Who??!! For President?

It takes a brave heart nowadays to proclaim that nothing is amiss in American politics.

The recent bankruptcy bill debacle and allegations of leftwing lobbyist conspiracies proved, as if anyone needed further proof, that big money has bought and sold the Hill and the White House. The Democrats flail around without direction and debate a move further towards Republican-lite, hoping to recapture the glory days of Clinton the arch-moderate. The Republicans have been hijacked by the authoritarian right, the religious right and the dirty tricks brigade who are now even using their underhand tactics on their own people. Moderate and even principled non-moderate Republicans are left wondering what happened to their party.

Meanwhile, voter participation in the USA is among the lowest in the Western world and lowest of all among the poorest 20% of the populace. Ask these people, as I have, why they don't vote and you will always get the same answer. "The politicians don't care about people like me. They are rich and only after more money and power. They don't listen and don't care. They are in the pockets of big business. My vote won't change a damn thing about the way they act." Many Americans feel disenfranchised by decades of political dynasties, rules that mean only the wealthy can afford to run for office and a perceived lack of involvement in government "by the people for the people."

Maybe it is time for a third party to break the cycle. Perhaps the Republican party will grow a backbone and expel the extremists. Perhaps a new set of candidates will step forward from smaller parties to take up the slack left by the Democrats wander into Republican territory. If this were to happen then in actuality America would be joining the Western mainstream whereas historically it has always been the most rightwing of all the democracies no matter whether Democrat or Republican sat in the Oval Office or led the Senate. I contend that this would be a good thing, not just for the US but for the world in general. So...who would be that coalitions' presidential candidate?

The ideal candidate would be someone with experience in politics at the highest levels, with a commitment to a progressive agenda which might be seen as left wing by American standards but would be regarded as mainstream by allies abroad. Someone with a commitment to speaking up for the poor, the disenfranchised, the ignored workers of America. In short, a socialist.

What? A socialist? Are you crazy? Pretty soon we would all be wearing sackcloth and funny hats with red stars on the front! Not at all, for it is an unfortunate truth that what most Americans think of as "socialists" is nothing of the sort. Their beliefs are coloured by the 50's witchunts of McCarthyism and they equate socialism with communism - which is just as big a mistake as equating conservatism with fascism. Modern socialists are social democrats who believe in a mixed economy and a society based on a free market but with safeguards against lack of ethics on behalf of big businesses who at the end of the day are concerned with profits not morals. This is mainstream politics in the rest of the world. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown of the UK, America's biggest ally in the war on terror, are democratic socialists. A fact conveniently forgotten when rightwinger websites urge their readers to write to Blair thanking him for his support. Major parties and even governments in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, India, South Africa and others are also socialists.

So who could become America's Tony Blair? Step forward, Bernie Sanders, Congressman for Vermont.

On January 3, 1991, when Bernie Sanders was sworn in as Vermont's at-large member in the House of Representatives, history was made. Sanders became the first Independent elected to Congress in 40 years. He has since been re-elected seven times, fighting of more than one rabid attack on this "self-professed socialist". He is the longest-serving Independent in the history of the House of Representatives and the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit as well as serving on other subcommittees for trade, human rights and national security. Although he currently caucuses with the Democrats, Sanders is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America - and through them is connected to the Socialist International that Blair et al are also members of.

How does he stand on the issues? Well, Sanders sets out a pretty mainstream democratic socialist agenda.

He supports same-sex marriage.

He is in favour of reducing spending on the militaries big new shiny toys and concentrating funding on actually providing things the troops need for the war on terrorism.

He is a highly vocal supporter of import of prescription drugs from Canada and has always stood for a universal healthcare system. Bernie believes that because the United States now spends twice as much per person as any other country on health care, we should be able to provide the best health care in the world to all of our people through a state-administered single-payer health care system. Read my "Healthcare - counting the costs and savings" post to find out how America is being scammed on healthcare.

Sanders believes that the federal tax system is unfair -- unduly taxing working and middle-class people and giving excessive tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy. He strongly opposed President Bush's tax proposal that gave $500 billion in tax breaks to the richest one percent of the population. That proposal made a bad and unfair system much worse and endangered the long-term financial well-being of Social Security and Medicare.

While Sanders wants to cut spending on the military and corporate subsidies, he wants to increase federal funding for education, affordable housing, childcare, workers' rights, social justice, veterans' needs, environmental protection and other initiatives that improve the lives of ordinary Americans.

He believes that Congress needs to significantly raise the minimum wage and move it toward a living wage. He has recently introduced a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $8.15 an hour over two years and index it to the rate of inflation.

He thinks that the doctrine of pre-emptive strike should be replaced by a US that works in the international community and supports reform and strethening of the UN so that it can get back to doing the job it was always meant to be doing.

There are others, all part of a progressive socialist agenda not at all disimiliar from that Blair and Gordon Brown have used to lift the UK from the doldrums.

So I say "Sanders for President in 2008" makes a whole lot of sense. Could it happen? Surely the people who might vote for him are a minority, a fringe. Let's leave the final word to Sanders himself:

I want you to disabuse yourselves of that notion. You represent mainstream America. We are the majority.

Go out on Main Street, stand at the corner, and ask people a simple question. Tell them you're doing an informal poll, and ask them if they want 40 percent of the tax breaks, hundreds of billions of dollars, to go to the top 1 percent, or whether those breaks should be spread around more fairly and be used for education or lowering the deficit. Then tell me who is "fringe." Ask them if we should maintain our disintegrating health care nonsystem or establish a universal health care system that guarantees health care for all. Then tell me who is "fringe." Ask them if we should continue to let polluters destroy our environment, or move to safe, sustainable energy. Then tell me who is "fringe".

Indeed.

Footnote - Every week the Unpaid Punditry Corps presents a challenge to it's members for some group blogging. This was my response to this weeks challenge, "Who would you like to see run for President as a 3rd Party candidate?"