Dear Bernie:
You have won the hearts of many of America’s younger generation. They represent our national future. The questions about this bonding are: Who are they? Who are you?
Who are they? Are they devoted to you just because you offer them free college education, free healthcare, and the wealthy as an enemy around which they can unite? Do they have a civic-mindedness which is a commitment to democracy or a me-mindedness which is a commitment to self-interest? Who will they reveal themselves to be if you are not the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate?
Who are you? Are you a committed politician who has seized the opportunity of a critical historical moment or are you a statesman who sees beyond your personal agenda? Will you persuade them to a democratic loyalty beyond the issues of this moment? Will you tell them that they hold America’s democratic destiny in their hands?
And when will you tell them that while some of the nation’s wealthy are their enemies that some of these wealthy are also their benefactors. When will you tell them that many of the wealthy continue to make grand contributions to our democracy? When will you tell them that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were among the wealthy elite of their day – and that you have a few million, yourself.
And when will you tell them that socialism is when the government owns the means for creating and distributing wealth and that capitalism is when business has this ownership. And when will you tell them that having social programs that benefit the common good is at the heart of what it means to be a democracy and may not have anything to do with political socialism? You could point out that America already has common roadways, common currency, common law enforcement, common parks and monuments, common education through high school, common health protection agencies, common military, common environmental protection, common justice system, common retirement, common transportation, common international protection, etc. Adding common college and common healthcare doesn’t make it socialism. It only extends the democratic common good benefits that already exist.
I believe when national leaders become civic teachers as well as political fire-brands they enter the nobility of states-person-ship. And how desperately we need such leadership for our democracy is to survive.
I hope see you on the high road,
Robert T. Latham
Lakewood, Colorado
Im with you. Here’s hoping.
All we are saying is – Working people should run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few. Bernie Sanders has already made a difference in shaping this conversation. Whether he gets a chance to provide presidential leadership remains to be seen, but appears to be a fading dream.