The progressive left owes a huge debt of gratitude to Bernie Sanders.  He took ideas that, according to conventional wisdom, were beyond the pale,  and he made them mainstream.  Medicare for all, a guaranteed minimum wage, and grass roots campaign finance are just a few of those ideas.  This morning, Bernie announced his Presidential Bid for 2020.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, the progressive populist who mounted a fierce challenge to front-runner Hillary Clinton in the 2016 White House campaign, said on Tuesday he will again seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2020.

Sanders, 77, a self-described democratic socialist who caucuses with the Democrats, joins an already-crowded Democratic race that includes fellow Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The Brooklyn native announced his candidacy in an email to supporters, pledging to build a vast grassroots movement to confront the special interests that he said dominate government and politics.

Sanders said he would push for many of the same issues that powered his 2016 bid and resonated with younger voters, including universal healthcare, raising the hourly minimum wage to $15, and free public college tuition.

“Our campaign is about creating a government and economy that works for the many, not just the few,” Sanders said, asking for 1 million people to sign up to kick off his bid….

Inserted from <Reuters>

Here is Bernie’s announcement video from Bernie’s YouTube channel.

So, will I support him again, as I did in 2016?  I haven’t decided yet.

There’s a lot about Bernie that I like, but there’s quite a bit about his 2016 campaign I didn’t like.  For one thing, the claim that the nomination was stolen from him is not true.  He missed primaries and caucuses, because his inexperienced staff missed filing deadlines.  He complained about closed primaries.  I support closed primaries.  Republicans like open primaries, because they cross party lines to influence our results,as their candidates often run unopposed. Democrats have the right to decide on the Democratic nominee.  Bernie needs to convince his followers to join.  And this is my comment I left for him on YouTube.

I supported you last time. This time, I’m not sure. Although I am white, you need to learn that race matters more than class to those who still suffer the effects of Republican racism. Otherwise, you won’t get the Black vote. Without that, you can’t win the nomination.

Of one thing I’m sure.  If he wins the nomination, I’ll be happy to see it.

RESIST!!