Bernie Sanders 2016. Run Bernie Run !!

I am a true independent voting in this election and happen to reside in a swing state. I am willing to hear each candidate out to see which one has the best economic and foreign policies based on what fits today's climate.

Glynch... I'm not sure if you've seen this, but he's both a critic and defender of Israel. Does this change your opinion?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vf2cCdgwgoM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

On another note and I hate to sidetrack, the yelling and screaming at him is pathetic and matches the BDS tendencies to scream and yell rather than have open and honest dialogue. He does a masterful job at giving his opinion while respecting theirs. We need more Bernie Sanders in the world.

I probably won't be voting for him because I believe he is against the energy industry and will do damage to my ability to put food on the table of my family. He attacks the energy industry but fails to attack the larger culprit of green house gas emissions such as methane and nitrous oxide rich big agriculture. Great way to grab the environmentalist extremists along with some of the farmers of crucial Ohio.

Personally, I would rather my tax dollars go to radical educational reform K-12 than add 13-16. It's not a horrible idea, but why expand a broken system? If this is aimed to assist minorities with higher education, I believe this is misguided. College preparation and not letting disadvantaged children fall behind is more important than trying to catch them up to toss them out into the work force after 4 extra years of government funded high school. I'm saying this is as someone who went to a high school in Houston that was 90% minority and so many students weren't being taught jack or any life skills to get ready for the real world. It was all about passing the stupid standardized tests so the school gets a passing grade and teachers get bonuses. With all that being said, I do agree with him that the cost of higher education is way too high and continues to skyrocket. Wouldn't mind legislation that regulates the universities on tuition hikes. We will see if "free college" was just a gimmick and if he back tracks.

I do like the fact that he's going after military spending and wants to promote infrastructure while putting people to work. I also like how he points out the broken penal system and puts a dollar figure next to it. This still seems like empty talking points and doesn't provide real solutions at this point.

Will keep an eye on him. I would imagine that he will have to move closer to center as the primary goes along. He's not going to pull any of the left leaning independents away from Clinton. Obama was lucky to have Bush and an anti-incumbent/Republican climate to cover up his weaknesses. Sanders won't have that advantage over Clinton.

 

Bernie will not move to the center. His campaign is not about winning, it's about articulating the progressive point of view and exposing it to the voters. The plutocrat money that supports the wingnuts has been controlling the message in the US for so long, vilifying the collective efforts that made this country strong, the perception has been skewed. Things like the TVA, the Interstate system, unions banding together for middle class wages, FDA, CDC, OSHA etc etc. take collective action to make better lives for the general public. Those things cost money, yes a reallocation of money, to ensure the strength and welfare of the nation. And it is within the rights and responsibilities of the people to enact legislation to do that. We can as a majority decide within the limits of The Constitution whatever reallocations we want.

The opposition to that are the privileged who buy propaganda, laws and representation to retain their status. All politics is class war.

 

Really? BS how? It's an empirical fact that the single biggest determinant of whether or not you will be privileged in life is how privileged your parents are.

This bears itself out in most of the anectdotal evidence I have seen personally. Wealth begets wealth, and wealthy tend to take care of their own.

What basis do you have to dispute this? Particularly the first point.

Probably none, as usual.

 

Can you summarize what Bernie said? I can't hear him very well.

I agree with you about education. A radical change is needed there.

 

I believe Bernie was talking about greed and or unnecessary and excessive spending. He probably could have picked a better example other than deodorant and sneakers.

School does get you ready for the real world... The real world of being dependent and working for someone else. Life long indentured servitude. Regardless of what you learn in school one of the main purposes is to adapt you to a work schedule and to have the desire to work for someone else. That's why many kids repeatedly hear make good grades so you can get a good job more than they hear make good grades so you can start your own business and or work for yourself. Learning life skills is good but giving kids the mindset and knowledge of how to earn a dollar on their own may be better... But the elite wouldn't like that.... "I do not want a nation of thinkers. I want a nation of workers" - Rockefeller... And that's probably why a lot of these corporations have the power that they have because people are put in a position to vote in a way that mainly benefits them.

I don't think free college is all that attractive when there are a lot of people with degrees working in fast food restaurants and or not working at all.

 

The problem is when people look at college as only a way to get a job, and not a way to increase one's learning and make someone a better person.

 

I like the popular refrain now that everybody should just study Science technology engineering math to have a job, and avoid being replaced by machines.

Machines are very good at science technology engineering and math. Probably better than they are at philosophy. Not to mention that if everybody did it, it necessarily devalues those skills

I'm not saying there's not value in this or that you should go out and become an art history major - but your college major choice isn't nearly as relevant as a lot of people think it is and it's not necessarily going to save you when the cloud brainbots get better at your task than you are.

 

If any GOP candidate published statements saying that women fantasize about being gang-raped, they would be finished. The media would ask them about nothing else.

with Sanders, it's ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

If it was written 43 years ago and not intended to be taken literally, I would hope not.

 

a local townhall meeting and these idiots want to discuss the mideast problems that have been unsolved for 50+ years?!?! wtf?!?!

the candidate that says, "we've got plenty of local issues here, mideast is not a priority" has my vote.

 

Thanks for answering Remii.

The real world is there regardless if you're ready or not. Working for someone else isn't indentured servitude. Perhaps you are talking about some of the poorer communities? Not really sure what you're getting at.

Schooling in the US has changed quite a bit since starting standardized testing (we'll call it "ST" for short). ST was initially used to measure IQ way back in early 1900s. It was then used to do mass tests for the military to find those who were officer material.

In 1965, LBJ had good intentions on his "war on poverty" by passing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The problem is that those overseeing these policies (i.e. Alice Rivlin) became obsessed with measuring reading proficiency, mathematical competencies, and acquired knowledge.

I agree with "one of the main purposes is to adapt you to a work schedule and to have the desire to work for someone else" but I would amend that to: One of the main purposes (of schooling) is to teach time management skills, work efficiency, and work ethic.

I have more faith in children than adults when it comes to learning and doing the right thing. Unfortunately, we aren't doing the job right as a society with the system as it is. We are letting too many fall through the cracks and forgetting about them. We need to do a better job at diagnosing learning disabilities and shrinking class sizes. I don't blame the teachers today though, they are great mentors that have tough jobs where they are stretched too thin and aren't compensated enough.

Good grades don't guarantee a good job. Nothing guarantees a good job. Good jobs don't grow on trees and are very hard to find. This is why patience, further education and constant self improvement are crucial to be successful. If you want to make yourself valuable to a company, learn more than the other guys.

Starting a business is hard. I tried it and failed. Was worth the risk and I have no regrets. There is so much financial risk in starting your own gig. It's even harder for people that have families without the proper financial safety nets.

You are 100000% correct with this statement. Knowledge and mindset are everything. So many kids go through our schools thinking they are worthless because they are falling behind and are ashamed because of it.

Other countries have a better handle on the current progress of their students and guide them into their professional lives by specializing schooling earlier on. This is by no means a perfect system and is in some sense going against the American principle of being free and having a choice in what craft you choose as an adult. I just think kids would be better off if we did provide them with real job skills before their transition out of the public system. We can't do that until we adopt a system that treats students as individuals rather than test taking machines.

The corporations have "power" (or the ability to influence public policy) because they have the money to lobby. This is why the people have to decide how strong they want their central government relative to their local governments. Our founders warned against a central government that was too strong because of how much they hated the British monarchy/government.

There's a fine balance to be had here because we need a central government that has the capabilities to keep us strong on the world stage. But do we need all of the excess and duplicative agencies? Limiting the power of the politicians will limit the power of the corporations. This is why I'm scared of a super progressive candidate. Even one that is claiming he can't be bought by lobbyists.

Bingo. We need new job infrastructure and a revamp of the existing school system.

 

He said that he believed that Israel should be criticized for their treatment of Palestinians. He also said Israel has overreacted to Hamas aggression by bombing schools and highly populated areas. He said that these statements are backed up by his signing of bills that criticized them.

He then goes into that while he remains critical of Israeli actions, not enough attention has been given to the fact that Hamas shoots rockets from highly populated areas and steals materials meant for Palestinian infrastructure to build tunnels to wage war against Israel.

This is where a few people in the crowd went ballistic. He told them that he believes that they are entitled to their opinion and that he didn't interrupt them when the woman made her statement and asked the perfectly valid question to him. He asked for the same respect that he gave them and wanted to be able to answer it without getting shouted over.

 

You don't have to pay to become a better person or increase your knowledge...
It does a fool no good to spend money on an education, because he has no common sense. - Proverbs 17:16

College isn't for everyone... Plus college is a money making scheme as well. That's why in many 4 year programs they force a lot of BS electives and or unnecessary courses on students to help push them (and or their parents) further in debt. And if Bernie was elected and made Jr college free there would probably be a good percentage of people who would have to burn time and tax dollars on remedial courses because of the lack of education in the public school system. Trades and apprenticeship would probably be the better way to go.

 

Corporate media is writing him off before the first debate. Not surprising, but still ridiculous.

 

Well, blame your left wing friends. They run this media.

 

so...you're telling me he has a chance?