Some Progressives, Liberals, Independents or anyone considering themselves "other", may be feeling down, lost and even depressed over Bernie Sanders' primary losses yesterday. Some may be asking themselves, what now, or what's next or what do we do? Don't worry, we'll tell you. But before we do, you need to understand what really happened in the Democrat's primary contests.
Most importantly, four of the five Democratic primaries were closed to anyone not registered as a Democrat. Since a huge percentage of Sanders' support comes from voters who no longer identify with the Democratic Party or even the two Party system, it makes sense that Hillary Clinton would have an insurmountable edge in those final vote counts. If these were all open primaries, the outcome would have been quite different as evidenced by Sanders' one win in the only open primary contest that day. Can one conclude Sanders' would have swept all five contests if all were open? The honest answer is, we'll never know, but one can say with certainty, it would have been close.
With that in mind, the what now, what's next or where do we go from here questions are easy. The first thing you want to do is rebrand the Sanders campaign as a movement. Campaigns are temporary. Movements, if wisely managed, can survive long after any election, win or lose. If you win, you move forward. If you lose, you move on. If you're moving on, you have to have some place to go. And that's where things get interesting.
The Bernie Sanders message opened the minds of disaffected Americans who refuse to accept the modest incremental changes the Democratic Party is selling. These disaffected voters number in the tens of millions. They're tired, angry and they've been primed to take this fight to the next level. So that's what Sanders has to do. Bernie Sanders has to take his message, movement and hundreds of millions of dollars to the Democratic convention floor and announce there will be no Party unification. This is the only way to keep his following energized, organized, motivated and engaged.
Here is where we play the long game. While the Democratic Party's establishment may have won this first skirmish, the real war has yet to begin. It is because the visions for a better America and the plans to bring those visions to fruition are so starkly different, there is no room for compromise. As the movement moves on, the Democratic Party will be placed on notice - this movement is as much in opposition to them as it is to the Republican Party. This is something new. Having only one shot at this golden opportunity, Bernie Sanders must give the pitch of his life, describing what America would look and feel like if voters followed his lead.
Many of Bernie Sanders' supporters being young, have no idea what it's like to earn a living wage with regular hours. And many of his supporters being older have no idea how they're going to survive retirement. Many more of Sanders' supporters who are in their middle years have no idea how they're gonna pay for their kids' college tuition, while at the same time having to assist their aging parents. Sanders must give easy to understand and verifiable examples of how these challenges are being met in other places around the world and how and why those examples can and should be replicated here.
Bottom line: By its very nature, the long game is not a quick fix. The educational component alone is a time consuming process and will take at least another year of teaching, sharing and organizing to get the average American to understand there is a cure for unbridled Capitalism. It took a long time for America to degenerate to its current state and it's gonna take more than a minute to shift its current trajectory back toward favoring "We The People". But don't worry, as we'll be around to help with the education component. If we have to travel around the world in search of those examples, that's what we'll do. If fact, the education component starts tomorrow. Podcast below!
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