<\/a>The Bernie Sanders campaign, which I\u2019ve critically supported, has now over-reached in a way that makes apparent what was wrong with it all along. And it has come to a moment of truth that will determine whether it will be a long-lasting force that changes our politics for the better or a momentary explosion of energy that leaves behind far less than it should\u2014or even damages our country.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been supporting Bernie Sanders for president, despite a lot of misgivings about his political and policy analysis, because on two overarching issues, I agree with him. First, he seeks to make economic inequality a far more important issue than it has been. And second, he\u2019s deeply dubious about military intervention abroad.<\/p>\n

On both issues, Sanders is in \u00a0the right place and Clinton is not quite there. Contrary to her critics among Sanders supporters, Clinton has long been concerned about economic inequality. But the Sanders campaign has shown that there is energy in the county to address it more boldly than Clinton had recognized. On the foreign policy issue I, like a lot of other Democrats, am distrustful of Clinton\u2019s interventionist inclinations.
\nWhile I\u2019ve supported Sanders, I\u2019ve done so critically. There are a number of ways in which his analysis of our politics and policy seems to me to be wrong. I\u2019m not going to talk about them again here. Instead I want to point to an underlying approach or attitude to politics in the Sanders campaign that I have only fully grasped in the last few days.<\/p>\n

This approach or attitude is the cause of the rude and obnoxious behavior we\u2019ve so often seen in his on-line supporters for a long time. And it was the source of the awful behavior by his supporters in Nevada.<\/p>\n

When I called out the Bernie Bots a few months ago, a friend of mine said that I shouldn\u2019t hold Sanders responsible for what his followers say and do. He pointed to how young an inexperienced many of his supporter are. But it is now clear to me that the problem begins at the top, with Sanders himself. Because along with his impassioned call for equality and criticism of a militaristic policy\u2014with which I agree\u2014Sanders brings a problematic approach to politics. And that approach has been part of his campaign from the beginning.<\/p>\n

Sanders seems to think that politics is mainly about having a pure will. He thinks that the fundamental, indeed the only, real political choice, is whether you stand with the people or the powerful corporations. And he thinks that if enough of us stand together we will not only have a right to power but will sweep aside all the barriers that stand in our way of attaining our goals.<\/p>\n

This is an attractive story for a number of reasons. First, it means that if we are with Sanders, then we are one of the saintly, upstanding people. We all want to see ourselves in that light so this is deeply attractive. Second, it simplifies our political task\u2014there is the right side and the wrong side and we just need people to join our side. Third, it simplifies political analysis. We don\u2019t need to concern ourselves with the details of political strategy or policy analysis. We don\u2019t have to worry about how to craft policies that appeal to the varied concerns of the American people or that can secure a majority in Congress. We just need to get all the good people to join us. Fourth, we don\u2019t have to worry about working through the rules and procedures that stand in our way\u2014whether they are rules for winning delegates or the procedures of Congress or even the political parties themselves. Since we stand for the good and the right any rules or procedures that block us are unfair and rigged and should be swept away. And if our movement grows to where it should, we will sweep them away.<\/p>\n

This set of assumptions is deeply appealing to those who are frustrated by our politics and especially to those who are new to it. It tells those who believe the story that they are not only enlightened, but that all they need to do to triumph is keep the faith and get others to see the light.<\/p>\n

Once you see what is at the core of Bernie\u2019s appeal, the disturbing features of his campaign become understandable. Bernie and his supporters \u00a0see this election not as a campaign on behalf of one group or set of ideas or even an ideology but as a fundamentally religious crusade between the force of light and forces of darkness. Why do the Bernie supporters attack Clinton so harshly? Because she leads the forces of darkness. Why do they jump on those of us who disagree with them about anything so fiercely, even if we support Sanders? Because even if we support Sanders we are helping the dark forces by criticizing him. Why are they so impatient with argument? Because the only thing that counts is whether we choose the right side. Why are they constantly complaining about the unfair media and the rigged system? Because anything that stands in the way of the forces of light is wrong and unfair. Why is it ok to lie in pursuit of victory\u2014to make up stories about what happened in Nevada and elsewhere or to keep saying that Sanders can win when he clearly cannot? Because truth is secondary to victory for the forces of light. And if you\u2019ve seen the movie or read the book that inspires these religious crusades you know we may have to wait until the end, but those who stand with the good and the true always win.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s finally dawned on me that the reason I\u2019m not comfortable with so much of the Sanders campaign is that Sanders is not leading a normal political campaign. He\u2019s leading a quasi-religious crusade. And for many reasons religious crusades and democracy don\u2019t go well together.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t go well together, first, because good is almost never wholly on one side. I agree with Sanders on some basic issues. But even his causes can be taken too far. I\u2019m dubious about military intervention, I\u2019m not ready to give up either humanitarian intervention or the fight against radical Islam.<\/p>\n

The don\u2019t go well together, second, because even if good is on one side, the people are not necessarily on that side. Progressive change in America is not fundamentally blocked by corporate power. It is blocked by division in public opinion. We shouldn’t and can\u2019t make progress just by steamrolling those who disagree with us. We have to convince them. And claiming that only our side knows the truth is not an effective way to do that.<\/p>\n

The don\u2019t go well together, third, because convincing people to agree with us, and overcoming the organized power of those who oppose us is not just a matter of will. And while a huge movement can make a great difference, mobilizing people for something other than a presidential campaign is immensely difficult. No president, not Barack Obama or Bernie Sanders can easily keep the level of intensity of a campaign going for long. So when Sanders and his supporters say that he\u2019s going to create a political revolution that dramatically changes our country, those of us who have been on the front lines of progressive politics for years shake our heads. We know how hard it is to mobilize people. We know that doing so\u00a0effectively takes sound strategy and resources. And we know that it takes working at least part of the time through a political party.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t go well together, fourth, because rules and procedures actually matter. They matter because Sanders hopes to transform the country over the opposition of many people and people are only reconciled to losing politically when they believe the rules and procedures are fair and have been followed. And they matter because rules and procedures protect our higher order interests\u2014in liberty and democracy itself\u2014from being trampled by movements no matter how pure. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t change our rules and procedures to make our country more democratic. But it does mean that we should follow them until we change them. And we should’t evaluate those rules and procedures–and change our evaluation of them from day to day–just on the basis of whether it helps our cause or not.<\/p>\n

And they don\u2019t go well together, finally, because crusades, when thwarted, almost always turn to violence. The vile rhetoric we see on Facebook and the violence we saw in Nevada wasn\u2019t an accident. It was primed by a campaign that has come to see itself as a crusade.<\/p>\n

The religious approach to politics that has characterized too much of the Sanders campaign is not intrinsic to his message and his appeal. Indeed, I think it very much weakens his appeal. The Bernie Bots have turned of many more people they have recruited.<\/p>\n

We can\u2014and should\u2014support progressive economic policies and a less militaristic foreign policy without carrying on a crusade. We can have \u00a0aggressive \u00a0goals and support bold policies without a crusade. We can appeal to young people and generate \u00a0political energy without the crusade.<\/p>\n

Sanders needs jettison the crusade. And he needs to do it now. Because a Sander campaign constituted as a crusade can\u2019t and won’t \u00a0support Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump or support all but a few Democratic members of Congress. And the long term consequence are even worse. The political education this campaign is giving his young and inexperienced followers is utterly misleading about how real change is created in America. And those who are part of his \u00a0crusade–which as a crusade is going to crash and burn–will ultimately be left cynical and dispirited.<\/p>\n

I don’t want those new people mobilized by Sanders to leave politics. And I don\u2019t want Sanders \u00a0to stop running. I don\u2019t want him to stop trying to influence the platform. I\u2019d like to see him turn his campaign into an organization that supports Clinton and progressive Democratic candidates in November and beyond. If he does all that, the Sanders campaign will have an enormously good effect by pushing our politics to the left and by helping keep President Clinton from drifting to the right.<\/p>\n

But we need a Sanders campaign that fights for our political goals without putting will above strategy, without constantly claiming that it\u2019s been cheated, without spinning wild conspiracy theories, without demonizing the opposition, and without being a sore loser. If the crusade continues, at best it will lose power as more and more people become disappointed and then disenchanted by it. At worst, it will help elect Donald Trump in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bernie Sanders campaign, which I\u2019ve critically supported, has now over-reached in a way that makes apparent what was wrong with it all along. And it has reached a moment of truth that will determine whether it will be a long-lasting force that changes our politics for the better or a momentary explosion of energy that leaves behind far less than it should\u2014or even damages our country. Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2016-presidential-race"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/imrs.php_.jpeg.webp?fit=900%2C599&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s35YuU-7293","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7293"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10642,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293\/revisions\/10642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcstier.com\/blog2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}