The House of Representatives can be a frustrating place. Most people there have no power and receive zero press coverage, at least until they screw up somehow. On the upside, it's also a safe, comfortable haven of incumbency wherefourth-tier party hacks can live out their lives in peace, obscurity, and interns.Due to the anonymous nature of the place, it's hard for someone to make a name fo themselves. One way to do it is to one of two Independents serving in American national office. In the Senate, it's Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords. In the House, it's... Vermont Representative Bernie Sanders.
Those who follow Sanders' career will know him as the upstart Independent who won the mayorship of Burlington back 1981 and quickly gained popularity through his dynamic program of urban renewal. He lost races for Governor in 1986 and Representative in 1988, but won a House seat in 1990, where he's been ever since. In the House, he founded the Progressive Caucus, which now counts 54 members.
With the recent announcement that Jeffords would retire in 2006, Sanders emerged as the leading left-wing candidate to replace him. If he wins, it will make him the only unabashed socialist in the Senate, instead of the only unabashed socialist in the House.
While his sense of style may be lacking, his prospects for election are looking pretty good. According to polls, he leads all likely opponents by at leadt 2 to 1, and consistently ranks as the most popular politician in the state. Since he already caucuses with the Democrats, they see no reason to challenge him. Howard Dean has indicated that he will not put a candidate up against Sanders, paving the way for an easier victory against any Republican opposition. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer have also announced their support for him. When asked if allowing a self-proclaimed socialist to be part of their caucus might hurt the Democrats, Saners replied:
Afraid of being red-baited? I’m being red-baited already. Everybody in Vermont knows that I’m a democratic socialist. It’s so well known that nobody talks about it anymore. But suddenly, now all over the national media, it’s socialist, socialist, socialist. Believe me, they’ll be talking about the Socialist-Democratic Caucus if I’m elected. Of course the Republicans and the corporate media are going to red-bait me. The Republican Party is so bankrupt in terms of ideas that they have nothing to say on health care, the economy, education, the environment or the real issues that affect the American people. All they can do is wage smear campaigns and wars of personal destruction. Do we expect that? Of course we do.Full disclosure: my dad once helped organize a conference about health care reform with then-Congressman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sanders. The great Ron Wyden, however, refused to stand at the same stage as that collectivist Jew, while Mr. Sanders behaved with great dignity and respect.
Here's the best to you, Bernie, with the hopes that you will continue to be the eloquent voice for social justice and democratic principles that you've always been.
7 comments:
So the politics are in the genes, eh? Did I read right that you referred to your dad as the "collectivist jew"?
My dad is Jewish and a Democrat, but the 'collectivist Jew' I was reffering to is Bernie Sanders.
I had the honor of hearing Rep.Sanders speak at the Socialist Scholars Conference last year. A true maverick in the (former) great American tradition, he is that rare non-conformist who remains true to his convictions despite the septic tank( I think Lenin called it a "pigs trough") of politics he must wade through.Most Americans today are repulsed and frightened by an unconventional thought yet he maintains a loyal constituency because of his values.
On another note,I see you are still debating Smiling Neocon and I admire your incredible patience in light of her compulsive Zionist fixation.She is a metaphore for why the Middle East will be the death of all of us.
troutsky: When (and if) Sanders reaches the national stage, let's hope he can break the silence and re-introduce Americans to some 'radical' ideas they haven't thought about in decades.
However, you won't get any points with me by blasting Smiling Neocon. I often disagree with the reason of her conclusions, but no one could doubt the sincerity of her intentions.
LA I tire of you’re fetishization of left-wing politicians. Sure, I’ve always been a fan of Bernie Sanders. But I also realize that our goals: justice, peace, welfare, freedom, dignity, etc. are not things which governments give the people, but rather things which the people must rise up and wrestle from the governments which dominate and exploit them. Bernie Sanders, as well meaning as he certainly is, cannot change this with any amount of his patented reformist hackery. Like it or not, he is as much a part of the system which oppresses us as President Bush, and any struggle to liberate ourselves from the corporate/capitalist/state power which presently confronts us is also a struggle against Bernie Sanders. Without people like Bernie Sanders capitalism would be impossible because Bernie Sanders fights to change our government from the inside; thus, he legitimates by his participation the very system (i.e. the nominally democratic capitalist state under bourgeois class dictatorship) which he claims to oppose. Down with the rightists! Down with bourgeois reformism! Down with Bernie Sanders! Down with the American Empire!
Seeing how this is Vermont, one must take his lead with a grain of salt. However, rather than rag on the man for having principles which disagree with mine I will hand it to him for actually having, and speaking of principles.
From your description he sounds similar to the late Paul Wellstone from my home state of Minnesota. Optimistically speaking, both Wellstone and Sanders seem to show that there is a large enough portion of moderates to swing the election to one who has conviction.
Here's to more politicans--preferrably a few conservative ones as well--of similar courage and perhaps--dare I hope--some real change in Washington.
Loyal- AS concerns smiling neocon, the road to hell is paved with sincere intentions,I respect her right to her opinions, and her tenacity but wonder at what point this fixation becomes pathological and symbolic of that particular conflict.
jon- Lenin had a name for your unwillingness to support a varied tactical and strategic approach.He called it "left-wing infantilism".
Bernie, like all of us, has to work within the objective conditions such as they are, not as he wishes they could be.
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