Open letter to Our Revolution from a Bernie-crat

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to express my deep sadness and frustration with the lack of substance in the recent Our Revolution live stream. After nearly 18 months of campaigning for Bernie Sanders, many of us were looking for something meaningful and concrete to come out of all this. Heartbroken in defeat, we were hopefully for the future.

{mosads}The Our Revolution organization was supposed to Bernie’s vision for that future. What we go from last night’s live stream was completely inadequate.

In the end, all we were told was “sign up online, donate money, Our Revolution will be backing some candidates and ballot initiatives.” We got a typical Bernie stump speech and a video that looked like it was filmed in a library basement.

When it was over, the 20 or so Berners at my house ‘watch party’ all looked around he room and collectively wondered, “where’s the beef?” This was the big moment we were all waiting for? Locally, we had put everything on hold because we were told instructions were on the way.

This is a far cry from the organized structure many of us were hoping for. We envisioned a powerful, organized, and potentially influential group with local chapters springing up all over the nation, as had been the case with all the local Bernie groups during the primary.

Instead, we got nothing. There was no “there” there. After watching the livestream, I was left with a terrible feeling of emptiness as I looked down at my notes from the event and realized I hadn’t written down a single thing: there was nothing to record.

As laid out in the live stream, Our Revolution seems to be nothing more than another “stamp of approval group” that helps progressive voters identify good progressive candidates. Groups like that already exist in Democracy For America, Moveon.org, and Working Families. Rather than trying to combine these good, but very similar, organizations, Our Revolution is simply cloning these earlier groups.

What is needed at this time is a hierarchical organization that can tap into the amazing network of supporters and small donors from the campaign, working on a combined vision from the top and being implemented by small satellite chapters in every major city or town across the country. 

Bernie called for a political revolution and brought millions of people out of the shadows and into the political process. His success proved that there are far more progressives than anyone previously thought. We learned that there is a strong base that wants to reestablish a true left wing in the U.S., something that has been missing since the 90s, when Clintonian neoliberalism took over the Democratic party.

When Bernie endorsed Hillary Clinton, many felt betrayed, but most were understanding of his choice and resolved to carry on the political revolution in other ways. If Our Revolution is the next step in the ‘revolution’, than the word revolution has no meaning. This is not change; it is more of the same.

The media has covered the launch of Our Revolution and chosen to focus on internal strife between the new President, Jeff Weaver, and some of the younger staffers who walked out. The real story, quite frankly, is that there is no revolution. The conversation may have shifted a bit, but Democratic politics as usual will continue. Those of us seeking to remain organized and active will have to do so on our own.

Our revolution has ended before it even began…and it went out with a whimper, rather than a bang.

Widelec is a history teaching in NYC living on Long Island. He was a co-founder of Long Island for Bernie Sanders. The views expressed in this piece are his and not those of the organization.

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