Bernie Sanders: Most Patriotic Choice?
And Other Thoughts
Bernie Sanders may well be the most patriotic choice for President. Period.
Let’s be clear about one thing — Bernie Sanders is definitely the most democratic candidate — that is, he truly believes in democracy and the involvement of the people. Hillary, like every other candidate of any political stripe, has a top-down philosophy. Bernie has a bottom-up philosophy — he requires our participation in the democratic process. Not only that — he believes in us, “the people.”
I think Bernie places a high value on those first three words in the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States: “We the people.” He believes in working for us and us working for him. He believes that we are the ones who should run this show, not big business.
Bernie Sanders does not need an American Flag lapel pin to prove his patriotism (he actually wears a badge on his lapel which identifies him as a U.S. Senator). He don’t need no stinkin’ pledge pin. He’s as American as baseball, apple pie and gefilte fish. He’s Bernie freakin’ Sanders, American.
This election is not just about the direction of our country, it’s about the direction of the Democratic Party. Bernie is showing Democrats that candidates can run strongly on liberal principles and win over a larger spectrum of the population.
Will the Democratic Party continue its course into MOTS (More Of The Same) with Hillary? Do we just want to be another wing of the corporate behemoths?
Or will we vote on our principles, run on them, and win on them? If we do this, we can really change the United States of America.
Are we just going to be slightly less corporate than the Republicans, or are we going to be liberals? Come hell or high water, I think we should be liberals.
Bernie used an excellent rule of improvisation when he made his “damned e-mails” comment in the first (only the first? <sigh>) Democratic debate. In improvisation we say if you make your scene partner look good, you will look good. Bernie looked good by making Hillary look good. It was also gentlemanly and gallant.
Bernie should go to Alabama. I don’t know if there are any demonstrations down there about voter suppression, but his campaign could organize this. It is a great opportunity to make his views on discrimination perfectly clear while creating more awareness among minority communities..
Just saw this:
Really nice. Just like his meeting with Sandra Bland’s mother. Both stories got out, but not on account of him or his campaign. Bernie is just fundamentally decent. I hope we can get enough of our fellow Americans to see what we see.
Bernie Supporters: Stop telling people to fuck off. I don’t mean that you literally say “fuck off,” but your subtext does.
Take Black Lives Matter for instance. Our predominantly white chorus of “Why are they picking on Bernie? He’s the best guy for them. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.” For one thing, their protests did Bernie a favor — they got him national media attention. Unfortunately, so did our collective white umbrage. The fact of the matter is this: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was fifty years ago. Black people have real issues today that need to be addressed. At the second interruption in Seattle, you’ll notice that Bernie stands by quietly because he knows they have something important to say. And he reacted well by hiring Symone Sanders of Black Lives Matter as press secretary and a couple of days later, releasing his Racial Justice platform. With that swiftness, these things were obviously in the works.
As someone who has performed and had to deal with hecklers, I can understand his poor showing at Netroots Nation. It’s just annoying because you’re thinking, “look, I have this material I want to get through,” and someone starts yelling. I wish he’d handled it better but he obviously learned from that.
In essence, I believe we were perceived as telling the black population what to think. They feel (and are right to do so)that we (whitey — no matter our liberal bone fides) need to start thinking seriously about police violence against their community. These are real concerns for today — not fifty years ago. We should understand the urgency of that message, not condemn them for getting it out. Hell, with Hillary it will just be the same old, same old. What makes us any different if we can’t hear that message.
By the way, do any of you have black friends? We are still awfully and woefully white. I have black friends who are Bernie supporters, but I never see them in our groups. I tried joining the People of Color for Bernie Sanders page in order to keep in touch, know what concerns are uppermost in their minds, but I got booted. So, I guess the road goes both ways.
In any event, we need to be cognizant of others’ sensitivities. And we need to work together.
Right after Bernie’s Liberty University speech an article was flying around the internet referring to Bernie’s audience that day as “idiots.” We’re trying to win a large and diverse coalition of people and referring to anyone as an idiot as a starting point does not win over hearts and minds.
We should always think “What Would Bernie Do?” before sharing information. Bernie is a positive force for change and he should be represented that way. We, too, must be positive forces for change. That doesn’t mean, in my mind, that we can’t discuss the issues. Honestly, I prefer sharing a Bernie video or article rather than arguing. Once I start talking, I can get heated up.
As an example, after Trump criticized Bernie about letting Black Lives Matter speak, the talking point du jour seemed to become that Bernie had no backbone. A conservative friend kept posting that Bernie had no backbone on my Bernie posts — I commented back a couple of times. Nothing good was coming out of that so I just posted the vid of Bernie confronting Alan Greenspan and wrote “Backbone.” No more about Bernie having no backbone.
We need everyone we can get if we want to see radical changes in this country (radical, as in, (especially of change or action) relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough). We’ll need them after the election too. Concentrate on areas where you can agree and let Bernie win them over.
Bernie should reach out to Joe Biden. As of this writing, it sounds like they’ve met. I don’t know that anything will come of it, but I suggested this on Bernie’s page the day Joe announced (I’m not saying I’m responsible — just saying great minds think alike).
When Joe Biden announced he was not running for office, he said:
“I know you in the press love to call me ‘Middle-Class Joe’ and I know in Washington that’s not usually meant as a compliment — it means you’re not that sophisticated. But it is about the middle class. It isn’t just a matter of fairness or economic growth. It’s a matter of social stability for this nation. We cannot sustain the current levels of inequality that exist in this country.
I believe the huge sums of unlimited and often secret money pouring into our politics is a fundamental threat to our democracy. And I really mean that. I think it’s a fundamental threat. Because the middle class will never have a fighting chance in this country as long as just several hundred families, the wealthiest families, control the process. It’s just that simple.
And I believe we have to level the playing field for the American people. And that’s going to take access to education and opportunity to work. We need to commit — we’re fighting for 14 years — we need to commit to 16 years of free public education for all our children. We all know that 12 years of public education is not enough. As a nation, let’s make the same commitment to a college education today that we made to a high school education a hundred years ago.”
Joe Biden could become a powerful ally for Bernie. And he thinks Bernie’s doing “a hell of a job.” I don’t know that we can expect the same from President Obama — although you never know with that cat. He may surprise us too (we can only hope).
I’m struck by how fiscally responsible Bernie is. He not only lays out his proposals, but how he’s going to pay for them. And, really, he views his policies as an investment in us, the people. Let us pledge to be a good investment for Bernie.
Thanks for tolerating. And with that, I bid you, adieu.
