Photo Credits CNN
“Somebody is ready for a political revolution,” Bernie Sanders a self described Democratic Socialist, is fond of saying. After watching Sanders articulate what a Democratic Socialist is during last night’s Democratic Presidential debate, I am not certain that enough people are ready for Sanders’ revolution.
One thing I am certain, Bernie Sanders is the revolution. He is a champion of the people. A President Sanders’ administration would fundamentally change the relationship of “we the people” to the federal government. During the first of five debates, Sanders spoke with passion and zeal about his views on economic inequality during the two hour debate.
Sanders’ positions get right down to the nitty gritty of what ails the country. For Sanders it all boils down to the fact that wealth in this country is concentrated in the hands of the top one percent of the people leaving very little for the average man or woman to live on, not to mention to raise families.
This concept is simple enough. Sanders has figured out that capital must be removed from the hands of a few and spread among the American people. What former member of the American middle class could not love a candidate like this?
On the other hand, convincing progressive Democrats and Democratic leaning Independents is not as simple.
Sanders’ dilemma is to find a way to communicate complex economic systems (Capitalism versus Democratic Socialism) in the language of bread and butter issues. Issues the American people can identify as part of their daily lives.
During last night’s debate, Hillary Clinton, did a better job of relating to the average American on income inequality, women and job creation issues than Sanders, because she spoke in the buzz words that are familiar to the average citizen. She established herself as a polished and well prepared representative of Washington politics.
Sanders spoke in lofty terms. His burden is to get enough people to believe that Bernie’s revolution can succeed. Similar to the task which confronted Senator Barack Obama in 2007, as he set out to convince the Democratic Party that a black guy with a funny sounding name could become the next president.
Obama’s theme said it all, “Yes we can.” It attracted into the Democratic Primaries and ultimately into the General Election non-traditional Democratic voters who had felt left out of the political process.
Sanders has to own the fact that he is a revolutionary and tap into that vein of Americans unhappy with the status quo, similar to the treasure trove of discontent Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina have tapped into among discontented conservative Americans. Sanders must convince heretofore disenfranchised Americans ( young black people, immigrants and the disappearing middle class) that a revolution is necessary from Wall Street to Main Street; and that this revolution can be won at the ballot box in 2016.
Bernie Sanders is the revolution, brought to you live and digitized in living color.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist, the author of Paper puzzle and Justice in the Round. He can be contacted at haroldmichaelharvey.com .