Sanders looked more to FDR and LBJ as standard bearers for the Democratic Party than Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. That obviously didn't go over well amongst the untouchable vanguard of the party that gave us welfare reform, "Don't Ask Don't Tell," the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the bombings of Yugoslavia and Sudan, NAFTA, the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, and the Defense of Marriage Act and applauded at a president that smoked without inhaling and never had sex with that girl. For 40 years a "liberal" was code for a Harvard Law graduate, and "progressive" ideas became things like soda taxes and gun bans and safe spaces. They not only dropped the ball on advocating for working class bread and butter issues, but adopted a kinder, gentler neo-liberalism. There's a reason Sanders did well with primary voters in places like West Virginia, Michigan, and Wisconsin, where the pundits said he wouldn't.
I'm not a bot for Bernie, I've never thought he had the public persona and charisma to rally troops. But what he has shown is consistency and dogged persistence, traits that are absolutely required to bring an anti-corpocracy message in to a corporately dominated environment. Pretty much every information format in the US runs on ad revenue. There are very few outlets where the pure public interest is served without being couched to retain corporate benefactors. The idea that The People can vote for anything they want is really quite subversive and allows people to see outside the box of Cold War Corporatism. It's a healthy alternative dose for democracy, quite frankly, as is Libertarianism. Right now, all your laws are written by lobbyist. You are not paying them directly so they are not advocating for your benefit.
Good post. Glass ceiling feminism and the Dem Party looking out for the interests of the 1% all the way down to the 10% who are well educated professionals will not cut it anymore after the Sander's campaign.,
People have turned Bernie into some kind of pure saint, which he is not. For an example of his "consistency", look at his approach to Superdelegates and the whole primary process. He flipped numerous times as needed to benefit himself politically. He's a politician just like all the others. He's a populist, so like Trump, it comes across as an authentic fighter for the people - that's what populism is.
Bernie Answers: "What Does Bernie Want" Bernie Sanders: Here’s what we want My supporters and I want real change in this country. By Bernie Sanders June 23 at 6:00 AM As we head toward the Democratic National Convention, I often hear the question, “What does Bernie want?” Wrong question. The right question is what the 12 million Americans who voted for a political revolution want. And the answer is: They want real change in this country, they want it now and they are prepared to take on the political cowardice and powerful special interests which have prevented that change from happening. They understand that the United States is the richest country in the history of the world, and that new technology and innovation make us wealthier every day. What they don’t understand is why the middle class continues to decline, 47 million of us live in poverty and many Americans are forced to work two or three jobs just to cobble together the income they need to survive. sts with a handful of billionaire families. What do we want? We want an economy that is not based on uncontrollable greed, monopolistic practices and illegal behavior. We want an economy that protects the human needs and dignity of all people — children, the elderly, the sick, working people and the poor. We want an economic and political system that works for all of us, not one in which almost all new wealth and power re The current campaign finance system is corrupt. Billionaires and powerful corporations are now, through super PACs, able to spend as much money as they want to buy elections and elect candidates who represent their interests, not the American people. Meanwhile, we have one of the lowest voter turnout rates of any major country on earth, and Republican governors are working overtime to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, people of color, seniors and young people to vote. What do we want? We want to overturn the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision and move toward public funding of elections. We want universal voter registration, so that anyone 18 years of age or older who is eligible to vote is automatically registered. We want a vibrant democracy and a well-informed electorate that knows that its views can shape the future of the country. Our criminal justice system is broken. We have 2.2 million people rotting behind bars at an annual expense of $80 billion. Youth unemployment in a number of inner-cities and rural communities is 30 to 50 percent, and millions of young people have limited opportunities to participate in the productive economy. Failing schools all around the country produce more people who end up in jail than graduate college. Millions of Americans have police records as a result of mar1juana possession, which should be decriminalized. And too many people are serving unnecessarily long mandatory minimum sentences. What do we want? We want a criminal justice system that addresses the causes of incarceration, not one that simply imprisons more people. We want to demilitarize local police departments, see local police departments reflect the diversity of the communities they serve and end private ownership of prisons and detention centers. We want to create the conditions that allow people who are released from prison to stay out. We want the best educated population on earth, not the most incarcerated population. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is caused by human activity, and it already is causing devastating damage in our country and to the entire planet. If present trends continue, scientists tell us the planet will be 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer by the end of the century — which means more droughts, floods, extreme weather disturbances, rising sea levels and acidification of the oceans. This is a planetary crisis of extraordinary magnitude. What do we want? We want the United States to lead the world in pushing our energy system away from fossil fuel and toward energy efficiency and sustainable energy. We want a tax on carbon, the end of fracking and massive investment in wind, solar, geothermal and other sustainable technologies. We want to leave this planet in a way that is healthy and habitable for future generations. What do we want? We want to end the rapid movement that we are currently experiencing toward oligarchic control of our economic and political life. As Lincoln put it at Gettysburg, we want a government of the people, by the people and for the people. That is what we want, and that is what we will continue fighting for. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/23/bernie-sanders-heres-what-we-want/
Are yo so jaded that you can't see sincerity anymore? Politics is a dirty game of advocacy, legal technicalities, compromise and money but Bernie is the most pure expression of candidacy for national office you are likely to see in our lifetimes. For one, anti-money candidates are always underdogs to the money's candidates on exposure alone, second, unscrupulous candidates are always advantaged by not being self policed for truth or civility. You should morn Bernie's loss as a loss for democracy. The cynical paid advocates, just in it for the money, will continue to be in charge,
I would morn his loss for the reasons you said but I think his economic policies are silly so... I'm really ok with it.
"A loss for democracy"? This is the exactly the over the top rhetoric about Sanders that Major was talking about. Again as Major pointed out Sanders shifting calls regarding super-delegates and his dominant wins in caucus states had very little to do with democracy, emphasis on small 'D'. The Sanders campaign regarding complaints of the rules was very self-serving and as many analysis have pointed out under different rules Sanders would still have lost given that Clinton won more states and millions more actual votes.
Sorry - it's hard to take seriously a candidate who openly advocated that Superdelegates override the will of the voters to benefit him as a "loss for democracy". He only cared about democracy when it benefited him. When he needed to ignore the will of the people to benefit himself, he was more than happy to argue for that. He's no more an advocate of democracy and "power of the people" than anyone else. He's no different than any other populist out there - he uses anger at the system to convince everyone that he's the savior while actually just being "just another politcian".
If spellchek doesn't catch it, I keep rollin. I guess this is a democracy if you think corporations are people, the party hierarchy they own is the Party and, the business of America is business. You have to go no further than Assault Rifle controls that 90% of people polled would be for limiting to see the people are not represented. Arm's manufacturers, through the NRA own control of the issue absolutely. They don't even pretend anymore.
ur got it wrong; trump sold out. he had promised that his campaign would be self-funding, not beholden to insiders and special interests.. he sold out by signing a fund-raising partnership agreement w the GOP insiders. he had promised to build a wall. in his most recent speech---reading a prepared speech off the teleprompter---highlighting what a Trump presidency would bring, post the firing of his former campaign manager, he never mentioned building a wall. what a sell-out ! the perception is that trump is more intereste in promoting his own businesses---Trump U, his golf course in Scotland, etc.---than campaigning about Hillary.
