So, Bernie’s running for re-election. At age 82. Well, we have way too many old politicians who believe they’re indispensable, but Bernie is not anywhere near the top of my list for thinning out the herd. He remains the most prominent voice in America for small-p progressive politics. He is a uniquely impactful figure.

So I’m fine with him running for another term. Although, perhaps ironically, I still think he should have left the Senate in 2018. But we’ll get to that in a minute, after discussing one age-related item he should consider.

Which is, he should stop with the “independent” pose and run as a capital-P Progressive. He can still caucus with the Democrats, but he needs to adopt a party label for the first time since his benighted days under the Liberty Union banner.

Why? Because actuarily speaking, there’s a decent chance that Bernie will die or retire before the end of his next term. And as long as Phil Scott is governor, that’s a big problem.

When Emma Mulvaney-Stanak left the House to become mayor of Burlington, it was up to Scott to choose her replacement. He was given three names by the Progressive Party and three by the Democratic Party, and he chose a Democrat. That’s his prerogative, since Mulvaney-Stanak had served as a Prog/Dem. But first and foremost, she is a Progressive and her replacement should have been a Prog. As I wrote at the time:

She served on Burlington City Council as a Prog. (For a time, she was the only Prog on City Council.) She ran for mayor of Burlington as a Prog. She served for four years as chair of the Vermont Progressive Party, for Pete’s sake.

And now her replacement is a Democrat. This was the most overt example of our allegedly nonpolitical governor playing political games with the process, but it’s not the only one. He chose Andy Julow to fill the Senate vacancy created by Dick Mazza’s death, and Julow voted to sustain two of Scott’s six vetoes — on data privacy and the Burlington safe injection site. Julow’s public comments on the overrides indicate clearly that he’s a centrist Democrat. Fair enough; Mazza was a centrist too. But again, Scott tilted to the right when given the chance to fill a legislative vacancy.

Scott has abided by the letter of tradition. He would not go so far as to appoint a Republican to fill a Democratic seat. But he’s happy to ignore the spirit of the tradition. And if Bernie retires or dies as an independent, he’d be leaving the door wide open for Scott to pull a little funny business in naming a new member of the U.S. Senate.

Heck, considering that Vermont doesn’t allow voters to register a party preference, you could say that everyone is an independent, right?

No, I don’t think the governor would choose someone who self-identifies as a Republican. But most “independents” are centrists, not leftists.

I don’t know how far Scott would push this, but like I said, the door is open. There are only two ways to close it: Bernie runs and serves as a Progressive, or we enshrine the tradition in Vermont law.

That would close the door. And I’ve heard that such a bill is being talked about in legislative circles.

Still, that path is uncertain. If a bill were to pass, Scott might well veto it, and overrides are tough. And who knows if the Dem/Prog caucuses will lose their supermajorities this November? An override might be off the table by next spring.

The only certain way to close this door is for Bernie to accept the Progressive Party nomination. Running as a Prog/Dem or Democrat would allow Scott to pull another Mulvaney-Stanak maneuver. If Bernie wants to ensure that his seat stays in the progressive camp, he should accept the capital P.

Do I think he’ll do it? No, not at all. He has staked his political identity as an independent and he’s a stubborn ol’ cuss. Plus, he has earned his place and the right to steer his own course.

Remember what I said at the top that Bernie should have retired from the Senate in 2018? Here’s my case.

Bernie was at the peak of his political influence. He’d come close to winning the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, he was drawing big crowds, and he’d amassed a donor list that was the envy of every politician not named “Trump.” If he’d left the Senate, he could have spent his remaining years building a national progressive movement. He could have funded, just as an example, an Emerge-style training program for progressive candidates. He would have had the opportunity to create something with lasting political impact.

Now, if Bernie stays his course and runs as an independent, he would be putting his Vermont legacy in Phil Scott’s hands. If Bernie were replaced by a corporate Democrat or even a Republican-in-everything-but-name, his influence would end right then and there. Which would be a sad postscript on a remarkable political career.