Why you (even if you're a conservative) should vote for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary
A leftist, liberal, moderate, and conservative case for Bernie
Election season is in full swing as the democratic primaries are underway. The field is narrowing as Billionaire Tom Steyer, South Bend, IN mayor Pete Buttigieg, and MN Senator Amy Klobuchar have announced they are ending their bid for the nomination. Tomorrow is Super Tuesday where 14 states, including TN, will go to the polls. Right now there only four serious candidates in the fight to see who gets to face Trump in November: Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Michael Bloomberg.
As many of you may know, I am a big Bernie supporter. I have donated, canvassed, and even hosted events for the campaign this cycle. I think the movement that supports him is a once in a generation opportunity, the first real opportunity since RFK’s 1968 campaign, to fundamentally transform this country into one that is oriented towards love and human solidarity, rather than corporate profit. That movement could bring us Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, universal childcare and paternity leave, a more just justice system, a more moral foreign policy, a more robust labor movement, and a more solidaristic culture. As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, it is a politics of “loving thy neighbor.”
While I have my obvious reasons for supporting him, I want to try to speak your language from across the political spectrum. No matter if you are a progressive/leftist, a liberal, a moderate, or a conservative, voting for Bernie Sanders in your state’s democratic primary is in your best interest. Read one or two or all of the cases if you like. If you are a Bernie supporter or are swayed by these arguments, I would encourage you share this blog post with your friends and family from all across the political spectrum.
The Progressive/Leftist Case
This is the easiest case to make. Most people in this camp are deciding between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. I like Warren but we have had over a year to decide which of these two candidates should be our standard bearer. I don’t want to re-litigate the past year of intra-left arguments but do want to make three points. While many of policies are similar, Warren has stated she is a “capitalist to her bones,” was a registered Republican during the Reagan administration and spoke at a Federalist Society event, and has misappropriated indigenous identity for most of her adult life. These flaws are troubling which makes her my second choice.
But even despite these arguments, there is the political reality of today. On March 3rd, 2020, one progressive candidate in Sanders is the clear national front runner and the other, Warren, is a distant 3rd or 4th place. We’re the roles reversed and Warren the front runner while Sanders had no chance, I would support Warren despite my misgivings. Warren’s only way to win the nomination is if Sanders does not gain an outright majority of delegates and the Democratic National Convention goes to the second ballot. Then she can appeal as the “compromise candidate” and hope that the democratic elite super delegates choose her to unify the party. The only problem in that unity strategy is that Sanders supporters will understand that her continued presence in the race may have robbed him of his out right majority and refuse to back her. The more likely outcome is that the party elite chose another centrist Neoliberal candidate who won’t challenge their control of the party. Sanders also has a much more racially diverse and working class base of support than Warren more white and upper middle class base of support.
I think it’s clear, you should vote Bernie.
The Liberal Case
This is actually the hardest case to make. The liberal elite have had almost unfettered control of both the Democratic party and the corporate media for my whole life time. While the Obama campaign was a bright progressive moment, after 2008 Obama largely spurned his progressive organizers and turned to the center and governed in the same tradition of the Clinton and Carter administrations. While the liberals may lose some temporary power in the party by nominating Bernie, they risk tremendous electoral failure in the 20s and 30s by ceding labor to the Republicans.
So if you are a big D Democrat, Bernie is an existential threat to your power. You have always considered yourself the left wing of the American political spectrum but the Sander’s campaign has shown that you’re much closer to the center than you want to believe. However, I believe that giving up some of your power, and supporting a democratic socialist rather than another liberal is in your best interest.
The Democratic party was historically the party of labor. My great grandfather was an FDR democrat just like the majority of Americans during his day. But in the 60s and 70s as the Democratic party became a big tent party, corporate interests began to further and further influence the party. That power has grown so great than even today, Democrats in Virginia can’t repeal Right-to-Work even though they control the Governorship, House, and Senate. Because of this, the Republican party has slowly began to win over the working class. Trump’s 2016 sweep through the Midwestern rust belt is evidence of this. And he is posed to do it again in 2020.
For the Democratic party to be viable going in to the 20s, they must re-embrace their heritage as the party of labor. Woke Neoliberal capitalism will not win elections as shown by the Kamala Harris campaign’s failure to gain any real support. Americans face real kitchen table material needs. Even with health insurance we can’t afford to go to the doctor. Accounting for inflation, wages have remained stagnant since the 70s. Rents are always increasing. And above all we face the existential threat of climate catastrophe. Woke capitalism does not speak to these issues. While representation is a good thing, more LGBTQ or people of color CEO’s in the oil industry, healthcare industry, or military industrial complex is not going to fix these issues.
As a liberal, the Republican party is about to outflank you on labor. Tucker Carlson is the future of the Republican party. Every night on Fox his show truthfully acknowledges that the American working class has gotten screwed. However that truth is a half-truth as he does not blame those who are responsible for this economic inequality but rather blames immigrants and coastal elite liberals. The Bernie campaign is your chance to redefine the Democratic party as the true ally of labor. Even if Bernie loses to Trump, which polling suggests is very unlikely, the party will still remain strong as it builds power from the bottom up. While a second Trump term would be devastating, it would be less devastating than a Republican president in 2024 who unlike Trump is effective and outflanks the Democrats on labor. If you stay down the current Neoliberal path, the Republicans will dominate the 20s and 30s because at least a half truth is more truthful than your lie.
So I think it’s clear, you should vote for Bernie
The Moderate Case
So you are a moderate/centrist/independent. Maybe you voted for both Obama and Trump or both Reagan and Clinton? There’s many reasons to be a moderate. Maybe you personally support certain policies but don’t think your fellow Americans do. Maybe you hate both the Republican and Democratic establishments. Or maybe you simply prefer moderation. However, Bernie’s policies are not quite as radical as his detractors make them seem and he too is hated by the establishments you hate.
No matter how hard corporate interests try to demonize Sander’s policies, they still remain popular. Even polling from health insurance companies show that majority of Americans support Medicare For All: national health care plan where the average American pays slightly more in taxes instead of paying any health insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, or other out of pocket expenses. If you’re interested in what your taxes would look like under M4A, check out this calculator. And with all of our peer countries providing universal health care at a fraction of out cost, I would say our system is the radical one.
This chart shows polling on many other issues:
While Medicare for All does not do as well in this poll, many of his other policies do: Green New Deal, Marijuana legalization, government regulation of drug prices, a $15 minimum wage, free tuition at public colleges, and even a wealth tax.
Other smaller issue policies like ending cash bail, a federal jobs guarantee, or a public internet provider also have overwhelming support. In fact, theses policies’ support is much larger than the Republican tax bill that was passed and made law. Only 24% of Americans support lowering tax rates on massive corporations. And a vast majority of Americans support ending the disastrous forever wars in the Middle East that have lasted as long as I can remember.
So maybe his agenda isn’t that radical. Maybe the radical thing is living in a country where when over 60% of the citizens support a policy, the few politicians who also support it are slandered as radical?
Additionally, Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat. He is an independent Democratic Socialist who is running for nominee of the Democratic party. My big boy William Jennings Bryan did a similar thing in 1896 with the Populist Party. Just like Trump, he is an anti-establishment candidate. He is as hated, maybe more so, by the Nancy Pelosis and Chuck Schumers of the world as he is by the Mitch McConnells and Kevin McCarthys. For too long the party elites have controlled the government with little regard for the working class of our country. The Sanders campaign is an attempt to retake that power. As I mentioned in the Liberal Case, the Democratic elite would be better served to give up some power to the Sanders wing of the party in order to prevent the Republican party from outflanking them on labor in the 20s and 30s. Bernie knows what life is like for the common American, not because he is one (as a senator he makes around $180k a year), but because his campaign in staffed by them. He has built an inspired working class coalition that will no longer stand for the broken status quo. This is embodied by his campaign slogan: “Not Me, Us!” Trump has become the corrupt swamp monster he swore to destroy. For crying out loud, a former coal baron is the director of the EPA. If you truly wan’t to drain the swamp and get big money interest out of Washington and have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” then Bernie Sanders is your man.
So I think it’s clear, you should vote for Bernie
The Conservative Case
While this may sound counter intuitive, voting for Bernie in the primaries is in the best interest of conservatives. While I expect you to vote for Trump in November, or abstaining, I think you should vote for Bernie this spring. Most states have an open primary where any registered voter can vote no matter their party registration. You just go and ask for a Democratic ballot. If it makes you feel gross, you don’t have to tell anyone. A Bernie nominee would make the election about actual issues, keep Trump from abandoning the working class, and possibly help the Republican party redefine itself going into the 20s and 30s. President Sanders would not wage a culture war but be an Organizer in Chief focusing on economic and foreign policy issues
While as a conservative, you may be inclined to vote for the person you think is less suited to defeat Trump. All the major polling shows Trump trailing the Democratic candidates. While I personally think Bernie is best positioned to win back the rust belt and defeat Trump, I could see how others could think crazy socialist Bernie could never defeat the very sane and competent Donald Trump. However, I don’t want to write horse race punditry but actual analysis.
Trump will make the election about anything except the real issues. He is a showman and is very very good at it. We all can remember two things the 2016 election: Build the Wall and Her Emails. Here is what the 2020 election will be about with these potential Dem candidates:
Sleepy Joe Biden - The Biden Family Corruption: Amtrak, Ukraine, and China
Elizabeth Warren - Pocahontas
Mini Mike Bloomberg - The NYC Big Gulp Soda Ban and Random NYC Drama from the 90s
Crazy Bernie Sanders - Medicare for All, Green New Deal, and Human Solidarity
None of us wants to listen to 6 moths of debates and commercials of cheep insults. Let’s actually discuss the real issues that face the future of our nation. Let’s argue about ideas and visions for the America of the 20s. Trump will not be able to get Bernie of topic. Even the “Socialist!” insult is still about policy. Let’s debate the merits of capitalist ownership of the means of production versus social ownership of the means of production. Lets not discuss 23andMe genetic testing, Burisma Gas Co., and who said what about whom in some Manhattan cigar lounge in 1997.
Bernie will also keep Trump honest about his anti-establishment, populist credentials. If as a conservative, you like the way Trump rhetorically positioned himself as the champion of the common man against the party elite, then you want him to be called out when he cosies up to those very party elite. If you wanted Trump to drain the swamp, Bernie will actually call him out for not following through. Trump will have to actually fight for the working class rust belt vote.
In addition, a Bernie nomination could fundamentally reshape our two parties. If the Democrats re-embrace their heritage as the party of labor, the Republicans man realign as well. Instead of devolving further into Trumpism because Sanders won the working class and that strategy was no longer viable, the Republicans may turn back to the principled big C Conservatism I was taught growing up. The conservatism of big business, free trade, family values, the Constitution, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan, not the conservatism of populism, trade wars, anti-immigrant nativism, cult of personality, Donald Trump, and Tucker Carlson. After all, there will be a lot of Democratic Neoliberal elites who will feel alienated from their party and may need a new home much like the Never Trump Republicans. And if we are really lucky then the Never Trumpers and the Never Berners will unite and form a third party, potentially destroying the Republican and Democrat’s duopoly of political power.
On a final note, as Ross Douthat argued, Bernie is not a culture warrior. He is much more focused on fighting billionaires than Catholic Hospitals and Evangelical Universities. If Bernie were to beat President Trump, as I think he would, his administration would focus less on woke identitarian issues than other candidates’ would. He would end the forever wars and bring our soldiers home. He would help strengthen unions and organized labor. He would raise taxes on the billionaire class to fund social programs for the rest of us. But he would not be coming for your church’s tax exempt status if they didn’t agree to ordain gay clergy. While he does support abortion, I believe his policies are more holistically pro-life than any other candidate’s. If that is your most important issue, a strong social safety net that guarantees health care and child care as a human right will reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. Decreasing the burden of skyrocketing rents and student loans will also reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. Insuring that we leave our children a better planet than we left it will reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. When young people are surprised by an unexpected pregnancy (what would I know anything about that lol), reducing the economic impact of giving birth and raising a child will greatly influence women’s decision.
So as you can see, a Bernie nomination would make Trump and the Republican party better and would not wage a culture war.
So I think it’s clear, you should vote for Bernie