In the primary campaign Bernie Sanders will not be able to compete with Hillary Clinton's Wall Street backers and billionaire-funded SuperPacs. Even if he wins the nomination, his fund-raising will be far outpaced by the Koch Brothers and corporate Republican mega-donors in the general election. So what can we mere individual foot soldiers do to help make Bernie's campaign financially sustainable--and even competitive?
How about selling our unneeded salvage to create essentially "free money" for Bernie's campaign? Read below the squiggle for more on this head-smackingly obvious idea.
A month ago I cleaned out my closets and uncovered some old stereo gear: speakers, an A/V receiver, a portable iPod player, and a high-end component FM tuner. I photographed them and listed them on my local Craig's List. Though I had to re-list a few of the items in subsequent weeks, I managed to sell them all. I then set aside part of the proceeds and sent my first $50 (via credit card) to Bernie Sanders' campaign. It seemed to me like sending Bernie some free money.
Almost all of us have no-longer-used items needlessly taking up space in our basements, closets, or garages: complete sets of dishes, cutlery, audio gear, TV sets, camping gear, suitcases, laptops, furniture, pianos, musical instruments--i.e., an excess of "stuff" collected during a lifetime of living in our "shop 'till you drop" culture. Much of this stuff can still be of use to someone else at a modest price. Why leave it lying around just for our heirs to give away or throw away when they clean out our houses after we have run our last lap?
Why not sell some this salvage that we no longer need by flogging it on Craig's List, at local swap meets, at flea markets, or even on eBay and then passing on some of the proceeds to Bernie's campaign? If a million of us each sends a mere $100 of such "free money" to Bernie, Bernie's campaign would end up with enough ($100 million) to run a credible primary effort. If we send more--$200 from each of us, or if more of us (two million; five million?) take up this idea, such "free money" funding can even approach being competitive with the cash handed by our plutocracy's billionaires to their preferred candidates in both parties.
Today I received an e-mail from a friend who was grumbling about the staggering corruption in American political life and was wondering why there seemed to be so little opposition to the trend. Both he and I have distanced ourselves from politics for the past several years, for it had become clear that on most major economic issues the Obama Administration and the Democratic leadership have been suborned by the corporatists and their neo-liberal/neo-classical apologists in support of unregulated, predatory, indictment-free finance/capitalism. My friend happens to be a proficient gardener who grows far more than he and his wife can eat, so he ends up gifting huge amounts of vegetables and fruits to neighbors and friends. I simply suggested that he consider taking some of his surplus produce to farmers' markets and then sending on some of the proceeds to Bernie's campaign. At least my friend could then feel that he is doing something beyond mere ineffectual grumbling. He would be raising "free money" for a progressive cause.
An added advantage to this fund-raising strategy is the statistical certainty that a substantial number of the purchasers of our unneeded "stuff" will be the racists, bigots, xenophobes, jingoes, gun-fetishists, and science-deniers who comprise the Republican core constituency. In effect, a portion of the funding for Bernie's campaign would be coming indirectly from those who support the likes of Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.
So let's sell our unneeded salvage to feel our needed Bern. Besides generating "free money" for Bernie's campaign, at the same time we'll end up with cleaner, neater basements, closets, and garages.