2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I like Hillary and will vote for her. [View all]cascadiance
(19,537 posts)... with TRADITIONAL Democratic Party values that today's party has LOST with the DLC/Third Way takeover of its leadership.
FDR, who verbally welcomed the hatred of "economic loyalists" would not understand today's party of depending on them to get elected instead. Bernie is more in line with the traditional Democratic Party values of FDR's age than others running today for this party are. That is why it is not so important that he is a Democratic Party "member" today, but whether his value reflects what this party used to be when faced with similar challenges that FDR's Democratic Party faced in its day.
Like I said here before, if the Democratic Party makes more significant moves to rediscover its traditional values and wins in the election and makes it a party that Bernie (and so many of the rest of us too!) feel more at home with, I think he might lead the effort of getting more Americans, including himself to use that time to sign up as a member then, when the party reflects his and other traditional Democrats' values again. I think becoming a Democrat that way would be a far more powerful message than doing it now, and for some being viewed doing so as a "mechanical measure" to be accepted by current party leadership.