SRM plays the Trump card

Inauguration Day for the 51st Congress (June 30, 2018) is six months away and there are almost four months to go until #patriavotes2018 Election Day. But the SRM -- Patria's version of the BJP in India, with a good dose of the US Republican Party thrown in -- just can't wait to fire up a slogan borrowed directly from Donald Trump: MAKE PATRIA GREAT AGAIN!

Unfortunately unlike MAGA (pronounced "magga"), "MPGA" does not work very well as an acronym. But that won't stop the SRM. Per Wikipedia, the slogan was actually first used by Ronald Reagan during the 1980 presidential campaign, as "Let's make America great again".

Along with "Patria First" patriotic jingoism, "take back the economy" protectionism and tariff barriers, and the "bring the jobs home" fight against offshoring and de-industrialization, the SRM  also see themselves as the guardians of Hinduism or Sanatan Dharma in much the same way as Republicans see themselves on the front lines of evangelical Christianity. Other parties such as Amrita and Chakra make use Hindu symbols and iconography to some extent, but virtually every SRM campaign poster features Krishna, Rama, Hanuman, Devi or a Hindu deity of some kind.

The chief opponents to the upcoming Amrita-Social Democrat coalition (that hasn't happened and likely won't happen until after Election Day, but everyone in Patria knows Amma and Bernie Sanders are about to join forces), SRM actually stands for "Swadeshi Ramrajya Movement". Swadeshi refers to self-sufficiency or the "make it in India" campaign originally conceived by Gandhi, while Ramrajya is of course the Sanskrit name for Patria. Back in the day when the party was first established amid the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s, SRM stood for "Spiritual Regeneration Movement" and borrowed the name from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation organization. Just as in the US, where virtually no one will be able to tell you what the broadcasting monoliths CBS, NBC and ABC actually stand for, in Patria no one ever refers to the SRM by anything other than the initials.

Patria feeling the Bern, grants Sanders honorary citizenship

If you've been following Campaign 2018, the race for Patria's 51st Congress on Twitter @Patriavotes2018 it would seem like the macho law-and-order National Union and the "Make Patria Great Again" SRM are about to swing the Inner Realm hard to the right. The Amrita Party, Social Democrats and their allies such as the Chakra Party and the Greens have barely gotten a tweet in. The election is still four months away, but just a few days before Christmas the Social Democrats received a YUGE gift from the waning 50th Congress. Before adjourning for the Festivus-Christmas-Solstice-Yule-Saptah-Mahasamadhi (and whatever else gets celebrated in Patria at the end of the calendar year) break, Congress has voted to make Bernie Sanders an honorary citizen of Patria.

The resolution passed by Congress, with even some of the SRM and NU caucus voting "yea", praised Senator Sanders' commitment to social democracy and to reversing economic inequality: "For more than half a century, since he was on the front lines of the civil rights movement...as an active protest organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, as well as a participant in Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington in 1963, Senator Sanders has built a reputation as a leading progressive voice on issues such as climate change, corporate welfare, income inequality, LGBT rights and universal single-payer health care...and an outspoken opponent of US imperialist foreign policy, such as the costly, endless and virtually unwinnable wars in the Middle East...although he opposed the wars, Senator Sanders never criticized those who fought and has been a strong supporter of veterans' benefits... Senator Sanders represents all that is right with America or that could have been right with America... Patria still believes he would have been the best choice to succeed Barack Obama as the 45th President".

The 76 year old Independent Senator from Vermont was unavailable for comment, but Patria is about to "Feel the Bern" once again in 2018. Sanders, of course, was hugely popular in Patria and was unofficially endorsed by Patria as a candidate for President of the United States in 2016. Many citizens of Patria still believe he would have been elected President (#Berniewouldhavewon) had the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton not conspired to rig the primaries and derail his nomination. With the granting of honorary citizenship, Sanders is all but ready to assume the role of de facto House Leader of Patria's Social Democrats, after choosing a Precinct to represent in the 51st Congress. He may opt for Centralia in the heart of Patria's Rust Belt, or more likely Fredonia - the gritty, little independent-minded maverick Precinct that would remind him of Vermont.

There had been rumors that the SDs would merge with the Amrita Party prior to the 2018 election, but it would appear now that the two parties are likely to form a post-election coalition if they win a plurality of seats in the 51st Congress. Amma and Bernie together for Patria's bicentennial! How could they not win? At least the Social Democrats will immediately close the gap with the Patria First right wing parties who are currently burning up the @Patriavotes2018 Twitter timeline.

This is a major and unusual honor, as Patria does not grant many macronationals honorary citizenship. In recent years the late Nelson Mandela was proclaimed an honorary citizen of Patria, as was the Canadian singer, songwriter, yoga teacher and environmentalist Parvati Devi, who has devoted her life towards the establishment of Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary (MAPS). In 2016 Patria ratified the MAPS treaty, becoming the first government (albeit unrecognized) to do so.

Amma and Bernie. Let's get this party started!