Probably no one has heard the name Bernie Sanders unless they're from Vermont ... or live close enough to Vermont to see numerous Bernie bumper stickers, or pay attention to National/ Congressional politics.
Anyway, I had the chance to meet Bernie about 6 years ago when a Constitutional/ political debate team that I was part of (We The People) won the state competition. One thing that Bernie said at that time that has stuck with me since was something to the effect of "Democrats and Republicans are all pretty much the same thing; their politics are chiefly rooted in money, and the only way they really differ is how they want to spend the money."
That really struck a chord in my otherwise "Democratic" self and combined with my idealism has caused me to look at the whole political picture. For example, in the 2004 election I did not vote Democrat or Republican - I did not agree with Bush's or Kerry's politics and I especially disagreed with their campaigns where they basically acted like 2-year-olds pointing the finger at eachother on the playground. Neither of them really discussed any sort of solution but just blame-named the opponent and that got old really quickly. At the time I was voting as a Vermont resident, by absentee ballot, and because of the good ol' electoral college I knew Vermont's electoral scale was tipped to vote Democratic. So I decided to research the "other" candidates - you know, the ones who are blamed for "stealing the vote away from [insert your political party here]"? Newsflash: believe it or not the President is actually decided by the tally of the "electoral college" votes. Now, each state has a certain number of electoral votes they can cast based on population. Whether the electoral college for a given state votes "Republican" or "Democrat" (et al) is based on the overall vote that is tallied when everyone goes to the polls. For example, Pennsylvania has 21 electoral votes based on the 2000 census of population 12,281,054. The majority of PA voters in 2004 voted Democrat, for Kerry. Therefore, all 21 electoral votes went to Kerry for a national tally that determined the winner of the race. If I was voting in a swing state - a state where the general population vote is very close and could go either Democrat or Republican - I would have voted Democrat in the hopes that the majority and therefore the electoral college vote would go to a Democrat. But since I knew that Vermont was not in danger of voting Republican, I decided to vote outside the "two-party" system.
But back to Bernie Sanders. I recently registered myself as a Pennsylvania citizen, since I'm done school and have decided to stay in Philadelphia just a little bit longer (until I get bored with it). So I did the whole "motor-voter" thing and got my PA license and registered to vote simultaneously, so I could vote in the upcoming elections as a Pennsylvanian. One of the things I forgot you had to do when registering to vote is select your political party - so you can be a statistical figure I suppose. So as I was standing at the little computer trying to decide whether I was Democrat, Republican, Constitutional, Green, Libertarian, Other or Nonaffiliated, that little thing Bernie said came back to me: that they're all ultimately the same.
My first thought was "Democrat" and then I thought, wait a minute, what do I really believe? I didn't even vote for a Democrat in the last election. Green is a nice color but I don't totally agree with all the politics of the Green Party ... the Constitutional Party just picks and chooses what parts of the Constitution they deem important and how they're going to interpret it but seldom look at the big picture which is just the same as anyone else at this point ... I'm definitely not a Republican by any means ... I did vote for the Libertarian candidate in 2004 but that's not to say I'm all for any Libertarian. So that leaves "Other" or "Nonaffiliated." Ultimately, I decided that "Other" meant there was some other party not on the list with which I affiliate myself but that "Nonaffiliated" meant free to choose. Free to choose whomever I want, independent of any specific party, not bound by a particular platform of beliefs. To me, it's not about A or B, black or white, beef or chicken ... the substance is always between the lines. I have never considered myself any one anything; why should I make that choice in terms of voter affiliation? Now, I may vote Democrat more often than not but if you were to ask me on the street who I am I would say to you "Karena." Not "Democrat", not "a girl", not "5 feet", not "a dreamer", not "an architect" ... I might say "your mom" depending on my mood, but ultimately I am ME.
Anyway, this morning Bernie was featured in an article published by Common Dreams titled "Vermont Poised to Elect America's First Socialist Senator." And frankly, I can't wait! I really do believe that one person can make a difference. I'm not saying that Bernie is going to change the entire Senate just by getting elected, but I am hopeful that his voice if and when it gets the chance to be heard is one that might be able to influence the mentality of his fellow Senators. Even if he gets one person to look at an issue in a different light, he has succeeded in however small a degree.
A clip from the article:
[Bernie] says his consistent electoral success reflects the widespread discontent with rising inequality, deepening poverty and dwindling access to affordable healthcare in the US. "People realise there is a lot to be learned from the democratic socialist models in northern Europe," Mr Sanders said. "The untold story here is the degree to which the middle class is shrinking and the gap between rich and poor is widening. It is a disgrace that the US has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any industrialised country on earth. Iraq is important, but it's not the only issue."
Links:
Electoral College info
Political Parties info on Wikipedia
Common Dreams article on Bernie Sanders
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