A star-studded crowd joined Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on the Burlington waterfront Thursday night to kick off a three-day conference hosted by the nonprofit Sanders Institute. Though many of the national progressive leaders taking part in the event were prominent supporters of the senator’s 2016 presidential campaign, organizers said it was not related to a potential 2020 run.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, actress Susan Sarandon, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis were among those scheduled to address such topics as climate change, housing and criminal justice reform during the Sanders Institute Gathering.
Before the panel discussions, though, was a Thursday evening reception at the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain featuring motivational speaker Simon Sinek and a keynote address from Sanders himself. The senator’s wife, Sanders Institute cofounder Jane O’Meara Sanders, also spoke. In attendance were actors John Cusack —wearing a jacket that said “good night white pride” on the back — and Danny Glover.
Dr. Cornel West gave a rousing introduction for Sanders and emphasized his dedication to disadvantaged people.
“We’re here to come together in such a way that the moral and spiritual dimension of who we are as human beings can spill over into politics to make this world, this nation, a better place in the face of all the ecological and the economic and the moral and the spiritual and various other kinds of catastrophes with which we must come to terms,” West said to a cheering audience.
Sanders’ speech covered a range of his own political priorities, from the plight of children starving in war-torn Yemen to voter suppression efforts in the U.S. He said progressive politicians can and should push “mainstream” media and politicians to focus on issues important to them. He cited the rising popularity of $15 minimum wage and universal health care proposals as successes.
“One of our jobs is to force discussion on issues that are not only right but in fact what the American people want,” he said.
Sanders said that even though Democrats failed to take over the U.S. Senate this month, their newfound majority in the House of Representatives would force Senate Republicans to publicly state their positions on key issues.
“For the last two years you had a Senate that was bad and a House that was even worse, so many of the [progressive] issues that we will be discussing this evening and this weekend never even surfaced,” Sanders said. “What is going to start happening now is legislation, and I hope it will be strong legislation, is going to start passing the House and coming to the Senate.”
There, he continued, Republicans would have to take a stand on such issues as raising the minimum wage. “When that bill comes over [from the House], they’re going to have to explain to the folks back home why [they] voted no,” Sanders said.
While he didn’t address his own plans for 2020, Sanders said Democrats needed to reconnect with voters in middle America.
“We have got to make sure that the Democratic party is not just the party of the east coast and the west coast. It is a party of every state in this country,” he said. “Our job is to make sure that the issues that we deal with, that people understand they impact black families in New York City, they impact white families in Kansas and Latino families in Los Angeles.”
While the senator’s national profile certainly helped attract celebrity guests to the event, O’Meara Sanders said the conference was unrelated to her husband’s potential ambitions.
“This has nothing to do with the campaign, or any campaign,” she said, though she acknowledged that the the founding of the Sanders Institute was “certainly inspired by Bernie’s campaign” in 2016.
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Varoufakis? Are these people serious!?!
You can’t run away from a sovereign debt crisis!
Here in Vermont, we can’t run away from underfunded pension liabilities!
Veroufakis and the Greek government attempted to do just that. Let’s learn from mistakes–not repeat them.
I have no idea why Bill de Blasio is here as some kind of “progressive” . . he just gave Jeff Bezos and Amazon over $2.5 billion in giveaways to move Amazon’s partial HQ to NYC. Bezos could have found that money in his sofa cushions.
Of course the usual dim bulb Righties that post on here will pile on Bernie . . yelling ‘Commie!” as though they are still watching “Bonanza” and “Gunsmoke” on their black and white TVs. If you don’t believe in Climate Change then go live in Florida and when it floods you can learn to live on a boat and listen to bellowing morons like Alex Jones with the rest of the GOP Flat Earthers.
This is wonderful idea. All progressives can now learn directly from Bernie about how best to destroy neighborhoods & attack the health & home values of the most vulnerable Americans via unquestioning support for the budget-busting military-industrial complex. No doubt the first seminar taught by Bernie is entitled “Basing F-35 Fighter Jets in Areas Densely Populated by the Working Poor; Working Class; and Immigrant Refugees.”
Second seminar is likely entitled, “How to Avoid Local Media & Change Topics When Respected Journalists Ask Questions You Don’t Want to Answer.” They will first play an interview of VPR’s Jane Lindholm asking Bernie a few years ago why he refused to meet with any of the thousands of constituents negatively impacted by the F-35’s new “not suitable for residential use” zone. Bernie will demonstrate “the pivot,” i.e., an awkward laugh and an answer about student loans that has nothing to do with the journalist’s question.
Finally there is another seminar about supporting allies in the military such as VTANG who take a page from Trump’s playbook and yank the press privileges of anyone who dares ask questions, such as Vermont Digger.
Yup just another fraud Foundation just like the Clintons.. Warning Warning DO NOT DONATE to this SOCIALIST Foundations. The money only goes in the pockets of the Sanders just like the money from Burlington College. Still can’t believe they were clear of the charges. Who got paid off?