National Nurses United

I t was four years ago in August, for a colorful rally in Sacramento, Calif. on the steps of the State Capi- tol marking the 90th anniversary of the enactment of women's suffrage, when the campaign to Vote Nurses' Values was born. The basic concept was that we have fought very hard and very long to win the right to vote in America, in a country where the right to vote at its birth was restricted to white, male property owners, and that the right to vote must also have meaning. For nurses, the concept of voting nurses' values translated to caring, compassion, and community, three characteristics that also define the profession and practice of nurs- ing. A profession that, at its highest calling, takes its inspiration from one of the earliest nurses' heroes, Lillian Wald, an RN, but also an activist for unions, women's rights, peace, public health, and social reform who in a book about the settlement house she helped found in New York wrote, "The call to the nurse is not only for the bedside care of the sick, but to help in seeking out the deep lying basic causes of illness and misery that in the future there may be less sickness to nurse and cure." When nurses marched and rallied in Sacramento that hot day in August 2014, an event which also called out a multimillion- aire corporate CEO running for governor of California, probably few imagined that in a few short years we'd have a major candidate for U.S. president who embodies nurses' values, or the values so eloquently described by Lillian Wald. Yet somehow, we do. And so does the rest of the nation. His name is Bernie Sanders, and he is rocketing in the polls and on the campaign trail, treated like a rock star by the tens of thousands packing his rallies across America, and not just in traditional liberal havens like Madison or Portland, but also in Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, Greensboro, N.C., and Manassas, Va. Bernie has shocked the political estab- lishment, and Wall Street, and the major media who have long dismissed the move- ment he represents. But the power of his prescription for change, his decades of commitment to elevating workers and the powerless over the elite, his truth telling, and his authenticity have altered the politi- cal paradigm. No wonder Mother Jones magazine wrote, "Bernie Sanders' run just might change politics forever." Or why New York Times columnist Charles Blow, who has been skeptical of his campaign, could write, "There is an earnest, if snappy, aura to Sanders that is laudable and refreshing. One doesn't sense the stench of ambition or the revolting unctuousness of incessant calculation. There is an idealistic crusader in the man, possibly to the point of being quixotic, but at least it doesn't come off as corrupted by money or power or the God complex that so often attends those in pursuit of the seat behind the Resolute Desk." When NNU endorsed Bernie in August, we emphasized the perfect storm of a candi- date who shared our values, had stood with nurses and working people his whole life, was uncompromised, and offered the real hope of building a social movement that could transform America and shake it from the ruthless grip of Wall Street and the corporate class. And a candidate who always said his campaign was not about him, but about all of us. What does Bernie mean to nurses? He means the world, a better world for all of us and our communities, and our families, and our children. 12 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 RoseAnn DeMoro Executive Director, National Nurses United One of us What Bernie Sanders' campaign means for RNs and America

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