These 7 Statements from the DNC Platform Show the Party Actually Learned to Feel the Bern

Impact

July 27, 2016

If supporters of Bernie Sanders's insurgent run for the presidency already felt betrayed when their candidate endorsed his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, the Vermont senator effectively twisted the knife with a full-throated show of support for the nominee at the Democratic National Convention this week. For Sanders supporters, who were all the more fired up by last week's revelation of emails showing that the Democratic National Committee actively worked to undermine the Sanders campaign, the speech only fueled their righteous anger.

And where there's anger, you can bet Republican nominee Donald Trump will be trying to capitalize on it. After stoking their outrage at #SelloutSanders, likening Sanders' endorsement of "Crooked Hillary" to "Occupy Wall Street endorsing Goldman Sachs," Trump openly wooed Sanders supporters by arguing that a vote for Clinton would amount to a betrayal of their ideals.

Putting aside the fact that an Occupy Wall Street endorsement of Trump isn't exactly the logical alternative, nothing will persuade some voters who've staked it all on Bernie or Bust. But if neither Clinton nor Trump quite embodies their Berning convictions, Sanders supporters could find some consolation in the clear impact their champion made on the Democratic Party.

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Even before he spoke on Monday, Sanders had already hailed what he called "the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party" — the culmination of the senator's concerted effort to institutionalize many of his campaign's goals before agreeing to endorse Clinton. For a party whose nominee built her political career on Third Way centrism, that's not nothing!

Here are seven statements from the draft platform that show how the party learned to feel the Bern.

Minimum wage