There is no excuse for the actions of the Democratic National Committee. efforts to undermine Senator Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. However, this does not mean that the Democratic National Committee was wrong in not trusting Sanders' sincerity when he claimed to be a Democrat.
The fact that Sanders just announced he will run for re-election in 2018 as an independent underscores this point.
“I am an independent candidate and have always run in Vermont as an independent candidate while I caucuse with Democrats in the United States Senate. That's what I've done for a long time and that's what I will continue to do.” Sanders told a Fox News reporter on Sunday: during a trip to New Hampshire.
Against, Sanders confirmed this to the journalist in November 2015, he announced that he would run as a Democratic candidate in future elections after the issue was raised.
“In future elections, potential future elections, will you also run as a Democrat?” a reporter asked Sanders while campaigning in New Hampshire.
“Yes,” Sanders replied.
Be aware: In one of the controversial DNC emails released by Wikileaks, former chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz complains that Sanders “has never been a member of the Democratic Party and doesn't understand what we do.”
I want to repeat: there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can justify giving any one candidate an advantage over another. On the other hand, members of the Democratic Party establishment have ample reason to disdain Sanders for not being his own person while trying to lead his party.
The reality is that Sanders was not a registered Democrat until he decided to run for president. Although he participated in party caucuses as a member of the U.S. Senate, he had long prided himself on his independence.
This is not only good, but also necessary. As I wrote earlier, America needs to create viable alternatives two main parties. The problem is that when Sanders announced that he had become a Democrat before running for the party's presidential nomination, people worried that he was only doing it to improve his chances of winning the presidency. While only Sanders knows for sure if this is the case, now that he has shown through his subsequent actions that he will stick with the Democratic Party, it seems much more likely.
There are millions of Americans who, unlike Sanders, actually do identify themselves as Democrats. They see the label not as a badge of shame, but as a genuine reflection of their political values. Sanders joining and leaving the Democratic Party at will is an indirect insult to all Democratic voters and raises questions about what other means Sanders would be willing to resort to to achieve his political goals.
The fact that the Democratic National Committee was wrong to rig the primaries against Sanders does not mean that Sanders is right today to be dishonest to the Democratic Party.
