The Other Political Disruptor – Bernie Sanders (#101)

On October 15, 2015, we wrote a commentary titled “The Potential Political Disruptors, Trudeau and Sanders”.  

On October 19, 2015, Trudeau not only disrupted the Canadian political landscape, by coming from far behind and resoundingly winning the Canadian election to become the new Prime Minister, but it would be fair to say that Trudeau turned Canadian politics on its head. In Iowa, last night Bernie Sanders accomplished something similar in American politics by tying with Hillary Clinton.  

Even though last night was the first of many contests in the rest of the States, for the Democratic and Republican Parties to pick their candidate for the coming Presidential election, in November of this year, yet the mere fact that Bernie Sanders tied Hillary Clinton in Iowa as the potential lead candidate for the Democratic Party, is a major political tremor.

Bernie Sanders would not have been considered real competition for the supposed ‘shoo-in’ Hillary, a year or even a few months ago. The fact that he practically tied the one candidate that was up till now, considered pretty much unbeatable by any Democrat, or Republican for that matter, openly espousing what is considered for all intents and purposes ‘socialism’ in America - talk about political and ideological disruption.  

Bernie Sanders has unashamedly stood for the ‘common man’ throughout his long service in the Senate, as the longest standing independent Senator from Vermont. His genuine passion for the common people, and his anti- establishment message (political, economic, and media - according to him) is resonating with a lot of Americans, who feel cheated and left behind by a self-serving political and economic elite. We had tried to capture some of his message in our October 15, 2015 post:  

   “…Individually, Bernie Sanders is all that Justin Trudeau isn’t. He is not young (74-year-old); he is no neophyte, being one of the most experienced, longest serving independent in U.S. congressional history; he is not from a privileged political and social background, being from a non-political working class family of modest standing; and although well respected for his steadfast political principals and beliefs, and his consistent championing of causes of the “common man”, yet he was no “rock star” in his long political career. That is until lately…

In the past months, Bernie Sanders has ‘rocked’ the American political establishment, come from a long ways behind the leading candidate for Democratic Party nomination and till now an expected “given” winner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to become a ‘contender’ and a threat to her nomination.  

Over the past weeks, his political rallies have drawn the largest crowds and his campaign for the nomination as the Democratic Party candidate has gathered the greatest momentum. He was not considered a serious candidate to be the potential nominee of the Democratic Party by anyone, but now he is setting the agenda in the race, and has become the contender to beat.  

Bernie Sanders is still considered unlikely to beat Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, but he has momentum, and more importantly seems to have caught the attention and tapped into the frustration of the American people as they have felt excluded from the easy money gravy train unleashed by the Federal Reserve, controlled by big money, for the past 7 years, in response to the 2008 crisis, that has favored almost exclusively the top 10%, making them extraordinarily wealthy, and left the average American struggling to just maintain ground and failing.

Bernie Sanders has also brought to the fore, in this nomination race and 2016 election, the insidious influence of big money on the political process of America. The influence of the “Billionaire and Millionaire Class” (as he puts it) to a large extent dictates the formation and implementation of political policy and regulatory framework that can be enacted today. He rails against the blatant and massive subsidies that are given to large corporations and the wealthy, which they expect as their God-given right, in terms of “Hundreds of Billions” in “Cash Bailouts” and massive “Tax Breaks”, and the howls of outrage from the same group and the Republican right, regarding any spending, or proposed increase in spending on social programs and increase in wages to assist the poor and the average working class (termed his ‘Socialist’ agenda).

Bernie Sanders has spoken bluntly and forcefully about the skewed political and economic landscape in America, in favour of the privileged few to the detriment of the majority, and it has caught the attention of a lot of the majority. In fact, enough Americans are paying attention to him now that he is defining and framing the national issues that are already forcing the leading Democrat and the Republican candidates to adjust their own election themes to his. His impassioned battle cries for the scorned underprivileged, and regressing middle class Americans, is resonating with the public, and is going to force his competitors to fight the coming national election on issues that he has galvanized the public on…”

Why do we think Bernie Sanders merits mention as a potential political disruptor, over and above the other candidates, Democrats or Republicans? 

We think that more than any other candidate, if elected as the next U.S. President, Bernie Sanders has the conviction, value system and most importantly, the long experience in the U.S. government system to make his proposed changes in governance a potential reality.  More so than the others – even Donald Trump.