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UCLA UCLA Previously Published Works Title Bernie sanders and the noose of American elections Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2664g2jt Journal Economic and Political Weekly, 50(43) ISSN 0012-9976 Author Lal, V Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California COMMENTARY wilderness, 1971–80, is associated with Bernie Sanders and the Noose his candidacy for state offi ces as a mem- ber of the Liberty Union Party, which of American Elections grew out of the anti-war, student, and popular movements of the 1960s. In his outlook towards third parties, Sanders Vinay Lal may have been chastened by his early political failures; when he did fi nally Bernie Sanders, who aims at n the early 1960s, a young Jewish win offi ce, he did so as an independent being the Democratic Party’s man from Brooklyn, New York, by and by defeating a six-term Democratic the name of Bernard Sanders, whose incumbent. Sanders’ term as mayor of nominee for the President of the I father was the sole member of his family Burlington, in retrospect, anticipates his US , has earned an unexpected to escape the Holocaust, enrolled as ability over the decades to work within a following with his staunch an undergraduate at the University of capitalist framework and yet visibly lend critique of the super-rich and his Chicago. His political awareness would his support to anti-establishment posi- at once be sharpened at that storied tions. In Burlington, Sanders, much to promise to reduce glaring class institution, where the student chapter of the surprise of many critics and com- inequalities. But his foreign policy the National Association for the Advance- mentators who did not expect him to offers no fundamental departures ment of Colored People was just reorgani- last beyond the initial two-year term, from the received view. Moreover, sing itself as a chapter of the more militant successfully courted businesses and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The engaged in ambitious programmes to his ascendancy signifi es yet Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com- revitalise the downtown district; but, again the impossibility of a third mittee (SNCC), which had been estab- rather unusually for the mayor of an space in American politics which lished in 1960, was similarly pushing American town, Sanders also visited has forever oscillated between American civil rights leaders into adopting Cuba and the Soviet Union. more militant positions. Sanders plunged Sanders’ years as the mayor of Burl- Tweedledum and Tweedledee. into this political ferment, assuming a ington, Vermont, thus furnish in many position as chairman of CORE’s social respects the template for cues to his sub- action committee and committing him- sequent political career, pointing both to self to a struggle to integrate student an uncanny will to political survival and housing at the university (Perlstein advancement and the limitations that 2015). Sanders led the fi rst sit-in at the will almost certainly put a brake on his university in 1962 and, the following ambition to win the White House. Ver- year, joined the “March on Washington mont is the second smallest state of the for Jobs and Freedom.” union, with a population of less than 6,50,000; the “city” of Burlington has Career as Mayor fewer than 50,000 people, and the state The political career of Bernie Sanders, a is predominantly White. Leaving aside candidate running to be the Democratic the question, which is scarcely unimpor- Party nominee in the 2016 Presidential tant, of how Sanders will reach out to elections in the United States (US), has African–Americans and Latinos, large by now been thoroughly rehearsed. The constituencies where his name is little narrative touches upon his unsuccessful known, the critical consideration is how run over a decade for various state offi ces far the experience of Vermont has in Vermont, the tiny north-eastern state shaped his world view and political pri- which he had adopted as his residence, orities. On the issue of gun control, for before his election by 10 votes as mayor instance, Sanders has adopted positions of Burlington in 1981, eight two-year that have sometimes earned him sharp terms in the House of Representatives as rebukes from fellow liberals but plaudits Vermont’s only congressman commenc- from the Republican Party where gun ing in January 1991, and his successful ownership is an article of faith. Even Vinay Lal ([email protected]) teaches run for offi ce as US Senator from Ver- among those who are sympathetic to History at the University of California, mont, the position that he still holds, in him, he is sometimes described as a Los Angeles, the United States. 2006. Sanders’ decade in political “gun nut” (Stern 2015). Most critically, Economic & Political Weekly EPW OCTOBER 24, 2015 vol l no 43 13 COMMENTARY Sanders cast a vote—a decision that may running is the promise that he will work economy, maintain that a candidate’s come to haunt him—in 1993 against the towards the reduction of glaring and still foreign policy credentials are much less Brady Handgun Violence Prevention growing class inequalities, champion the important than the candidate’s ability to Act, which mandates federal background rights of the working class, and arrest speak to the American people about is- checks for gun purchasers, a minimum the decline of the middle class. In speech sues—the availability of jobs, stagnant fi ve-day waiting period, and greatly after speech, and in his declared “Agenda wages, the future of social security, restricted access to fi rearms for felons. for America: 12 Steps Forward” (Sanders immigration reform—that appear to be The US is, of course, exceptional 2015), he has highlighted his plan to more central to their well-being and the among the wealthy nations of the global have the minimum federal wage in- prosperity of American families and North in the rate of homicide by fi re- creased from $7.25 an hour which he communities. If Sanders’ foreign policy arms, and in countries such as Holland rightly describes as a “starvation wage” prescriptions have shortcomings, it is or, better still, Japan—where over the to a “livable wage,” strengthen the not clear that these would be much of a last few years the number of homicides hands of trade unions, introduce gender liability for him. by fi rearms is about 10 each year—it pay equity, make college affordable to Nevertheless, it is important to probe would be a laughable proposition that all, and “take on Wall Street.” Sanders briefl y Sanders’ positions on US foreign the Brady Act should be construed as a argues, quite reasonably, that a majority policy, more particularly since they “progressive” piece of legislation. And, of Americans share his aspirations, and might help reveal whether there is any- yet, Sanders could not bring himself to he expects to get considerable traction thing that marks him as someone who vote for an exceedingly modest legisla- from this streak of populism. “Our coun- might help dim the long-burning fl ame tive intervention in a public sphere dom- try belongs to all our people and not just of American hubris. To take one exam- inated by the National Rifl e Association a handful of billionaires,” he told an ple, on the vexed question of the “Iran (NRA) and its supporters. Sanders may audi ence in Minneapolis in late May, Deal,” which Republicans, with unstint- claim in his defence that he represents and while deploring the “grotesque level ing support from the state of Israel and the entire state of Vermont, not just of income and wealth inequality in the American Zionists, attempted to scuttle progressives and liberals, but the fact US” at a press meeting, he called for a with one of the most relentless political remains that Vermont has a high gun “political revolution in this country” campaigns in recent memory, Sanders ownership rate, a culture of hunting, (Cassidy 2015). Even elements of this came out in full support of President and comparatively lax gun control laws; rhetoric are shared by others, such as Barack Obama. He has described the the state allows anyone to carry con- those activists who instigated Occupy deal as a victory “for diplomacy over cealed weapons without a permit. Wall Street and the subsequent Occupy sabre- rattling,” and more generally his Though Sanders has also cast votes movement. agreement with Obama’s disposition to for measures that would increase mini- Where Sanders has certainly gone negotiate political solutions is signifi ed mum sentencing for gun crimes and ban beyond other politicians and almost by his remark that “diplomatic relations, the sale of semi-automatic assault weap- certainly the great majority of Americans, even with adversarial countries, are ons, his tacit support for the gun lobby is is in his analysis of the undeclared class integral to long-term security.” nowhere more apparent than in his egre- warfare that the “wealthiest and most Considering that the American politi- gious support for the NRA-backed Protec- powerful people” in the country have been cal landscape is extremely permissive tion of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a waging “against working families, of individuals such as the former US piece of legislation, introduced by the against the disappearing and shrinking Amba ssador to the United Nations (UN), Republicans in 2005, which shields gun middle class of our country. The billion- John Bolton, who unambiguously called manufacturers and dealers from liability aires of America are on the warpath. for the bombing of Iran in the New York when their fi rearms have been used for They want more and more and more” Times (Bolton 2015), Sanders may at criminal activity (Stern 2015; Qiu 2015).