WORDS TO LIVE BY...#4.

I would be true, for there are those who trust me;

I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.

HOWARD A. WALTER.

Bernie Sanders for President Strategy Memo. FAIZ SHAKIR, CAMPAIGN MANAGER.

David -

This election needs to be about so much more than beating Donald Trump.

It is a mistake to think that this election is simply about beating one man — an aberration of a president — and that everything will simply return to “normal.”

The reality is that “normal” in our country before there was a President Trump still meant an immoral lack of healthcare, unlivable low wages, rampant corporate greed, a racist criminal justice system, and a corrupt political system.

So, no. It is not enough to just defeat Donald Trump. Returning to “normal” is not acceptable. Here’s how we can do much, much more than that.

Below, I give you a preview of our strategy to win the Democratic nomination, defeat Donald Trump, and transform our country. This is what it will take. 

People Trust Bernie to Fight

When it comes time for campaigning, a lot of politicians tend to make big promises to voters, and then if they win, actually do what their biggest funders want them to do. It’s no secret that those are often at odds with each other.

There will be several people in this election who can point to polls that they may be able to defeat Donald Trump.

Bernie Sanders has a lifetime of consistency on the biggest questions of our time: fighting for Medicare for All, taking on corporate power, fighting for racial justice, solving climate change, and making our country more fair for more people.

You know that Bernie believes in these issues to his core. There’s no question. He’s going to stick to what he believes.

Deep Investment in Organizing

Having slick television ads alone is not going to win this election, and it’s certainly not going to help pass Medicare for All. The way to truly transform our country is by organizing our communities from bottom to top.

We need to be out on the doors and on the phones, speaking with our friends and neighbors and classmates and coworkers. We need to build a movement of people who are deeply invested in this work, and our campaign needs to invest in that movement.

If we want to win, it will require all of us together. And we think that together, our campaign is the best situated to organize the kind of movement that has never been seen before.

Empowering Our Supporters 

This is your campaign, working in your communities, speaking with people you know. You are eager to get to work, and you know how we can win.

Already, our organizing kickoff brought together 60,000 people at 4,700 events who immediately got to work contacting voters. We unveiled our voter contact app, called BERN, that lets anyone start organizing their communities. No other campaign comes close to doing that ... yet.

The work to win the election and to transform our country needs to be organized by people who want to make it happen. 

Accountability to Our Movement

I may be the campaign manager of Bernie 2020, but this is not about me. It’s not just about Bernie, either. It’s about all of us. And because of that, I think it’s critically important that our work during and after this campaign is based on accountability.

We’re going to do what we think is necessary to win, and we also need to do what is necessary to keep our movement strong.  

Continuing the Political Revolution

The most dangerous mistake that we can make is thinking that our work is done after Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

No person in the world — not Bernie Sanders, and no one else — could possibly be able to implement our agenda simply by winning the election. 

What We Need

So that’s our strategy to win the nomination, defeat Donald Trump, and transform our country. It’s about standing up for what’s right. It’s about fighting the political, financial, and corporate establishments. It’s about working together in our communities. And it’s about building a lasting movement.

In solidarity,

Faiz Shakir
Campaign Manager

CONTRIBUTE

BETO ORGANIZING TEAM. BETO FOR AMERICA.

David,

Beto’s held more events than any candidate in this race, even though we got a later start than most. He’s answered more than 700 questions at town hall events from Iowa, to New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, California, Texas, Wisconsin and more.

We’re running at high speed because the central theme of this campaign is that we’re taking no one for granted and leaving no one behind. Our end goal is simple. By the time we get to the Iowa Caucus, we want our campaign to have heard from or talked to more voters than any other. But Beto can’t do that all by himself.

We need volunteers to help with essential voter outreach. 

Canvass for Beto | Providence 1000 Elmwood Avenue, Providence, RI Saturday, May 11, 11:00 AM Get more info or RSVP »

Philosophy without borders: our latest posts, 29 april - 6 may 2019.

Dear Philosopher or Philosophically-Minded Person,

PHILOSOPHY WITHOUT BORDERS, which is home-based on Patreon, here—  
www.patreon.com/philosophywithoutborders
is an open-source, open-minded forum for sharing original philosophy,  
produced by critically thoughtful, insightful, reflective people for  
other critically thoughtful, insightful, reflective people, with no  
restraints on what form the philosophy may take; and with no  
restriction by borders or boundaries of any kind, be they restrictions  
inherent in schools of thought, educational institutions, states or  
national boundaries, or legal or moral systems.

Here’s our blog, AGAINST PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY—
https://againstprofphil.org/

Here are the latest posts on our blog—

Deconstructing Decolonization.
https://againstprofphil.org/2019/05/03/philosophy-ripped-from-the-headlines-issue-18-1-may-2019-deconstructing-decolonization/

The Crisis In Higher Education: What Is To Be Done?
https://againstprofphil.org/2019/05/01/the-crisis-in-higher-education-what-is-to-be-done/

Revenge Of The Postmodern Or Neo-Nietzchean Logic Skeptic.
https://againstprofphil.org/2019/04/29/revenge-of-the-postmodern-or-neo-nietzchean-logic-skeptic/

And here are our two journals—

BORDERLESS PHILOSOPHY
https://www.cckp.space/

CONTEMPORARY STUDIES IN KANTIAN PHILOSOPHY
https://www.cckp.space/

PHILOSOPHY WITHOUT BORDERS assumes universal enfranchisement and  
emancipation as a goal, so that all people may participate in the  
generation and discussion of philosophy. Its only requirement is that  
the cultural products shared, whether they may be philosophy in the  
strict sense, being the continuation world’s history of philosophy  
from all parts, including western and eastern or any other philosophy;  
or whether they be other thought provoking cultural products including  
conversations, serious or humorous writing, the visual arts, crafts,  
multimedia, and future art, so long as they contain real philosophical  
thinking.

By “real philosophical thinking,” we mean thinking that is unhindered  
and not self-censored by subservience to any so-called philosophical  
authority or canon, aimed at least in some way at generating,  
elucidating or commenting on philosophical ideas; and respectful of  
the assumed universal enfranchisement and emancipation of all people  
and therefore communicating in a spirit of love, peace, and  
understanding – not hate, conflict, or vilification.

PHILOSOPHY WITHOUT BORDERS belongs to a radical phase in the  
philosophical project that flowered in the period of western culture  
which has become known  as the Age of Enlightenment,  occurring mostly  
in Europe during the 18th century. The ideas of the Enlightenment  
undermined the authority of the monarchy, church, and state, paving  
the way for subsequent emancipatory political revolutions in the cause  
of freedom from oppression of any kind. Radically enlightened  
philosophers have existed in all cultures and all ages, readily  
recognised by their support of unrestricted reason and universal  
respect for human dignity as the two primary vehicles for creating  
understanding real and imagined worlds, and for disseminating the idea  
that disputes and conflicts can be resolved or avoided by means of the  
search for logically-guided, evidence-based truth rather than personal  
beliefs, creeds, mysticisms, or other oppressive, mind-enslaving  
ideological constructs.

PHILOSOPHY WITHOUT BORDERS is a safe haven for thinkers to explore and  
warn against the incursions against radical enlightenment by abuses of  
greed, power, control, oppression, obedience, censorship, hate,  
derision, bullying, xenophobia, nationalism, feudalism, group-think,  
enforced zeitgeists, and other crimes against and limitations of  
humanity. PHILOSOPHY WITHOUT BORDERS in this sense can be thought of  
Enlightenment Redux, not just a passing phase, but the underlying  
principles of all humane activity. Radical enlightenment opposes  
oppression by complacency, stupidity, and evil, which persist all  
around the world, not only in despotic regimes, but also in supposedly  
enlightened ones, mostly as a result of an obsession with  
self-interested competition and the possession of coercive power,  
rather than on mutual aid and constructive cooperation as the bases  
for rational human activity.

***

Again, PHILOSOPHY WITHOUT BORDERS is home-based on Patreon, here—
https://www.patreon.com/philosophywithoutborders

Please consider becoming a patron!