A Socialist In the Senate?
Come 2006, the state of Vermont may be represented by an independent socialist in the U.S. Senate. Jim Jeffords, the former Republican Senator who went independent in protest of the Bush agenda, announced last month that he will not seek re-election. Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s sole representative in the House and an independent as well, quickly announced his intention to run for Jeffords’ seat. Sanders has long served in public office as an independent, beginning with a five year stint as Mayor of Burlington in the 1980’s and culminating in the last fifteen years in the US House of Representatives. He has also spearheaded the birth of a competitive statewide third party in Vermont, the Progressive Party and founded the US House Progressive Caucus. Sanders doesn’t shy away from the “s” word, either. He spoke at the Democratic Socialists of America convention in 1999, and I have, somewhere, pictures of him […]