Shaun King has been one of the strongest voices supporting Black Lives Matter. Today, he announced that at the end of this year’s elections, we should leave the Democratic Party. Speaking as a Bernie supporter, here is why I feel the exact opposite. I agree with all his criticisms of Debbie Wasserman Schultz. I agree that as things stand now, the process and system is rigged.
I started off this process as an independent. But as I went through the process, I became more and more convinced that the problem with the party is that we have lost sight of the basics — the principles of the New Deal, the Good Neighbor Policy, the Economic Bill of Rights, and the Civil Rights Era. Black Lives Matter is a continuation of that era and King correctly realizes that despite having elected a Black president, we still have a long ways to go. And neither candidate has lived up to these principles completely.
The principles that made our country and our party great are still valid. The problem is that we have lost sight of them too often. Our first priority is to fight and end corruption in government no matter where it is. Furthermore, we must fight for the most open government we’ve ever had. A lot of our Republican friends will go along with our ideas as long as they know where the money is being spent. We cannot break the current state of gridlock in Washington without openness. That is why I think Hillary should release her transcripts and why I think Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders should release their tax returns.
Second, we should pass a Constitutional Amendment stating that the First Amendment should not be construed to mean that money is free speech. Ending Citizens United will drive big money out of politics and end the power of the likes of Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Big money is not all-powerful — Bernie outspent Hillary and is still all but lost. But it has caused the Democratic Party to water down its principles in an effort to get money from big donors. This is an idea which has the support of nearly all of the country.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a disaster as party chair. But think of it this way — she is a product of a broken system in which the only opinions that matter are the 1%. This is a system that was brought to you by John Roberts; his only concern in making rulings is how they will affect the bottom line. She’s playing by the rules of the system we have. Our goal is to break that system.
Shaun King and his defenders advocate the creation of a third party — we tried that, and what we found was that it only served to hand the White House to Bush in 2000. There were many other factors; don’t get me wrong. But creating a third party will not address the issue of big money being spent on our elections. Even if it does get off the ground, it will only be co-opted by the 1% given the present rules we have today.
While he may not win, Bernie Sanders successfully created a model in which a campaign based on small donors can compete successfully with big-donor based campaigns that Hillary and the Republicans are running. The challenge is to replicate that at the state and local levels.
Don’t join the party because Hillary is a perfect candidate; she is not. Join because the principles that made this country great following the Great Depression — the New Deal, the Good Neighbor Policy, the Economic Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, the New Frontier, Equal Rights — are still valid today. Join because you are sick and tired of the screaming, crying, and drama that consists of too many GOP politicians and because you want to leave a better world for your children and grandchildren.