The progressive moment

With the nomination of Hillary Clinton as their presidential candidate this past week, the Democratic Party managed to beat back a strong progressive insurgency led by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. While Sanders fell short of winning the nomination, the phenomenal and unexpected success of the Sanders’ movement suggests that true progressive politics are on the ascendency in America.

Among voters under age 30, Sanders received more votes in the primary elections and caucuses across the country than Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump, combined.

And it isn’t just young people. Poll after poll shows strong public support across the board for progressive policies, such as a higher minimum wage, expansion of Social Security benefits, a Medicare-for-all universal health care system, fair trade policies, higher taxes on the wealthy, action on climate change, and getting big money out of politics.

These are all issues that, for too long, the Democratic Party establishment has actively sought to tamp down as it pursued the interests of its big money donors on Wall Street and in Hollywood over the interests of average working people. Sanders managed to move the political discussion and the party’s platform well to the left, and he also demonstrated for the first time that a progressive, insurgent candidate could win the fundraising race on the strength of millions of small donations.

What’s more, Sanders’ remarkable race showed millions of progressives just what can be accomplished when they engage meaningfully in the political process, and it’s sparked new energy and enthusiasm at the grassroots level. The new Cook-based group, Northern Progressives, is an offshoot of the Sanders movement and the group plans to remain engaged in the political process from local to national issues and races.

Around the country, hundreds of such organizations have popped up in the past few months, sparked by Sanders’ call for his supporters to stay engaged in the political process and to begin running as candidates at all levels of government. Sanders sparked a movement that won’t disappear any time soon, and his success will only encourage more progressive leaders to follow in his footsteps.

Sanders’ candidacy also revealed how far the Democratic Party has veered from its roots. Sanders described his political philosophy as “democratic socialism” and often touted Scandinavian countries as his models, but his policies were as American as apple pie. Sanders is, essentially, a New Dealer, who believes government, in the right hands, can make tremendous strides in opening up opportunity for everyone, through investments in education, infrastructure, health care, and our environment.

Sanders understands political framing, and that you advance a progressive agenda by advocating for it, rather than running from it, as the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party has done for 30 years. It was Bill Clinton, after all, who famously said “the era of big government is over.”

It was just one of many times that the Clintons have adopted conservative political framing, helping to facilitate the rightward drift of American politics.

Hillary Clinton is an uninspiring choice for the Democrats, but she is running against the one Republican she can probably beat. Assuming that the voters eventually recognize Donald Trump for the utterly unfit, narcissistic, and anti-American demagogue that he is, Hillary Clinton will be our next president. If so, it will take organized progressives to keep a new Clinton White House from backsliding into old, destructive habits.

Clinton’s nomination was a disappointment to those who wish to see progressive change in this country, but it was also a sign that there’s much more work to do. For the first time in decades, however, there’s reason to believe that real progressives are ready to roll up their sleeves and start the hard work of turning the country around.