Great Article: Sanders and the Theory of Change: Radical Politics for Grown-Ups

[Nanjeanne]

Last edited Sat Jan 23, 2016, 02:36 PM - Edit history (1)

Worth a read:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jedediah-purdy/sanders-and-the-theory-of_b_9057570.html

Particularly like (bolding mine):

The movement that the campaign helps to create can develop and give voice to a program that the same people will keep working for, in and out of election cycles. In other words, this is a campaign about political ideas and programs that happens to have a person named Bernie at its head, not a campaign that mistakes its candidate for a prophet or a wizard (or the second coming of Abraham Lincoln, who gave us the now-cliché phrase about better angels, but had no delusion that words could substitute for power).

And:

These movements were sources of ideas, and also of power. Why did all those enemies and reluctant allies end up meeting Roosevelt halfway? The answer was not not his pragmatic attitude. The reason that even some who hated him had to compromise with Roosevelt or give way was the political force he could marshal. His theory of change was no more about compromise than it was about high-minded words: It was about power. Compromise was a side-effect, a tactic at most.

But the central place of power does not mean idealism had no place in the New Deal. Roosevelt explained what he was doing, and why, in language that was more Sanders than Clinton, more vision than wonkery. He famously called for a Second Bill of Rights, an economic program of security, good work, and material dignity. Going back to the Founders to ground the welfare state is, let's say, idealistic. And, while F.D.R. was willing to compromise, he was also willing to draw hard lines, calling out "economic royalists" and saying of his enemies, "They are unanimous in their hate for me -- and I welcome their hatred."

[Voice for Peace]

1. Kicking and bookmarking to read later

Thanks!
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