Democratic Primaries

Uncle Joe

(58,365 posts) Wed Aug 28, 2019, 07:20 PM Aug 2019

Bernie Sanders Has a Plan -- But He's Also Building a Movement

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In the past ten days alone, the Vermont senator has unveiled plans for a $16.3 trillion Green New Deal designed to transition the US economy to renewable energy by 2050, and a comprehensive Workplace Democracy initiative that aims to empower American workers and strengthen trade unions. Earlier this week, he used an op-ed in the Columbia Journalism Review to pitch a series of ideas and proposals designed to combat corporate media consolidation and foster a more independent press. Prior to these, his campaign had already tabled detailed plans for the creation of a universal Medicare-for-All system, sweeping reform of the criminal justice system, and the elimination of existing student debt, to name just a few.

Claims that Sanders eschews specifics or is vague on the details don’t hold up to even the most basic scrutiny, but they are fast-becoming the fulcrum of an emerging campaign narrative for many pundits and talking heads. The way some are keen to frame it, Sanders isn’t really big on “plans” at all — a perplexing take to have on a candidate that visibly has quite a few. As Commonweal’s Matt Sitman recently observed: “Bernie is dropping plan after plan and not getting much wonk love. Turns out ‘having a plan’ messaging is not about the plans.”

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Sanders understands this, which is why he identifies the actors opposed to his various plans — Wall Street, the Walton family, the fossil fuel industry — at every opportunity. It’s also why his campaign has gotten directly involved in frontline struggles like teachers’ strikes and even used its resources to direct supporters to pickets. When Sanders talks about building a movement, it’s not mere branding or political window dressing, but rather the strategy underlying all of his plans and policies made explicit. The specific nuts and bolts of policy ideas or the merits of different proposals aside, this theory of political change is what most distinguishes Sanders from the rest of the Democratic field.

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I suspect people all over the country who are watching this debate are saying, these are good people, they have great ideas. But how come nothing really changes? How come for the last forty-five years wages have been stagnant for the middle class? How come we have the highest rate of childhood poverty? How come 45 million people still have student debt? How come three people own more wealth than the bottom half of America? . . . Nothing will change unless we have the guts to take on Wall Street, the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the military-industrial complex, and the fossil fuel industry.

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https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/08/bernie-sanders-2020-presidential-campaign-election-plan-movement