How Bernie Sanders could make 2016 very, very interesting
Bernie Sanders is running for president. And you can look at that a few different ways. The cynical take is that this is theatrical, a pretense to grant the appearance of a primary campaign without challenging the expected outcome of a Hillary Clinton nomination. But Sanders certainly doesnt think of it that way, having raised over $2 million in the first 48 hours since his announcement.
The way I look at the Sanders campaign is through the lens of another campaign: the fight to raise the minimum wage. When that battle was left to Washington, it floundered. But outside agitation unified the Democratic Party over the past week around a true living wage, forcing politicians beyond where they felt comfortable. The story reveals the power of activism based on principle, and a Sanders campaign can serve as a conduit for this kind of work.
The minimum wage started in 1938 at one quarter an hour, rising incrementally through the 1960s. But the apex in terms of purchasing power for the minimum wage was actually 1968. If you adjust for inflation, the minimum wage is lower today, at $7.25 an hour, than what it was more than 45 years ago.
In 2008, the Obama presidential campaign pledged to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by the end of 2011, indexed to inflation to increase in subsequent years. But without much pressure from the outside, this became a promise without follow-through. It wasnt a tremendous priority amid the Great Recession, so the wage stayed flat, losing around 6 percent of its purchasing power since the last increase. By the 2013 State of the Union, the proposal had actually slid back: President Obama asked for an increase to only $9 an hour.
More here: http://www.salon.com/2015/05/05/how_bernie_sanders_could_make_2016_very_very_interesting/