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While the primary victories of @MondaireJones, @JamaalBowmanNY & @SiegelForTexas signals that #FutureIsProgressive, it's important to remember that the Democrats have been the party of progressives and of systemic changes for more than 4 decades. 1/
Admittedly the progressive Democrats have been lost in the desert for 40 years; with several competitive primaries ending in disappointing defeats for progressive candidates starting with Ted Kennedy back in 1980. 2/ https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/21/camelots-end-kennedy-vs-carter-democratic-convention-1980-224030
With a rousing concession speech, Ted Kennedy was able to persuade the Democratic party to adopt two planks in his platform: a $12 B stimulus program and a jobs bill. 3/
In 1984 & 1988, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson became the second African-American, after Shirley Chisholm, to run for president. He came in second place in a competitive primary in 1988 with a progressive platform. 4/
A platform that includes support for universal healthcare, 15% reduction of defense budget, free community college, ratification of the ERA and revival of New Deal era jobs programs. Sounds familiar? 5/ https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/jesse-jackson-and-his-campaign/
In his 1992 stump speech, Jerry Brown announced his candidacy on a populist platform; accepting only small individual donors & running on a platform to reduce the influence of lobbyist in Congress. Like Jackson, he supported universal healthcare, calling it a human right.
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Like Jackson, Gov. Moonbeam came close but faltered in the end, ushering the era of BIll Clinton and the New Way Democrats who champion moderate policies. 7/
During the era of triangulation, former college professor/grassroots organizer and MN Sen Paul Wellstone was one of the lonely liberal voices in the Senate. 8/
Known as the conscience of the Senate, he despised the notion that budgets should be balanced on the backs of the poor and the working class. Unfortunately, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, he decided not to run for president in 2000. 9/ https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/paul-wellstone-elizabeth-warren/
While he's most famous for the scream, pre-2004, @GovHowardDean was known building one of the most robust healthcare system in the nation. He too fell short in the primaries while running on a universal healthcare platform. 10/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/12/21/deans-care-for-all-built-piece-by-piece/29306dbd-78cc-43ac-84ab-abf169b4214b/
And finally, in 2008, Dennis Kucinich ran on a very progressive platform of #MedicareForAll, a proto- #GND, legalizing gay marriage, free K-12 and college and legalizing cannabis; quite a lot of planks adopted by Bernie Sanders in 2016. 11/
Summing up, we see that progressive ideas ( #GND, #M4A, free college) are not radical; these ideas have been championed by various presidential candidates for the last 40 years. But progressives are a persistent bunch. #TheFutureIsProgressive 12/
