If you think about it, Bernie’s mittens are exactly what we need right now. Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont, sat alone in a simple winter parka with hand-knitted mittens that stole the inauguration show. Isn’t it usually glitzy, glammy, sparkly things that steal a show? Isn’t it usually loud, flashy, opulent things? Isn’t it usually the best and the brightest? Yes, it is usually.
But we, the American people, don’t need that right now. We need the opposite of flashy. Why? We’ve had gaudy, flashy, loud, opulent, fake, lying, racist, criminal, corrupt, and batshit crazy for four years and we can’t take it anymore. We had a reality TV star turned president who lives in a golden tower and is—or was—dripping with gold. He had everything money could buy, yet he had nothing, really. He couldn’t buy the love he lacked. He couldn’t buy a compassionate heart. He couldn’t buy his way out of toxic narcissism. He was the poster child for the adage “money doesn’t buy happiness.” Yet his life is—or was—one so many aspire to.
So, what do we need instead of flashy?
We need simple, hand-crafted with love, folksy, down-to-earth, and authentic. We need exactly what Bernie stands for. While so many other politicians get swept up in the celebrity and luxury of modern American political life, Bernie remains a public servant—for the people, by the people. In the model of Jimmy Carter who has dedicated his life to service.
We, the people, have been traumatized by presidential gaslighting and leadership that drove our country to the brink of annihilation. Although our democracy was shaken to its core, it appears to have survived, but tragically 400,000 Americans did not, in large part because of a bungled pandemic response. And, still, thousands of Americans continue to die each day. Los Angeles had to relax its air quality standards to accommodate all the cremations because of Covid.
So, hell yes, we need comfort, like home-made mittens to warm our popsicle fingers too long exposed to the cold. We need comfort, like home-baked apple pie, to fill our bellies, knotted with anxiety and impending doom and hungry for sustenance, calm, and security. We need to know everything’s going to be okay. We need politicians like Bernie who aren’t cutting back-room deals with lobbyists with a wink-wink, pretending to represent us and bring us much-needed universal healthcare, economic justice, sweeping environmental reform, and criminal justice reform—things that would allay the widespread suffering that ironically brought us the most dangerous president in US history. That conman pretended to care. He pretended to hear our pain, our troubles. And people fell for it. Tens of millions of people fell for the con when all they wanted was to struggle less, worry less, and live more. Sure, some liked his unadulterated racist, sexist ways, but because millions of Americans who voted for Obama went on to vote for Trump, it tells me people were looking for real relief but instead got a conman.
So, a man who would wear charming mittens to a fancy-schmancy event is exactly what we need right now. His mittens and simple attire tell us he didn’t drop thousands on inauguration duds to impress attendees and television audiences. It tells us he lives his values. It tells us he might not sell us down the river for a kickback, a bribe, a personal favor, a fancy perk. It tells us he might just fight for us with his hands warmed by the now world-famous mittens.
Poplitix 