Trump is a blessing. Together we should trample his candidacy and rebuild the Democratic Party

[Stellar]

More: DailyKos

I voted for Bernie Sanders this morning in the California primary. Come November I will vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up on the “political revolution.” On the contrary.

That revolution is not the blood-in-the-streets kind that some stubborn anti-Sanders critics claim is the only kind there is, but rather a non-violent upheaval, a transformation that frees our system of billionaire, white-supremacist governance from the bottom up. Non-violent but never passive. Peaceful but not non-confrontational.

Bernie Sanders will presumably continue to be an important part of that transformation. Nobody, not even Sanders, expected he would succeed as amazingly as he has. Yet he will arrive in Philadelphia with more delegates than any insurgent campaign in a very long time. His campaign’s list of backers contains the names of 2.4 million people who have contributed more than $200 million to his campaign. On social media, he has some 9 million supporters. That’s a potentially powerful base, especially if those on it who were not already politically engaged before the campaign can be persuaded to stay engaged.

But Sanders didn’t initiate the transforma...

[Hortensis]

1. The new Democratic era began at least in 2008

with the election of Obama and more Democrats to Congress. The "transformation" from conservative-dominated national policy to liberal-dominated has been ongoing for all that time, and is centered in the White House, as well as liberal-dominated state capitals.

While the GOP has hampered most progress through U.S. Congress, for instance, Minnesota has become a shining example of how traditional, innovative and progressive Democratic policies create economic and social health at all levels.

Regarding "rebuilding" the party and Bernie, the fact is, even in DC most of the rest of the Democratic caucus has been working, many of our representatives much harder and more effectively than Bernie, for the same kind of changes Bernie says he wants. Bernie has based his entire campaign on lies that he is the only one who can or will save America, that all his colleagues are "corrupt" because they disagree with him on how to proceed, not on where to go. It's not true, to the point of being silly, and his inability to cooperate with people who disagree with him even a little bit is the reason he has not been more effective in Congress.

We have made real progress over these past 8 years against tremendous opposition, and now we will probably be able to increase our power substantially, depending on how many new Democrats we put in office at all levels of government in November.

Bernie's contribution has been to poke holes in establishment balloons, to electrify the left and open eyes to new possibilities--not new to those already working on them but to discouraged and impatient prospective voters from whom all government power comes. And above all to make apathetic voters believe we really can do much more, if we come together and vote to make it happen. Hillary has competence, but her speeches are about competent change. That may please some of us, but for the rest we need a Bernie.

What we have seen is that while the average person is working longer hours for lower wages, we have seen a huge increase in income and wealth inequality, which is now reaching obscene levels. This is a rigged economy, which works for the rich and the powerful, and is not working for ordinary Americans … You know, this country just does not belong to a handful of billionaires. - Bernie Sanders