Why America Needs (Nothing Less Than) a Revolution

CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News won't tell you this, but a revolution is brewing.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump both want you to look the other way, but a revolution is brewing.

Big pharma, the fossil fuel industry, and the military industrial complex would rather you shield your eyes and plug your ears, but a revolution is brewing.

Candidates like Pete Buttigieg would rather you vote for practical "safe" ideas than for deep and profound change. The pundits would try to guilt you into believing that it is better to simply "beat Trump" (a failed 2016 platform) than to bring about real, revolutionary, and structural change to this nation that finally works for the good of all people and fights against the framework and systems that perpetuate men like Donald Trump into places of authority and protect them when they are no longer fit to be there.

And as we have come to know and accept, this revolution will not be televised. It will not be trending on social media anytime soon. It's not a sexy tweet. It's not a fad. It is a grassroots movement made up of people...in the midst of the very weeds and thistle trying to snuff it out of existence.

Still, a revolution is brewing.

This is a revolution not born out of disdain for one president or one political party. It is not a new and ill-founded set of ideas set up to contrast the familiar backdrop of common political partisanship. Rather, it is a revolution that found it's footing in the days of Martin Luther King Jr., that have stood up and spoke out during the Civil Rights movement, that walked alongside women in their fight for the right to vote (and continues that fight in 2019 in the pursuit of things like equal pay for equal work), that has stood alongside indigenous people to protect their lands and acknowledge their dignity, that has stood in the gap for the stranger who has sought sanctuary on our soil and longed to be seen as more than "illegal" and given the chance to find their place in this nation. It is also a revolution that says that no one should be denied the most basic of human rights because of who they are, where they come from, what they look like, how they worship, or who they love. It has stood against the rich and the powerful special interests who use their imbalanced influence selfishly to suppress others, and it has fought against the corruption that erodes the very fabrics of capitalism.

It is a revolution that says people are more important than power, and that millions of ordinary people standing together have more power than they ever thought possible.

Bernie Sanders and his ideas are not new, but they have almost always been silenced in the face of immense wealth and power, omitted from the conversations controlled by entities that seek to force us to vote for different versions of the same cyclical establishment politics.

But the people have grown tired of their voice being ignored, intentionally left out of the conversation. They are

standing up and speaking out- one person, one vote at a time. Enough is enough. We are done with the insanity of doing and saying the same things over and over again and somehow expecting a different outcome.

In the 2020 Democratic Primary Election, the argument has been made repeatedly that the candidates running are just "different flavors of the same ice cream shop", and that choosing the candidate is more about "electability" than about actual positions. This dangerous motive for electing a candidate is an admission of a willingness to sacrifice not only substance, ideas, and real revolutionary change. It also sacrifices real people.

When moderate candidates offer moderate solutions, it's like holding up a wet tissue to stop a 90 mile-per-hour fastball. When moderate candidates say they're "just trying to be realistic", it really means that they don't want to upset the apple cart, which is their constituents- who have bought and paid for their campaigns. Follow the money. Those who fear upsetting the establishment are often in bed with them. Additionally, moderate solutions often stem from a cowardice complacency that dares to deem dreamers as "lunatics" and pragmatics as "saviors".

But when you look back in our history, real systemic change has always come from the radicals. It always came from those willing to fight against those in power and challenge those with the most influence. And almost always, these same radicals have been immortalized (often in death) decades later by the very people who most want to strangle their successors.

I am endorsing Bernie Sanders because Bernie was fighting for me before I was born. Bernie spent decades taken the brunt of moderate political backlash for being the only person in the room to have the guts to say that healthcare is a right and not a privilege, that our country disproportionately incarcerates black and brown people to profit off of their imprisonment, that workers are often taken advantage of by the greed of their CEOs, that climate change is a clear and present danger that flies in the face of corporate greed, that the wealthiest one percent of this nation own more wealth than the bottom half, that we need to invest and fully fund public education, and that we need to get money out of politics through campaign finance reform. Bernie was fighting for the people before it was cool, and he was even arrested for it.

I want leaders who risk their lives for what's right. I don't care what gender they are, what religion they are, what the color of their skin is, who they love, or even how old they are. I want to follow those who sacrifice their comfort for the benefit of others. I want a president who has gone to the jail cell for dignity of his neighbor. I want a president who is who he says he is and then shows you.

More than anything, I want a leader for this nation who does what is right before the winds of politics blows in their direction. If you want to know the dignity of a politician, look at their record. Bernie Sanders has been the same person for decades, fighting tirelessly for the rights of multiple generations of Americans. He doesn't change positions based on polls.

The typical political candidate follows the polls, and you can be sure that because of this they will most certainly let you down. Or, they might finally find the right position before telling everyone it was their idea.

In another crowded field of primary candidates who will do anything for your vote, find the person who doesn't. Find the person who will tell you the hard truth about the state of things, as well as the hard truth of how we have to fix it. But more than anything, follow the money.

Other than Bernie Sanders, virtually every other major candidate has accepted donations from large corporations and/or Super PACs (political action committees) funded by special interests that will seek to control policy and legislation that affects us directly. Meanwhile, in this current election, Bernie Sanders broke a new record of individual donor contributions, where the average donation is just $12. Because Bernie's money is our money, his voice is our voice.

Here's what I'm not saying:

(1) Bernie Sanders is a perfect politician- Far from it! He is a human being, and no human is perfect. No one candidate will ever fully encompass every aspect of what is right and what is good, but the one who speaks the loudest for the people will always have our mouths close to his ear.

(2) Bernie or Bust! - Absolutely not! While I certainly believe Bernie has a profound leg up on his Democratic opponents on both the issues and how he funds his campaign, ANY ONE OF THE DEMOCRATS running in this primary would be a far better president than the one currently occupying the Oval Office. It's not even close! That being said, Bernie Sanders has the people behind him to defeat Trump, even if other candidates have more money and air time. At the end of the day, voter enthusiasm matters.

(3) You have to vote for Bernie Sanders- You are a free citizen with the profound privilege of voting for whomever you believe is the right candidate. This endorsement blog is my argument for why I believe Bernie Sanders is the president this country needs, and I certainly hope you will do your own research and reach this same conclusion.

Now, here's what I AM saying:

(1) We need a revolution (not a nominee) to beat Trump- We need millions of people to stand up, not just to cast a vote on election day, but to fundamentally change the course of this nation by actively getting involved in the political process and bringing new people in. We need enthusiasm and people power. That power comes from believing in a set of principals that goes well beyond one man or woman. That being said, I see that revolution brewing in the campaign of Bernie Sanders, and it has the legs to really do this.

(2) We need bold ideas to beat Trump- We need a candidate who promotes real ideas that are bold and shake the very foundations of our government by challenging the corrupt systems and the powerful special interests that control them and have kept bad policies in place for too many decades.

(3) We need people power- If people don't fuel whoever becomes the Democratic nominee, then it will be fueled by the only other thing that can fuel it- money and power. If money and power outbid the American people, the American people will lose no matter who wins the election.

At the end of the day, America needs nothing short of a revolution to turn the page on the darkness of our current days and passionately pursue an America for all people.