But I don't think electing a Democratic president will make that much of a difference. We aren't much better off after 6 1/2 years of Obama (though with a McClown or Romney we could have been very much worse off). In our society the presidency is about 90% symbolic and 10% real world effective (if that).
Any real change in our country has to come from the bottom and build its way up. If progressives want to make a real difference they'll need to stop expecting high visibility saviors to come along and change everything. Instead of expecting all the pretty words to transform society, we should embrace a little humility and work on society itself from the ground up. We need to be visible and vocal in local politics in every city and town (this is what the right does and why their minority ends up dominating the country).
I've been a Bernie fan for years. I agree with nearly everything he says. But, I don't for a moment think he'll be able to change the country. If he inspires people to run for town councils and school boards and zoning commissions, etc. he'll start making a difference. If all that comes from this is feel good rallies, not so much. Follow his example instead of just following him (or HRC or whoever).
Progressivism is full of good ideas, but none of them will ever be much more than that unless they have a foundation to work from. Obama won two elections, but the local school boards, state legislatures, etc. are still firmly in the grip of the rightwing. If we want to change things, we need to do it on the ground first and then worry about who's at the top of the food chain.
If Obama couldn't transform the country and change the national discourse (he didn't), neither will Bernie (nor any body else). Until progressives are willing to do grunt work instead of celebrating their intellectual superiority and basking in pretty words, the situation will remain the same.
I think we're asking ourselves the wrong questions. This isn't about what Bernie or Hilary (or anybody else) could do, it's about what we could do. Until we start looking at it from that perspective instead of waiting for a messiah, we'll end up on the margins as we have for decades.
Ideas and words are fine, but on a real world level it makes more of a difference to have a job in city hall issuing marriage licenses or building permits, or sitting on the school board when Xtians are slamming the curriculum with creationism, or in the prosecutors office when cops are investigated for murdering unarmed kids.
As long as the "other folks" are willing to do the dirty work that makes the country run and "our folks" are willing to sit around listening to speeches, they'll be setting the country's agenda and making it function in their own image. That is real activism --acting to make actual differences. Listening to speeches is mostly passive.
While we're enjoying ourselves having pie fights and laughing over the rampant stupidity of conservatives, they're the ones who are running our country (into the ground).
By all means, we should care about our candidates and support them. We should be inspired by them. But we also need to be pulling our own weight instead of waiting for them to do it for us. That should come first in our priorities, after that we can do what we can to help them. Then they'll have something to work with when they win.
