Sunday, January 27, 2019

Is 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Really Seeking A `Revolution' In USA?

2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders endorsing Hillary Clinton for U.S. President in July 2016
In 2019 some U.S. left activists have apparently been urging folks who want to see a socialist revolution in the USA to work as unpaid volunteers in politically liberal Democratic Party Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont's 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries campaign.
Yet in her 2018 book about Bernie's unsuccessful Democratic Party presidential primaries campaign in 2016, titled Crashing The Party, a Fordham University professor who also worked as a volunteer researcher and organizer in Bernie's 2016 campaign to be the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, named Heather Gautney, observed:

"...Bernie used the slogan `political revolution'...but leftists were understandably opposed to his use of the word `revolution' in that context, as his campaign was not calling for a radical social and political restructuring of power and authority in the United States, like modern revolutionary movements had in Cuba, Bolivia, and elsewhere. Bernie did not associate himself with anti-capitalist politics or seek to nationalize major industries...

"...Bernie endorsed Hillary [Clinton] for president on July 12, 2016...Bernie's decision to endorse Hillary...drew ire from some of his movement-based supporters who argued that he should shun Clinton and the Democrats entirely. Why unify with the same party elements that tried to fix the primary process and defame Bernie's...progressive program?...A Clinton administration...would have put him at the front of the line for prominent committee assignments...

"Some of Bernie's delegates were disappointed in him for having conceded the nomination prior to the convention and endorsing Hillary. Bernie or Busters couldn't bear to vote for her, and some, like [Cornell] West, supported the Greens...
Bernie Sanders and AIPAC and Wall Street Banking Industry-Backed U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer
"In the wake of Trump's election...Chuck Schumer recruited Bernie to a leadership position as outreach chairman...Bernie himself appeared in Michigan with Schumer...

"In late April 2017, Bernie and [Democratic National Committee Chairperson Thomas] Perez launched a `Unity Tour,'...For leftists...the tour looked like an attempt to herd them into the fold of the establishment..."