It appears an apology is in order for intimating we were writing off Bernie Sanders after New York, but for a minute, it did appear he might have been contemplating something short of a contested convention this summer. Any hint of caving for the good of the Party would have been uncharacteristic of his message and unacceptable to his movement, so we were preparing to consider other options. And since this contest has always been a zero sum game for the aggressive progressive, there was never really a possibility for Party unity.
In fact, in our view, there's no such bridge to connect diametrically opposed principles. In our view, the only way Hillary Clinton would ever make an acceptable candidate, is for her to accept the Sanders aggressive progressive policies without exception and serve as Figurehead in Chief for the next four years, until a more suitable replacement can be recruited for 2020.
But in the meantime, no matter what happens going forward in the short term, Bernie Sanders has assured his supporters, come hell or high waters, come July 25-28, 2016 he'll be representing their interest at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. Determined to scrap for every vote and every delegate, pledged or otherwise, the Clinton machine has gotta be feeling concerned as this aggressive progressive movement just won't roll over and bow out. And they'd be even more concerned if they understood the concerns and motivations of these aggressive progressives.
If the Clinton campaign had any understanding of who these young, middle and senior aged aggressive progressives are, they'd know this fight is not about the Party, it's all about the people. They'd know these people have seen too much B.S. to believe too much B.S. These people aren't stupid. They've done the math. They know free college tuition is cheaper than a lower interest rate and more time to repay the tens of thousands in loans they're being steered into. They also know universal healthcare or at the very least, a robust public option offering would insure far more of the uninsured than the Affordable Healthcare Act is able to reach in its present form.
These aggressive progressives know that pursuing anything short of an aggressive progressive agenda aggressively will almost guarantee their Golden years will look more like Bronze. They've seen, reviewed and accessed??? Hillary Clinton's minimalist approach to addressing the country's structural socioeconomic deficiencies and determined it to be tantamount to stepping in quicksand. And the more they'll struggle with Hillary's imperceptible incremental measures to raise their standard of living, they more they'll sink. Slowly perhaps, but sink, they shall.
While Hillary Clinton's primary mission is to unite the Democratic Party and win the United States presidency, the primary mission of the aggressive progressive is to rebuild the middle class, rebuild the nation's infrastructure, protect seniors, protect the poor, protect the environment and protect their jobs. They intend to do all this by reversing nearly two decades of economic policies that deliberately diverted the nation's lion's share of power and wealth from the people and placed all but a fraction thereof in the hands of the few.
If all goes according to plan, they're going to start by making sure super high earners and the billionaire class pick up the tab by paying their fair share. They want to go after the banks. They want to review and renegotiate unfavorable trade deals. They want to decrease military spending to increase social programs. They want to make this happen by taking a less interventionist approach to foreign policy. They want to seriously address campaign finance reform. They want progress, not pragmatism on the table and they want it sooner than later.
Bottom line: How Hillary Clinton and the Democratic establishment misread the mood of Bernie Sanders' aggressive progressive movement is a mystery, considering the size of his campaign rallies, the money he's raised and who that money came from. They had to know these people felt they were in a battle for their lives, by demonstrating time and again they'd fight any corporate power, politician or political Party they deemed more united with the powerful than the people. Perhaps Hillary Clinton misread the mood of the aggressive progressive because underneath it all, she's just not into progressives. Podcast below!
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