What Is Bernie's Political Revolution? An Explainer for EVERYONE.

[retrowire]

Hello, and welcome to my explainer!

Ya know, I see A LOT of people always make the statement, "I like Bernie and his proposals, but how would he even get it done?" Then I also hear people with the more negative statement, "Bernie is just selling pie in the sky ideas and you're all fools for thinking he'll get those done!"

Well, I've got the same answer to both of those opinions, no matter what position the opinion is from.

And that answer is this. Bernie will get it done because of that Political Revolution he's always talking about.

"Ha! Whatever, that's just buzzwords." you might say. Not really! If anyone has truly been listening to the man since the start, then you'll know what the Political Revolution entails.

----

SO, let's look at the BACKBONE of Bernie's Political Revolution. Voter turnout.

"Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout, and that is what happened last November." "Democrats at the White House on down will win, when there is excitement and a large voter turnout, and that is what this campaign is doing."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/13/the-oct-13-democratic-debate-who-said-what-and-what-it-means/

What Bernie says here is true. Our votes matter. They clearly change things. See what happened when we didn't vote? BAM Republican controlled House and Senate. Now, our Democratic President is strong armed into being less productive than we had hoped.

Well, that's what happens. That's "democracy" when not everyone's voice is heard. But then again, not as many people dared to speak. And why is that? It's because of Voter apathy. The REAL Political Revolution isn't to just overthrow the oligarchy or powers that be. It is ALSO to overthrow the apathetic idea that our votes don't matter.

So when Bernie makes statements like the one above, he's reminding us, "See what not voting does?". I'd say that's a prime motivator to cut the apathy out, and get up and vote.

----

"So, people will vote. That isn't going to make Medicare For All MAGICALLY happen overnight."

First, this statement always annoys me. No one truly believes that Bernie ALONE is going to snap his fingers before a Republican controlled House and Senate and grant us Medicare For All. Nobody ever said that. And nobody truly believes that. This kind of statement is denigrating to the intelligence of people who are optimistic and truly understand the meaning of that Political Revolution Bernie is always talking about.

If you speak that way, then you've absorbed too much of the defeatist mentality that the status quo has reinforced within the public for ages. Call it realism or pragmatism all you want. But here's the fact, Bernie's proposals have been done in many other countries, with success.

Why can't America the beautiful, the wealthiest nation in the world, live up to it's promise? Because of some scary Republicans? Because of some scary banks?

Remember what the Political Revolution is about, the power of your vote.

And that's the point! Our votes will get rid of those corrupt politicians, our votes will rid Washington of the muck, and THEN, Bernie will have a slate with which he can enact his proposals.

Because remember, he never said he'd do it alone. He never said that all we needed to do was get him in the White House. Anyone who mocks Bernie supporters for thinking he'll do it overnight, aren't realistic themselves. Because we should all understand the FACT, that the Political Revolution is supposed to carry on BEYOND the White House.

It carries onto the midterms, where voter apathy is dead and we take back Washington from the Republicans.

So, now I hope we understand the following facts...

1. Bernie's proposals are not pie in the sky. (They've been done in countries that aren't as wealthy or as big as ours.)
2. Bernie never said he'd do it alone OR overnight. (The Political Revolution is not just a Presidential election, it's a long term ordeal to empower the people.)
3. Our votes are the equivalent of torches and pitchforks. (That's how we change the political machine and our votes DO matter.)

Now, I've got a 4th and final point to make, and this is the bad one. This one's kind of disparaging.

4. The Political Revolution will only go forth with Bernie.

What I mean by that is this. Bernie is the one who has stoked the fires in people's bellies to do as much as they have. You have got to admit, his following is pretty immense and passionate.

Like he said, when voter turnout is high, Democrats win. You want Democrats to win more than just the White House, you want the people to keep voting Democrats into all other assets of Washington, then you'll want to harness that passion.

You won't get that passion to continue with Hillary.

It's certainly true that we should vote Hillary should Bernie not win. Bernie would want that, he said that much in his autobiography when he voted for Hillary's husband. It's better to have a Democrat in the White House than a Republican, especially this time.

But that's the problem. No Bernie, no Political Revolution.

If however, we do vote Bernie, and he does win, then we will be on track to continue the Political Revolution.

The Political Revolution is Democracy as it should be. Everyone's voice being heard and taken in account. That's what Bernie wants and it's what we should all want.

And now that we know what the Political Revolution is and what it's capable of, I'd say that it's worth trying for.

[tk2kewl]

1. establishment-arians love to blame the voters when democrats lose

but it's the party's mission to give people candidates they *want* to vote for, not just a somewhat better alternative

[NCTraveler]

2. "establishment-arians"

First time I have seen that phrase. What does it mean?

Googled it and got nothing.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=establishment+arians

[tk2kewl]

3. if you think hard enough you might figure it out

[NCTraveler]

5. OK. Went to google and got nothing. nt.

[tk2kewl]

7. i made it up

but when i was a kid i was taught about words, root words, prefixes, suffixes and the like

maybe the idea is over your head

...and fyi, googling != thinking

[NCTraveler]

8. I'm aware you made it up.

Guessing it's a shot at Obama.

[tk2kewl]

11. i see you're thinking real hard

[Proserpina]

58. I can smell the burning from here

but unfortunately, no Berning is igniting! You got a dud there, tk2kewl!

[StandingInLeftField]

9. Well, I found this fairly easily...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/establishmentarian

Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?

[NCTraveler]

12. The words "establishment arian" is nowhere to be found at your link. nt.

[StandingInLeftField]

13. Now you're just being silly

I know you're more intelligent than that.

[NCTraveler]

15. ok. Define "establishment arian."

The words are truly nowhere at your link.

[Fawke Em]

78. Pssst... put the two words together.

"establishment arian" to "establishmentarian"

Was that hard?

[NCTraveler]

19. Please see post 16 and thank you. nt.

[tk2kewl]

14. are you really just nit picking over the hyphen?

I can remove it if it will make you go away

[NCTraveler]

16. In all honest, I read it wrong.

I had never heard it before. The other poster did provide the link. Seems you didn't make it up as you claimed.

My apologies to the other poster.

[tk2kewl]

17. glad you now understand

[NCTraveler]

18. Yes. Your space completely changed the word.

Completely. That did throw me a bit as the two are different words when separated as you did. You also claimed you made it up so I stopped searching. Ends up that wasn't accurate either. Thanks to the other poster for clearing it up, and for showing you the proper grammatical format. Good learning experience all the way around.

[StandingInLeftField]

21. You know good and well I was not

"showing you (tk2kewl) the proper grammatical format."

You are being disingenuous.

[NCTraveler]

22. I don't get what your problem is.

I had never heard of establishment arian. I thought they were trying to make some other point. Ends up they were as they claimed to coin the phrase. I do appreciate you showing me that they meant to say establishmentarian. Considering they are both words it was clearly no big mistake. I appreciate your help and I'm sure the other poster does as well. Talk about no big deal. lol.

[LiberalLovinLug]

31. wow

[NCTraveler]

32. Digging? How is admitting your mistake digging?

How is thanking someone for correcting a clear error digging? I told the other poster I appreciate them clearing it up. Glad you got your two cents in. Very solid. lol.

[AlbertCat]

52. wow!

I know! You'd think he was reading Gertrud Stein or "Finnegans Wake".

Dis - ingenuous!

[floriduck]

53. The term you're demonstrating is

Pissing up a rope.

[NCTraveler]

55. Now I know why I'm wet.

I think the term here is poor grammar.

Funny all the way around.

[kristopher]

68. It isn't poor grammar

All languages are extremely flexible and people play with words constantly. The fact is you were either trolling the thread or you weren't clicking to an obvious play on words. Either way, the shit-stain is definitely in your shorts.

[drm604]

77. I get lots of results.

Take the + out of the query. I'm not sure why it's in there.

https://www.google.com/?q=establishmentarians

I get results like this:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/establishmentarians

[kenfrequed]

54. *sigh*

She is obviously typing it in from a phone that has a poor spellcheck and a low vocabulary. Try not to demean people without cause.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, retrowire.

[retrowire]

26. thanks uncle Joe! nt

[Uncle Joe]

27. Your OP is a good analysis.

Peace to you.

[retrowire]

28. I had hoped so. I'm tired of people thinking the

Political Revolution is a magic wand solution. It's a long term plan and was never described as magic by Bernie. We understand that. We are the realists here, and I'm sick of hearing that we're just dreaming. NO, we're following the plan, the plan is a very practical one, and it starts with us just VOTING.

[Uncle Joe]

30. I agree, I believe Bernie is by far the best candidate whether one uses their head or their heart.

Bernie's policies are the right thing to do and supporting him makes logical sense from a political perspective.

[jwirr]

35. I absolutely love this post. But I would like to take it one

further step. We need to win but heaven forbid if we do not we still need to follow Bernie and his ideals.

When the unions called for us to help them fight the TPA we organized and tried to stop it. That in my opinion was maybe the first step in our revolution. We did not win but we put up a hell of a fight.

If we do not have the WH we will still have people in Congress to lead us - people like Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. We need to use that voting power to lobby our congress people on the issues we want passed. And we need to keep screaming and fighting. MLK Jr. did not stop fighting and we shouldn't either.

This revolution must continue to grow regardless if we are winning or losing. THIS time we must not let it die.

[retrowire]

36. Oh exactly! But I'm saving that for another post....

If Bernie loses... and heaven forbid... Worst case scenario, a republican wins....

You know what we do? Political Revolution, we fill the house and and senate with Democrats and then render their president useless.

[jwirr]

39. Exactly.

[retrowire]

40. But also, as in my op I said

If Bernie doesn't win, the Political Revolution may not follow.

That's not to say if he loses then we should give up. I'm saying that because if he loses, then the morale to be so active in this will be pretty damn defeated. A lot of people really will just throw in the towel.

[jwirr]

43. I know. But our activists will not. When I finished writing my

above post my mind turned to George McGovern (or I could have said RFK) because I have tried to follow him since I voted for him in 72. To me you do not give up on going the best path in life.

[retrowire]

44. And maybe Bernie has created a new fleet of activists in us young ones.

That's a good thing to think about.

[jwirr]

48. Yes, the youth supporting Bernie give me hope that we are

going to be alright and that we are going to get something done about our problems. We have been stagnating since raygun.

As I have said before on DU - I want the youth to start taking the lead - we will follow. Your original post is a good example of that. Thank you.

[retrowire]

51. D'aww thanks. :) Feel the Bern! nt

[NCTraveler]

6. You see, with a couple of weeks left, I don't think.....

it looks all that good that the revolution is still being explained on political boards.

[retrowire]

29. Most people don't need this explanation. nt

[JonLeibowitz]

45. Many here try not to understand the explanation. Not surprisingly. n/t

[emsimon33]

10. K&R

[HassleCat]

20. The turnout question

This one is tough to estimate accurately. Yes, more young voters will turn out for Sanders, but black voters will stay home if Sanders is the candidate. Black voters are excited about Clinton, but only lukewarm, at best, about Sanders. Some of them will feel the Bern if he is nominated, but others will stay home if they can't vote for Clinton. That's essentially the argument made by the Clinton camp, although I'm stating it with a little more cynicism here. There will be some mitigation to this "black voter falloff" from millennials, but will it be one-for-one? Sanders supporters are hoping it will, but Clinton supporters are saying there is no way, and we will lose the presidency without a heavy black turnout. Another mitigating factor would be Sanders' ability to pull independents and frustrated Republicans, but there's no way to estimate that effect, either. It is a political revolution, and it will happen if we nominate Sanders. I'm ready, even if my party is balking.

[retrowire]

25. know what i found out today?

if you type "Republicans" into Google, the second suggested search is, "Republicans for Bernie"

anecdotal I know but neat!

[JonLeibowitz]

46. Unfortunately, it only means google is smart about suggesting pages for your search.

Try googling "Republicans" in a fresh browser window (no cookies, no google log-in), like incognito mode. The first "Republicans for Bernie" will be on the bottom of the 2nd page.

[retrowire]

49. Ahh... I tried it on my wifes computer and it did it the same, I wonder if they log it by IP address

*shrugs*

[kristopher]

56. Bullpucky! The downtrodden of every race and ethnicity are the natural constituency of Bernie Sand

The African American community is AT LEAST as vested in improving economic justice as the rest of the 99%. Don't let the fact that racial politics has been the rallying cry for the past 50 years fool you, the underlying issue is and always has been fairness in the economic realm. The downtrodden of every race and ethnicity are the natural constituency of Bernie Sanders.

[HassleCat]

59. Maybe so, but black citizens don't see it that way. (eom)

[kristopher]

60. When were you elected to speak for "the black citizens"???

[HassleCat]

61. The same election in which you were chosen to lecture them. (eom)

[kristopher]

67. Not even a good try Cat. Let's recap, shall we?

I'll quote the entire exchange in order to make it easy for you to cite the part where I'm giving a "lecture" to anyone but another poster on DU.

Please proceed.

HassleCat:

20. The turnout question
This one is tough to estimate accurately. Yes, more young voters will turn out for Sanders, but black voters will stay home if Sanders is the candidate. Black voters are excited about Clinton, but only lukewarm, at best, about Sanders. Some of them will feel the Bern if he is nominated, but others will stay home if they can't vote for Clinton. That's essentially the argument made by the Clinton camp, although I'm stating it with a little more cynicism here. There will be some mitigation to this "black voter falloff" from millennials, but will it be one-for-one? Sanders supporters are hoping it will, but Clinton supporters are saying there is no way, and we will lose the presidency without a heavy black turnout. Another mitigating factor would be Sanders' ability to pull independents and frustrated Republicans, but there's no way to estimate that effect, either. It is a political revolution, and it will happen if we nominate Sanders. I'm ready, even if my party is balking.

kristopher:

Bullpucky! The downtrodden of every race and ethnicity are the natural constituency of Bernie Sanders
The African American community is AT LEAST as vested in improving economic justice as the rest of the 99%. Don't let the fact that racial politics has been the rallying cry for the past 50 years fool you, the underlying issue is and always has been fairness in the economic realm. The downtrodden of every race and ethnicity are the natural constituency of Bernie Sanders.

HassleCat:

Maybe so, but black citizens don't see it that way. (eom)

kristopher:

When were you elected to speak for "the black citizens"???

HassleCat:

The same election in which you were chosen to lecture them. (eom)

[HassleCat]

69. OK, not a lecture, then.

"The downtrodden of every race and ethnicity are the natural constituency of Bernie Sanders." I guess it's cold, hard fact. But I' not the one you need to convince.

[kristopher]

70. I'd hope you see the situation in a like manner.

It falls to all of us to make this world a better place than we found it. I hope you'll help.

[Armstead]

23. Great explainer-ation

[tk2kewl]

24. .

[SCantiGOP]

33. thanks for all of the bold letters

I wouldn't have understood your point otherwise.

[retrowire]

34. My apologies for the peppering of words.

I find it helps me divide things up better in long posts, otherwise it's easy to get lost in a mishmash of plain lettering.

So you got the point? What did you think?

[brooklynite]

37. Gee, I seem to recall high voter turnout in 2012...

...when our Presidential candidate was someone some people here claim is practically a Republican...


...and when we gained five Senate seats, including States like Indiana and North Dakota where Sanders-style candidates would have been unlikely to win.

[retrowire]

38. So you understand the Political Revolution then?

Because as Bernie said and you just said. High voter turnout=Dems win.

[brooklynite]

41. I think we have different perspectives on what is needed to generate high turnout

[retrowire]

42. Well yeah I figured.

I won't start a post war with you. But what is it that you think will produce a high voter turnout?

[brooklynite]

47. Focusing on issues that voters care about...

...ESPECIALLY our African American and Hispanic voting blocks (which Sanders seems to continue to have problems with). In particular, the House and Senate candidates I've talked to aren't telling me they're being asked about Single Payer health care and breaking up the banks. People MAY care about those issues when polled, but they don't appear to care about them ENOUGH to make them a focal point of their voting choices. What they do appear to care about are jobs and the economy, and (whether rightly or wrongly) security and terrorism.

[retrowire]

50. Hmmm...

Well, I'm glad both our candidates are addressing issues important to the AA and Hispanic communities.

[retrowire]

57. bump, i would sticky this if I could. nt

[WillyT]

62. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[retrowire]

63. Thanks WillyT!

I was wondering when you'd show up! I would sticky this if I could, I think it's a good way to alleviate the stressing question of "How?" that seems to be on everyone's minds.

Spread it far and wide if you'd like.

[WillyT]

64. Posted This A Year Ago... Did You Catch It ???

DULink: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026089468

[retrowire]

65. I did not!

And this is why. lol http://www.democraticunderground.com/125610143

But hey, great minds think alike!

In solidarity.

[WillyT]

66. Yeah... That Would DU It...

In solidarity.

[retrowire]

71. berniebump nt

[azmom]

72. K&R

[retrowire]

73. bumpforbernie. nt

[retrowire]

74. bernie bump nt

[cali]

75. great post!

[SoapBox]

76. How the heck did I miss this?!?

Thank you retrowire...excellent OP!

[retrowire]

81. Thank you! nt

[retrowire]

79. bernie bump nt

[retrowire]

80. bernie bump for days nt