{77} Bernie’s Message

Jun 18

“‘There’s a lot of individual credit and blame in a capitalist society,’ Jane Sanders told me.

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“She described Bernie’s message in the town halls as: ‘You know, this is not an individual failure that you’re having trouble meeting your bills, or that your health has suffered because you can’t afford health care. He tries to give them a context that says, Hey, stop blaming yourself. Start thinking about how you, in a democracy, can help change the system.’”

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“After a few of these town halls, Sanders’ own stoicism makes more sense. He begins to seem almost a secular priest: People come to him with stories of despair, and he lifts their pain up into the air, to a place where it is no longer personal but something civic. He gives them the language and information to know it isn’t their fault.

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“His speeches are like that hug in Good Will Hunting. It’s not your fault; it’s not your fault. The system did this. Big corporations did this. A bought-and-paid-for government did this.

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“He connects their pain to the pain of others, and in the process that pain is remade, almost transubstantiated, into a sweeping case against a corrupt system.

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“The priest, in this metaphor, doesn’t reveal himself because his job is to float above his own feelings, own needs, own desire to be liked. His job is to make space for, make sense of and make use of your pain.” — Anand Giridharadas; Time—Bernie Sanders Wants to Change America. But He May Have to Change Himself First.