FeelTheBern.org grassroots presidential campaign website


(Click for external website)

WEBSITE REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

FeelTheBern.org is a grassroots campaign website for Bernie Sanders. What does that mean? It means that a group of people took it upon themselves to create this website, rather than relying on the campaign to authorize it. It's like a pro-Bernie unauthorized biography. OnTheIssues uses numerous excerpts from their "Issues" collection -- FeelTheBern.org has more issue content on Bernie Sanders than the New York Times, CNN, and Fox News combined! Those news organizations are great at exploring the intricate details of where Bernie stands in the polls; what Bernie thinks of Hillary; and what exactly Bernie means by "democratic socialism"; but only sometimes do they actually dig up Bernie's issue stances. FeelTheBern.org digs.

So is FeelTheBern a SuperPAC? No, they're different. Grassroots organizations differ from SuperPACs in one important way: grassroots organizations are based on volunteer labor, whereas SuperPACs are based on donated money. SuperPACs generally funnel money (into TV ads) rather than channeling labor (into canvassing). Usually that money comes from a few wealthy individuals, whereas grassroots organizations comprise volunteers who have more time than money available. FeelTheBern.org claims "125 volunteers and counting"; SuperPACs sometimes have just one major donor. Sometimes, SuperPACs create organizations to canvass or other labor-intensive activities -- but those are hired staff rather than volunteers. Accordingly, SuperPAC-funded organizations are called "AstroTurf" because they grow from the "top-down," in contrast to "grassroots" that grow from the "bottom-up."

Here is FeelTheBern's self-description: "The creators of FeelTheBern.org are regular people who individually, and now collectively, are inspired by Bernie Sanders' campaign for presidency of the United States. We span the socioeconomic and political spectrums, and are located across the country -- and globe! We came together because we wanted to make clear his record on and plans to address the most important issues affecting our communities, nation, and planet. Bernie has an extensive record in public service, so this project turned into a rather monumental group effort that's mobilized over 125 unpaid volunteers (and counting)."

Grassroots organizations proliferate in the progressive community that supports Bernie Sanders. The party establishment doesn't like grassroots organizations because they cannot be easily controlled (you can't order volunteers to stop doing something!). Let me relate a personal story to illustrate that distinction between the grassroots and the establishment. I co-founded a grassroots organization, MassForDean (Massachusetts supporters of Howard Dean), in the 2004 presidential election cycle. After that election, I attended some early 2005 meetings of the Deval Patrick for Governor campaign, as the "grassroots representative." We discussed how to set up a campaign organization in the western part of Massachusetts, which is much more rural than Boston. I suggested, "Let the western Mass organizers form grassroots organizations; they have the structure in place from the Dean campaign and can build on that; they'll run themselves at no cost to the campaign." Several Democratic Party representatives in the meeting opined that those organizations might be taken over by the Deval campaign as their western headquarters -- rejecting the grassroots concept that they could be autonomous from the campaign. I responded, "The whole idea is that they WANT to do it themselves. If you issue explicit orders, they won't be 'grassroots' anymore, and they won't get as many people involved." The Party regulars could not fathom entrusting an independent group, but Deval intervened: "What Jesse is saying is that we simply ALLOW them to do their own thing, and TRUST them to do the right thing; let's go with that." Deval won the election, so sometimes grassroots organizing works!

-- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, December 2015

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Abortion     Bernie Sanders: Lifetime pro-choice record, plus funding for family planning.     Bernie Sanders: Advocate for family planning and funding for contraceptives.

Budget & Economy     Bernie Sanders: Economic justice: Address root causes of economic inequality.

Civil Rights     Bernie Sanders: Vermont implemented ENDA 22 years ago; so should feds.

Corporations     Bernie Sanders: Fix estate tax so mega-rich pay their fair share.

Crime     Bernie Sanders: Blacks are disproportionately imprisoned & killed by police.     Bernie Sanders: Reinstate voting rights to address school-to-prison pipeline.

Drugs     Bernie Sanders: War on drugs is a failed policy; treatment over punishment.     Bernie Sanders: Decriminalize marijuana and study recreational legalization.

Education     Bernie Sanders: Replace NCLB standardized testing with holistic approach.     Bernie Sanders: Ok to include mandates and incentives in Common Core.     Bernie Sanders: Vouchers redirect public education dollar to private schools.     Bernie Sanders: Charter schools ok if held to public school standards.     Bernie Sanders: Taught low-income preschoolers through Head Start program.

Energy & Oil     Bernie Sanders: Combat climate skeptics with overwhelming evidence.     Bernie Sanders: Keystone pipeline transports the dirtiest fossil fuel.

Environment     Bernie Sanders: Advocate of animal welfare and humane treatment.     Bernie Sanders: Protect important watersheds and wildlife areas.     Bernie Sanders: GMOs are ok, but only with required labeling.

Families & Children     Bernie Sanders: LGBTQ values are family values.     Bernie Sanders: Provide affordable childcare & early pre-K education.     Bernie Sanders: Violence Against Women Act applies to men and gays, too.

Foreign Policy     Bernie Sanders: Normalize relations with Cuba; & respect their independence.     Bernie Sanders: Two-state solution for Israel & Palestine.     Bernie Sanders: Begrudgingly supports NATO, but no eastward expansion.     Bernie Sanders: Promote democracy in China, but not at expense of US workers.

Free Trade     Bernie Sanders: China trade has led to loss of 3M American jobs so far.     Bernie Sanders: Priority of trade deals should be helping American workers.

Government Reform     Bernie Sanders: Public funding of elections to promote even playing field.     Bernie Sanders: We now have government of, by, and for the billionaires.     Bernie Sanders: Reinforce voting rights to end voter suppression.

Health Care     Bernie Sanders: Medicare for all: healthcare is a human right.     Bernie Sanders: Vaccinations work; electing not to vaccinate is dangerous.

Homeland Security     Bernie Sanders: NSA is unconstitutionally out of control.     Bernie Sanders: Reduce nuclear budget by $100B; end proliferation worldwide.     Bernie Sanders: 2009: Voted against closing Gitmo; 2015: supports closing it.     Bernie Sanders: Costs of endless war detract from citizens' well-being.

Immigration     Bernie Sanders: Comprehensive reform with no border fence & no guest workers.     Bernie Sanders: Secure borders without building a fence.

Principles & Values     Bernie Sanders: Family immigrated from Poland in WWII, escaping Holocaust.

Social Security     Bernie Sanders: No cuts; no privatization; even to deal with deficit.

Tax Reform     Bernie Sanders: Raise top marginal income tax rate from 39% to over 50%.     Bernie Sanders: Lower cutoff for estate tax from $5.4M to $3.5M.     Robert Reich: Estate tax prevent aristocracy of wealth populated by heirs.

Technology     Bernie Sanders: Net Neutrality: no preferential treatment for corporations.     Bernie Sanders: I support funding NASA, but our planet has to come first.

War & Peace     Bernie Sanders: Stop ISIS, but only with an international & Arab coalition.     Bernie Sanders: Iraq war destabilized Mideast; stay out of Mideast quagmire.     Bernie Sanders: Iran nuke deal is victory for diplomacy over saber-rattling.

Welfare & Poverty     Bernie Sanders: Economic inequality & institutional racism exist in parallel.     Bernie Sanders: Advocate for social benefits of public assistance programs.     Bernie Sanders: 3.5 million Americans homeless is unacceptable.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Bernie Sanders Democratic Presidential candidate Robert Reich Massachusetts Former Dem. Challenger 2002, and Cabinet Sec'y