Liz Warrens - Bernie Sanders: Why America May Feel the Bern in 2020

By Liz Warrens

Published by Sports Entertainment Publishingat Smashwords.

2016 Copyright Sports EntertainmentPublishing. All Rights Reserved worldwide. May not be copied ordistributed without prior written permission from thepublisher.

This eBook is not affiliated with or endorsedby Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party, or anyofficial representatives thereof.

All information contained in this eBook hasbeen obtained by exclusive interviews, online research, andinformation freely available in the public domain.

This eBook provides information that you readand use at your own risk.

Cover image is available (with attribution)royalty free and for commercial use to all by DonkeyHotey via Flickr . Sports Entertainment Publishingdoes not claim ownership of cover photo, which may be used byothers with proper source attribution.

Bernie Sanders is poised to surpass RonaldReagans feat by becoming the oldest man ever elected president ofthe United States.

But that distinction will likely have to waituntil 2020.

You see, in 2016 despite the best effortsby a passionate throng of motivated anti-establishment voters Hilary Clintons nomination by the Democratic Party wont bedenied.

But her election cant be guaranteed.

At a time when the Republican Party is miredin controversy stemming from the circus-like environmentsurrounding the partys primary process, the Clinton campaign despite being weakened by scandal and a surging Sanders campaign --will likely hobble closer toward the White House in 2016 than willBernie Sanders.

Of course, that doesnt ensure victory. AndBernie knows it.

Hilary Clinton will lose to either DonaldTrump or Ted Cruz in the 2016 general election, and by 2020, thestate of this nation will be so embarrassing that Sanders can run awinning I told you so campaign all the way to a landslidevictory. What youre seeing now is the Democratic version of RonaldReagans 1976 bid for the presidency. 1980 was meant to be Reagansyear. 2020 will be Bernies year, one political scientist told theNew York press in March 2016, the day following Bernies upsetvictory in the Democratic primary in Michigan.

What Bernie Sanders wont tell hissupporters, however, is that he understands that the opportunity in2020 is greater than what weve seen in 2016.

Bernie, I believe, sees 2020 as the year hecant lose. As for 2016? Its the year its probably best for himto lose. The country is just crazy enough to vote in a Republicanthis time. And if one of the GOPs clowns gets elected, the 2020race will be easier for a donkey to win than it was in 2008. AndBernie will be the frontrunner by default.

This year? Its a chance for Bernie to get onthe map. And hes done that beautifully.

"Hillary Clinton has just been on the publicradar longer, often in scandal-ridden scenarios," Sally Kohn writesfor CNN . "They may be manufactured by the right wing, in thecase of Benghazi, or the result of her own lack of transparency inthe case of her State Department emails, but the fact is Clintonjust comes with more baggage. It's hard enough to seem like a freshcandidate when you're anything but. It's even harder at a time whenvoters are plainly clamoring for outsiders."

"But to define who Sanders is purely by whoClinton is not misses the mark," Kohn continues. "The progressivepopulist wing of the Democratic Party that tried its damndest todraft Elizabeth Warren for 2016 has been more than willing tosettle for Sanders as its standard-bearer. Though Warren is morearticulate in explaining the country's economic inequities and whatto do about them, Sanders' heart is clearly in the same place.That's enough for most populist Democrats and populist voters ingeneral who are fed up with an economic game rigged againstordinary Americans."

"But Bernie Sanders is a socialist!" shepoints out. "No one would elect a socialist president, right? Notnecessarily. This past June, Gallop found that almost half ofAmericans say they would vote for a socialist to be president. Plusonce Americans learn more about what Sanders brand of socialismlooks like, they may like him even more."

To some, Sanders is the smartest politicaloperative in the race. He may look like Larry David and come acrosslike a disheveled, cranky old man. But make no mistake about it. Heknows what he is doing.

Bernie, I think, realizes that 2016 is outof reach, even if for all the wrong reasons, blogger KevinMatthies says, noting that Hillary Clinton has every unfairadvantage in the book and would likely lose to Sanders easily inthe primaries if not for years of momentum at her back.

According to Matthies, Sanders truly believeshis own message and wants to change America for the better. As aresult, the Senator is willing to endure a hellacious uphill fightagainst Hillary Clinton this time around to ensure his frontrunnerstatus next turn.

But Sanders plays down a 2020 bid. Hismessage remains focused on 2016, even if his unspoken strategy allegedly, of course is to win in 2020 after Republicans royallyscrew up this country and their own party between 2017 and 2021,Matthies says.

When we got into this race, our intentionwas to win, the Vermont Senator told OnPoint in October 2015, never mentioning a word of2020. We thought we had a message that would resonate with theAmerican people. My experience has been that the American peopleare sick and tired of seeing the middle class continue to decline.Over 47 million people living in poverty and almost all new incomeand wealth going to the top one percent. That was a message that Ibelieved would resonate. If youre asking me, did I believe itwould resonate as quickly as it has? No, that I did not think. Thefact that were drawing huge crowds all over this country wellbe in Boston on Saturday evening, Springfield, Mass. Saturdayafternoon the kinds of crowds were drawing, the kinds of smalldonations that are coming into the campaign, the kind of volunteerorganizations that were putting together has gone a lot fasterthan I thought it would.

Without question, Bernie is beloved by people people who dont like to be told who their nominee has to be.When in 2014 it became crystal clear that Hillary Clinton wasalmost certainly going to be her partys presidential nominee in2016, countless Dems balked at the idea. And they turned theirattention to the only other prominent progressive to step up to theplate in hopes of wrangling away that to which Clinton apparentlyfelt entitled the Democratic nomination for president of theUnited States.

But Millennials just arent having it. Thisgroup, fiercely determined to get their way, wont go quietly intothat good night if Hillary Clinton or one of the whack-job GOPersbecomes Commander in Chief. In fact, Sanders supporters will returnwith a vengeance in 2020.

But why do Millennials love Bernie Sanders somuch?

We are well acquainted with many policyareas in which Millennials differ from nearly every othergeneration: gay marriage, legalization of marijuana, the criminaljustice system, says Whitney Ross Manzo, an assistant professor ofpolitical science at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. They arealso probably a major reason why support for the death penalty hasslowly been eroding.

Additionally, Manzo writes in USA Today , Millennials are leading very different livesfrom the lives other generations in the United States have ledbecause of crushing student loan debt affecting everything fromhome buying to starting a business to even having a family. Thisgroup thinks differently and wants something different from ourgovernment than the same old partisan gridlock and cronycapitalism. They probably arent actually socialists Millennialsare independent and many favor smaller government but, thenagain, neither, strictly speaking, is Bernie Sanders. So maybe itisnt shocking at all that Sanders is so popular with Millennials.Hes talking about a revolution while all of the other candidatesseem to be trying to force them into a dusty old coat.