Opinion on Bernie Sanders after New York

After Bernie Sanders' defeat in the New York Democratic primary, I think it is necessary for the Sanders campaign to continue even though the pundits see it as a waste of time.

Peter Boyle interviews Australians supporting Bernie Sanders:

Dührsen was was a bit down about Clinton's unfair victory in the NY state primaries on the day we met up but he was determined to keep campaigning hard, especially to mobilise people who wouldn't otherwise even vote in the US presidential campaign.

If Sanders' campaign is defeated by the powerful establishment in the US, Dührsen is certain that this will not be the end of it: "Walls have been broken. Firstly, substantial numbers of Americans have voted for a man who is an open socialist. Second, the campaign has been able to self-fund through crowdfunding by ordinary people. At the very least he will be an inspiration to people all around the world because he has shown that this can be done."

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James Schneider describes How Bernie Sanders can harness the kind of momentum transforming British politics.

Whatever happens, build on the thing that reduces the structural power gap between you and the real enemy, which isn’t the Clintonite, plutocratic wing of the Democrats. For Sanders, that’s the ability to have half-a-million people who are doing some kind of activism weekly, a highly decentralized ability to raise money, etc. Whether he wins the nomination or not, the campaign needs to clearly articulate the political strategy of this movement. And then, of course, figure out how people in the movement can then engage with the strategy and try to change it.

Another thing is that you’ve got to decide what the relationship is to the Democratic Party, in a variety of ways. If you’ve got half a million people you are the biggest movement of people being active. But how do you engage with all the other movements that are transforming the country? How does the Sanders movement relate to Black Lives Matter? Who does it relate to in the Fight for $15?

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Juan Cole reposts Bernie Sanders’ Path Forward: The Disappointed Generation.

With all of these factors in mind, there is still a path for Bernie Sanders to win the nomination, but beyond that, the candidate is helping to shift the political spectrum in the United States. The Sanders campaign is still confident that moving forward they will be able to obtain the nomination. In a press release statement, Senator Sanders congratulated Hillary Clinton on her victories, but highlighted that he intends to continue all the way to the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. “With more than half the delegates yet to be chosen and a calendar that favors us in the weeks and months to come, we remain confident that our campaign is on a path to win the nomination,” Sanders said.

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Ali R. Abootalebi asks What is Political Revolution and Can Bernie Sanders Deliver?.

The structural changes needed in the American body politics demand reconnecting the governed and the governors after years of political underperformance. This task calls for the creation of an alternative SDP to address the needs of the American electorate on the political left–and possibly the creation of a conservative party on the political right as well. Bernie Sanders’ political revolution requires not only popular input in electing a progressive candidate like him, it demands continuous popular engagement in politics through disciplined and well-organized party politics participation. Progressive candidates in the Congress can help the cause of progressive politics in the executive office, further mobilizing popular opinion to demand structural changes in the body politics and the better distribution of national resources though more effective governance. In that case, the American courts also will be more responsive in considering the popular will in their overall balancing calculation of legal and political rights. The inaction alternative will only see the continuing political decay. Then, no amount of political rhetoric and false promises through short term economic ‘bandaging’ and irresponsible fiscal borrowing will resolve the country’s deep-rooted political problems, nor will it rescue it from its international decline.

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What is most likely to happen is that Clinton wins the Democratic nomination and loses the presidental election to Trump. This will cause a split in the left between the Democratic Party and the rest. In that case, the best way forward would be the creation of broad Socialist Party (something along the lines of the Socialist Alliance in Australia) and an United Front with the various other movements.

The party is needed for theoretical and practical education and maturation of cadre from the various movements. Enthusiasm without knowledge of how the system works quickly leads to depression and despair.

Unfortunately, a Trump presidency would be the best hope of continuing and growing the widening political activism of the past year or so. The election of Obama was a set-back for progressive politics as it lulled people into apathy, and Clinton promises more of the same.

Let us not forget that Sanders' campaign is just one of many other campaigns in other countries. As noted above, we have much to learn from each other's experiences.