That's Bernie’s ON setting. He keeps it positive, he stays on message, and he's totally honest. And I think Americans have been waiting a long time for someone like him.
These days only about half of us even bother to cast a ballot, so few think anything will change.
Listening to Bernie can alter that perception.
Despair can become hope.
Fear can become pride.
And millions of formerly apathetic people can become voters.
But they're going to need help.
My dad is in town for the holidays, and a short while after he got here our talk turned to politics. His response to the inevitable million-dollar question was “Fuck ‘em they're all a bunch of liars.” Now, dad has felt that way for a long time, and after he admitted he'd never actually seen Bernie in action I convinced him to just listen for a while. So he did. Together we watched about a half hour of the last Democratic debate (that being the most the old cynic was willing to endure of the spectacle) and afterwards he only made one comment concerning Bernie: “not bad”. And believe me, that's a good result coming from him.
That same kind of blanket mistrust is shared by a great many Americans of all demographics and persuasions. Considering the roughly 100 million people who don't even vote I'd guess there are several million at least who employ that exact statement as defense of their choice. Fuck ‘em they're all a bunch of liars. Thing is, although it is cynical and hyperbolic that sentence still carries a sliver of truth. Far too many of our pols are in fact a bunch of liars.
But not Bernie Sanders. His is a critically endangered species of politician. He manages to combine glib and confident feistiness with supreme authenticity. He is an honest man, and a promise-keeper. Add to that his refusal to accept corporate money and overall rock-solid progressive bona fides, and his laser focus on substantive issues over mudslinging, and you have a Presidential candidate the likes of which this country hasn't seen in a very long time. You have a candidate who has and will continue to have young people and used-to-vote cranky old farts like my dad, and millions of other non-voters, coming out to vote for him the more word of him gets around.
Many see in Bernie the future of American politics, and a chance to finally catch up to our global peers. The democratic-socialism he advocates and vigorously defends is close to the norm in much of the first world, and strong majorities of Americans support democratic-socialist policies, so long as they aren't colored with the boogeyman adjective “socialist.” Public roads, public libraries, public schools, fire/police departments, emergency medical services, social security, and on and on, all of these could be termed democratic-socialist endeavors, but few Americans think much about the connection. As the Democratic nominee for President Bernie would illustrate that connection in clear, simple language, and use the boogeyword itself proudly and often. He'd continue to tell the truth about democratic-socialism in front of bigger and bigger audiences, and against Bernie Sanders I doubt the popular myth of the socialist boogeyman would survive for long.
Give Bernie a truly national stage and the nation will rally behind him. It's as simple as that.
Then Bernie and Democrats will win the Presidency and take back the Senate in 2016, win the House in 2018, and mark the start of a new era in American politics. President Bernie Sanders would fire people up like no American politician has ever done. He'd throw business-as-usual out the window, and the change would ripple through all levels of our nation's government; from local school boards to state senators to Governorships.
But he's not doing it alone. He needs help, yours and mine.
Do you know if you are registered to vote? Do you know where your polling place is? If not, click here for a handy resource for finding out.
Do you know which Democrats are running in your state or district this cycle? Do you know when those elections will be held? Do you know when your state’s presidential primary is held? Do you know what ID you will need in order to vote? If not, click here for another handy resource.
Want to help the Sanders campaign? Click here for their website.
Give Bernie a chance and he'll tell the truth, and we will believe him.
A better world is possible.
Another excellent resource, voteforBernie.org, from Burned in the comments