One of the many benefits of spending time in Vermont is that you get to see the state’s senior senator, Bernie Sanders in action. Over the years, I have watched Sanders rise from mayor of Burlington, to congressman to senator to political icon. While his campaigns for the White House have not been successful, Sanders has reoriented the Democratic party on critical issues like health care.
I am certainly not a dispassionate observer of Sanders’ work. I was proud to have canvassed for him in the 2020 New Hampshire primary. To my mind, there is no politician in American who understands the cares and concerns of Americans who are economically struggling than Bernie Sanders. In almost every speech he gives, Sanders reminds the audience that fully 60 percent of Americans live paycheque to paycheque.
When I saw that Sanders would be holding a town meeting in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, on the Vermont border, I jumped at the opportunity to go. Sanders was in New Hampshire as part of the effort supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Though not as well-know as some of the other battleground states, New Hampshire is widely seen as being up for grabs between Trump and Harris.
My wife pointed out that Sanders’ town hall would be preceded by a performance by English folk singer and political activist Billy Bragg who as it turns out is a longtime friend of Senator Sanders. A quick google search on Bragg’s music and politics, confirmed that he would be a great part of the program. Driving over to New Hampshire from Fairlee Vermont, my wife and I were looking forward to a great afternoon.
Bragg’s musical talents were as good as my wife promised and his political commentary was right on the money. One of his comments was especially on target — he said that in the United States no one ever uses the expression “working class” in the United States. It occurred to me how right Bragg was. In the United States, we hear about blue collar voters, or white voters without a college education but that is as far as it goes. Our public discourse here in America more often than not leaves out those living from paycheque to paycheque. One must wonder how Democrats can possibly get votes from working class voters if they will not even name them?
Senator Sanders remarks were as eloquent as in the past and he was particularly engaging as he called on members of the audience with questions about the country’s challenges. When Sanders was discussing the media landscape and describing it as an oligarchy, he made a comment that was especially profound. Sanders pointed out that in the United States we have media coverage of what we think are political issues but they are really just political gossip. As someone who consumes lots of news, I like to think of myself as someone who is well-informed on the politics of the day. Then I started to think about what I had been reading over the last few days: speculations about who would be the Democratic vice presidential nominee, what roles were Obama aides now playing in the Harris campaign and of course what were the latest polls. There was no discussion in the media of what we as a nation should do about how to provide quality health care to every person, how to ensure retirement security for an aging population and what role America should play in an increasingly dangerous world. As Sanders pointed in an opinion piece in the Guardian a few days after I saw him:
“But, in the midst of all the political gossip on TV and in the newspapers, what Americans will not encounter is a serious discussion of the multiple economic crises facing the 60% of our fellow citizens who live paycheck to paycheck — the working class of this country. What you will not hear about is why, in the richest country in the history of the world, so few have so much while so many have so little. What you will not hear about is the pain, the stress, the anxiety that tens of millions of Americans experience on a daily basis, and how governmental decisions can improve their lives.”
If the media is an oligarchy as Sanders suggests (and I think he is right), then it is pretty evident that there is an effort to focus on political gossip as opposed to a discussion of the issues. Some may think that there is an overt political conspiracy here. I am not sure that is the case. Instead, I would suggest that being motivated by profit, the heads of media organizations know that political gossip generates clicks and gets viewers.
So, like Bernie Sanders at a town meeting, I call on each us of (myself included) to demand the media concentrate on the issues which impact the lives of the sixty percent of the population living paycheck to paycheck. Don’t like or retweet that political story that is really just political gossip. Instead, tweet at politicians about their plans for health care and retirement security. Instead, tweet at media organizations and reporters asking where is their coverage of the real issues that impact all parts of our society.
.jpeg)
