Q. Youre not really saying whether you could run as a Democrat? A. I want to hear what progressives have to say about that. The more radical approach would be to run as an independent, and essentially when youre doing that youre not just running for president of the United States, youre running to build a new political movement in America - which presumably would lead to other candidates running outside of the Democratic Party, essentially starting a third party. That idea has been talked about in this country for decades and decades and decades, from Eugene Debs forward – without much success. And I say that as the longest serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. In Vermont, I think we have had more success than in any other state in the country in terms of progressive third-party politics. During my tenure as mayor of Burlington, I defeated Democrats and Republicans and helped start a third-party movement. Today, there is a statewide progressive party which now has three people in the state Senate, out of 30, and a number of representatives in the state legislature. But that process has taken 30 years. So it is not easy. If you look back to (Ralph) Naders candidacy (in 2000), the hope of Nader was not just that he might be elected president but that he would create a strong third party. Nader was a very strong candidate, very smart, very articulate. But the strong third-party did not emerge. The fact is that is very difficult to do.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 03:07:13 +0000
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