We just finished a fairly close mayoral race where the voters, perhaps unwittingly influenced by secret corporate interests, decided not to elect the more progressive candidate. You win some, you lose some.
An interesting article in a recent issue of The Nation looks at the mayoral record of Bernie Sanders– the Jewish socialist pot smoking contender for the Democratic nomination for President– when he was mayor of Burlington. It looks pretty good:
Thanks to the enduring influence of the progressive climate that Sanders and his allies helped to create in Burlington, the city’s largest housing development is now resident-owned, its largest supermarket is a consumer-owned cooperative, one of its largest private employers is worker-owned, and most of its people-oriented waterfront is publicly owned. Its publicly owned utility, the Burlington Electric Department, recently announced that Burlington is the first American city of any decent size to run entirely on renewable electricity
Will our new mayor leave such a legacy, or even articulate such a vision? Let’s ask him, press him on this.
You can read the full article here: