Should the Republican Party Nominate Bernie Sanders?

May 3, 2016

They won’t, even though Bernie is more Reaganesque-populist than socialist. In a country where socialist means 20th century Russian-style totalitarian collectivism to 75% of the voting public, it invokes fear — not of just annihilation but of a dark, unkempt equality. The Nordic Model “Democratic” prefix has fallen on deaf ears.

To my eye there are two kinds of Republicans; those who think there should be virtually no tax or significant government and those who accept tax but are ambivalent or picky about how the money should be spent. I submit its that they don’t realize where the money goes, specifically. There are plenty concerned with the flow of money to the two parties and elected officials though, that’s key in 2016.

It looks like Trump has the green light, and while a willing party not only subvert him (now that Romney wont) but attempting to translate Sanders rhetoric into something palatable to conservatives, the ideological barriers are great if only because they are every bit as sweeping and general as mainstream Democrats view their platform, ideology. Regardless, the anti-Trump Republicans are suddenly homeless.

The DNC is laundering money for their front runner who is under investigation by the FBI. The RNC’s front runner is loathed by party elites and mainstream conservatives alike. Both front runners face historically high unfavorable ratings from the public at large. Both are embroiled in scandal and lawsuits, with a few outlying existential threats. What’s a sensible voter to do?

In the shadow of the great Republicans Lincoln and Roosevelt, Sanders brings more of the party’s progressive legacy to the table than the entire GOP field attempted this past year. Eisenhower said one doesn’t belong in the political system if they cannot accept New Deal programs. Reagan favored closing loopholes that allow the wealthy to evade taxes and was widely supportive of the Social Security Trust Fund. Meanwhile, Jeb Bush and his family legacy have been laughed off the stage with his elders vowing to sit out the 2016 election altogether. Can the GOP be the progressive party once again?

This article is not about whether its technically possible, rather, what the party might need to do if they wish to prevent a Trump nomination. He has already been rejected by many in the GOP, not the least of whom are their last two nominees. Could they even consider supplanting Trump with someone who is lacking widespread public support? So far the RNC has indicated Trump will be their presumptive nominee. Doesn’t leave much room…but perhaps just enough.

Wait a minute. Donald Trump…the liberal? You must be asking this question if you have followed his media presence for any length of time. Apart from his successes where Clinton failed in convincing the public that Barack Obama is a muslim, does Trump have conservative credentials? Sure he is rich, but what do Republicans see in a candidate espousing beliefs like choice, health care and gun control? Infrastructure spending won’t get a phone call returned from the establishment GOP, let alone the nomination. Added to Clinton’s FBI investigation and the Democratic party skirting campaign finance laws to raise money for her, the parties are facing their own existential crises.

As mainstream pundits tell the story that we have never had so much public discontent, they misreport the grave — yet entirely unique — stories each party has to tell of their woes and what has transpired on each side of political America.

The situation with the Republican party is dire. As the mainstream media continues its year long deluge of Trump coverage, a pattern of contempt for his nomination from the loudest voices in the party and conservative public has gone virtually unnoticed. This is the party that experienced a visible fracture shortly after Obama won the 2008 election and presented the world with a group of individuals willing to say anything to get coverage. Cue absurdity from your elected officials, America. Its been a long 8 years.

To my knowledge it is downright unprecedented to have the party’s former nominee elaborate all the ways their current front runner is an outright fraud. Fox, the loudspeaker of conservative television news, disproved several of Trump’s responses with a real time fact check during its debate. It was not readily apparent whether this was staged or genuine animosity but his claims proved to be outlandish, like cuts to scantly funded departments making any progress in paying down the debt and avoiding deficits. That he is untrustworthy would seem to be the majority opinion when added to widespread public ire for Trump. His negatives recently polled in the 60s, where they’ve been for months.

Is it merely because Trump has touted liberal values over the years? Is it because his claim as a successful businessman is dubious? Could it be that establishment Republicans are entirely disavowing his rhetoric as unacceptable? Whatever the reason, he is the most disliked candidate for president and the Republicans have played no small part in that sentiment. They don’t want him.

Even our Republican Speaker of the House has thus far refused to endorse the presumptive nominee. While Ryan offered his congratulations to Trump, he imposed a “requirement” of party unity and suggested emulation of the populism surrounding the party legacies Reagan and Lincoln. The last two Republican nominees, who have completely rejected his legitimacy, made clear their accusation — fraud. The last two Republican presidents are skipping the convention and have made it clear they will not back Trump.

What is going on in the Republican party and which of his many negative facets are preventing Trump from being treated like the nominee?

The Democrats are in a different kind of trouble. Former counsel to the Chairman of the FEC Brad Deutsch said in a letter to the DNC that their fund raising activities for Clinton constituted campaign finance violations by donating the maximum allowable contribution to 32 state party committees only to have it “donated back” to Clinton. Investigative journalists for Politico found that 99% of the amounts donated did not stay with the state parties. This, the FBI investigation into Clinton’s personal email server scandal and political contributions to the Clinton Foundation during her time at State threaten the party and their front runner more than any voting bloc could. Clinton may not be able to cast a vote in her home state this November, much less become the first woman president.

Hillary Clinton has her own quiet role in another controversy, this one involving our president and the Republican front runner. In 2008 during a heated nominating contest with then Senator Obama, Hillary Clinton’s campaign aides leaked a photograph of him in a turban. This photograph was circulated in a chain email with the rumor that Obama was a Kenyan-born muslim. To say this was the most controversial tactic used in either 2008 or 2016 would be a mistake, but this particular smear persists to this day. Many Americans (though mostly conservatives) question not only our president’s birthplace and legitimacy, they question his identity and authenticity as an American citizen. Far right wingers have taken it to the extreme by suggesting our president has ties to organizations like ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood. That Donald Trump picked up where Clinton’s campaign left off isn’t at issue; his efforts resulted in a successful campaign to force our President to release his long form birth certificate. The question is whether this New York liberal took his cues from another. America was already divided over Obama, this just raised the wall some 10 feet.

What endures from the last contested Democratic nomination is stunning. Hillary Clinton has passed the blame for widespread American Islamophobia to a synthetic, diametrically opposed rival. A once publicly liberal New Yorker has gained a credible voice in the conservative narrative against our president by publicly associating our president with the worst terrorist organizations in a lifetime. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton garners the primary voters in states that supported Obama’s nomination. America has been rocked by rumors and propaganda before, that it is not uncommon to witness casual discussion about a “terrorist president” proves how powerful the political smear can be.

On the issues its much more of a tragedy; the politics of the center-left Democratic nominee being incongruent with her base are all but ignored. The party of took a deliberate step to the right after its Democratic Leadership Council advocated centrism to recapture ‘Reagan Democrats’ in the 1980s and the first Democratic president since the new mandate did just that — deregulate, cut benefits and taxes, privatize, even continued institutional racism with the war on drugs and prison buildup. The once Southern Democrat Clintons are not political leftists if you look only at their record.

How did this happen? Why does America seem to be facing two choices for president who have strong personal ties, similar political leanings and who have both engaged in information wars against their own people, wars that seem to be succeeding?

The Republicans have been overtaken by a reality TV star and his massive campaign to capture and distort the GOP message, and the Democrats, if not their front runner herself, may have some serious legal problems.

So what about Bernie Sanders? This is the only candidate in the race who has previously never been a member of either party, has helped set and break several fundraising, rally attendance and voter turnout records, but has been largely unknown by the American mainstream until recently. This holdout candidate offers a solution to either party unable or unwilling to proceed with their current front runner. Members of every affiliation, political and otherwise, are voting for him.

Bernie speaks to a bipartisan desire in the American people to root out a “corrupt, rigged system” and when he says it, he does so with the endorsement of legions of voters who have studied his fiery history of lambasting that system. Politically, Bernie’s time in the House of Representatives saw him work with both sides of the aisle, rewriting liberal and conservative legislative efforts to the point where he was billed “The Amendment King”. His time in the Senate has included several high profile votes which went against the Democratic establishment. Sanders supported gun manufacturers, veterans affairs and even won a partial audit of the Federal Reserve, routinely voted down by Democrats.

What is not widely known or shown is that Bernie has significant support in every demographic. There are few if any ethnic, racial or religious groups who do not have a faction of Bernie followers proudly associating their identity with his movement. Bernie has won some of the more diverse states, even picking up a pair of delegates in the Northern Marianas Islands, all from being a virtual unknown to compelling a generation of supporters to campaign on his behalf.

Bernie and his high-60s approval ratings as a presidential candidate (high 80s in Vermont as a Senator) seem to suggest a winner. Bernie is behind some 200+ pledged delegates in the race for the Democratic nomination as the last states and territories prepare for their contests in the remaining month or so of the race. He may need to consider his options soon, that is, if California cannot deliver big.

Make no mistake, Bernie has done well. In addition to taking more than 25% of all delegates — a position earning him the right to challenge planks in the party platform through minority reports— he can still win the nomination. The majority threshold of 2,383 Democratic party delegates required to clinch the nomination appears to be unreachable by either candidate prior to the convention. Clinton would need more than 80% of remaining delegates to disqualify him. Sanders has already capitalized on this, stating “the convention will be a contested contest” assuming when he wins 20% of the remaining pool of 1000 or so delegates he will make his case to the super delegates to push him over the top. This is what has been sorely misrepresented in the media — though every television news outlet has added super delegates to Clinton’s count, they neglect to mention the supers don’t always vote — and don’t, until the convention. It’s up to Bernie, but it looks like they will be voting this year, but not a moment before July 25th. They can and have changed their pledge before.

But…Bernie is a democratic socialist. How could that ever be reconciled with conservatism? The great progressive Republicans would say it can. In addition to states rights and fiscal conservatism being well represented in Bernie’s platform, the great trust-buster and progressive Republican Teddy Roosevelt dissolved dozens of monopolies and effected his Square deal; environmentalism, consumer protection and — wait for it — corporate governance. Its not a leap to say Lincoln and Sanders share a kind of Civil Rights foresight and Ronald Reagan’s populism was rooted in a forward thinking America. Reagan supported the assault weapons ban. Does America remember these Republicans?

Paul Ryan may have his answer in Bernie Sanders, if not as Kemp-style immigration reformer or a fierce advocate for the lower classes in Roosevelt, perhaps as a Catholic. None other than the Pope himself gave Sanders’ moral economic policy the nod and Ryan has already walked back his “makers and takers” remarks which were a central part of the 2012 conservative rhetoric.

But —and its a big but — concessions need to be made. They aren’t as bad as you think, but a ‘Grand Bargain’ has yet to be made or even proposed. Can we hammer one out, America? This could be the greatest unification and sorely needed healing our body politic is craving.

Lets run a laugh test on the biggest Republican issues and Bernies policies:

• States Rights — Bernie has been an advocate for states rights on several high profile issues including the legalization of marijuana and the right to marry. Anti-federalism may be a stretch, but the party has long since embraced the need for some central governance. He wont get any support from the Norquist tax pledge crowd, but as long as his hikes affect only the richest among us, that may not matter.
• Gun Control — D- is still a passing grade, is it not? Sanders voted against the Brady Bill and through the course of the debates, the NRA backed him on a key argument against Clinton on manufacturer liability. The NRA even tweeted that Bernie was “spot-on” in his comments regarding manufacturer liability.
• Health Care — Republicans loathe Obamacare. Single payer health care is not only something which would make the ACA obsolete, every objective analysis finds it fiscally conservative. The way Bernie wants to implement it — expand the existing Medicare system into an insurance policy for all — is simple and efficient. This is not an ACA-style bureaucracy of management with 50 different state implementations or anything resembling an HMO or PPO. It would put a lot of middle-men (read:insurance companies)out of work, but the cost of health care would drop for all. Even their front runner has said he supports a similar plan. Saving money is at the core of conservatism.
• Foreign Affairs — Bernie has constantly reminded us we need to use our resources to defeat ISIS as a national priority. Those in support of intervening in the Syrian revolution will be disappointed, as Bernie seeks to work in coalition to resolve foreign conflicts and not get committed to a situation he calls a “quagmire within a quagmire”. Invoking King Abdullah of Jordan, Bernie suggests the regional conflict is a battle for “the soul of Islam” indicating their lands must be reclaimed through their own struggle. Relations with Israel and the occupied territories of Palestine would be engaged even-handedly, a promise from a Jewish candidate which was as controversial as it was new. Such a position has not been spoken publicly by any American political figure of Bernie’s stature — Israel has heretofore been the untouchable ally. Bernie also cites the openly hostile nation of North Korea as a grave threat, having proven its nuclear program a success. While he would undoubtedly use our military to protect our interests, Bernie is no hawk, and while this seems to be a Republican non-starter, its fair to say Republicans have rejected the Bush dynasty over their fraudulent, if not merely ill-fated wars.
• Veterans Affairs — Republicans are well known for their fierce support of our troops. Analyses of Bernie’s donations show the Army, Navy, and Air Force rank as 3 of the top 10 employers of donors to his campaign. Bernie received glowing praise from John McCain in the Senate, Jeff Miller in the House and other Republicans along with their support in votes for his veterans package, the largest passed in decades. All this in an otherwise gridlocked Congress.
• Abortion Rights — this is an almost impossible issue not likely to be resolved amongst voters or parties or even have its legal status changed any time soon. Bernie’s platform inherently gives Republicans what they’ve wanted for a very long time — no financial connection to abortions whatsoever. Single payer health care would cover all health care costs for all women, everywhere. This means Planned Parenthood would no longer need to raise funds for health services and they could direct their efforts to support abortion and contraception services entirely. Bernie, in his support of expanding Planned Parenthood would need to commit to ensuring there are no blurry lines between taxpayer dollars funding Medicare for all and private donors supporting abortions and contraception. This is the compromise Republicans have been offering for years. Neither side will be entirely pleased, as is the status quo on this issue.
• Climate Change — This is easy. No matter what, this crazy idea of nominating Bernie as a Republican would require party leaders in their loudest voices to want and support the idea, and with Bernie comes a mandate to accept what science has accepted —Climate Change is a very real and grave threat which requires a serious transformation of our energy supply to commence as soon as possible. The Republicans will have to admit this sooner or later, especially now that Exxon-Mobil is under investigation for knowing and suppressing the evidence. The Republicans have an out, right here and now, and they should take it.
• Income and Wealth Inequality —Dwight Eisenhower did not preside over such an unequal America. Under Ike, corporations took care of 1/3 of our nation’s tax revenue and the top rate was over 90% guaranteeing reinvestment of income and shared prosperity. Understanding the difference between small business entrepreneurship and large scale corporatism could be key to garnering Republican support for new wage and trade laws. Granted, Republicans and Democrats alike have toed the corporate line and this may be the one issue that nixes this whole idea since Republicans are much more ostentatious in their willingness to legislate inequality, but as a people Republicans are just as affected as Democrats. Bernie wants American business to thrive as much as anyone, he just does not want the largest entities to engage in wage theft by offshoring jobs and keeping resultant profits to themselves. If Trump’s rise has anything to do with his trade rhetoric, Bernie is on strong footing here. Given the 50,000+ factories that have closed since the end of the Clinton presidency, its safe to shed some blame and have the GOP take the first step in the right direction — renegotiating trade deals, wage laws, following Bernie’s lead.
• Breaking up the banks — Bernie’s message on the banks is that of eliminating systemic risk and ensuring international financial security. Fraudulent operators would be subject to his brand of law enforcement. Bernie has advocated breaking up financial monopolies and prosecuting criminal activity on Wall Street, which some say could lead to massive asset forfeitures. Liquidating federal debt could be an easier task if those sponsoring it are manipulating the system.
• Economics — Higher wages, an absence of a health care costs and debt-free college go a very long way to ensuring the 99% can spend their hard earned cash in the marketplace. Any businessperson knows jobs will be created to meet the new demand, after all, who derives their payroll budget from their tax bill? Without money, there is only supply and begging — Bernie’s programs increase demand on behalf of all.

Despite all this, the Republican party would have a steep hill to climb when it comes to overturning a popular vote. Understanding the propaganda against the word ‘socialism’ may prove to be an insurmountable challenge. On the most controversial issues I have watched Bernie routinely pivot to he idea that we will never agree with every candidate on every issue yet there is common ground everywhere.

There is a golden opportunity to take a monumental leap of faith and unity with the only party still fully in control of its own destiny, if otherwise in disarray. Should they decide to challenge Trump, a hard look at its history might tell Republicans that Bernie isn’t so unlike them after all. They would not be able to find such a winner within their own ranks, that much is all but certain. For one party to nominate a populist from the other could heal wounds and bridge divides that today seem so vast and gangrenous.

This all comes down to intent.

It does not seem that prominent Republicans in the party want to accept Trump’s nomination, though this is a fractured party and many have endorsed him months ago. If the Republicans want to “steal” the nomination from Donald Trump, they could only do so successfully by supplanting him with someone who has broad, public support. Paul Ryan or even John Kasich would cause more outrage than an outsider already commanding Republican and Independent votes. Controversy over inserting him would be easier to quell than an internal schism. The party was already about to split.

If the Democrats want to nominate Hillary Clinton they wont be able to do so before July, but she is beset on all sides; the FBI is investigating her career, the DOJ is investigating 2 of her wins, and now it seems there is fresh new scandal with her fund raising machine. As the party seems to be complicit, this could be an actual sinking ship while the Republicans seem to be voluntarily diving overboard.

Oh yeah. Prominent Republicans have universally attested to Bernie’s honesty and authenticity. The last two nominees have expressed admiration for Bernie. His best friend in the Senate is a very conservative Republican from Oklahoma. His partial audit of the Federal Reserve wasn’t the holy grail sought by Libertarians, yet it was closer to a win than even the great Ron Paul could muster. Bernie has credentials on the right. Don’t doubt it for a second.

Do you know Bernie?

If you don’t then you’ll never be convinced of this article.

Get to know Bernie. You will love him.

It could be the grand bargain that saves us all.