‘Not me. Us.” It’s the ubiquitous slogan for the presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. It also happens to be the guiding principle of any newspaper editorial board. An endorsement doesn’t reflect the belief of one individual; it’s the consensus of the group. And our editorial board, after much debating and deliberating, is endorsing Sanders for the Democratic presidential nominee.
On Super Tuesday, in the privacy of our own booths, there are, among our board, individuals who may vote for our home state Sen. Elizabeth Warren or former Vice President Joe Biden because of our personal allegiances and preferences. But as a board, we are behind Sanders for many reasons, including one upon which we can all agree: In what continues to be a crowded Democratic primary to unseat our dangerous president, we believe Sanders is the candidate best positioned to take down Trump in what will be one of the most important, and most unusual, presidential elections in the history of the United States.
In 2020, we need more than a reset button; we need a revolution. Trump’s autocratic and corrupt presidency — which has included scapegoating minorities, separating families, flouting our democratic checks and balances to their breaking point and telling thousands of lies — survived the two-year Mueller investigation, which found 10 instances of obstruction of justice, and a well-documented and well-argued House impeachment.
Now it’s up to us to get him out.
What Sanders offers is a passionate following to match Trump’s own, but the passion of their ardent followers is where the similarities between these two end.
In the Gazette’s Democratic primary endorsement of Sanders in 2016, the editorial board wrote that he has “a record of working to narrow the gap between rich and poor, to treat climate change as a dire threat to future generations and to end the days of ‘the billionaire class’ subverting the common good.”
In the four years since that endorsement was written — and in the 35 years of Sanders’ political career before that — little has changed in his political stances. He has remained a steadfast champion of progressive and inclusive policies as he has risen up through the offices of mayor of Burlington, Vermont, U.S. representative and U.S. senator.
That authenticity has paid dividends and convinced a large swath of voters, along with this editorial board, that Sanders means what he says.
What has changed in the four years since is that, due partly to Sanders’ insurgent 2016 presidential run, many of the candidate’s positions that were dismissed as politically impossible — a $15 minimum wage, paid family leave, free college and Medicare for All — have moved into the political mainstream. The minimum wage was raised in more than 20 states this year, with several passing legislation to increase it gradually over the coming years. Free college programs exist in states including Arkansas, Tennessee and New York. And more and more politicians, including many of our local legislators, are backing some version of Medicare for All.
The signature proposals Sanders champions are people-focused programs popular with many Americans. In a 2018 survey, 70% of Americans, including a majority of both Democrats and Republicans, said they support Medicare for All, also known as a single-payer health care system. And according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted last year, two-thirds of Americans said they favored raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. It’s no wonder voters support these programs; the vast majority of Americans would benefit from them, as do people in most of the rest of the developed world, where similar programs already exist.
And yet — as Sanders has long pointed out — the influence of money in politics has swayed the conversation away from these ideas that stand to benefit ordinary people over wealthy individuals and corporations.
Climate change is another area in which Sanders, an early supporter of the Green New Deal backed by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, proposes the boldest action. His eponymous $16.3 trillion plan, among other points, declares climate change a national emergency; aims to reach 100% renewable energy for electricity and transportation by 2030 and complete decarbonization by 2050; and commits to providing $200 billion to the Green Climate Fund, rejoining the Paris Agreement and “reasserting the United States’ leadership in the global fight against climate change.”
Last month, the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led activist group pushing for aggressive action on climate change, endorsed Sanders for president, saying: “Senator Sanders has made it clear throughout his political career and in this campaign that he grasps the scale of the climate crisis, the urgency with which we must act to address it, and the opportunity we have in coming together to do so.”
While Sanders also gets our endorsement, we want to acknowledge the strengths of Sen. Warren. Her clear-eyed focus on corruption and her commitment to progressive causes make us glad she stepped into this race, even as many — including the Boston Globe editorial board — urged her to stay out, pondering whether “there’s a ceiling on her popularity.” (They’ve since changed their tune; the Globe endorsed Warren earlier this week.)
Warren has brought tremendous skill and substance to this cycle’s presidential campaign, but an essential part of a presidential campaign is the ability to build a winning coalition and to capture the hearts and minds of the electorate. In election day polls from the first three states to vote, Sanders dominated among young voters, progressives and Latinos.
He also has surpassed Biden in support from African-Americans, according to the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. Even eschewing high-dollar support, last month Sanders raised $25 million from around 650,000 donors, more than any of his competitors raised in any full quarter in 2019, according to his campaign.
That grassroots fundraising has allowed Sanders to compete all across the country, and it will continue to fuel his campaign through the general election against Trump, should Sanders become the Democratic nominee.
Sanders is not a perfect candidate. We worry about his age, 78, and his health after he had a heart attack this fall. We wish the televised debates allowed less noise and more discussion about how the candidate proposes to cover the costs of his ambitious health care and climate plans. We grimaced to hear his recent remarks about Fidel Castro’s Cuba, which angered and alienated many Latinos in Florida.
Still, for all his flaws, Sanders is the face of a movement that’s only growing in numbers, and he continues to top the polls, garnering excitement among a broad range of Americans — including new supporters every day.