This is very good news, because history teaches that reform can come from within.
Raw Story reports that the DNC has agreed to put more Bernie Sanders supporters on the important platform and rules committees at the convention in Philadelphia:
Committee chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) reportedly agreed to add more Sanders backers to the 15-person drafting committee, after initially appointing three to the group.
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer Labor Party chair Ken Martin, who is supporting Clinton, told the Post that he and several state party leaders urged Wasserman Schultz to meet the demands.
“There are other chairs who probably feel that way and feel like this is my party and f*ck Bernie Sanders,” Martin said. “I’m not one of those. I feel very passionately that we have to open up that party and make sure that those voices are heard.”
...[N]egotiations regarding the committee positions could be finalized this week....
All of this likely means that a $15 minimum wage plank will make its way into the platform, as well as stronger language against Citizens United and SuperPACs.
Some argue that platforms don't matter, but I strongly disagree. Planks that are hard-won in 2016 will become Democratic orthodoxy four short years later. Pushing the party to the Left means planting seeds in the platform now, especially while there is a candidate around whom to organize.
Whether they will openly admit it or not, experienced Democratic boots-on-the-ground know that the Sanders wing is the long-term future of the party. That means the establishment must adjust their power structure to include those voices, and at the same time, the Sanders people must do the between-elections committee work to make the party functional as they take over going forward. These transitions happen with each generation, and they're always messy (see 1972), but in the end they are necessary to keep working for issues we all care about. Eyes on the prize.
UPDATE: Commenters have rightly noted one thing necessary for change is that awful DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has to go. The thing is, her term ends Jan. 21, 2017. She won't be back. The people who show up after that make up the party. If you want the party to NOT follow the DCC Rahm Emmanuel model, you'd better be there to take some positions within the party structure to push them Left.
That's why the Sanders campaign is fighting so hard for these places at the table, saying they will take this to the convention floor, and actually getting concessions as a result. This. Is Good. News. Sometimes we liberals have to take yes for an answer.
