In retirement,
I have spent the last twelve years of my life researching causes and solutions
to our most pressing social and economic problems and advocating for the best
most evidence-based solutions I can find. In this election, Democrats agree that
a top priority is defeating our incumbent president.
However, I
believe this president is a symptom, not the cause of our most pressing
problems, and just defeating him in this election will not solve continuing
problems caused by the negative power and influence of big money. This
influence is not only on our elections but on every other priority of Democrats:
climate change and the environment, health care, education, and income
inequality. Big money influence has been increasing on all these issues and
eroding progress in all of them at least since Ronald Reagan and trickle-down
economics which only trickled down to top tiers of power.
So, while
defeating the incumbent is a top priority, it is not the top priority.
Equal in importance is to elect a candidate who will best turn the tide of
big-money influence and begin to make bold systemic changes needed in our most
important institutions. Regardless of Joe Biden’s surge in the polls and in
Super Tuesday elections, his record shows that he is not the candidate who
promises to make those changes. He promises at best piece-meal reforms on the
issues and a continuation of policies that have kept big-money power growing. He
told a room full of big-money donors, “No one's standard of living will change,
nothing would fundamentally change”(https://inthesetimes.com/article/22344/democratic-establishment-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-super-tuesday-2020)
when he is elected.
With every
election since Ronald Reagan, we have seen moderate Democrats lean increasingly
to the right on the issue of big-money influence on our systems. Even Obama. In
the great recession, bailouts to big corporations and banks and a continuation
of the Bush tax cuts for the richest mitigated the benefits of his Affordable
Care Act. And that important legislation ended up benefitting big insurance and
big pharma more than the middle classes and working poor—more than 90% of us. This movement to the right on the economy and
big money influence conflicts profoundly with the historic trend of Democrats
to move toward greater economic justice for all.
Bernie
Sanders is the only candidate in this race who has consistently resisted that
tide of big-money power and fought for social and economic justice in all of
our most important institutions. I understand he is not lovable in style as Biden
is. He is sometimes brash in his tone, and he points his finger a lot, but he
is the candidate I trust to do the important work of reining in big-money power
and influence. I trust him because of
his lifelong record of fighting for social and economic justice for all. In
addition, until Super Tuesday, he was consistently strongest in national polls
to defeat the incumbent president, and this election is still in flux. Democrats
can still get Bernie elected if we understand the important differences between
the two on addressing the causes of our most pressing problems with systemic
change instead of just putting band aids on the symptoms.
