Corporate Democrats are fond of saying "I'm a progressive who gets things done." Those familiar with candidates' records, however, will note that the presidential candidate this phrase actually applies to is @BernieSanders. nytimes.com/2019/11/27/us/…
@BernieSanders Pleasantly surprising to see an accurate description of Bernie's effectiveness - & of why his theory of change is more coherent than anyone else's - in the @nytimes.
"I support policy X but don't think many legislators do, so I will therefore advocate against X & for worse policy Y" is something you hear all the time in DC policy circles. It's totally nonsensical, as Bernie's record shows. If you support X & want X, you advocate for X.
When Bernie was first elected mayor, 11 of the 13 members of the Board of Alderman were arrayed against him. They could override vetos & tried to block him at every turn. So what did Bernie do? He made his demands, pushed for them, used the bully pulpit, & even sued the aldermen.
Bernie lost a lot of battles in that first term. But then he came back and helped progressives campaign to unseat the legislators who tried to block him. He toppled several of them, solidifying a "solid bloc of allies and a veto pen with real leverage."
After his first term, Bernie easily won reelection & then, having made other aldermen fear losing if they opposed him, started to get through a social justice agenda. He didn't get everything he wanted, but he pushed hard & secured victories others wouldn't have thought possible.
If Bernie had started out by saying, "11 of the 13 aldermen suck; I'll never pass needed tax increases or be able to get a community land trust started," he never would have achieved these things. He got them by building the movement necessary to overcome the obstacles he faced.
This is the promise of a @BernieSanders presidency: policies like Medicare for All will be possible because he will pull out every stop he can to get them, & then he will work to topple legislators who stand in the way.
Anyone can get *something* done. But we want *good* things done. To get good things done, you need to advocate for them. This isn't rocket science, but there is only one presidential candidate who has consistently shown he will do it. That person's name is @BernieSanders.
It is important to acknowledge the obstacles we face to getting good things done. There are strong forces arrayed against us. But acknowledging those forces and capitulating to them are different things. Those who capitulate are either confused or lying about what they support.
Anyway, the next time someone tells you they support something in theory but don't in practice because of opposition (again, if you work in DC's Democratic policy world you will hear this all the time), kindly help them understand that their position is incoherent.
