Bernie Sanders' Political Revolution

[UglyGreed]

ermont Sen. Bernie Sanders – just plain "Bernie" to his backers – is the unlikeliest of political sensations. The self-styled "democratic socialist" has packed arenas and meeting halls from Seattle to L.A. to Atlanta, drawing nearly 400,000 supporters to his rallies. Decrying a "rigged" economy and a political system corrupted by billionaires, Sanders has refused Super PAC politics, instead drawing on 750,000 grassroots donors. On the strength of $30-average checks, he has built a campaign war chest to rival the Hillary Clinton juggernaut.

Bernie Sanders
Christopher Anderson/Magnum
Sanders has already altered the course of the 2016 campaign. His resonance with the Democratic Party's activist base has forced Clinton to tack left, repeatedly. But don't mistake this as Sanders' endgame. "Bernie's campaign is more than symbolic – it's real, and it can succeed," says senior adviser Tad Devine, a veteran of Al Gore's 2000 bid. The Sanders machine is built to slingshot to an early lead, propelled by grassroots excitement in Iowa and New Hampshire, and then to fight, delegate by delegate, all the way to the convention. And recent polls counter the notion that Sanders is "unelectable." An October NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey shows Sanders besting Donald Trump by nine points, Marco Rubio by five.

Sanders has a unique ability to drive turnout among "lower-income working whites," Devine insists. But an October National Student Town Hall at George Mason University – a public school in leafy Fairfax, Virginia – suggests a far broader resonance. Sixteen hundred roaring students pack the volleyball stadium to the rafters. The audience is startlingly diverse: African-American and African immigrant, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, white, preppy, hipster, jock and dreadlocked. Kianoosh Asar, a 22-year-old Iranian immigrant, wears a homemade T-shirt that reads "CAUTION THE POLLS MAY CAUSE SERIOUS BERN." For Asar, Sanders' substance is the selling point: "I really care about all the issues," he says. "And I care about a candidate who talks for my generation." That Sanders would be 75 on Inauguration Day doesn't even seem to register.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bernie-sanders-political-revolution-20151118?page=15

[brooklynite]

1. Also on the cover of Rolling Stone

How goes the revolution?

[pinebox]

3. The revolution goes great!

[UglyGreed]

4. K

[demwing]

5. k&r

[LWolf]

6. Interesting article.

Sanders has no pretension to presidential pomp. Tossing off his suit jacket, leaving it rumpled on the couch beside him, he dons a sky-blue Burlington College fleece and kicks rubber-soled shoes up on his coffee table, next to a copy of Robert Reich's new book, Saving Capitalism. Sanders engages like a college professor in a bull session. As he reaches deep for an idea, his eyes dart back and forth like a metronome behind bifocals. His demeanor is harried; the competing demands of his campaign and Senate schedule would be grueling for a politician half his age. But nothing clouds Sanders' thinking or dulls his off-kilter wit. At the conclusion of our interview he's due to meet with representatives of the Syrian opposition forces – who he jokes are "probably gonna break in here and shoot" if we don't wrap on schedule.

I'll be frank: I like the lack of pretension, and his ability to stay on top of so many different things amazes me.

He is also, despite what some of his opposition repeatedly preach, quite realistic about his chances, and about how Washington works. His supporters, again despite the criticisms thrown at them, are also aware.

You've had a front-row seat for the gridlock here in D.C. dogging President Obama. What chance do you see of getting your agenda through Congress?
If we win this election, it will have said that the political revolution is moving forward. In other words: I will not get elected unless there is a huge increase in voter turnout. That's a simple fact. And I will not get elected unless there are a lot of working-class people, who have turned their backs on the political system, now getting engaged in the system. Young people now getting engaged. And I will not get elected unless there is a significant increase in public consciousness.

The Republicans get away with murder. They cast horrendous votes with the full expectation that most Americans don't know what they're doing. If I am elected president, the American people will know what [Republicans] are doing. And here's the good news: The Republican agenda is a very unpopular agenda.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bernie-sanders-political-revolution-20151118#ixzz3s9Bzbh6X
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook