A Platform Without Strategy is Nothing: The Case for Bernie

Election season is truly underway now that a state has held a meltdown-free primary. With another Bernie Sanders victory in New Hampshire behind us, mainstream media outlets that gave his campaign short shrift are finally acknowledging that he is the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. But as we gear up for another debate (and welcome Michael Bloomberg to the stage after an absurd DNC rule change), let me raise an olive branch to the rest of the field: each has at least some part of their policy platform I can get behind, as demonstrated in the New Hampshire debate. Mayor Pete mentioned doubling the rate of unionization in the workforce. Biden talked about funding his healthcare plan by putting the capital gains tax on par with income tax. Klobuchar said she wants to supplement the Affordable Care Act with a public option. No matter who you support in this race as of now, I think it’s fair to say that most Democrats can get behind these ideas in some form, even if we’d prefer different degrees or versions of them. Without being too self-congratulating, I think this points to a commendable general ethos in our party.

But as the primary process unfolds, the menu of proposals proffered by candidates needs to be measured against their strategies to enact them, and this is where the wheels fall off the car. Most candidates tend to skirt the question of strategy altogether, vaguely implying that their platform will pass because their ideas are just so good that they’ll make believers out of opponents. Bernie Sanders’ platform stands apart because it is the only one accompanied by a cogent theory of change, one that is actually manifest in how his campaign is run.

Sanders is rightly seen as the most far-left candidate in the race right now, advocating for universal programs (Medicare for all, tuition-free public colleges) without equivocation. What gets mentioned far less is that people are not only drawn to Bernie’s policy platform, but also the strategy he articulates for realizing it. He has consistently pushed for grassroots engagement as a part of his campaign and governing strategy, both in 2016 and in the current election, explaining he would use the Oval Office to be an “organizer-in-chief” on key issues. It’s a strategy I’ve detailed in a previous piece on Medicare for All: activated support combined with strong leadership stands the greatest chance of effecting change. Of course, measures like tax cuts and deregulation can take place without much public input (in those cases, one might even say that’s kind of the point), but for changes that unquestionably move us forward as a society — fair labor practices, universal suffrage, civil rights for all — there is no substitute for broad-based movement politics.

For all the talk of Sanders’ expectations being unrealistic, the truth is that no other candidate’s platform stands a better chance of passing with this Senate despite the more moderate stances. Running with even a centrist Democratic agenda and expecting to persuade Republican leadership, or to be met halfway, is nothing short of fantasy. For decades now, the GOP has run a recalcitrant governing and legislative strategy. They’ve held the government hostage with shutdowns multiple times since the 90s; they refused to consider a qualified and respected Supreme Court nominee (Merrick Garland) for almost a year, with a disingenuous rationale to gamble (successfully) on the following presidential election; they’ve ground Congress to a halt for years with record-breaking obstruction. Most significant, in my view: when unable to stop Obamacare’s implementation, they managed instead to make the accompanying Medicaid expansion a state-by-state choice. Numerous red states then refused the extra resources to their own people’s detriment. We’re talking preventable deaths with this last one. This is macabre, legislative sadism for political advantage. While Bernie Sanders has the most progressive agenda in this campaign cycle, doubts about its feasibility are overrated in light of how every Democratic agenda would face this same obstacle.

Under Trump, the GOP has only grown bolder and less willing to compromise (McConnell is currently sitting on nearly 400 House bills). For all their talk of reaching out and unifying the country to enact their platforms, I just don’t see it happening for Klobuchar, Biden, or Buttigieg. Who’s going to back up Biden’s capital gains tax hike? When industry pushes back on multiple fronts against Buttigieg’s unionization boost, what’s his angle going to be? How will Senator Klobuchar implement her public option when Republicans and the healthcare industry fight it? Do any of them have support that won’t just vote for them, but take time out of their lives to fight for them? Most importantly, how will any of these candidates work on behalf of the working class when their campaigns are dependent on big money from industry and high net-worth donors? Warren is the only candidate other than Sanders running a campaign on funds that don’t leave her beholden to these interests, but she has also stated that when it comes to the general election, she refuses to “unilaterally disarm” by foregoing their support. We’ve seen this movie before, and we should know how it ends: when Obama opened his campaign up to big money in the summer of 2008, voters largely failed to recognize that it meant his progressive platform was just a campaign strategy and not a governing one, making hopes that he would take on the financial industry seem childish in retrospect.

In contrast, Sanders’ mass mobilization strategy for his platform tracks with the structure of his campaign, so we know we can take it seriously. Sure, it’s ambitious and uncommon in our political climate, but all signs so far show that it’s working. Over a million people signed up to volunteer for Sanders 2020 within a week of his announcement, and he has repeatedly broken records both for funds raised and number of donors since. While volunteering in Concord, New Hampshire in the days leading up to the primary, I witnessed busloads and convoys of volunteers that flooded our office daily to take action on behalf of his campaign. Most significantly, he currently leads by double-digits in national polling. Sanders supporters are clearly ready to give time and resources for his candidacy at a level unparalleled by his opponents, and that pressure from the grassroots, combined with his leadership as president, is what the Democratic party needs to stand a chance with such entrenched opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate. It’s a marriage of platform and strategy that none of the other candidates can match.