Monday Open Thread, June 20, 2016

24 Comments
Peter Bloom at Common Dreams says that What Progressives and Democrats Need is Coalition Not Unity:
While the media has called the Democratic race all but over, the supporters of Sanders are faced with a difficult decision. The mainstream opinion is for them to simply surrender to the “inevitability” of Clinton’s victory and embrace her as a candidate to unify the Democratic Party. However, for many progressives this option is both ethically and tactically problematic—forcing them into a familiar territory of voting for the “lesser of two evils.” Instead they have sought to send a distinct message to the status quo by proclaiming themselves “Bernie or Bust.” Sanders, for his part, is far from willing to go away quietly. While he admits that defeating Trump must be priority number one, he has vowed to continue his revolution to transform the Democratic Party and the country. The immediate goal is to amass enough delegates and momentum to progressively influence the Party’s present platform and future direction. However, is there an alternative option beyond the opposing poles of unity or bust? Is there a way for progressives to find a compromise with the Democratic Party without becoming compromised? The answer may be to fight for a coalition between progressives and the Democratic Party.
Well, in any realistic rather than fantastical view of our system of government and elections, the choice is binary. You either vote for Clinton, or you, whether directly or indirectly, vote for Trump. So I am not sure what Peter Bloom is talking about here. Further, the Democratic Party has always been a coalition of multiple groups that agree to come together to vote for a single Presidential candidate. There are trade unions, environmentalists, teachers, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, liberals, moderates, progressives, etc., etc. The compromising he speaks of happens all the time: trading votes for President for policies. It will happen again in the crafting of the platform. The Democratic Platform will be the most progressive major party platform in all history.