“Whether he wins the Democratic Party nomination or not—and his chances are increasingly viable—the candidacy of Bernie Sanders has already won, by vastly enlarging America’s political conversation and possibilities.”
“Sanders has reinvigorated the national discourse with an unapologetic, unwavering progressivism—a powerful appeal that’s inspiring a broad swath, from New Deal/New Left Baby Boomers, to working-class and Independent voters, to tradition-skeptical Millennials.”
“Sanders is doing something that no prominent candidate has done with real credibility since Jesse Jackson in 1988—challenging extreme wealth, Wall Street, and inequality while also challenging the Democratic Party itself and the larger direction of politics in America.”
“Sanders is tapping into this rich vein of “Enough-is-enough!” outrage and long-simmering alienation in ways that no prominent politician has dared in quite some time.”
“The media emphasis on Sanders’s refreshing authenticity minimizes his deeper importance and resonance: He is not simply speaking with integrity, but speaking truth to power.”
“What’s needed, in one form or another, is an ongoing independent movement that is as truth-talking, principled, and politically brave as Sanders himself.”
“His remarkable campaign, now seriously contending for the nomination against a political establishment firewall that is rapidly eroding, doesn’t threaten the Democratic Party—it threatens the elite party leadership (the Clintons, the DLC, et al.), which has spent decades distancing itself from (and therefore alienating) working people, the poor, immigrants, and many communities of color.”
“In fact, Sanders’s success actually creates an opportunity for the Democratic Party to be of greater service to its traditional base—working people of all races—by addressing fundamental issues of corporate power and accountability, economic inequality and redistribution, and human priorities over for-profit special interests.”