Night School: Electoral Politics

Our Super Tuesday Night School will focus on the hot button issue of electoral politics.

Despite decades of neoliberal onslaught, election campaigns are still the form of political activity that everyday Americans engage with the most and any attempt by socialists to mobilize millions of Americans will require using the ballot box.

Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign has demonstrated the immense potential of electoral insurgencies in building a working class base that can sustain the democratic socialist project beyond the present political moment. Bernie has used his primary run to expose the fundamental inequality in society—the vast divide between the millionaires and the billionaires and the working class in this country—and to organize around wildly popular policy programs such as universal healthcare, a Green New Deal, and free, high quality public education. Though Bernie’s bid marks a sea change in politics, elections cannot be the exclusive avenue for building a movement for democratic socialism. 

As one of the only roads to power within the current capitalist state, the electoral arena has helped leftists implement major social reforms. But this path is limited by constraints in both the electoral sphere and the political economy at large. Join us to discuss.

Readings

Matt Karp, Is This the Future Liberals Want

David Broder, The State We Need