{"id":807065,"date":"2022-09-21T19:55:28","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T19:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=44405cb3e9f279439a22ba804777fbd4"},"modified":"2022-09-21T19:55:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T19:55:28","slug":"sanders-to-democrats-if-you-support-progressive-policies-you-win-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/09\/21\/sanders-to-democrats-if-you-support-progressive-policies-you-win-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanders to Democrats: If You Support Progressive Policies, \u201cYou Win Elections\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) explained to Democrats that, if they want to win elections this fall and beyond, they must support and implement popular progressive policies like student debt cancellation and resist pressure from deep-pocketed donors to give sweeping tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy.<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>an interview<\/span><\/a> with <\/span>MSNBC<\/span><\/i>\u2019s Chris Hayes, Sanders said that Democratic candidates and lawmakers must position themselves firmly behind the working class and fight against corporate greed, rather than work to feed it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf Democrats are going to do well in 2022, in my view, they\u2019ve got to stand up very firmly for working families,\u201d the Vermont progressive said. \u201cNow is the time, if you want to win an election, to say … \u2018I\u2019m prepared to take on greedy, powerful corporate interests who are enjoying record breaking profits while you Americans can\u2019t afford health care, can\u2019t afford to send your kids to college and are working for starvation wages.\u2019 That, to my mind, is how you go forward and win.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Backing policies like student debt relief is one such way that Democrats can be on the side of working families, he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have the radical idea that good policy is good politics. And it is good policy to cancel student debt in this country,\u201d he said, noting that he would have gone further <\/span>than President Joe Biden<\/span><\/a> did in his debt cancellation plan. \u201cIf you do what the people want, and not what the corporate world wants, billionaire campaign contributors want, you win elections.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the flip side, <\/span>Republican efforts<\/span><\/a> to stop student debt relief from ever reaching borrowers will \u201churt them politically,\u201d Sanders said, noting that polls have found <\/span>that canceling student debt<\/span><\/a> is widely popular. <\/span><\/p>\n

Progressives have long maintained that supporting popular movements <\/span>like Medicare for All<\/span><\/a> or more recently <\/span>the growing labor movement<\/span><\/a> is a strong way to gain political power and support from voters. This theory stands in <\/span>sharp contrast<\/span><\/a> to the way that modern mainstream political candidates from both major parties run their campaigns, soliciting donations from corporations and rich donors \u2014 and perhaps promising benefits to them in return \u2014 in order to outspend their opponents and win.<\/span><\/p>\n

While money <\/span>remains a powerful force<\/span><\/a> in politics, <\/span>recent wins<\/span><\/a> from progressives running against corporate-backed opponents suggest that progressives may be right in their assessment of the electoral landscape. Though big donors <\/span>still successfully defeat<\/span><\/a> progressive candidates <\/span>who vow<\/span><\/a> not to take corporate funds, primary wins from progressive candidates like Pennsylvania\u2019s Rep. Summer Lee or <\/span>Oregon\u2019s Jamie McLeod-Skinner<\/span><\/a> this year are bucking the trend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Democrats are in need of a boost if they want to maintain control of Congress this fall. Recent <\/span>polls<\/span><\/a> have<\/span><\/a> found<\/span><\/a> that, while Democrats may be <\/span>experiencing a surge<\/span><\/a> in support due to moves like the student debt cancellation plan, they will need further support in order to keep their majorities in the Senate and the House.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanders also emphasized in his interview that recent successes from the labor movement could be a major vehicle for political change \u2014 and an opportunity for Democrats to demonstrate which side they\u2019re on. <\/span><\/p>\n

Recent news with the <\/span>potential railroad strike<\/span><\/a>, for instance, has exposed \u201cthe most ugly type of corporate greed imaginable\u201d from railroad owners, he said. Because of strict attendance policies, workers are often not even able <\/span>to take time off<\/span><\/a> if they or their spouses are ill \u2014 and <\/span>workers and rail unions say<\/span><\/a> railroad owners are so adamant in their refusal to acquiesce to workers\u2019 time off demands that <\/span>they\u2019re willing to risk<\/span><\/a> tanking the U.S. economy and push their workers to strike.<\/span><\/p>\n

Workers\u2019 willingness to stand up to rail owners and other labor activists\u2019 struggles are a powerful rebuke of growing corporate greed, Sanders said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are standing up, fighting back,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat you are seeing right now are workers saying \u2018enough is enough. You guys on top \u2014 you can\u2019t have it all.\u2019 We need an economy that works for all of us. Unions are one vehicle that help people get decent wages and working conditions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Latest - Truthout<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf Democrats are going to do well in 2022, in my view, they\u2019ve got to stand up very firmly for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1459,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37957,3387,133,11259,4,6201,1667],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807065"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807066,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807065\/revisions\/807066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}