Down Here For Your Soul

It's something that looks like this vs that old tweet that was like "our political future is a snakepit of insane fascists on one side and a wall street party that’s culturally liberal & nothing more".

If you want any chance of stopping what's happening via the mechanisms of government, Sanders is your option. So think about who all in power is trying like hell to stop this, from the Dem establishment to the aggrieved punditry to the party itself to Howard Schultz and Bloomberg

Think about how those social justice terms got watered down and turned immediately against any threat to capitalism. Think about how for years they told you at every chance that this was all about white men threatened by progress. That it was a plot by Russia. That it was "bots".

One of the most powerful reminders of the past few years is that when you stop acting like an aspirational liberal market entity and start comparing notes about your jobs, your precariousness, your hopes and fears, you can often find you have a lot in common with eachother.

I've seen it over and over again, in person. Across demographics you've been told can never speak about anything in common. It's not an immediate fix-all but jesus, it's revelatory. And different. For the fucking United States? It's unheard of in this context.

A presidential campaign isn't going to do what we need to get done. But this thing it's given a large-scale space to happen in is the only thing that is going to make anything truly better. And we're long past running out of time. And this gives me hope. God, hope.

The Sanders campaign for all its limitations is giving a space for the largest resurgence of the American left in a half century. I truly never believed this possible. The only way things get better is if it keeps growing. It can't stop here. Everyone has to square up.

Finding eachother and recognizing what we've lost and what we share, and what capitalism has taken from us and continues to take is the first and largest step. I want my future kids to not have to deal with this. I want you, even the assholes, to thrive and be happy.

Ok that was a lot of sincere declarations. Sorry folks, I'm just so tired. And there's a vulnerability in hoping and doing something about it. I lost that for a while earlier in my life. But eventually you realize history isn't over, and that means embracing this scary feeling.

Embrace the idea that we can survive.

Last thing- when we talk about Sanders being a different kind of candidate despite whatever policy overlaps with other candidates, think about how many things sprouted up in the radius of his 2016 run that don't rely on him to lead. Things far away from electoral politics.

It gave so many things a boost and to be honest probably helped popularize socialism more than anything in the past half century. To the extent that a lot of people who supported Clinton are now some sort of anticapitalist. What other candidate helped do something that huge?

It was part of a larger thing that has been building. Didn't start with him, doesn't end with him. But he sure did pour some gasoline in it. And that hasn't happened in my lifetime. Things can surprise you. History isn't over.