Budowsky: Sanders battles for Clinton, progressives and America

Bernie Sanders is closing the campaign as he began it. He is battling for the progressive proposals and dreams he has spent a lifetime fighting for and campaigning across the country for Hillary Clinton and progressives at all levels of government and politics.

When Sanders warns voters to not waste their votes on third-party candidates, which would only help Donald Trump get elected, truer words have never been spoken.

{mosads}If Clinton is elected president, Sanders will very likely achieve one of the greatest dreams of his career: the reversal of the Citizens United decision, with a Supreme Court that ultimately convenes with a full nine justices and a new liberal majority. 

Make no mistake about this. The battle to confirm any Supreme Court justice, including the pending nomination of Judge Merrick Garland and any other high court nominees who are not right-wing jurists, will be one of the galactic battles in American political and legal history.

Make no mistake about this, either. If Clinton is elected, Republicans will lose any battle they may try to wage to oppose any Supreme Court nominee offered by President Obama or a President Hillary Clinton. The American people will not stand for the GOP turning rule of law into a banana republic Supreme Court in which only Republican and conservative nominees are confirmed. The court cannot spend the next four years with only eight justices.

This would be a huge victory for Sanders, progressives and Clinton, who are united together behind ending the curse of the Citizens United decision and the power it has given to big money to corrupt our democracy. 

Words cannot overstate the importance of a new Supreme Court majority that would widen the circle of simple justice on behalf of blacks, women, Hispanics, consumers and working men and women throughout every segment of American society. 

Bernie Sanders and all progressives will soon be waging a heroic and historic battle to save healthcare in America from the rule of Big Insurers and Big Pharma and special interests. Republicans and the right will be fighting to end the reforms of -ObamaCare that brought new coverage to so many people, and to oppose the public option that Sanders and Clinton and liberals will be fighting for, to fix the predictable problems that came with the Affordable Care Act.

The choice is clear. Do Republicans win their dream of repealing -ObamaCare and making healthcare subservient to the “magic of the marketplace” alone, which means the rule of big companies that make big campaign donations and would raise the healthcare costs of every American? Or do Clinton, Sanders and progressives win their battle to make healthcare even more affordable and available to even more consumers? 

With Clinton and Sanders, America gets more voting rights and voting participation. With Trump and Republicans, the forces for voter suppression will win, and the power of corrupting big money will win again and maintain its power for a very long time to come.

With Clinton winning and Sanders fighting alongside her in the Senate, young people have a fighting chance to get a free public college education, an idea championed by Sanders and adopted by Clinton with his support and enthusiasm.

Sanders is crisscrossing the country on behalf of Democratic candidates for the Senate and House because he knows the draconian dangers if Republicans maintain control of Congress, and the powerful and progressive changes that become possible if Democrats win control in a few short hours.

Sanders himself would become chairman of a powerful Senate committee if Democrats retake the chamber, either the Senate Budget Committee or the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which would give him a powerful place on major issues facing the nation. And if Democrats win control of the Senate, other Democratic senators who are great progressives will have great influence on national affairs. Wouldn’t it be dramatic to have Sherrod Brown, the Democratic senator of Ohio who is a national progressive leader, chairing the Senate Banking Committee with jurisdiction over big banks and Wall Street? 

Bernie Sanders deserves a standing ovation for his faithful and fervent support for Hillary Clinton and progressive Democratic candidates for the Senate and House, not only to save the nation from Donald Trump, a Republican Congress and a conservative court but to advance a progressive agenda that is only the starting point to make America even better and greater for a generation.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. in international financial law from the London School of Economics. He can be read on The Hill’s Contributors blog and reached at brentbbi@webtv.net.