in the middle of a complicated comment filled with data, after going to find favorability numbers, now and over time, for Clinton, Trump, Repubs and Dems. Not going to do all that again, so here's some facts and my conclusion:

Fact #1: The two parties are presenting powerful frontrunners that the majority of the American people dislike. The dislike is growing over time, over months (in Clinton's case, since May 2015). Nothing suggests it's going to get better for either of them, though if Bernie would get out of the race Clinton could concentrate on how she's different from Trump, which might prop up her sagging numbers. Hard to say how much that might help her at this late date, but it's the only thing that could.

Fact #2: The two parties are themselves exceedingly unpopular, neither able to crack 40% favorability, the Repubs outdoing the Dems in being hated by only 2 pts (37% favorability to 39% favorability, for Red Team vs Blue Team, respectively).

Analysis: The two parties have found a formula for running extremely unpopular candidates supported by extremely unpopular organizations, and having them be the likeliest winners. This breaks a fundamental assumption of representative government based on elections, which is that the people's will can be expressed by voting in candidates that they like and trust. That fundamental assumption leads to the idea that politicians either have to be very good at tricking people or actually give the people something they want. And it has a corollary assumption that politicians who keep tricking people eventually get caught out and held to account and replaced by someone who gives the people more of what they want. Without these two assumptions, representative democracy simply has no meaning.

Conclusion:
Either the parties go, or representative government goes.

This is what the Bernie Sanders campaign is actually about.

It's about the viability of representative democracy.

and helping him win here, I went out and divested myself of being a "registered Democrat". I am now registered as "unenrolled" - I can't go with the lesser of two evils/weasels (apologies to weasels) in terms of which party I want to be associated with. After being registered as a Dem since the late 70's, I am done with being tied to a party philosophy that has forgotten We, the People.

to be able to vote for him in our closed primary. It looks like New Mexico might be in play. Thrilling, isn't it?

Gallup has updated for 2015.

I agree that independents aren't in the middle. I don't think Gallup has numbers on this, but I've read that a large majority of independents (like some of us) are to the left of the Democratic Party -- we stood still while the party gradually moved right. A smaller group of independents are disgruntled former Bush supporters on the right (now supporting Trump).

To my mind whether Bernie wins or not is not a last ditch attempt at changing the system, it is a beginning.

Bernie is not the movement. Bernie's candidacy is not even remotely the start of this movement which more properly traces back to #occupy and before that things like G20 protests. Bernie simply happens to be the right man at the right time to surf that wave.

Looking forward, only Hillary supporters think that a Bernie win might change anything. Putting Bernie in the oval office is only our test case. Then we must elect hundreds of Berniecrats to federal positions and thousands to state positions. Bernie as the POTUS can certainly help by providing a clean litmus test and using the bully pulpit as a spotlight, but it is hardly going to change anything by itself. I doubt even his ability to deal with Wall Street through appropriate appointments... I suspect actual criminal proceedings will be blocked somehow.

We, the movement, are in effect building up a new party nearly from scratch. We have a LOT of organizing yet to do. We have so far not really coalesced as an entity. We are failing in the down-ballot support, probably through lack of focus. We don't really have a clean way to continue communicating with each other after June/November. There's a ton of work yet to do.

...but I would like to hear more from the Sanders campaign regarding the structure of the political revolution beyond the election cycle.Will the campaign become a permanent institution for organizing and policy?We have the enthusiasm,the donor and volunteer base,and all the personal connections that have been forged during the campaign.The people are ready.Will the leadership and organization be there?

The RW has it's lobbyists,policy institutes,churches,and media.They have been very effective.Can we mirror that on the left?

Perhaps I just have a case of the nerves.I am so proud of all the people who are fighting and working so hard to advance the cause and I am honored to have played my small part in that struggle.But we can't forget that the wealthy and powerful will block us at every opportunity regardless of the outcome of any election.

We can win this election but as you say this is just the beginning.

a couple times.

In 1988/1992 a lot of "independents" were between the Dems and the Repubs ideologically.

Since then, both parties have shifted massively to the right, at the same time each shedding their most left-leaning members.

Most independents are no longer between the two parties, they're to the left of both. Occupy, Sanders, etc. are proving this.