Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has some excellent ideas for modern America. His vow to punish Wall Street makes the dissatisfaction that lives in our stomachs purr. However, he is the prototype of someone who cannot functionally succeed as a modern president.
Even his most staunch supporters can’t deny Sanders is a man who fundamentally believes in blowing up the system.
His supporters, myself included, hate the system and the idea of a political world. It is not wrong or even problematic to want to dismantle our reliance on big banks, destroy the 1 percent and provide free college. The problem is Sanders cannot exist successfully in this current political system.
After President Obama was elected, he spent his early years trying to push difficult legislation through and had little success. He had a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, which is how we got the Affordable Healthcare Act.
Republicans have spent the years since whining to no end.
Because of those early days, the Democrats eventually were hosed in the midterms, which led to the Republican majority and the gridlock we’ve seen for much of Obama’s term.
Obama’s policies are incredibly center-of-the-road compared to Sanders’s. Sanders in office will exacerbate considerably.
The president is only one office, and power is limited thanks to the country’s foundation on democratic tenants. One person cannot dictate legislature for an entire country. Sanders has wonderful ideas, but the rest of Washington is not ready to pass them.
Without the support of the infrastructure, Sanders will be met with even more resistance than Obama has been.
We, as a country, are ready for political change. We are ready to see things operate and exist in a different way. We are universally tired of D.C.’s decision-making. We are the adults here, folks.
The problem is this isn’t how things work. Because of how the nuts and bolts of policy occur as a meeting of so many different minds, it is impossible for one person to go into the chief executive office and turn the world upside down. At least it is right now.
Loving and supporting Sanders is a fundamentally great thing. The stances he takes were previously seen as impossible to win on, and now they are at the forefront of the conversation.
However, if long-term change is what we truly seek, we need to find our local “Bernies.” They’re hiding in our city councils, state congresses and town halls. These are the people that can change the world.
If you believe in changing the system from the inside out, it takes active participation more than just once every four years.
Sanders is right about a lot of issues but cannot be president. It’s just the way it is. The good news is we have the power in our hands to change this in two years. And four years. And six and eight and 10. We have to be diligent and present every time there’s an election, presidential or not. We have the power.
Now go forth and change the system.
mcjack@indiana.edu
