She's so right about the heart. Sanders won my heart when I came across a local Burlington interview of him just after he'd come back from traveling to Nicaragua on a Burlington "sister city" program (that he had initiated, I believe).
Reagan was sending assassins into Nicaragua to murder teachers and mayors and others who supported the Sandinista government. This was a vicious U.S. effort to overturn yet another righteous and rightful revolution against brutal oppressors. Reagan should have gone to jail for it. Our Democratic Congress in that era had made it ILLEGAL for the President to engage in unauthorized or covert wars. Reagan and his henchmen blatantly broke the law, but, unfortunately, were never held to account for it.
It's a long interview of Sanders and it fascinated me to hear his observations of people and events in Nicaragua at that time. I was impressed with his objectivity (it was not all roses there, among the leftists), with his keen desire to see things for himself and with his courage and humanity.
The Iran/contra scandal was a deep wound for me. It was appalling to watch our Democrats in Congress cave before Reagan and his magical power to make a few people richer. The hearings were broadcast live. (The commercial networks provided PUBLIC SERVICE broadcasting in those days!) Shit was done; laws were broken; Reagan got off scot free. And I think it was because Democrats at that level of power and social standing were making out like bandits during the Reagan junta. They didn't want to kill their "golden goose."
And I knew then that our Democratic Party was essentially over. No more "New Deal." No more "big tent." An end to honesty and integrity among our Dem office holders. All the "little people"--the vast majority--were going to get screwed. And that is exactly what happened over the next 20 years.
My heart was taken by Sanders because he identified with the poor Nicaraguans and their effort to create a decent government for themselves. And he talked, way back then, about the injustice of U.S. interventionism. He was, and remains, such a good man and such a prophet. That he was right about Nicaragua, back then, touched me deeply.
Two statements of Joan Baez struck me in particular:
"I know that I am ambivalent about supporting someone who will be thrown to the lions if he wins." --Joan Baez
This worries me as well. We will need to grow our revolution into a mighty force to support Sanders if he does the impossible once again, and is elected President. Baez then says:
"He is a lion in his own right...". --Joan Baez
Yup. Way back then, in the '80s, and long before, in the early '60s, Sanders was a lion when facing injustice and oppression. He dared "the powers" to stop him. He put himself out there. And the reason can be seen in the Nicaragua vid: his awesome analytical mind combined with compassion.
He found the way to express these qualities in the mundane work of running a city and trying to do it well. He put his inner lion to work on public service. He is still doing that.
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