How a President Bernie Sanders Could Take on Wall Street
If Bernie Sanders wins the presidency, he’ll confront numerous obstacles to his agenda. To overcome those obstacles, we need a strategy to take on capital, especially Wall Street — and we need to start thinking about that strategy right now.
Democratic presidential candidate and US senator Bernie Sanders speaks during the 2020 Public Service Forum hosted by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) at UNLV on August 3, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller / Getty Images
Let’s play a thought experiment: what if Bernie actually wins the presidency?
It’s a thought experiment some have worked through before, and one that requires the caveat that there are enormous structural barriers to his winning. That said, imagine it: Sanders is in power. The sun is shining, babies are laughing, Jacobin writers are drunk off cheap champagne — we’re all feeling very good.
But once Sanders is elected, there will be two connected strategic issues that democratic socialists must immediately grapple with. First, what role should social movement organizations, labor unions, and ordinary citizens play in installing and pushing through a democratic socialist agenda? How will social movements be activated to exert pressure on policymakers (potentially including Sanders himself)? How might ordinary people be incorporated into the management of new public systems and mobilized into new modes of democratic decision-making?
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