What Bernie didn’t do – what Bernie did

As the election for Chair of the Democratic National Committee draws near, there is still a great deal of contention around the effect of Bernie Sanders on the Democratic Party. There are loud, passionate voices crying out the woes of the Bernie or Busters cause all of the Party’s problems by splintering the party when unity is required. Why, Bernie Sanders is not even a Democrat! Just who does he think he is?

What Bernie did not do

Bernie did not splinter the Democratic Party or cause disunity. The Democratic Party has done a fine job of that themselves. Yes, the Millennials are an obvious substantial part of Bernie Sanders’ support. However, another large part of his support remembers the Democratic National Debacle of 1968. Democratic Party, if you want to see what is causing what appears to you to be dissension in the ranks, look in the mirror, or maybe read history if you aren’t old enough to look in the mirror and see the problem.

In 1968, the Party ignored the choice of the majority and chose to install their pro-war candidate instead of the popular anti-war choice (if you were there or know the history, you will see quite a similarity between the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the 2016 Democratic National Convention). That was the event that splintered the Democratic Party, NOT Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.

You, Democratic Party, haven’t changed (at least for the better). Those who you think should be your party’s constituency haven’t either.

Maybe you just haven’t noticed the splintering because so many of the people who were vocal in 1968 just gave up and quit participating. Many just couldn’t see the point of expending the effort. Many continued to vote Democrat just because the candidates that the Democratic Party offered were not as objectionable as the candidates that the Republicans did.

Every once in a while, some of those folks who remembered 1968 decided to join young people (folks who were at the time of the age group that protested the Democratic Party actions of 1968) in supporting a non-establishment candidate (e.g., Nader, Stein) with the hope of developing an alternative to the Democratic Party, an alternative that would serve their best interest. Many who didn’t join those movements didn’t refrain from lack of interest but rather from an understanding of the Democratic political machine that the young people didn’t understand.

So, again, Democratic Party and diehard Democratic Party supporters who claim party loyalty and self-identity (I’m a Democrat; My parents were Democrats; their parents were Democrats, and so on), look in the mirror if you are old enough or in history if you are not.

Remember, Democratic Party, that YOU brought us banking deregulation that led to millions losing their homes, their savings, and their jobs. YOU brought us the endless war of regime change. YOU brought us corporation-friendly trade agreements. YOU brought us disregard for environmental law (which was effected by Nixon, a Republican) and associated regulations, providing precedent for the Republican Party to eliminate environmental regulations altogether. YOU brought us uncontested and even sanctioned police violence. YOU brought us the corporate prison and mass incarceration system.

No, Bernie Sanders did not splinter the Democratic Party. There was nothing left to splinter.

Remember, Democratic Party, that YOU elected Nixon and YOU elected Trump.

What Bernie did

What Bernie did is better described as the effect of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign instead of what Bernie Sanders did. The effect is the result of a combination of an honest, hardworking, passionate individual and technology that had not existed effectively before the 2016 campaign.

• We have become more aware than ever that the Democratic Party is a private club representing the elite members of the party and their donors, not a voting constituency.
• Although many were aware of the corruption in US politics, we became aware of the magnitude and extent of the corruption.
• We became aware of the institutional corruption of the Democratic Party as well as among individuals.
• We became aware of the widespread interest in change, interest that we didn’t believe existed.
• We became aware of the ability to generate a powerful political movement that could counter the system, even in spite of the opposing corruption.
• We became aware of the corrupt Democratic Party-corporate media relationship.
• We became aware that innovative use of new technology could make a movement powerful without the use of the corporate media.
• We became aware of the revolving door effect of politician/government official – corporate – politician/government official – corporate career moves, lucrative career moves.
• We became aware of the need to be aware of what the government is doing to us and realize that whatever is being done in our own situation is being done to many people throughout the country.
• We became aware of the importance of passionate interest in and effort for change, creating a movement that is continuous rather than once every four years.
• We became aware of the possibility of being a career politician who is sincere about representing the best interests of the constituency instead of being corrupt.
• We became aware of the ability to free ourselves from establishment politics and develop a government that represents out best interests.

No, Democratic Party, it is not what Bernie Sanders did, and particularly not what Bernie Sanders did to the Democratic Party. He didn’t do anything to the party. He had an effect. He awoke many of us who had given up, many of us who didn’t know, and many of us who had hoped for decades that someone could find a way to defeat the system that we know is corrupt and working against our best interest.

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Thos