Bernie Sanders on Political and Economic Reality UPDATED!

 Dear Jack,

Let me thank you all for the financial and political support that you have given me over the last many months. With your help, we’ve been able to hold well-attended rallies and town meetings for Kamala and Democratic candidates all across the country - New Hampshire, Maine, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. We have also, of course, held numerous events in my own state of Vermont where I’m running for reelection to the Senate.

Will we be successful in defeating Trump – the most dangerous candidate in modern American history? Well, we’ll find out soon enough. But, this I do know. No matter what the outcome of this election the Democratic Party needs fundamental and immediate reform. It can no longer continue to ignore the major economic and political crises facing the working families of our country.

YES. We must address the reality that the United States is rapidly moving to an oligarchic form of society. Never before in our history have so few had so much wealth and power.

YES. We must address the reality that we have an economy in which the wealthiest people have never had it so good, while 60 percent of our people live paycheck to paycheck. Millions work for starvation wages while the minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour.

YES. We must address the reality that our political system is totally corrupt. It’s not just Trump who is undermining our democracy. As a result of the disgraceful Citizens United Supreme Court decision a handful of the very richest people in America are spending billions to buy the presidential and state elections.

YES. We must address the reality that our health care system is totally broken and that we remain the only wealthy nation on earth not to guarantee health care to all as a human right. Despite spending twice as much per capita on health care as any other country, 85 million are uninsured or under-insured and our life expectancy is significantly lower than most other countries.

YES. We must address the reality that not only is climate change real, it is an existential threat to our country and the world. This is a crisis that cannot be solved unilaterally. If we do not achieve an unprecedented level of international cooperation the planet we will be leaving our children and future generations will be increasingly unhealthy and uninhabitable.

YES. We must address the reality that while we now spend a trillion dollars a year on the military, our foreign policy for decades has been counterproductive to peace, democracy and economic development. No. We cannot continue to fund the right-wing extremist Netanyahu government which is starving children in Gaza.

In the remaining few hours of this campaign let us do everything we can to bring out the vote and elect Kamala Harris as our next president. Please. Get your friends, family and co-workers to the polls. In this extremely close election every vote really does count.

And then, on the day after Kamala wins, let us accelerate our efforts to bring working families together to create an economy and government that works for all, not just the few. There’s a lot of work to be done. Let’s do it.

Thanks for your continuing support and all that you do.

In solidarity,

UPDATE 11/7

Dear Jack,

It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.

Today, while the very rich are doing phenomenally well, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and we have more income and wealth inequality than ever before. Unbelievably, real, inflation-accounted-for weekly wages for the average American worker are actually lower now than they were 50 years ago.

Today, despite an explosion in technology and worker productivity, many young people will have a worse standard of living than their parents. And many of them worry that Artificial Intelligence and robotics will make a bad situation even worse.

Today, despite spending far more per capita than other countries, we remain the only wealthy nation not to guarantee health care to all as a human right and we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. We, alone among major countries, cannot even guarantee paid family and medical leave.

Today, despite strong opposition from a majority of Americans, we continue to spend billions funding the extremist Netanyahu government’s all out war against the Palestinian people which has led to the horrific humanitarian disaster of mass malnutrition and the starvation of thousands of children.

Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not.

In the coming weeks and months those of us concerned about grassroots democracy and economic justice need to have some very serious political discussions.

Stay tuned.