Crashing The Party
From the Bernie Sanders campaign to a progressive movement
Heather Gaitney
Verso Books
So many times since the election of Donald Trump have I heard experts telling me what went wrong )or indeed right). People from a well established establishment offering their views on what they know best. Not what they feel they know but as it’s their opinion it is definitely right.
Of course I have my own views but as they aren’t based in fact I don’t really espouse them as reality, just my feelings. Gautney worked on the Sanders campaign so it’s interesting to get this insight. I’m struck by Sanders definition of working class “those who take orders in work”. As class becomes less and less prevalent in today’s neoliberal conversation it is one way of bringing it back in. I’m also struck by the vast difference in sloganeering. Ronald Reagan typified a certain way of thinking when explaining the sort of works he wanted “a society where anyone can be a millionaire” whereas Sanders is seeking a “society where no one is poor” simple eh?
This isn’t a book trying to state how socialist Sanders is, or even if he is socialist. There’s enough people on the left dissecting that as they search for the perfect solution, in the meantime the right keep getting victories. For years people in politics have been voted in in the premise that The Other Guy Is Worse, that can only prevail for so long.
Ultimately this is a book about ideas. It questions celebrity electoral contests that focus on candidates who may have progressive ideas but it becomes the cult of the person rather than the idea. We need to move towards this type of community work and away from the cult of personality and dependence on elections. This of course is a huge problem as our political system is based on elections which is what that establishment want to sustain
niallhope
