This is my response to an e-mail I received about how to proceed with electoral change citing the need to influence more prominent people and educate more people in general:
I mostly agree but I think grassroots and rank-and-file activism will bring forward many new voices which will be just as important, if not more important, than those you suggest we reach out to--- although I certainly do not write off reaching out to the people you suggest.
I also think face-to-face meeting with people is important and this is why when I travel I do a lot of "tabling." I set up a portable table with leaflets, petitions and banners promoting my blog and talk to people.
The question still remains: What do we do right now? And I do mean right NOW.
Many groups and individuals are working on different ways to approach the dilemma we are now confronted with where Bernie Sanders the preeminent socialist "Independent" has now made it official that he will not seek the presidency outside of the Democratic Party which everyone pretty much knows he has no chance at all in attaining the Democratic Party's nomination through the National Convention process which is tightly manipulated and controlled to conform to Wall Street dictate which is something much less than democracy in action and more akin to the kind of lack of democracy imposed upon workers in the workplaces of these Wall Street and big and small business employers.
In my opinion after talking with people, I conclude that a vast majority of Bernie's supporters expect him to seek the presidency outside of the Democratic Party because based on their experience working in and around the Democratic Party they know the deck has already been stacked against Bernie and for Hillary Clinton.
Others say those who support going outside the Democratic Party is a more narrow margin.
No matter how wide the gap is, one thing is for sure: never has there been so much outward support expressed for running a candidate for president outside of the Democratic Party with the exception of two campaigns--- those of Eugene Debs and his Socialist Party, and the Henry Wallace and his Progressive Party campaign managed by former socialist Minnesota Governor Elmer A. Benson who was elected on the socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party ticket which intended to go national with Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson intending to run against President Franklin D. Roosevelt because Roosevelt was not bring forth reforms fast enough and the New Deal did not go far enough.
So now we have this potential base of people willing to break free from this two-party trap which includes at least 60,000 unorganized activists and no doubt millions of Americans who are liberal, progressive and left thinking--- predominantly working class--- who are so thoroughly fed up with the two-party trap and searching or at least thinking about a realistic alternative.
I have noticed many people now citing the Vermont Progressive Party as the kind of national formation they would like to see.
Others point to the Greens.
Some are wondering if the Justice Party can't be salvaged and saved while others are turning to the small sectarian left parties and still others believe we need some kind of mass "left" party and the variety of suggestions is so numerous I can't even list them all here.
In my opinion, we should probably be thinking along the lines of a national Progressive Party; one that is very similar to Canada's socialist oriented New Democratic Party which is now on the verge of taking national power for the very first time.
It is said that once Bernie goes through the Democratic Party's National Convention nominating process that federal election law/s prohibit him from running on another party's ticket for president. I have not been able to find this specific law if it does exist; but, if factual, then Bernie and his supporters better think real fast if they want to get trapped in this kind of dead end alley.
We also need to expand a discussion that is beginning to take place that Bernie needs to join together as part of a slate of liberals, progressives and leftists (all inclusive--- everyone who wants in gets in) running for House and Senate seats while filling up state house and local seats on county and city councils and school boards--- the overwhelming majority of all Americans agree we need a "clean sweep" that will kick out all these crooked and corrupt Wall Street bribed politicians now occupying almost all of these offices.
Bernie Sanders and his political entourage tout their campaign as a "political revolution" and "a movement" yet movements and political revolutions require not just one candidate running for president but an entire slate as being the only way to win as any trade unionist who has run successfully for union office understands the strength of having an entire slate of candidates. Usually all on the slate do not win but by running a slate of candidates it often makes it possible to elect enough of the slate to gain a majority or a very important and influential minority which can push towards the goals and objectives intended.
Thanks for your thought provoking response,
Alan