Can Bernie Sanders become President and change America? -The Asian Age

The United States of America is passing through a critical juncture in its history. It is at the same time on the verge of a dangerous slope leading to a collapse, taking a large part of the world with it, under the leadership of Donald Trump, and at the gate of seeing a new dawn of progress on its horizon under the leadership of Bernie Sanders, a candidate for President in 2020.

Whereas Donald Trump is considered the most dangerous president in the history of America, Sanders has proved himself the most progressive, consistent in policy ideas and pro-people and so will be regarded as such if elected president of the country.

So the 2020 election is extremely important in American history. It is faced with two paths, one going up and another down, and which it will take will be determined in this election.

For this reason this election is so serious and important. Yet, this interpretation is hardly found in the mainstream media of America, Europe and elsewhere. It is because no one wants to face the fact. Seeing the facts show the way forward which, in reality, they fear most. By ignoring the facts they opt for standing or sitting still at the very point they are now under the incumbent president Trump.

Either of the two paths of up and down is feared by the establishment of the US and Europe. In fact, the upward path is the most scaring for them. They are fond of the status quo of the Obama era, which paved the way for the rise of Donald Trump and the Trumpish politics around the world in spite of their hard resistance.

Even the very popular Barrack Obama failed to prevent this with all his serious and committed efforts through his participation in the campaign for Hillary Clinton. Hillary whom Obama declared more competent than himself and her husband President Clinton lost to a political novice like Trump.

The reason of Hillary's defeat and Trump's victory is in history's denial of staying still at the same point for too long and its will to go ahead, no matter up or down whatever. It put Trump at the steering wheel when the establishment politics of America denied Bernie Sanders the democratic nomination for President.

The establishment is in the same complexity of choosing between the bad and the worse. They do not want Donald Trump, certainly. The American liberals want someone like Joe Biden but not anyone as radical as Bernie Sanders. So the mainstream media maintain a visible silence over the strength and popularity of Sanders.

Trump occupies the foremost place in the mediawith his negative charisma and then Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harrisfollow him. Sanders is usually put behind them. The news about him is that he is old and recently suffered from some heart complications although his campaign is more vigorous than before and grassroots support for him has been increasing.

Bernie Sanders is already the presidential candidate who has influenced the American politics more profoundly than any other candidates in the US history. Even if he is not elected president he will be remembered for his positive impact in societies of the US, Europe and other places in the world.

Matthew Rozsa wrote in the Salon (Quit saying that Bernie Sanders can't win - he may be the most electable Democrat running in 2020, November 24, 2019), "If he never becomes president, history will almost certainly remember Bernie Sanders as an influential figure in American political history.

He has fired up a generation of progressives and fundamentally altered the internal dynamics of the Democratic Party to the left. He has inspired an entire generation of young progressives and radicals, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez only the tip of the iceberg. Thanks to him, formerly fringe policy proposals like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal are core issues in political debate."

The mainstream media are questioning the electability of Bernie Sanders for his radical views. This dominant view is not supported by the grassroots reality. Mario Koran wrote an article (The Guardian, 17 November), "Bernie Sanders' message increasingly resonates with Latino voters", whose title says all.

And Latino votes are important and becoming crucial for winning in the US presidential election. Yet the electability question has become so prominent in Bernie's case to the experts and the media we know for what. Another unimportant question is about his age: too old to be president.

Benjamin Y. Fong has punched holes in such a silly idea. In the article 'Bernie's Old. So What?' in the Jacobin magazine (19 October 2019) he has written, "What to do about this purported 'age' problem? It is rather uniquely applied to Bernie Sanders in the mainstream media - the other front-runners in the race aren't exactly spring chickens (Joe Biden is seventy-six; Elizabeth Warren, seventy).

Biden has looked particularly decrepit, seemingly having lost the important presidential abilities to deploy basic English grammar and to not have your eyes spontaneously bleed. But concern about his health has been mainly limited to right-wing outlets. Meanwhile, Bernie gets a stent, and the New York Times begins drooling."

Electing Bernie Sanders president will be a most important event in the history of the USA. Failing to elect him President will certainly be a sad thing, but never a tragedy because Bernie has become a name of the movement for the Green New Deal, medicare for all, workers' rights, a level playing field for all and a new direction in world politics. This movement is unstoppable and so Bernie's slogan is, "Not me. Us." It can be said in Mr. Fong's words, "Better to be old and right than young and a shithead."

Compared to Bernie Sanders many others who are running for President in 2020 USA are nothing but 'shitheads'. In politics, however, 'shitheads' are often 'electable', Donald Trump being the most shining proof of it.    


The writer is executive editor of SHIKKHALOK, a CDIP
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