Saturday, May 14, 2016

An Open Letter to Bernie Sanders

Bernie, you’re doing great. Keep pushing.

Win as many delegates as you can and, if the time comes, sit down with Hillary to rebuild the Democratic Party into an activist organization that serves local needs and fights for its platform year-round.

There’s no good reason to ignore the platform after the convention. It should be concise, clear, and powerful and the focus for organizing throughout the year throughout the country.

Get the strongest possible platform.
Make the Party more democratic.
And beat Trump.

Organize small precinct-based clubs that:
  • Nurture face-to-face community.
  • Work together to make the world a better place.
  • And organize their own activities to advance the Democratic Party platform.

Among other options, club members could devote at least a few hours a month to:
  • Share a meal.
  • Turn off phones.
  • Discuss issues.
  • Listen to and learn from one another.
  • Get involved in the local Democratic Party.
  • Meet up to call voters in swing states.
  • Go together to volunteer at a soup kitchen.
  • Register voters.
  • Organize a picnic and invite neighbors.
  • Develop friendships.
  • Acknowledge mistakes and help one another become more effective.

Maybe Hillary will join you in getting the Party to organize precinct clubs. If not, you and your supporters can organize a Precinct Organizing Caucus within the Party and elect representatives to develop proposals for the 2020 Democratic Party platform.

Your platform is excellent, but it can be improved. You can do more to address racism, for example. Lead with humility.

The Democratic Party is already a remarkably democratic, inclusive, bottom-up coalition with a relatively solid platform.

Let’s transform it into an activist organization that promotes evolutionary political revolution.

With your leadership, we can do it.

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