The hymn books at the First Unitarian Universalist Society Meeting House where they gathered went unopened. Instead, people in the pews paged through hardback copies of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) hefty new book, Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In, waiting for the man himself to appear at the pulpit. It proved a fitting setting for a former presidential candidate who’s now famous for his political proselytizing.
Hosted by Phoenix Books and held in Sanders’ hometown of Burlington, the event was one of several sold-out stops on his nationwide book tour. Sanders announced his Senate campaign at the same church in 2006 and some of his most zealous fans attended Tuesday night’s sermon.
Sanders wrote his book, which describes his presidential campaign and lays out his policy prescriptions, before Donald Trump was elected president. The book’s release, just a week after the election, gave Sanders a reason to again traverse the country, bringing renewed attention to his platform at a time when many of his supporters seek a counterweight to Trump.
Diehards lined up outside in the cold 90 minutes before the event. Julie Curtin, a Burlington resident who works at the University of Vermont Medical Center, pulled off a glove to reveal a “Bernie” ring on her right hand featuring a silver silhouette of Sanders’ hair and glasses. She donated to his campaign, called voters and attended his rallies. Inspired by his run, Curtin said she will continue to donate to down-ballot Progressives.
If Trump’s win demoralized Sanders, the seasoned senator didn’t let it show. Instead, Sanders told the crowd that his campaign message still resonates: “On virtually every major issue facing the country, the American people are on the side of progressive ideas.”
Noting that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Sanders said, “Mr. Trump does not have a mandate and certainly does not have a mandate for some of the very ugly, horrific things that he said during the campaign.”
“There is one issue where in my view there cannot be compromise and that is on the issue of bigotry,” Sanders said.
That was precisely what Lena Ginawi and Kiran Waqar* had come hoping to hear. The 16-year-old girls from South Burlington, who are both Muslim and wear head scarves, explained beforehand that they wanted to hear Sanders speak because he’s proof, amid Trump’s rise to power, that “somebody is rooting for us.”
At the end of his lecture — which more resembled a campaign stump speech than a book promotion — Sanders answered several questions that audience members submitted on index cards.
Among the first: Did Sanders really write his book on an iPad?
Sanders, who had just railed against the corporate media and its focus on candidates rather than policy, entertained the question with surprisingly good humor.
“It’s about 90 percent true,” he said. The crowd erupted in laughter as he continued. “I tend to be, um, not the most high-tech human being in the world but every time I dealt with my personal computer I was wiping out three pages … It was slower to go forward with the iPad but at least I knew what I put in the damn thing stayed in the damn thing.”
Before the event started, Beth Wallace stood in line with her 6-year-old daughter, Emily Grace, and her mother, Kathy Cardiff. During the primary, Wallace and Emily Grace canvassed for Sanders in New York and New Hampshire. They drove up from Bennington for the book event because, in the wake of Trump’s election, “I want to ask what specifically we can do as Vermonters,” Wallace said.
She didn’t get to ask Sanders that directly, but an 8-year-old child posed a similar question: “How can kids make a difference in politics?”
“When Vermont does something good … it spreads that idea in five seconds across the country,” Sanders responded. “So I think at the end of the day maybe our greatest responsibility is to try to create a state which in every way people from 49 other states are looking at Vermont and saying, ‘you know what, we want to be like Vermont.’”
Correction, November 23, 2016: An earlier version of this story misspelled Kiran Waqar’s name.
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The head Bernshevik in his self declared Revolution should be DONATING the proceeds of his new book and the advance he received to ‘The Cawz’ and the ‘Less Fawchinits’ he allegedly champions and NOT his personal bank account and growing real estate portfolio. We The People paid his Senator’s salary while he barnstormed around the country not tending to business in DC, all the while the DNC was disenfranchising him, so the book proceeds should go back to The People since he wrote it on our dime.
It’s the only Socially Democratic thing to do unless he wants to continue to be called a sellout and a hypocrite.
Bernie should have titled his book “I’m A Sellout.” Bernies revolution is a joke. What a loser. I hope people didn’t pay to much for his book of lies. If you read that crap and buy into it you need a brain transplant. This Thanksgiving I’m thankful he and Hillary lost.
“Bernshevik”? Oh boy. Go back to sleep Jim, please.
Stickinthemud are you actually a fan of Bernie and his book of lies? This guy has done nothing to actually better our country. In his thirty plus years of public service the only people he has benefited have been the upper class then he goes on rants about how the upper class is destroying this country and promises to fight for the middle and lower classes. Tell me how many jobs has,he ever created? Answer not many if any. It’s time to pull your head out of the sand or mud in your case.
Citizen, you think my head is stuck in the sand? You are living in a glass house, bud. I’m not sure if I should ask any more questions, as you appear to be chiefly antagonistic. Happy holidays, nevertheless.
Jim and Citizen.. your both are spot on about Socialist Bernie.. While we pay for him to look out for us Vermonters he’s out touring the country selling his book.. be damn Vt right?? 4 houses, new cars, a airplane.. and he sold out to Hillary .. even took 50 family members and friends on a trip to Rome on donators dime… seems to me he should pay his supporters back for their donations.. he should be doing the job he was hired to do .. Senator work !!!
Every time Seven Days does a post about Bernie, the same people come out and call him a bolshevik. I’m sure the tone of the article allowed them to think it was safe. To call the church at the head of Church St the Church of Bernie is offensive, and no other place of worship would have been so called.
Calling the people who attended “diehards” ignores the fact that Bernie has been elected in this state by an overwhelming majority for years, and is deemed by the MSM to be the most popular single politician in this country.
I get that this is supposed to be humorous. I note that the speech lasted over an hour and you found one funny incident to quote from, while the other two quotes could easily come out of any of the speeches you and others ignored for the bulk of the primary.