'The Nation' Endorses Bernie Sanders and His Movement

...

Sanders won the most votes in Iowa, the most votes and delegates in New Hampshire, and a commanding victory in Nevada—the most representative, diverse electorate of the early states—across divisions of race, class, and language. Though his second-place finish in South Carolina indicates Sanders still has work to do with African American voters, national polls show him currently leading in every demographic except voters over 55 and beating Trump convincingly in every head-to-head matchup. What is perhaps most exciting about the Sanders campaign is his commitment to expanding the electorate, which could produce a sweeping victory for his presidential campaign and congressional Democrats this fall.


That is the promise and possibility of the Sanders campaign—whether you call him a democratic socialist or a New Deal Democrat. Even as the corporate media ignores his achievements, denigrates his chances, and magnifies his every misstep, Sanders has two weapons none of his competitors can match or deflect. The first is his consistency. One reason Sanders won 67 percent of the vote in his last Senate campaign in Vermont, easily outpolling the Republican governor who was elected at the same time, is that even voters who disagree with him know he means what he says. Biden has to lie about getting arrested in support of South Africa’s black freedom struggle. Sanders was actually getting arrested in America’s black freedom struggle before Biden was old enough to vote. As we find ourselves on a hinge of history—a generation summoned to the task of redeeming our democracy and restoring our republic—no one ever has to wonder what Bernie Sanders stands for.

The other weapon is the movement, with its overwhelming appeal to young voters and its determination to mobilize the disenfranchised and the disenchanted. Movements are more important than candidates and are a greater source of power for change than election results. We live in an age of state repression and voter suppression, when a rigged system, complicit politicians and a depleted and chronically distracted press have allowed the greatest concentration of economic and political power in American history. Yet resistance is always an option. And an imperative. So long as we are many and they are few, hope remains both rational and realistic.

In this election the fundamental question is also the oldest one: Which side are you on? The Nation is on the side of hope, not fear. We’re on the side of radical change, not retrenchment and retreat. We are proud and excited to stand with the movements that have brought us to this moment and made this amazing, terrifying, exhilarating, and empowering campaign possible. And we are proud to endorse Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist with a program realistic and radical enough to meet the test of our time, for president of the United States.