On the Difficulty of Left-Leaning Parties Being Elected

This past week we have seen Mr Sanders come out and campaign, though this time it is not for himself but rather for a candidate named Ben Jelous. This endorsement could be seen as a test of sorts to gauge the power that a Sanders endorsement carries.

Currently, Our Revolution, the organization aligned with Bernie Sanders has endorsed over eighty candidates and not even fifty per cent of them have been successful.

Throughout this essay, I wish to analyse why exactly the political revolution that Mr Sanders speaks of has not taken hold, and also look to the Greens of Australia and see why their successes under Bob Brown seem to have been short-lived.

Bernie Sanders has been a household name now since the Democratic Primary of 2016. He has run his campaigns in much the same way, focusing on the same issues for a long while now. These issues are many: Medicare for all, tuition-free public college, a $15 minimum wage. These issues, which are entirely social encompass a large portion of the population. It is likely every person has either worked a low paying job in which they could not put food on the table or they have gone to college and struggled with the excessively high debt that follows. These issues are present within almost everybody’s minds at most times throughout their life. So, my question is as follows, why has it struggled to take off on a federal level? Why is it that so many voters appreciate the message but don’t vote Mr Sanders or the Greens of Australia in? Well this question I wish to answer within this essay.

I believe Mr Sanders struggles to latch onto the minds of the voter, and to be thought of as capable of leading is due for the most part on the issues with which he decides to tackle. Unfortunately, these issues, which are so important in so many people’s lives can still by these same very people, not be considered of the highest of value when talking politics.

Put another way, economics and foreign policy are on the top shelf of politics whilst everything else sits on the shelves below. What this leads to I believe in many cases is people voting against their own perceived interests. Take the poor or downtrodden of Australia voting Liberal because they are apparently ‘responsible’ economic managers even though money is being cut from welfare and public health which they so rely on. Or those that are sick or not well off continuing to vote Tory in Britain entirely on foreign policy or economic grounds.

This is where Mr Sanders and the Greens come in, they focus on issues which are close to the hearts and minds of many citizens but they don’t link these policy changes with either the economy or foreign policy. In so doing this, or rather not doing, it leads to voters assuming they are not tackling the serious issues of nationhood and therefore underserving of government. This odd hypocrisy in voters is exactly what needs to be spoken about more with the campaign rooms of all left candidates if they are to win some federal elections.

This article was written prior to the 2016 US election.