"Together we have begun a political revolution," declared a triumphant Bernie Sanders to the Democratic national convention. He has every reason to be triumphant. According to the conventional yardstick of political success, Sanders is a failure: he lost his battle to become the Democratic presidential candidate . But he – and, more importantly, the movement behind him – represent an extraordinary political triumph.
The relatively obscure septuagenarian self-described socialist senator from Vermont was expected to attract derisory support: he ended up running the US's most formidable political machine uncomfortably close. Who could have imagined that, in 2016, a socialist candidate in the United States would have 46% of mandated delegates at a Democratic national convention ?
His movement not only forced issues on the agenda, most notably the injustice of a country with such potential being so monstrously rigged in favour of a tiny elite, but it has dragged the Democrats' policy platform to the left: from the minimum wage to the war on drugs. As his policy director Warren Gunnels has put it : "I think if you read the platform right now, you will understand that the political revolution is alive and kicking." It is worth looking to the political right for precedent. The rightwing Republican Barry Goldwater suffered a landslide defeat in the 1964 presidential election, but much of his politics would go on to dominate the party. "We… who voted for him in 1964 believe he won," wrote the American journalist George Will. "It just took 16 years to count the votes."
Political change does not depend on individuals, however much they inspire their most ardent followers
Undoubtedly, the vast majority of Sanders' supporters will vote for Hillary Clinton, despite a media focus on those pledging to do otherwise . Yes, his most zealous supporters refuse to distinguish between Clinton and Donald Trump. There is nothing radical about failing to take a stand on a far-right racist demagogue sweeping to power in what remains the world's most powerful nation. The election of Trump would represent one of the greatest calamities to befall the west since the end of the second world war. The task ahead is to ensure Trump's defeat – as decisively as possible – and Democratic control of both Houses of Congress, and then to build pressure from below to enact progressive legislation.
There are no shortage of social ills to address: that, as one Princeton academic study found, the US resembles an oligarchy more than a democracy; that wages have been stagnating or falling for many years, fuelling resentment that Trump feeds on; a racist judicial system; an inefficient private healthcare system; extortionate university fees; a younger generation facing a future of insecurity; the likelihood of further disastrous military interventions in the coming years; and so on. The Sanders movement is now a force in American politics, and it must surely set itself ambitious goals for the years ahead.
Political change does not depend on individuals, however much they inspire their most ardent followers. A dependence on one leader is a weakness, not a strength, not least when it becomes a substitute for a clear vision or set of policies. That is not the case with this movement. For those who believe in social justice, the Sanders phenomenon is a beacon – and proof that political change can be achieved, however gruelling and difficult it often is.
Guardian News and Media 2016