(ANTIMEDIA) Op-ed – I never thought I’d say this, but I’m hoping Bernie Sanders has a little bit of Ted Cruz in him. Let me state, firstly, that I despise Ted Cruz’s policies. Having said that, I admire one quality he possesses: the courage to stand up in front of thousands of screaming Trump followers and say, “Actually, you know what? F*** you.”
Of course, it was disguised as “vote your conscience,” but at a national convention meant to unanimously coronate the party’s selection, “vote your conscience” is an undeniable rejection of the Trump candidacy. And Cruz is feeling the blowback.
‘Lyin’ Ted is obviously betting Trump will lose in November, paving the way for a 2020 Cruz run against Hillary, or — if Trump wins and has a disastrous first term — a run against the Republican incumbent bankrolled by a vengeful GOP establishment.
Strategic political calculus aside, what Ted Cruz did is one of the most audacious moves in recent political history. Even Hillary Clinton applauded him (of course, she should probably be careful about telling people to vote their conscience).
Again, let me reiterate: I loathe Ted Cruz’s policies across the board — on literally every single issue. But he stood his ground and refused to capitulate to the Party. He threw a cog in the clockwork of political groupthink and did so in the most grandiose manner possible. He could have simply refused to speak at the convention and withheld an endorsement. That’s what John Kasich did (and Kasich took some heat, even for this).
What Cruz did was on a different level entirely. Cruz met face-to-face with Trump, accepted his invitation to be a prime time speaker at the RNC, and then proceeded to tell millions of people they should vote according to the dictates of their conscience. Every so often, truth flies from vile lips.
It’s difficult to understate how unexpected this was, nor how unprecedented.
Why am I cheerleading a man who makes me sick to my stomach? Because he created a powerful template that can be exported across party lines. As I write this article, the Democratic elites are assembling in Philadelphia to coronate their pre-selected nominee. Bernie Sanders will give a keynote speech tonight. There is 99.9999% chance that Sanders will issue a full-throated, rousing endorsement of Clinton. Invoking the apocalyptic specter of a Donald Trump presidency, Sanders will call for party unity to defeat a common enemy.
But maybe, just maybe, he will have a powerful dream and wake up trembling and drenched in sweat. Just maybe, he will decide he wants to set a precedent by sending a coded message that is unmistakably anti-Clinton. In the immediate aftermath of the leaked emails confirming the DNC colluded with the Clinton campaign during the primaries, there may be enough venom there to taint his demeanor.
Like I said, there’s a 99.9999% chance this won’t happen (I did the math using an abacus). I’m throwing my words into the ether, where that 0.0001% exists as quantum potential.
There is no longer any chance whatsoever that Sanders will run as an independent. The political climate is simply too turbulent and the power of the anti-Trump sentiment too strong. This is unfortunate because the 2016 election is probably the best opportunity there’s ever been for a strong third-party run. The two nominees are the most disliked in American political history, and anti-establishment sentiment has reached fever pitch. During the Republican National Convention, Google reported web searches for third-party candidates spiked by 1,125%. This included specific searches for Gary Johnson (currently polling at 8%) and Jill Stein (currently polling at around 4%).
I also do not think there is any chance he won’t fully endorse Clinton, even with Friday’s email leak. In fact, during an interview on MSNBC on Sunday, he bluntly stated the emails would not change his endorsement. He didn’t care about Clinton’s private server emails, either, so it’s safe to say that at this point, Bernie Sanders just has no interest in email. And in all honesty, it’s probably time to admit Bernie has more in common with Clinton than his supporters would care to admit. But with a linguistic sleight of hand, he could still turn some heads tonight, even while endorsing the Clinton-Kaine ticket and rallying the Democrats.
There is a push right now to form a new political movement — a left-right coalition of progressives, libertarians, and conservatives who share strong beliefs about the disastrous effects of “free trade” agreements, Wall Street’s influence over economic policy, “corporate welfare,” and foreign military interventionism. In his 2014 book, Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State, Ralph Nader describes 25 areas of “left-right convergence” he believes represent a majority of the U.S. population. This ideological overlap includes opposition to the Patriot Act, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), federal funds spent on bailouts and defense contractors, environmental problems like nuclear energy, and militarism used for regime change.
Nader appeared on Democracy Now earlier this year, imploring progressives to work with libertarians to consolidate power in a progressive-libertarian movement. Nader himself has been forging an alliance with Ron Paul for over five years. Admittedly, the two groups of constituents they represent would have to agree to disagree on certain issues — some of them extremely divisive (for example, they would probably have to agree not to say the words “gun” or “free market”).
However, other words can have a powerful influence and actually push people on the fringe to get involved in their communities and in local politics. A coalition of voices ranging across the ideological spectrum must unite if we are to have any chance at diminishing the power of the corporate state — which is why the five words I want to hear Bernie Sanders say tonight are:
“Join the left-right alliance.”
Maybe that’s four words. Let’s agree to disagree.
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