When a thousand socialists from across the United States gathered in Chicago over the weekend for the biennial convention of Democratic Socialists of America, DSA National Director Maria Svart declared, “What we’re seeing today is historic: the largest gathering of democratic socialists in an era.”

Since the 2016 election, Svart is delighted to report, “tens of thousands of democratic socialists have come together to build a future for this country in which everyone has the right to a decent job, a good home, a free college education for their children, and health care for their family. For years, we’ve been sold hope and promised change by Wall Street politicians—now we’re taking matters into our own hands.”

DSA got a big boost from the surge of interest in democratic socialism that grew from the Sanders campaign. Bernie upended decades of right-wing histrionics, Democratic Party caution, and media neglect that bordered on malpractice when he showed America that a national contender could embrace the “S” word and survive. “Do they think I’m afraid of the word? I’m not afraid of the word,” declared Sanders as he launched his bid for the Democratic nomination. “When I ran for the Senate the first time, I ran against the wealthiest guy in the state of Vermont. He spent a lot on advertising—very ugly stuff. He kept attacking me as a liberal. He didn’t use the word ‘socialist’ at all, because everybody in the state knows that I am that.”

Rather than getting harmed for making an effort to explain how democratic socialism works in places like Denmark, Sanders benefited from the fact that he wasn’t just another apologist for the capitalist experiment that has produced market instability, cruel austerity, and scorching income inequality. In particular, young people were excited about alternatives.

<more>https://www.thenation.com/article/america-has-a-long-and-storied-socialist-tradition-dsa-is-reviving-it/

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) is writing a book for teens interested in progressive politics, called "Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution."

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In a forward to the book, Sanders notes that he overwhelmingly won younger voters among all demographics during his 2016 bid for president.

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"Young people are the future of our country," Sanders told Teen Vogue. "As citizens of the United States, they have a responsibility to participate in our democracy and to help create a government which works for all, rather than just the few. This book will expose them to an unusual political campaign, the excitement of politics and what being a progressive is all about."

According to Teen Vogue, the book also includes dozens of infographics about issues like income equality and money in politics that Sanders made famous during his 2016 presidential bid.

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Link: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/345479-bernie-sanders-writing-teen-guide-to-political-revolution

Former Vice President Al Gore believes Democrats are becoming more willing to embrace progressive ideas on issues such as climate change and healthcare.

"I do think progressive viewpoints are gaining ground in the Democratic Party — I’ve supported single-payer for 15 years now, and we are seeing a big change across the board," Gore said Thursday during a SiriusXM/Variety Magazine town hall.

"If you look at state government and state politics and local politics, the change is more pronounced there.”
Gore doubled down this week on the need for single-payer healthcare amid the Senate Republicans' trouble coalescing around a plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. He had previously signaled support for the policy in 2002 but didn't include it in his 2000 presidential platform.

Over the past few months, Democrats have been more open to the single-payer approach that’s long been pushed by the more progressive pockets of the party. Single-payer healthcare was one of the main campaign platforms for Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) Democratic presidential bid in 2016, and his allies continue to tout it.


<more> http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/342970-gore-progressive-ideas-gaining-ground-among-democrats

The last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind, politically speaking. Most of it has to do with the onslaught of chaos that followed Donald Trump's abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey -- a move political scientists agree is off the spectrum of normalcy in the history of the American presidency. Before his termination, Comey was leading an investigation into the Trump team's alleged ties to the Russian government. Keith Ellison, deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has said "we are witnessing a constitutional crisis." Calls for impeachment are in the air, along with a good deal of conspiracy theorizing.

In sum, the republic as we know it may be its closest yet to tatters. Enter: Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont and the country's most popular politician. He -- alongside Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy, from Vermont, Kirsten Gillibrand, from New York, and Maggie Hassan, from New Hampshire -- is encouraging workers to take control of the means of production.

This isn't some right-wing conspiracy theory, but the intended result of two bills introduced to relatively little fanfare last Thursday. The first, the WORK ("Worker Ownership, Readiness and Knowledge&quot Act, would direct more than $45 million in funding to state-level employee ownership centers, aimed at providing training and technical assistance to current and prospective worker-owners. A second piece of legislation would establish something called the US Employee Ownership Bank, via $500 million in funds for low-interest rate loans and financial assistance for workers who want to buy out the businesses where they work and either incorporate them as worker-owned cooperatives or establish employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), which give workers an ownership stake in their company.

<more>

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40596-amid-constitutional-crisis-bernie-sanders-urges-workers-to-seize-means-of-production