The Road to Revolution is Not Paved by Running for President
The road to revolution is not paved by running for president. Never has been, never will be.
I have found it fascinating that a career politician from Vermont was able to stoke American anger into a narrative that cost us our democracy; and so many folks came back for more. So many of us are now sheltering-in-place fearing for our lives and loved ones wondering: Was it really about us and not you?
Bernie’s impact will be felt behind the scenes in policy and progressive candidate elections, where it always should’ve been. His consistently admirable platform and grassroots organizing should’ve been treated as a tool to be leveraged, since he occupies a state he’ll never lose.
How could this have paired with someone who can actually win?
Bernie’s ideas are revolutionary but if he was the one to take us to the promised land, why hadn’t he done it in his 30+ years of service already? His dedication to the people is not to be underestimated, disregarded or downplayed; but it did not start the movement to democratic socialism.
Bernie isn’t the savior to carry us all to redemption, although it would’ve been really nice if he were. It was awfully convenient for him and us when he came along — no more sleeping in tents to cause disruption, no more protests against the 1%, just a loud-mouthed fearless white man to carry us to safety.
Just like we like it.
The thing about plugging into the system to upend it, is that the system always wins. Bernie is not bigger than capitalism, and he’s also not bigger than the patriarchal confidence that convinces him (and us) he might be.
The rhetoric of “not me, us” is a nice idea, a great slogan; but the truth is if we’re ever going to live in a country where the system works for all, it needs to crash HARD first. “We” will only work together for survival, not because we want free college. And Bernie should know that better than anyone, having fought— mostly unsuccessfully — in that system for decades.
Occupy’s brilliance was by its decentralized design: a movement that creatively turned the system on its head, and planted seeds that are still growing. What do we do when everyone just moves into tents on public land? What do we do when those people reflect the societies at large, and not the traditionally marginalized groups?
As housing costs continue to soar and unhoused populations exponentially grow; we are beginning to see folks occupy empty homes, propose rent strikes and who knows what’s next. Turns out revolutions aren’t won in the span of a decade, or with one message to carry the whole.
For the last nine years the system ignored camps expanding into communities, including hard data from the UN that some of these areas are a more dangerous public health risk than the slums of third world countries. There is not a city or state in our Great nation that cares to house its people with dignity and sustainable solutions, and now we have a plague killing thousands in our most vulnerable, largely black and brown places.
And isn’t it interesting that this is the moment, the exact place in time that Mr. Not-Me-Us chooses to throw in the towel. This is when he decides to endorse Mr. System-Himself.
What could’ve been possible had Bernie realized what was best for the country and developed a progressive coalition one-minute after 2016 and began plotting? What if he combined his momentum in grassroots organizing with experts within the system who could build an inclusive and cohesive platform? One that painted a more general and digestible picture of hope, but still included the radical policies necessary to save us?
Would we have had some of our best minds on the stage duking it out for months wasting precious time right before the world crashes down?
Or, more curiously, would we have our most brilliant possible candidate who was likely turned off by the shit-show primary and chose to stay out of it?
If there were ever a time for the loud-mouthed fearless white man to save us it would be now, but now is precisely when he chose to end his bid. He is not, and never was, a Revolutionary Leader.
Because running for president is not what Revolutionary Leaders do.
And for that, we are now left with Mr. Worse-Than-Hitler & Mr. System-Himself with no hope of any progressive policy what so ever.
Revolutionary Leaders get in the streets, put their life at risk, rally the people and lead by example. They paint a picture of victory for the people so tangible they want to put their lives on the line too. They pressure the system from outside, but never enter it.
Bernie was never and will never be this.
Bernie will likely take his efforts back behind the scenes where they belong and continue organizing. And while I support every single one of his policies and hope he finds great success in pressuring the left to go lefter — I will not forgive his lack of foresight into the stakes of our safety by selling us a false Revolution during these crucial years.
We are not better off because he ran this time around, no matter how you slice it. We could be going into 2020 with a strong progressive candidate and now we’re all just hoping for harm reduction which is considerably worse than where we were before 2016.
