Bernie Sanders in Shortest Way Home, by Pete Buttigieg

On Principles & Values: 1990s: Nominated as "Socialist" for Profile in Courage award

[In Congress in the 1990s], Bernie Sanders had been reelected for years as a socialist--in a (then) generally Republican state. At a time when vagueness and opportunism in politics seemed to be the order of the day, here was an elected official who succeeded by being totally transparent and relentless about his values. "Socialist" was the dirtiest word in politics, yet he won because people saw that he came by his values honestly, regardless of whether you agreed politically.

As an obscure Vermont congressman in the 1990s, Sanders often worked across the aisle, collaborating with Republicans when possible, and using his position as the only independent in Congress to drive dialogue on issues like trade. The lesson here, which Sanders himself would demonstrate some twenty years later when he ran for president, was that bipartisanship and appeal to independents was not the same thing as ideological centrism.

Source: Shortest Way Home, by Pete Buttigieg, p. 30-1 Feb 12, 2019

The above quotations are from Shortest Way Home One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future by Pete Buttigieg. Click here for other excerpts from Shortest Way Home One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future by Pete Buttigieg. Click here for other excerpts by Bernie Sanders. Click here for a profile of Bernie Sanders.
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Page last updated: May 21, 2019