What I Learned At A Bernie Sanders Rally

The hype and horror of the candidates has distracted us from the real issues. But if the people do not participate in the election process, the election process will be taken from the people.

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When my 17-year-old daughter sent a text saying she would like to go to the Bernie Sanders rally, which had come to our home county, I cringed. That meant long lines, standing for hours, and fighting through crowds of people and cars. Besides, I don’t support candidates; I support issues. Given the historic significance of the Bernie Sanders movement, however, I quickly decided it would be a good experience for all of us.

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Less than 24 hours later, there we stood in a long line on the county fair grounds. This crowd of people was more organic than a Kashi Granola bar. Occasionally, that organic scent became a little overwhelming in the sweltering and unseasonably warm, spring sun.

As I scanned the parking lot beside us, I saw an unexpected theme appear. “Prius, Suburu, Suburu, Suburu, Prius…Prius, Prius, Suburu, Prius…” I muttered out loud to my daughter. “Good thing we left the gas-guzzling Land Rover in the garage for this trip,” I laughed. While I was too young to remember the ‘60s flower children, I always imagined the owners of such cars would look like the people who stood beside us.

Men, women and children of all ages and lighter-skinned ethnicities kindly interacted with one another. One woman in front of us had a roll of Bernie Sanders stickers she was handing out to the kids, at least until my oldest daughter exclaimed, “Ooh, I want one!” Then we all had them.

There were the loonies. Street preachers yelled an ironic mix of God’s love and unimaginable torture for those who ignored it; the democratic fringe party handed out newsletters calling for a breakaway from the mainline party altogether; and others proudly wore shirts that simply said, “Socialist.” Quietly and courteously, we slowly walked toward the stadium together while small, polite conversations broke out among strangers.

I quickly surmised that Sander’s supporters, like Trump’s supporters, felt disassociated and disillusioned with the status quo. They are two sides of the same coin, both feeling unheard and betrayed by the current social and political system. These are the groups that have become the fringe of society, one cast-aways because they didn’t fit into the main stream, and the other self-disenfranchised amid their caustic fears of change and diversity. What they have in common are that both are looking for some kind of control out of the chaos.

An hour and a half later, we found our seats in the bleachers, just left of the stage. The folksy entertainment, an acoustic guitar player followed by a two-man band, helped pass the time. Throngs of people slowly made their way into the stadium, merging on to the lawn, and surrounding us in the bleachers. “It looks like Woodstock,” my fiancé said as we hovered two tiers above the ground. His historical reference, like mine, was filled in by movies we’d seen, and imagination. It is estimated that there were anywhere from 15-22 thousand people there that night, with thousands still trying to get in when Bernie Sanders finally spoke. The entire event was, well, uneventful. Except for Bernie himself.

It was quickly apparent that the Bernie Sanders movement is different, and yet familiar. Many of the flower children of the sixties are grandparents now. They’ve mostly adjusted to life in the real world, but they haven’t lost their ideals: peace, love, civil rights and the freedom to pursue happiness. It was evident they see Sanders carrying on the mission they started with him in the 1960s.

Former candidates like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson represent the religious establishment that rejects them. Hillary Clinton represents the corporate and political establishment that pushes them further away from democracy. Most surprisingly, young people seem to be strangely aware of the history, or at least felt it.

Sanders doesn’t bring the chaos and drama of Donald Trump. Perhaps this is one of the reasons the media overwhelmingly ignores him. To the contrary, his movement is about inclusion and working together. It’s a message that resonates with young people, including my teenage daughters, people of color, libertarians, and the Trump-disenfranchised Hispanics.

For the four hours we were together as a crowd, our differences seemed insignificant, if ever a problem at all. Sander’s spoke of a transcendent purpose, a purpose worth coming together for, fueled by his enthusiasm and inspired by his vision. People believed him. One of my daughters later described that moment as a feeling that she was “unstoppable.” The common enemy, as Sanders put it, is the “current finance campaign system is corrupt and undermining American democracy.” He vowed to “stand with the middle class and take on corporate greed.” It was a message his supporters resoundingly applauded.

Sanders approach is decidedly different than his presidential running mates of both parties. He appears to be the only candidate talking about the issues that plague the American public. This includes the outrageous cost of prescription drugs, and the disastrous impact of Obamacare on the middle class. While climate change is primarily ignored by Republicans and unquestioned by the Democrats, Sanders speaks of moving entirely to renewable energy and creating jobs while it happens.

Bernie Sanders doesn’t have a checkered past. He hasn’t flip-flopped on any of the issues. In fact, the only question of his integrity, according to the New Yorker, was the fact that because he had some, he was almost destined to lose the bid for presidency. “Our political system has been refined over the years specifically to keep people like Bernie Sanders out of the White House,” [Davis Logsdon] said. “The system works.”

While some of Sanders ideas may seem progressive, they have been a part of American history in the past. For example, college tuition in the United States used to be free, or virtually free, even not that long ago. When I earned my associates degree in California in the 1980s, I paid almost nothing for it. Many other states did the same thing. Now, however, the United States has the highest college tuition rates and more student debt than anywhere else in the world. Sanders rightfully asks why, especially considering that the quality of a United States education ranks 36^th place compared to other developed countries.

Besides Sanders inclusiveness, which terrifies the religious and political right, he clearly states he is a democratic socialist. This raises the eyebrows of anyone who lived through the cold war, or remembers the communist witch-hunt of the 1950s. Sanders makes no apologies for his labels, but does clarify that he is a firm believer in democracy. His purpose is to get democracy back from the politicians and corporations, and put it in the hands of the citizens.

While I took copious notes of Sanders’ speech, it didn’t dawn on me to interview people in the stands until he started talking. This left me with two young interviewees in the car ride on the way home: my daughters.

“He reminds me of Katniss,” one of them said. For fans of the Hunger Games series, you might remember that Katniss started a revolution by taking on “The Capital” in order to give power back to the people. I have to admit, it was a theme that played in my head as well.

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I am opposed to bumper stickers and lawn signs for political candidates. They do nothing more than divide people into teams and end conversations before they start. The media spends an inordinate amount of time hyping up political divisions. The focus on controversies, whether it’s Donald Trump’s latest slight, or Hillary Clinton’s emails, deflects from the real problems we are facing as a nation.

We have been lulled to sleep by the latest fashions and gadgets. Our country’s education continues to decline, our prisons are overflowing, millions of children go hungry each night and more and more people are forced into dependency on the government for basic needs. It’s not the Muslims’ fault, or the Mexicans. It has nothing to do with which bathroom a transgender person uses. These are more deflections from the fact that the middle class is being squeezed to death financially, while congress is run by millionaires, either before they got there or after.

When it comes to voter turn out in the United States, we rank on the bottom of most other developed countries. People cannot complain about democratic socialism when they are not even willing to participate in a democratic election. What Sanders made perfectly clear – regardless of whether or not one agrees with any other of his positions – is that if the people do not participate in the election process, the election process will be taken from the people.

Photo – Tim Rymel