SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Sanders Draws Massive Crowds as Progressives Prepare to Fight Trump
New wave of progressives, led by figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), gathers strength as right-wing government looms
Nov 18, 2016
The election of a right-wing, repressive government led by President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-dominated Congress has the American left searching for ways to mount a resistance and regain ground in future elections.
Many have found an answer in progressive figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), it seems, as crowds of young people are once again gathering to hear the senator speak.
The senator has spoken out multiple times in the days since Trump's election, arguing that the Democratic party needs to make greater efforts to reach working-class people and overhaul its leadership; vowing that progressives will "not go silently into the night"; and promising to resist Trump's repressive, right-wing policy plans.
The Democratic Party, which spurned Sanders' campaign during the primary, has elevated the senator to a leadership position within the party.
When news emerged that Sanders would speak at a book signing in Baltimore, Maryland, on Thursday, students at Johns Hopkins University waited in line for as long as six hours to hear the senator speak.
"This is definitely the most interest we've received in years," said Teddy Kupfer, a Hopkins senior and lecture organizer, to the Baltimore Sun.
"An estimated 2,000 people filled the auditorium and overflow rooms," the Sun reported:
Joshan Bajaj, a Hopkins junior who campaigned for Sanders back home in Princeton, N.J., was first in line; he showed up at 1 p.m. for the 7 p.m. appearance.
"He is definitely looking out for the common man," Bajaj said. "I like his message of social equality. It's not socialism, but I like his more socialist ideas, like how he wants free college and how he wants a $15 minimum wage."
During his Thursday lecture, Sanders once again made his case that Democrats urgently need to address the rapidly shrinking middle class in order to win future elections.
"Democrats too often have ignored that over a 40-year period [...] the middle class of this country has been shrinking," Sanders told the crowd at Johns Hopkins, according to the Baltimore Sun. "Real wages for American workers have gone down. Inequality has gone up. Those are real issues, and the Democratic Party has got to address them."
"One of the most valuable lessons of Sanders' campaign was that it proved to the Democratic Party that a presidential candidate doesn't just win support by moving to the left, but can actually capture the imagination of increasingly disillusioned voters left behind by both major parties," observes progressive commentator Sonali Kolhatkar.
Part of fighting for the middle class means rejecting corporate donations and corporate influence, the Vermont senator argued.
"If Mr. Trump has the guts to stand up to [...] corporations," Sanders challenged the president-elect earlier on Thursday, "he will have an ally with me."
Sanders' post-election influence is so strong, it seems, that New Jersey Democrats are even vying for an endorsement from the avowed Democratic socialist in the race to replace New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The election of a right-wing, repressive government led by President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-dominated Congress has the American left searching for ways to mount a resistance and regain ground in future elections.
Many have found an answer in progressive figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), it seems, as crowds of young people are once again gathering to hear the senator speak.
The senator has spoken out multiple times in the days since Trump's election, arguing that the Democratic party needs to make greater efforts to reach working-class people and overhaul its leadership; vowing that progressives will "not go silently into the night"; and promising to resist Trump's repressive, right-wing policy plans.
The Democratic Party, which spurned Sanders' campaign during the primary, has elevated the senator to a leadership position within the party.
When news emerged that Sanders would speak at a book signing in Baltimore, Maryland, on Thursday, students at Johns Hopkins University waited in line for as long as six hours to hear the senator speak.
"This is definitely the most interest we've received in years," said Teddy Kupfer, a Hopkins senior and lecture organizer, to the Baltimore Sun.
"An estimated 2,000 people filled the auditorium and overflow rooms," the Sun reported:
Joshan Bajaj, a Hopkins junior who campaigned for Sanders back home in Princeton, N.J., was first in line; he showed up at 1 p.m. for the 7 p.m. appearance.
"He is definitely looking out for the common man," Bajaj said. "I like his message of social equality. It's not socialism, but I like his more socialist ideas, like how he wants free college and how he wants a $15 minimum wage."
During his Thursday lecture, Sanders once again made his case that Democrats urgently need to address the rapidly shrinking middle class in order to win future elections.
"Democrats too often have ignored that over a 40-year period [...] the middle class of this country has been shrinking," Sanders told the crowd at Johns Hopkins, according to the Baltimore Sun. "Real wages for American workers have gone down. Inequality has gone up. Those are real issues, and the Democratic Party has got to address them."
"One of the most valuable lessons of Sanders' campaign was that it proved to the Democratic Party that a presidential candidate doesn't just win support by moving to the left, but can actually capture the imagination of increasingly disillusioned voters left behind by both major parties," observes progressive commentator Sonali Kolhatkar.
Part of fighting for the middle class means rejecting corporate donations and corporate influence, the Vermont senator argued.
"If Mr. Trump has the guts to stand up to [...] corporations," Sanders challenged the president-elect earlier on Thursday, "he will have an ally with me."
Sanders' post-election influence is so strong, it seems, that New Jersey Democrats are even vying for an endorsement from the avowed Democratic socialist in the race to replace New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
The election of a right-wing, repressive government led by President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-dominated Congress has the American left searching for ways to mount a resistance and regain ground in future elections.
Many have found an answer in progressive figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), it seems, as crowds of young people are once again gathering to hear the senator speak.
The senator has spoken out multiple times in the days since Trump's election, arguing that the Democratic party needs to make greater efforts to reach working-class people and overhaul its leadership; vowing that progressives will "not go silently into the night"; and promising to resist Trump's repressive, right-wing policy plans.
The Democratic Party, which spurned Sanders' campaign during the primary, has elevated the senator to a leadership position within the party.
When news emerged that Sanders would speak at a book signing in Baltimore, Maryland, on Thursday, students at Johns Hopkins University waited in line for as long as six hours to hear the senator speak.
"This is definitely the most interest we've received in years," said Teddy Kupfer, a Hopkins senior and lecture organizer, to the Baltimore Sun.
"An estimated 2,000 people filled the auditorium and overflow rooms," the Sun reported:
Joshan Bajaj, a Hopkins junior who campaigned for Sanders back home in Princeton, N.J., was first in line; he showed up at 1 p.m. for the 7 p.m. appearance.
"He is definitely looking out for the common man," Bajaj said. "I like his message of social equality. It's not socialism, but I like his more socialist ideas, like how he wants free college and how he wants a $15 minimum wage."
During his Thursday lecture, Sanders once again made his case that Democrats urgently need to address the rapidly shrinking middle class in order to win future elections.
"Democrats too often have ignored that over a 40-year period [...] the middle class of this country has been shrinking," Sanders told the crowd at Johns Hopkins, according to the Baltimore Sun. "Real wages for American workers have gone down. Inequality has gone up. Those are real issues, and the Democratic Party has got to address them."
"One of the most valuable lessons of Sanders' campaign was that it proved to the Democratic Party that a presidential candidate doesn't just win support by moving to the left, but can actually capture the imagination of increasingly disillusioned voters left behind by both major parties," observes progressive commentator Sonali Kolhatkar.
Part of fighting for the middle class means rejecting corporate donations and corporate influence, the Vermont senator argued.
"If Mr. Trump has the guts to stand up to [...] corporations," Sanders challenged the president-elect earlier on Thursday, "he will have an ally with me."
Sanders' post-election influence is so strong, it seems, that New Jersey Democrats are even vying for an endorsement from the avowed Democratic socialist in the race to replace New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.