If you're bummed about what's happening tonight with Bernie's results, here is a thread for you that I hope will make you less bummed.
Rarely do we have moments that are so clearly a moment where one generation dies and another emerges. Poles and power shift too.
Rarely do we have moments that are so clearly a moment where one generation dies and another emerges. Poles and power shift too.
The Democratic primary is this moment. And it makes a lot of sense that the campaign is two men who are both almost eighty, battling it out to slay a third man who is also almost eighty. This is the old order fighting itself. They will all die.
Bernie, the renegade, cannot change the party. He's tried his entire life. He has won minor reforms, but his time never lined up with where the establishment was. And as social movements collapsed, he was largely stuck relying on partisan and formal structures to make change.
This can't work, as the only real change possible is change that is forced by average people. Politicians are reactive, and when power is in the streets, progressive politicians are able to push for far more significant reforms.
If this race was solely about who could beat Trump, Bernie would not have been as resisted by the Democratic establishment as he has been. But it isn't about beating Trump for them, even if it is for a majority of Democratic voters. This is the old generation trying to hold on.
But they can't. Like Biden's mind, they lose a little every day. Biden will win, and what will follow will be a disaster (my money is on a Trump victory again, but these results also show the depths of hatred for a woman candidate, so we will see.)
Six years ago, I wrote a book about the generational divide that was going to shape modern politics. I argued that fortyish was the line where you could show people who experienced one order, and people who experienced another.
The age line dividing people between Bernie and Biden? 45.
(Hey, Canadian editors -- I know what I'm talking about. Hire me).
The results of this divide are already clear, and were very evident in the midterms.
(Hey, Canadian editors -- I know what I'm talking about. Hire me).
The results of this divide are already clear, and were very evident in the midterms.
So what happens when Biden wins? It will be up to the rising stars of the Left to decide. And they're involved in Bernie's campaign. They're creating community and ways of doing things. There will be debates about starting a new party, reform or revolution ... all impt to have.
I'm watching this all from outside so please, feel free to tell me I'm wrong. But as someone who is 80% non partisan and 20% uncomfortable but ok enough to be involved in Québec solidaire, I know that the real power is always in the streets ...
... and the next chapter is going to be great and explosive ... if average people can continue to organize outside of the Democratic party.
