During Bernie Sanders’ live stream address on Thursday, he did what no other candidate has done: he urged people to get involved at all levels to help “transform” the country from the ground up. Sanders did not endorse Hillary Clinton, and instead vowed to take his political revolution to the Philadelphia Convention in July.
He is no longer lobbying superdelegates, as per campaign manager Jeff Weaver’s interview with Bloomberg Politics . Instead, he will focus on influencing the Democratic Party’s campaign platform to make it more progressive.
First, Sanders emphasized that a political and social revolution doesn’t stop on election day. It continues with the hard work of people committed to positive change.
“Election days come and go, but political and social revolutions that attempt to transform our society never end. They continue every day, every week, and every month in the fight to create a nation and world of social and economic justice.”
He took a swipe at Clinton and the DNC when he noted that change does not come from the wealthy or from the party elites. It comes from the bottom and works its way up.
“Real change never takes place from the top on down, or in the living rooms of the wealthy campaign contributors. It always occurs from the bottom on up when tens of millions of people say loudly and clearly, enough is enough, and they become engaged in the fight for justice.”
Bernie Sanders won more than 12 million votes, 22 primaries and caucuses, and came within two points or less in five states. He received more than $200 million in donations from more than 2 million individual contributors. More than 1.5 million people went to his political rallies. Sanders reiterated that his campaign was not a fringe candidacy. On the contrary, with about 45 percent of the total vote, Bernie Sanders’ political revolution has proven to be more mainstream than pipe dreams.
His call for a revolution was so well received by voters hungry for change that Bernie is now urging his supporters to continue it and run for offices at all levels of the political spectrum. Even running for school board is an important step to ensuring the revolution remains alive, and getting involved in the political process, he says, is one way Americans can take back their country from the clutches of corporate oligarchs.
Sanders called out the Democratic Party for not having the backbone to challenge Republicans in states where the GOP has created a fortress of power.
“Democratic Party leadership has turned its back on dozens of states and has allowed right-wing politicians to win elections in some states with virtually no opposition, including some of the poorest states in our country.”
It is a scathing condemnation of the Democratic Party, and one which Sanders hopes motivates his supporters to take back their country, one city and state election at a time.
Sanders urged the Democratic Party to develop organizations and recruit candidates to help them compete against the GOP in all 50 states. He also alluded to the controversial leadership of DNC chairperson Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
“We must provide resources to those states which have so long been ignored. Most importantly, the Democratic party needs leadership which is prepared to open its doors and welcome into its ranks working people and young people.”
He also noted that since 2009, more than 900 legislative seats have been lost and the GOP now controls 31 state legislatures. Therefore, getting people engaged in a political revolution is of utmost importance to make government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Aside from his criticism of the DNC, Sanders also vowed to do his part to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. Some speculate that this means he’ll keep his revolution alive by running as an independent, but no one knows what his plans are just yet.
[Photo by Jae Hong/APImages]