The Bernie Sanders rally was on February 29th in the Boston Common. I saw a wave of progressive democratic socialist showing up by the hundreds and thousands. The total show was around 8,000 and the Sanders campaign was slated a 10,000 person permit. The question is does this show that we as a country are ready for Democratic Socialism? The public seems to think so. 

His speech seemed to not have the intention of swaying any people that are in the middle, but a firestarter for his base. The energy of the rally was something that I had never experienced before, the lines to get into the main portion of the rally stretched through the whole common. A great number of people kept showing up and at one point it seemed like the Sanders campaign couldn’t really keep the event from going as smooth as they wanted it to. It shows Sanders’s support in states that even have a sitting representative running for the presidency, Elizabeth Warren.  

After Sanders’ last few showings in states like Iowa or New Hampshire, the common trend leading up to Super Tuesday is that he is the clear frontrunner. His closest opposition, Pete Buttigieg, recently dropped out of the race, which can create a bigger gap between the latest and greatest candidates. Buttigieg recently endorsed Joe Biden, which will be Sander’s closest opposition as of today. 

Statistically, Bernie is the front runner with 60 compared to Biden’s 54. Young voter turnout had an increase of almost 33 percent, which in turn helps the Sanders movement, having primarily young voters. The rally made that apparent when I was there I was joined by an abundance of young people, at least from what I saw while being in the crowd.   

The Democratic Socialism movement has collected a new wave of support from younger voters. The common misconception about Democratic Socialism is that it is similar to Venezuala or old Lenin-Marxist Socialism, to which it actually denounces both of these states and serves as more of controlled capitalism. Within this, there is a worry about the DNC and who they want to recognize as their candidate when that time comes. Democratic Socialism can be very polarizing within the same party, most of the time young people in the party are willing to take more progressive beliefs. This is shown through some moderates switching to the RNC because of how the party is shaping and moving more and more to the left.  

The reason that younger voters (specifically 18-29) tend to vote liberal or now socialist is because of the benefits that they will use and see amongst their peers. Basic Universal Healthcare seems to be a huge talking point for young versus older voters or the free public college amendment that Sanders proposed. The establishment in the DNC doesn’t seem to get along with the idea of this either, with what seems to be calculated “drop and endorse” continues into Super Tuesday and the day after with Bloomberg dropping out and endorsing. Bloomberg didn’t have the most solid numbers but now the strategy seems to be to back the candidate that is going to have the best chance of beating Trump. The DNC doesn’t believe that Sanders and the new wave of Democratic Socialism can do it. 

Super Tuesday was a little bit of a loss for Bernie, Joe Biden won the day with a total of 566 delegates to date. Bernie is now in second with a total of 501 delegates. This doesn’t change the fact that the Democratic party is shifting into a more progressive and leftist nature. 

Democratic Socialism has been popping up more and more frequently around the world, this isn’t just the United States. These countries include the likes of Denmark and Finland. The success in these countries can show what the United States can achieve, with the influx of cash that the government has and can be re-allocated through our checks and balances system. The future of the Democratic Party rests on how this election goes, Democratic Socialism may be the answer.