Let's just hope that Hillary, once officially nominated (and elected), cares enough to take seriously the very clear and fundamental message of Sanders. Let's not compromise it all away with incremental talk and middle way negotiations.
I think that those who have been pushed into more radical and anarchist positions because of Bernie's message should get a grip and still vote for Hillary. But those voting for Hillary should also acknowledge that Bernie is not simply some voice ranting out of moral principles, idealist hopes and personal passion, and that his fervent supporters are not just a bunch of civic adolescents and naive idealists.
Is that all Bernie represents to Hillary supporters - a guy with good morals, daring ideals and displaced compassion? I think they are wrong in underestimating the profound influence Sanders has had. I think that his impact has only just begun, even as he's merely an instrument giving voice to something obvious and yet shocking - the wealth, health and ecological disasters of our times.
Let's hope that the best of Sanders directly positively impacts the American political landscape. Robert Reich astutely frames the situation moving forward:
"I just got off the phone with a former Republican member of Congress who says he "can't believe" Trump won all of today's primaries. "I don't get it," he said. "The Republican Party is completely out of control."
Earlier today I spoke with a Hillary supporter who asked me to urge Bernie to get out of the race. "He can't win, and the longer he stays in the harder he's making it for Hillary in the general [election]," she said. "I just don't get it."
Neither of the people I spoke with "get" the biggest single force in the 2016 election: a furious revolt against the political establishment.
The revolt has taken two very different forms - progressive populism (Bernie's "political revolution") and authoritarian populism (Donald Trump's bloviated bigotry). They are the positive and negative sides of the same coin,
Both should be wake-up calls for America's two major political parties and the corporate and financial elites that have sponsored them for decades. Unless or until the establishment responds to the growing frustrations of a shrinking and increasingly insecure middle class, the populist revolt - its reformist zeal on one side, and its hatefulness on the other - will only intensify in coming years."
I think Reich is spot on here. Real changes from the ground up are only a matter of time. How urgently will the American people respond to the impoverishment of the middle class? How messy will things need to get before the filthy rich, powerful constituencies and Washington yield to the demands and eventual necessities of the issues that Sanders brings to light?
Will centrists, conservatives, and corporations find ways to tone down the current climate and tame the Senate? If not, what might the next concrete steps of populist engagement look like - beyond the mere formalities of political processes and into the heart of the American pulse for freedom, flourishing and excellence in the aftermath of Sanders?