“Had nations better understood the potential of the Internet, I suspect they might well have strangled it in its cradle.” — William Gibson

1. Introduction

Over the past year, as Senator Bernard Sanders has waged an underdog, insurgent campaign against the Democratic establishment — here personified by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton — he has made continual reference to what the media describes, through euphemistic quotation, as “a political revolution.” The media fails to realize that Senator Sanders is not using the word revolution lightly, or as a euphemism for some lesser political realignment. He is calling for a genuine revolution, in the truest sense of the word.

When Senator Sanders tells the American people that they must rise up and fight for democracy, he is every bit as earnest as the Founders were when they exhorted their fellows to cast off the tyranny of England. I believe that it is time for the greater establishment media to recognize that Bernie Sanders has initiated a transformational political movement. That movement has a name: it is the Political Revolution. It has a goal: to bring about nonviolent restoration of democracy to all levels of American government, and to then use that democratic will to bring social, economic, and political justice to the 99%. And, most importantly, it has a timeframe: the next ten years.

It is the goal of this essay to sketch out the contours of our Revolution, to look at what our political future might hold, and to open a dialog on how exactly we, the American people, can best organize to peacefully restore representative democracy to our Republic. Most importantly, I hope to make clear the fact that America stands at a critical moment in her history. And that in the heat of this crisis, the youth of the our nation are in a unique position to forge a more perfect union.

Consider this unremarked-upon fact: 2026 marks the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the founding of this nation. Today, we stand one short decade away from what should be a grand celebration of the strength of our Republic and all that it stands for. But do you believe the Founders would be proud of the democracy they would find in America today, in this winter of 2016? Do you think they would look upon our dismal voter participation rates, our corrupt campaign finance system, and the vast regulatory capture of our government agents, and see in them the embodiment of the values and principles they fought and died for?

I think not.

But between now and that quarter-millennial anniversary we, the American people, have an unprecedented opportunity to bring those values and principles back to government, and to set our nation on course to a new age of prosperity and justice. Between now and 2026, the federal government will go through three presidential elections, two full cycles of senatorial elections, as many as six Supreme Court nominations, a census, and — critically — a congressional redistricting. This is more than enough time to get the job done, and represents an opportunity for wholesale renewal of every branch of the federal government.

At the same time, demographic shifts within the electorate, particularly the arrival of the full cohort of Millennial voters to the stage by 2022, will greatly advantage those of us who believe in the goals of the Revolution.

An astounding 84% of Millennial voters caucused for Senator Sanders in the Iowa. Due to the arcane nature of the caucus process that penalizes urban caucusgoers, it is undoubtable that the Senator’s share of the popular vote among this author’s age group was even higher, perhaps approaching 90%. Though final demographic data for the 2016 primary season is still forthcoming, Iowa’s numbers are fairly representative of the Senator’s support among young people.

This ideological unity signals a degree of political cohesion not seen in this nation in decades, since Reagan or perhaps earlier. Once the youth of America wake up and realize the extent of their political power and seize it by voting large numbers, all fears of the obstructionist establishment will fade away.

2. The Tyranny of Oligarchy

“No taxation without representation.” This is the premise that gave rise to the first American Revolution, culminating in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. The American Revolution was not solely a rejection of autocratic monarchy, it was at its core about representational government. Though England had for centuries profited from the labor and enterprise of the colonists, they were denied representation in Parliament, and their ability to self-govern was sharply curtailed by the crown. The citizens of the colonies found this intolerable, and so they joined together to secure liberty and self-governance for themselves and their descendants — us. Yet today in America, the will of the people has exactly zero influence in what our national government does. In a comprehensive, multi-decade study by Princeton University, researchers found that regardless of an individual’s ideological and political views, there is no correlation whatsoever between the will of the voting public and the actions of Congress. All that matters is money.

Whether conservative or liberal, socialist or libertarian, black, white, asian, latino, or indigenous, your voice has no power in the halls and chambers of our nation’s Capitol, and in many of our statehouses. Why? The answer is plain to see: the financial elites of this nation have seized control of our government and imposed a regulatory scheme designed to benefit and enrich themselves at the cost of hundreds of millions of their fellow citizens. The voice of the people has been silenced by a ceaseless cacophony of jingling purses. The wealthiest 0.1% of Americans use tax shelters and legal loopholes to get out of their half of the social contract, spending billions lobbying Congress in the knowledge that these investments will pay themselves back manyfold in the form of favorable legislation, contracts, and subsidies. Meanwhile, the poor and working class continue to pay taxes into a system that offers us only enough scraps of social and economic progress to stave off popular revolt, and that peddles fear of that which is different to keep us from realizing how far down the river we’ve been sold.

What I believe the Founders would see, if they looked at America in 2016, is tyranny. Let me repeat again: the desires of the American public have exactly zero influence upon how Congress acts. Congress follows the will of the oligarchs, and only the will of the oligarchs. Remember the words of the Founders: “No taxation without representation.”

Thankfully the Founders saw fit to secure us rights against tyranny. In particular, they provided for us the First Amendment: the most powerful tool for dismantling tyranny the world has ever known. They also provided us the right to vote, and while their shortsightedness in not granting universal suffrage from the nation’s inception is lamentable, progressives have struggled fiercely to secure the right to vote to all adult citizens. Together, the freedoms protected by the First Amendment — freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly — along with our universal suffrage, provide America with the chance to wage a bloodless revolution against the tyranny of oligarchy: the Political Revolution.

3. A Generational Revolution

Who will wage this Revolution? Like all the great struggles in our nation’s history, from the first Revolution, through the Civil War and the Great Depression, it will be the young people of America who will stand up and devote their energy, passion, and patriotism to protecting the Republic and restoring its former glory. As of 2015, the Millennial generational cohort — defined as those being born between 1982 and roughly 2001 — became the most numerous cohort in the American electorate, surpassing the Baby Boomer generation 75.3 million to 74.9 million. Over the next 10 years, the Boomers will continue to age and die, while the tail end of the Millennial cohort will come of voting age.

Why is this generational dynamic so important? A look at the Iowa caucus results illustrates the importance vividly. The views held by the America’s youth, and proclaimed by Senator Sanders, are clearly the future of this nation. It is not a matter if if, it is a matter of when. The most crucial part of the Political Revolution therefore is fostering an awareness among youth that political power is theirs to seize, that the critical moment is now, and that the future they dream of can be realized if only they exercise their right to vote. As this movement goes on, there can be no higher priority than reaching out to young people and sharing with them the news of their empowerment.

But why Millennials? After all, aren’t we supposed to be narcissistic, lazy, basement-dwelling failures to launch? What could we possibly know about civic virtue, personal sacrifice, and patriotism? This narrative about Millennial self-centeredness is not only wrong, it is insulting. The young people of this country have consistently rejected greed, rejected corporatism, and in the face of grave economic peril shown a resourcefulness and willingness to work together that generally goes uncommented-upon by our elders. Despite our dire circumstances, we remain optimistic about the future of this nation because we believe that we have the power to reshape the future, and we are right.

What is makes this mass assassination of our generation’s character all the more insulting is that the very people who criticize us so harshly — Boomers, mostly — are responsible for the strength of our convictions. Those of us under the age of 35 recall our elementary and high school teachings well: You can be anything you want to be. No one is better or worse than you because of their gender or race. Money is not the most important thing in the world. Sharing and compassion are virtues, selfishness and hatred are sins. Who designed those curricula and taught us to believe those things? Disaffected Boomers who, having lost the fight for justice in the streets, took to the nation’s classrooms to implant in the next generation the seeds of this Revolution. Put another way: We were raised with a fundamental belief in equality, liberty, and justice — the same values that many of our parents, the Boomers, fought for during the 1960s.

To us, the words of Dr. King and the Kennedys are not mere rhetoric; they are the foundation of what we believe America to be. To us, the struggles and triumphs of Lincoln and the Roosevelts not fables of better days lost, they are proof that American politics can and will make great leaps towards justice. To us, America is a place where the color of your skin does not matter, where all citizens are equal, and where the opportunity to become the best human being one can be is a right of all who live here. To us, that means that every citizen should be secure in his or her health and body, that every citizen should have the opportunity to educate themselves to the limits of their ability, and that none who contribute to society through work should live in poverty. Is it any wonder that when we look around our nation and see these values debased on a daily basis we might rally to the cry of someone who, like Senator Sanders, fought for equality through the 1960s and who, unlike most of his peers, has never given up the fight? This is another unspoken truth: the Political Revolution represents a return of morality and values to American government.

This is not to discount contributions of the other generational cohorts who support Senator Sanders. Indeed, it is the values of the older generations who have guided us to this moment of national reckoning. Though many Boomers have cynically cashed in on the great economic and cultural unravelling initiated in the 1970s, many still hold true to the ideals of their youth. They see in our generation a chance to make their dreams real, to finally win that long struggle for peace and justice, to know that their generation did good in the world. Similarly, it is the members of Generation X who are best positioned to stand up and run for Congress now, to become the vanguard of the antiestablishment, and to challenge the authority of the status quo.

4. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

What has changed, in recent years, to enable this restoration of values to government? Why is it that Millennials, far more than any other generational cohort, are in a position to remake American politics?

To paraphrase a famous Clinton campaign slogan: It’s the Internet, stupid.

The Internet, that protean force of mass-consciousness which now connects us all (and to which the digitally native have a unique relationship), is the ultimate tool of the Revolution. It is only because of the Internet that Senator Sanders has raised nearly 8 million individual donations — averaging a mere $27 — from millions individual citizens. It is only because of the Internet that a community of over 230,000 of Senator Sanders’ supporters were able to spontaneously organize and begin promoting the campaign. It is only because of the Internet that individual voters can effortlessly comb the archives of political history and see for themselves that Senator Sanders has stood firm in his morals for decades. And finally, it is only because of the Internet that Senator Sanders’ candidacy could go from absolute obscurity to fighting Goliath to a standstill in just over a year.

Sanders’ campaign has already demonstrated the power of the Internet, using a mature version of the campaign that President Obama prototyped in the 2008 primary contest and general election. Across the web, individuals have of their own initiative built informational tools for the campaign. But the full power of the Internet has not yet been brought to bear on solving the problems of the Revolution. As time goes on, the Internet will play a greater role, providing tools, applications, and other platforms for political organization, promotion, and participation. The young, who are more digitally attuned, will be the primary users and benefactors of these technologies. Therefore it is only because of the Internet that this Revolution is possible.

5. A Decade of Renewal: Phases of the Revolution

So what does the next decade hold for our movement, for this Second American Revolution? While Senator Sanders’ campaign has been one (important) part of the Political Revolution, his defeat in the primaries does not represent the end of our Revolution — rather it represents the beginning. That is because mere executive power is insufficient to realize our goals. To bring about any of the changes that we believe are necessary to return prosperity to America there must be a wholesale reconstitution of Congress. This is the primary challenge facing the Political Revolution, and the magnitude of this challenge is why it will take longer than one presidential term to achieve victory. 2026 is not merely a symbolic date, it represents a realistic estimate of how long it might take to get from here to there. Never forget that Congress is deeply entrenched and will not go down without a titanic struggle.

As I mentioned in the introduction, during the next ten years Americans have the chance to carry out a program of vast civic renewal, the goal of which is the return of representative democracy and the provision of economic and social justice reforms for the 99%. This program is centered around a critical and often-overlooked feature of our democracy: Congressional redistricting. In 2020, in addition to the presidential election, there will be a census. This census will in turn trigger a redistricting of Congress in 2022. It must be the objective of the Political Revolution to elect representatives to state legislatures prior to this event. This is because state legislatures control redistricting. Controlling the redistricting process is key to ending gerrymandering, and thus key to eliminating “safe seats” used by both parties to guarantee incumbent advantage and to distort the will of the people.

In the interim, between now and the redistricting, we will work to elect representatives to Congress through the current political process. No doubt we will have both victories and defeats, but due to the nature of it is quite likely we will not be able to obtain a majority in the House until we retake the our state legislatures.

Once we do win back the states and end gerrymandering, we will have the first Congressional elections which reflect the will of the majority. Some of those elected will be experienced legislators and advocates who have allied with us since the beginning. Some of them will be individuals brought into office during the 2018 and 2020 elections. Many of them will be ordinary people who stood up for their values and their communities — whether liberal or conservative — and ran for state office. We must then work to implement something akin to Professor (and briefly, candidate for president) Lawrence Lessig’s Citizen’s Equality Act. This is how we undo Citizens United, and this is how we enact the rest of Senator Sanders’ platform.

By 2026, every Senator will have come up for re-election under this new, more participatory system. This proposed decadal structure allows us to look at the Political Revolution in a series of four phases. During each phase, the goals and activities of the people must change to meet the challenges of the moment.

Obviously, this timeline is provisional. It sets out the major, critical dates as I see them, and attempts to place the stated objectives of Senator Sanders’ platform in a logical order, given the political realities facing America. I offer these ideas to frame a discussion, not to define reality.

Phase 1: 2016, the Critical Year

The Political Revolution begins here and now, with the conclusion of the presidential primary process, the Democratic Convention in July, and the general election in November. I do not wish to address here the moral quandary facing us as we choose between the evils presented to us by the establishment parties this November. I wish instead to focus on what we must do regardless of who wins the Presidency.

It is crucial that we begin to act now because the next four years may bring great misfortune to the American people. The TPP is signed, and may soon be ratified; Congress hopes to vote on it this summer. Climate change continues unaddressed. Oil values have plummeted, and the world economy stands on the brink of another great recession. ISIS and Russia are magnets for hawkish foreign policy blunders. We must do all we can to minimize the damage of another Clinton presidency, or worse, the damage of a Trump presidency.

For these reasons and more it is crucial that between now and November those of us who support Senator Sanders do everything in our power to begin the task of reclaiming Congress. We must support legislative candidates who will oppose the worst abuses of the nation’s next chief executive. This means donating to and volunteering for candidates who have pledged to carry Sanders’ values forward as we begin our journey.

Additionally, special effort needs to be made to inform anyone between the age of 18 and 34 that voting matters. Similarly, all those discouraged voters who have given up on the political process need to know that now is the time to get involved again. I am hopeful that providing this structural narrative of how we can work together over the next decade will be compelling to the many millions of people who have given up on American democracy.

When speaking to politically disengaged Millennials, let them know that they can change the future now, that a unique moment has arrived, and that while their previous disinterest in politics can be forgiven (after all, they are right that voting hasn’t mattered in decades), they can be a part of history if they stand up and join with us. When speaking to conflicted Boomers, remind them of the passion of their youth, and appeal to their sense of justice and virtue. Point to the symbolism of 2026 and let them know that they can see meaningful change in their lifetime; that the promise of America might be kept.

Phase 2: 2017–2018, Lines in the Sand

The most frequent critique of Senator Sanders’ policy proposals has been that “there’s no way you can ever get any of this stuff done! Congress won’t allow it!” Put another way, Bernie Sanders can’t govern. The Senator’s usual response to this criticism is that the American people must become engaged in politics and, through this engagement, change Congress. However, he has rarely if ever elaborated on exactly what he means by this in terms of specific actions he would take as President or on how far the Political Revolution must go.

This shouldn’t be surprising. Sanders has been only a presidential candidate at this point in the Revolution; it would not do well for him to call explicit attention to the fact that once elected, he very well may have exhorted the American people to tirelessly campaign against any member of Congress who will not come to the table over his agenda. In all revolutions there is a purge of the established leadership — the leadership who are to be held responsible for the state of affairs giving rise to the revolution. I suspect, based upon the establishment’s reaction to Sanders’ campaign (to say nothing of the history of revolutions past) that most of Congress will need to go.

Who will replace them? We will.

January 2017 will mark the beginning of a phase of national reckoning and re-evaluation. Whoever wins in November, America will find itself coping with the aftermath of an election in which millions of people have serious grievances with the new President. We must look past this focus on the executive, past the divisive rhetoric that will inevitably flow from that high office, and instead celebrate the unity of our community and the strength it gives us in the face of short-term defeat.

We have already seen community leaders from around the country stepping up to challenge establishment legislators in their federal districts. This is a positive start to the Revolution, and the efforts of Tim Canova, Pramila Jayapal, Zephyr Teachout, and the rest of our movement’s first wave of candidates should be an inspiration to the rest of us. But it remains to be seen how many more will join in this trend, and moreover, there is no way to know how well any of their campaigns will fare against their deeply entrenched opponents.

After all, incumbency re-election rates in the United States top 90%, and the focus of the people at this stage is on the Presidential campaign. It is far more likely that the first large group of defenestrated Congresspeople will find themselves unseated during the 2018 midterms. During the run-up to the midterms, the organizational power that has until now focused with laser-like intensity on electing Senator Sanders must divide itself, and use the Internet to wage a multi-front campaign against strategically chosen House and Senate seats. The primary season has given us the data we need to design and implement this strategy, and it must be an early priority for the Revolution.

Just like with the Sanders presidential campaign, leveraging the Internet will allow the Revolution to beat out the corrupt campaign finance system by mobilizing mass donations, and standardized campaigning technology will make running as an insurgent easier and cheaper than it ever has been in the past. The tools and techniques developed during the Sanders presidential campaign will be distributed to the people, and the people will use them to enact change. Through hard work, dedication, and a growing belief in our civic power, the Political Revolution will take back all those seats which have not been so gerrymandered that they are no longer responsive to any direct political challenge.

This phase of the Revolution will continue into the 2020 election, but the techniques and strategies for winning must be developed and perfected during the 2018 midterms. Thus this phase ends here, and our focus turns to the states.

Phase 3: 2019–2020, The Battle for the States

Just as Phase 2 will continue into the 2020 and 2022 Congressional elections, Phase 3 will actually begin in 2016, but need not become the true focus of the Revolution until 2019, in preparation for the 2020 state legislative elections.

The goal of this phase of the Revolution is to retake control of the state legislatures in order to control the redistricting process following the 2020 census. By 2019, every state should have a fairly well-organized Revolutionary political body, assembled to fight the midterm elections of 2018. What were formerly tools developed and distributed for federal elections will in turn be employed at the local level, state district by state district. Due to the far more representational nature of state legislative elections, candidates for these elections will be local leaders; people attuned to the values of their communities who step forward and offer to serve.

It is at this point that we must pay close attention to a critical fact: the Political Revolution is radically inclusive. This means that we have room within our ranks for people of all ideologies. Many, many conservatives who may disagree with Sanders’ social policies share our conviction that corrupt politics must end and that the economy must work for the middle class. If we are ever going to retake the state governments — many of which are genuinely conservative — we must welcome with open arms those who hold different views but who will work together with us to restore democracy. That means Republicans, that means libertarians, that means evangelicals. We are all on the same side. What divides us is insignificant compared to our common interest.

As mentioned previously, Congressional redistricting is largely controlled by state legislatures. Whichever political party is in power in a given statehouse, that party is — to a varying degree, depending on the state — able to draw congressional districts in a way that ensures that Congressional seats go to party members. Both parties are guilty of this. At its worst, this gerrymandering divides communities along racial lines; by way of example a Federal court recently found unconstitutional the boundaries of two districts in North Carolina. At a broader level, our current first-past-the-post voting system robs our politics of nuance and the ability to compromise, disenfranchising those whose voices do not fit within the two party system. Given that independents now comprise the majority of the electorate, this is yet more evidence of how little say We the People have in government.

Currently, the Republican party has an astonishing lock on state politics, both at the legislative and executive level, causing governmental gridlock from the deep South to the Northwest. In to wreaking havoc within state governments, they use this lock on state legislatures to control districting, and thereby gain disproportionate control of the House of Representatives. The Political Revolution must therefore wage a campaign to retake our state governments, particularly our legislatures. If we succeed at this, we can draw boundaries that reflect the true composition of the voting public, and gain access to all those seats we were unable to take during Phase 2.

Finally, there is another thing to be said for electing supporters of the Revolution to state office, namely that restoring our democracy and protecting the gains we are fighting for may require amending the Constitution. Once we have a working Congress again, it may well be possible to pass Constitutional amendments. Ratification of those amendments requires the consent of three-fourths of the states’ legislatures. Though it cannot yet be said whether the need for amendment will arise, working to retake our statehouses will add that tool to the Revolutionary arsenal.

Phase 4: 2021–2024, Restoring Justice Through Equality

From here on out, things are much less clear. If all goes according to plan, if the American people do bravely rally and take back their state governments by 2020, the presidential election may present our movement with an opportunity to advance a progressive candidate, as the rights of the people are vindicated and our nation comes together in conscience and trust to celebrate our victory.

But again, four years is simply too optimistic. For one, no one knows how the establishment is going to react to a massive grassroots political insurgency sweeping into every statehouse in the Republic. We are already dealing with an unstable economy. It is possible that Wall Street might react to the impending inquisition with panic, sending us into another economic catastrophe, this one a true reckoning between rich and poor, black and white, labor and capital. If this happens it will surely be blamed on our movement’s socialist economics, and all the media will play to the tune of the bankers crying “We told you so!” Such an outcome would likely catalyze the Revolution, but would no doubt slow its progress.

Even barring any sort of major civic distress, it must never be forgotten that the established two-party system is powerful, especially at the Congressional level. Presidential politics are straightforward and transparent compared to the baroque opacity of the legislative world. Congress’ decades-old power structures and complicated networks of alliance and enmity will take far longer to crack than the comparatively monolithic challenge of electing a president. It is likely that the Political Revolution’s initial efforts will be rebuffed by the superior political skill of our opponents. We may be trying to hack democracy, but the process is still very much in alpha.

Regardless, by 2020 we should have made measurable progress. With luck — to say nothing of an incredible amount of effort and personal sacrifice — we will make the redistricting deadline in in our state legislatures. From there, we face the challenge of actually enacting the policies of Democratic Socialism, and enacting them in a way that is transparent, fiscally responsible, and economically just. We face years of litigation in the Federal courts using Dodd-Frank and the Sherman Act to break up big banks, rein in cartels, and end corporate welfare. We face the challenge of reforming our system of mass incarceration, of demilitarizing our police force, and of putting the American people to work rebuilding our infrastructure. It will be a monumental task, but by 2024, we should be well on our way to success.

5. 2026: A Celebration of Democracy

Imagine, if you will, waking up on July 4, 2026. Imagine waking up in a country where you know that your vote matters. A country where you trust your government, and have faith in democracy because you have not only seen it work, you have made it work.

Picture it: an America where the will of the citizens is once again represented in government. An America that is actively working to improve the world, not prey upon it. A land that is once again an example for the rest of the world to emulate, leading by example; a destination for all who wish to contribute their best to the human cause.

Picture an America ready to face the challenges of climate change, end poverty within our borders, to recognize the dignity of those who have lived so long in the shadows. An America ready to embrace the future with open hearts and open minds. An America that those long-dead patriots of a quarter-millennium past might look at with pride and envy for all its virtue and all its glory.

We can make this America a reality.

All we have to do is care.

All we have to do is vote.

All we have to do is have the courage to join the Revolution.