It’s Not Over Until It’s OverThis morning I heard from anold...

It’s Not Over Until It’s Over

This morning I heard from an
old friend here in California who said “I’m for Bernie, but he doesn’t really
have a chance anymore. So isn’t my vote for him in the California primary just
prolonging the agony, and indirectly helping Trump?”

I told him:

1.  True, the
electoral numbers are daunting, and Bernie faces an uphill task, but a win
Tuesday will help enormously. One out of 8 Americans lives in California.

2.  Regardless of the
electoral math, Bernie’s candidacy has never been mainly about Bernie. It’s
been about a movement to reclaim our democracy and economy from the moneyed
interests. And a win for Bernie in the California primary (and in other Tuesday
primaries in Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota South Dakota, and New Mexico)
will send an even clearer signal to Washington, the Democratic Party, and the
establishment as a whole, that a large and growing share of Americans is
determined to wrest back control.

3. The goals Bernie has
enunciated in his campaign are essential to our future: getting big money out
of politics and reversing widening inequality; moving toward a single-payer
healthcare system and free tuition at public universities (both financed by
higher taxes on the richest Americans and on Wall Street); a $15 minimum wage;
decriminalization of marijuana and an end to mass incarceration; a new voting
rights act; immigration reform; and a carbon tax. All will require continued
mobilization at all levels of government. A win Tuesday will help continue and
build on that mobilization.

4.  Bernie’s successes don’t help Trump. To the contrary,
they are bringing into politics millions of young voters whose values are
opposite to those of Trump’s. Bernie has received majorities from voters under
age 45 (as well as from independents). He’s won even larger majorities of young
people under 30 – including young women and Latinos. Many have been inspired
and motivated by Bernie to become political activists – the last thing Trump
and the Republicans want.