Bernie Sanders: Democratic Party loyalist to the end

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The pundits who style themselves as experts in the mathematics of primary contests are now insisting that Bernie Sanders cannot win the Democratic Party nomination.

Including his 53.5 percent win in Indiana on May 3, in which he actually lost ground in his race with Hillary Clinton, Sanders now needs 65 percent of all remaining pledged delegates for a majority and 82 percent of all remaining delegates—including superdelegates. The latter have been handpicked by the Democratic Party hierarchy and pledged long ago to vote for Clinton.

It is not the math, however, that motivates Sanders. He clearly explained his view in a recent KQED Na­ tional Public Radio (NPR) interview: “I think we are perpetuating the political revolution by significantly increasing the level of political activity that we’re see­ ing in this country. I think it is good for the United States of America and good for the Democratic Party to have a vigorous debate, to engage people in the po­ litical process.”

NPR reported that by staying in the race, Sanders be­ lieves he is “energizing voters” and therefore “boost­ ing the Democratic Party to victory in November.” He contended that Democrats do well when turnout is high and that Republicans do poorly when turnout is high. “So I’m going to do everything I can to stimulate political discourse in this country and get young peo­ ple, working people, involved in the political process.”

Following four primary contest losses to Clinton at the end of April, Sanders insisted that even if he lost the nomination he would fight for his delegates to have substantial representation on the Democratic Party’s “Platform Committee,” where party leaders supposedly would hammer out the program to be 12 SOCIALIST ACTION MAY 2016 implemented should Clinton win. But only the most naïve in politics believe that ruling-class policies are decided by a handful of delegates cloistered in the backrooms of party conventions.

Bernie Sanders, despite his protestations to the con­ trary, has been a welcome addition to the periodically orchestrated “lesser evil” shame employed by ruling-class leaders, who know full well that capitalist elec­ tions are essential to maintaining the myth of democ­ racy, on the one hand, while dissipating the anger and hatred at its policies into safe electoral channels, on the other.

Well before Sanders proclaimed his “democratic so­ cialism,” national polls—the Pew polls of three years ago, for example—indicated that socialism was on the minds of millions. Three years ago, a Pew poll indi­ cated that 46 percent of youth 30 years old and under preferred socialism over capitalism, with 43 percent preferring capitalism over socialism. The figures for Black youth were higher, with a significant majority preferring socialism—in their view, a more egalitar­ ian and less predatory society, in which human soli­ darity and social welfare trump the greed of the elite one percent.

Sanders is undoubtedly correct in recognizing his role in the past year as bolstering the credibility of the Democratic Party and its capacity to absorb “dis­ sident” ideas, or, perhaps better, “dissident” rheto­ ric. And Hillary Clinton and her advisers understand shell-game politics just as well, as demonstrated by their efforts to remake one of capitalism’s most hei­ nous warmongers and racist apologists into the femi­ nist, humanist, anti-racist, and environmentally con­ cerned politician they are projecting today.

In due time, we will “feel the Bern” of Sanders’ hus­ tling votes on Clinton’s behalf to save the nation from the “greater evil”—Donald Trump. Step one in the cur­ rent two-stage “lesser evil” game was Sanders’ shep­ herding the growing anti-capitalism sentiments back into the Democratic Party. Step two now includes Sanders’ making every effort to do the same with those who have been hornswoggled into his orbit but who may yet decide to quit in disgust with the thought of voting for Clinton.

The fact that capitalism’s media pundits felt com­ pelled to play along with Sanders’ fake socialism is an indication of the questioning nature of our times and the deep discontent that is percolating in the con­ sciousness of working people.

In time, when the inevitable and broad-ranging fightback takes shape in forms independent of and against the twin parties of capital, working people will find new political avenues and mass organizations of struggle to express their hated of capitalist austerity. This combination of renewed and massive mobiliza­ tions in the streets, in reinvigorated union fightbacks and in anti-racist, anti-sexist, and pro-environmental struggles will undoubtedly find an expression in the political arena. n