Bernie Sanders was perhaps the wrong man with the right message.
On Wednesday, the Vermont Senator ended his second presidential quest, acceding a majority of Democrats are casting their lot with Joe Biden for the party’s nomination.
Even so, Sanders’s policies are more important now than ever.
If ever there were a need for universal health care, it’s now. Engulfed by a health crisis, millions of Americans have lost not only their jobs, but also their health insurance. That their employment dictates their healthcare is wrong.
Likewise, Sanders’s platform of relieving student debt and raising taxes on the super wealthy would come in handy as millions of Americans are seeking unemployment and the country is hemorrhaging debt to help pay for trillions in relief.
And were we on a path to raise the minimum wage — also a Sanders platform — those newly unemployed would perhaps have more of a cushion to see them through. Those in the service industries — hospitality, food, and retail — have been hit particularly hard by stay-at-home orders. That they also are typically low-wage earners adds insult to injury.
SANDERS’ tenacious demeanor gave many the impression he was incapable of compromise.
Not always.
A decade ago, President Barack Obama shared Sanders’s hopes for universal healthcare, including a public option where a federal plan would compete against those offered by private industries.
But politics interfered, and what was to become the Affordable Care Act was considerably weakened by those who took their marching orders from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries.
Rather than balk, Sanders compromised.
The return? Sanders secured $11 billion to launch public health clinics across the country, including that of the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas in Iola.
THE REGISTER favored Biden to Sanders because despite these laudable measures, we felt they were too extreme for a majority of Americans and we doubted he could garner the bipartisan support in Congress necessary to see them to fruition.
Sanders’ exit doesn’t mean we’ll never know whether his ideas would work.
In fact, his widespread popularity has done much to move the Democratic party further to the left ideologically.
