In an interview with USA Today, Bernie Sanders announced the next branch of the revolution – The Sanders Institute.
In what is currently being loosely defined as a conglomerate of educational and political organizations founded and organized by Sanders, the Sanders Institute is being posited as the next step of the Sanders revolution.
Now that Sanders is no longer actively running for president (though he has not yet conceded from the 2016 race), the Senator is attempting to funnel the millions of revolutionary supporters into further political and societal activism.
The Sanders Institute’s first order of business is strongly supporting at least 100 candidates nationwide in down-ballot races. These candidates are handpicked by Sanders for their progressive stances and can be in races for Congress all the way down to local school boards.
One of the named candidates Sanders says he intends to support and campaign for is Tim Canova, a man who is running for Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s seat in the House.
Sanders also says that the institute plans to recruit other progressive candidates, preparing them for public office and helping to fund their campaigns.
In addition to its political candidate branch, the Institute will advocate for issues important to American citizens. If we know Sanders, we can expect to hear a great deal from the Sanders Institute about campaign finance reform, the top 1%, and corruption on Wall Street.
The move by Sanders is a smart one as it is taking advantage of the large swath of leftover frustrated political participants who are less than pleased with their remaining political options.
Already, scores of Sanders supporters have turned their attention to supporting Green Party candidate Jill Stein, but Sanders no doubt hopes to retain these voters in the Democratic party, in part with the help of this new organization.
Either way, win or lose in 2016, this extension of Sanders campaign is the best way forward for the revolutionary movement he has started. As he said from the start, the revolution is not just one man, its every progressive American coming together to demand change to the system, both in high and low offices across the nation.
He’s still fighting for you.
