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Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Know What The Democratic Party Stands For

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 05:18 PST, Mar 15, 2017

Vermont Senator and failed Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is apparently pretty unhappy with the political party that many believe stymied his White House aspirations. When asked in a recent interview by New York Magazine what the Democratic Party stands for, Senator Sanders admitted that he is simply unable to give a “definitive answer” to that question, despite his 2016 attempt to be the leader of the Dems.

As the Washington Post reports, Bernie Sanders is pulling no punches in calling out the Democratic Party in the midst of a Washington, D.C., political firestorm that is captivating the nation.

“You’re asking a good question, and I can’t give you a definitive answer. Certainly there are some people in the Democratic Party who want to maintain the status quo. They would rather go down with the Titanic so long as they have first-class seats.”

During the 2016 campaign, Bernie Sanders ran for POTUS on the Democratic ticket; not only that, he gave frontrunner Hillary Clinton a huge run for her money during the primaries. He found victory in nearly two dozen states, and Bernie is currently part of the Democratic Senate leadership. Prior to the 2016 election, Sanders was the longest-serving Independent state senator in the history of the U.S. Congress.

In a nutshell, while Bernie Sanders is currently a member of the Democratic Party, he’s a bit of a newbie, which could potentially explain why he admits to being unable to tell the world what the Dems stand for.

It could also explain his cynical views of some career or “establishment” Democrats.

Bernie Sanders is famously one of the most liberal of all liberal Senators, but as the Washington Post mentions, his own vision of liberalism is much more independent than a Democratic Party controlled by Wall Street, brokers, and donors rather than by the voters. In fact, his commitment to making the will of his voters the foundation of his platform was the basis of Bernie Sanders’ meteoric success in the 2016 campaign. It was also the anger of so many who voted for Bernie Sanders in the primaries only to have him lose the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton.

Since stepping into the presidential race, Bernie has vowed that his goal is to bring about real change. It is being reported that his comments regarding a lack of knowledge of the underlying Democratic Party vision are a reflection of how unhappy Bernie Sanders truly is with Washington Dems.

Between political infighting over the new DNC chairman (Bernie Sanders backed Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who lost to establishment favorite Tom Perez) and a discord over what the Democratic Party should focus on following Hillary Clinton’s devastating November loss, Sanders has been more than willing to expose a “party at odds with itself.”

Bernie Sanders has called for his new party to be rebuilt and rebranded from the bottom up. Establishment Democrats are working tirelessly to maintain the status quo. And the division has Bernie Sanders, California Senator Elizabeth Warren, and many others wondering if voters can be wooed to the party in the upcoming midterm elections.

As the Washington Times reports, prior to his recent comments comparing establishment Democrats to wealthy Titanic passengers, Bernie Sanders was already calling for a complete restructuring and revamping of the party. Sanders made some pretty damning comments about the current DNC during an interview with CNN’s State of the Union.

“We need a total transformation. We’ve got to open up the party to working people, to young people, and make it crystal clear that the Democratic Party is going to take on Wall Street.”

During the 2016 campaign, young people flocked to Bernie Sanders in droves to cast their ballots for the then-largely unknown political upstart.

The comments were made just after Bernie Sanders-backed DNC chairman candidate Ellison lost his bid to former labor secretary Tom Perez. In the interview, Sanders added that Perez now has the opportunity to rebuild the faltering Democratic Party in a vision that incorporates the working class, the young, and political outsiders rather than simply bowing to the liberal D.C. establishment.

“And I hope he seizes it. And that is to understand, that in fact the way the Democratic Party has been run for decades has not worked.”

What do you think? Can Senator Sanders promote enough change in the DNC to help propel Democrats to a midterm victory and possibly even a 2020 presidential upset? Is Bernie Sanders out of line and the Democratic Party adequate the way it is?

[Featured Image by Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Images]

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