“People should not underestimate us.”

I love everything about this statement.

For one, “people”: who are these people? Are they born-and-bred Americans? (And what does that mean?) Are they daughters of the American Revolution? Or sons of Civil War insurrectionists? Are they immigrants who came here against their will? Or immigrants who came here with a huge will? Are they children who’ve grown up in America not knowing about their heritage? Or children who’ve grown up in an inclusive education system? Or children who’ve grown up and suddenly learned that they can have political power in this country? Who *are* these people?

Two, “should not underestimate”: a forceful, declarative verb, a warning, a positive backside of give up your power, a threat, a statement of uprising and revolution.

Three, “us”: watch out, we are Us. We are a group, an organized group, we group our thoughts, our money, our friends, our connections, we group everything we possibly can into the idealist concept of a revolution. We thrive on the simple idea of changing the system. The System. The power brokers. The people, who aren’t really people but institutions, who seem to wield all the power over our lives. These people, who do not represent We The People but rather their own limited construct of the same. Ahh because they don’t understand Us, and we can’t figure out why! They are Not Us, and they do not represent our thoughts and feelings. They only care about usurping power. They do not participate in Representative government. They are the anti-reps.

“People should not underestimate us.” — Bernie Sanders, 3/1/2016