind, and other natural energy sources while reducing CO2 emissions to a level that will reverse the current trend toward catastrophic global warming. 

Implementation of a plan to realize the goal of all-electric cars within the next 12 years.

4) Prioritizing an economy based on the survival of our planet, entailing a subsidized (if necessary) retraining of a workforce commensurate to the needs of an industry dedicated to human survival and well being rather than one that produces the means of death and destruction. Some version of The Green New Deal signals the beginning stages of this process and suggests a shift in how our public resources are to be allocated. 

5) Scrutinizing the current levels of spending on defense, cutting enormous levels of waste, and redirecting these resources to areas that create a sustainable model of existence that values all life and deemphasizes the forces of destruction while simultaneously ensuring an adequate level of national security. Replacing the Military Industrial Complex with an Environmentally Sustainable Complex for Global Survival.

6) A comprehensive remodeling of our public school system from pre-school through 12th grade, which will guarantee the reality of a quality education to all children regardless of economic/social status. We cannot sail as a nation until all boats are lifted to the surface and into the same current. A child in the inner city must have access to the same educational possibilities as his/her counterpart in the wealthiest suburb. This vision will entail the elevation of the teaching profession as an honored and lucrative career path equal to the societal demands for universal excellence in terms of educational opportunity. Making higher public education and trade school training free as an expression of the value of an educated workforce, which will accordingly return the public investment in terms of increased productivity.

7) The recognition of our fellow human brothers and sisters as members of the same family. An awareness and celebration of diversity as a cornerstone of our national identity wherein matters of race, sexual preference, gender identity, religious practice, national origin, and any other designation otherwise used to divide us is, instead, embraced as essential to a deeper understanding of who we are as a united people.

8)A reexamination of the justice system with an emphasis of ending the practice of mass incarceration and replacing it with a model based upon rigorous accountability entailing compassionate regard for the victims of crime and an authentic method by which perpetrators can reach meaningful reconciliation with their victims thereby affirming a shared humanity within the process. Refocusing our attention to genuine rehabilitation instead of the current practice of human warehousing.

9) Ending the disparity of wealth whereby the middle class has virtuously disappeared and real wages have stagnated for decades. Support for a wealth tax and the restoration of worker's rights through union representation. Recognizing the value of a living wage for all our citizens.

10) The elimination of the wage disparity between men and women and the full recognition of female reproductive rights and their agency regarding decisions relating to the dignity and autonomy of their bodies. Adoption of the principle of gender equality as a real and ongoing national value.