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Bernie Sanders for President (43 posts)

1. truthmod
   Administrator

   I donated $10 and that may be the first presidential campaign donation I've ever made.

   Challenging Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders Gains Momentum in Iowa
   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/us/politics/chal...

   Mr. Sanders is considered the Senate’s most left-wing member, and he has been inspiring fervor among the Democratic base at recent rallies and town-hall-style meetings, including on Wednesday in the first presidential primary state, New Hampshire.

   ...

   Mrs. Clinton’s advisers are most concerned that Mr. Sanders might prove effective, particularly in the Democrats’ televised debates, at painting Mrs. Clinton as squishy or untrustworthy on liberal issues.

   The crowds at Mr. Sanders’s Iowa events appeared to be different from the state’s famously finicky tire-kickers. Many said they had already made up their mind to support Mr. Sanders. They applauded his calls for higher taxes on the rich to pay for 13 million public works jobs, for decisive action on climate change and for free tuition at public colleges.

   “Look at all these people,” said Phyllis Viner, 68, a yoga instructor who attended his Davenport event at St. Ambrose University.

   Lindsay O’Keefe, 22, who took a picture of a Sanders poster that read, “Paid for by Bernie 2016 (not the billionaires),” called Mr. Sanders “a really valuable candidate” who can “push Hillary to the left” even if he does not defeat her.

   The next day, in Muscatine, Iowa, after a rally at a community college drew twice the expected audience of 50, Mr. Sanders seemed to be experiencing a contact high from the size of his crowds. He sat on a picnic table outside for a short interview.

   “Be amazed at what you saw here,” he said, adding, “I want to win this.”

   Posted 9 years ago #
2. BrianG
   Member

   I finally realized the power of small donations when I recognized that if every one of the 100,000 California Greens gave just $10, that would give us a million dollars to spread the word.

   So I give $10 here, $10 there. I try to give my bit.

   Posted 9 years ago #
3. mark
   Member

   And what will Sanders do when the only state he wins is Vermont and Hillary has the nomination, assuming her campaign doesn't melt down?

   Nobody for President.

   ---

   It is my belief that since the JFK assassination the secret government, the CIA and the [Military Industrial Complex], have been running the show. They have not allowed anyone to become president, from either party, that was not under their control. -- Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
   http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2008/07/jfks-conve...

   www.oilempire.us/obama.html Obama and the CIA

   www.oilempire.us/hillary.html Hillary Clinton

   Posted 9 years ago #
4. BrianG
   Member

   There's going to be a president. It's just a question of who. My first choice is Dr. Jill Stein. (I haven't yet sent her my $10 but I will.) I could be intrigued by Kucinich, Dean, Sanders, or Wyden.

   I agree that the well-funded candidates are probably players on the CIA team. That doesn't make insurgent campaigns pointless. It takes time to build the base.

   Posted 9 years ago #
5. truthmod
   Administrator

   I think it's worth supporting someone who's been speaking the truth for decades. To have Sanders in the national spotlight is valuable. And this may be laughable, but I think he has a shot. I am sick of the media telling me Hillary is the inevitable candidate and I'm just not going to buy into that, even if it is the case.

   Posted 9 years ago #
6. mark
   Member

   " I could be intrigued by Kucinich, Dean, Sanders, or Wyden."

   Wyden!

   Ouch.

   Ron Wyden claims to be concerned about the NSA while boasting about how proud he was to have voted for the USA PATRIOT Act.

   He's also a shill for so-called Free Trade (NAFTA, WTO, TPP, etc) and a lackey of the timber barons of Oregon. Pro-nuclear, too.

   Kucinich and Dean are not running. At least Kucinich was sincere, can't same the same about Dean.

   Sanders is just making the Democratic campaign more of an illusion that it is real. He's going to make nice speeches but it's not going to thwart the Clintons. Sorry.

   $10 for a candidate needs a few more zeroes to make your input noticed.

   Posted 9 years ago #
7. BrianG
   Member

   Wyden's more recent actions in opposition of the NSA data-hoovering plant in Salt Lake City and his recognition that NSA'a demands for backdoors into American software are hurting the American software industry in the world market are worth something to me.

   Posted 9 years ago #
8. mark
   Member

   Wyden hasn't done anything to stop the NSA. It's just theater not to be taken seriously, although it makes him look good.

   Meanwhile, enjoy the TPP, massive deforestation and nuclear power.

   Posted 9 years ago #
9. truthmover
   Administrator

   http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_electoral_...

   Posted 9 years ago #
10. truthmod
    Administrator

    I'm a registered Green. I didn't vote for Obama and was skeptical of him very early on in the 2008 election.

    Forgive me if I'd like to feel a little bit of excitement that we finally have a competitor with some real principles going up against Hillary. I think Hillary is such a terrible politician that Sanders actually has a chance against her. She can't even give a simple speech without reading her notes.

    Anyway, we're probably getting Hillary or Jeb. There's plenty of time in the near future for cynicism and rage.

    If Chris Hedges wants to blame Sanders for "validating the Democratic party" that's fine. He's been an independent/socialist for decades and now that he's "compromising" to reach a wider audience he's a sell out?

    Many members of the Occupy movement wrote a letter in support of Sanders candidacy:
    http://www.peopleforbernie.com/

    Posted 9 years ago #
11. truthmover
    Administrator

    Oh, I'm gunna vote for Sanders. I just thought it would be good to inject a bit of practical cynicism.

    Posted 9 years ago #
12. truthmod
    Administrator

    Yeah, it's always worth tempering your enthusiasm, but people who are into the stuff we are into can often tip over into unproductive cynicism. I think Chris Hedges probably feels way out of the mainstream and can't imagine caring about a presidential election. I go back and forth feeling the urgency of reality and the banality of our collective delusions.

    Hedges talks about open rebellion, and that's great. We've been doing that for about 10 years. I don't see any contradiction in supporting a candidate who will be up there speaking the economic and moral truths about income disparity, the environment, and healthcare. The media may also be catching on that they can't just ridicule him without people understanding what they're doing.

    Here's my prescription:

    1. We build a passionate movement behind Sanders.

    2. The contrast between him and Hillary shows how much of a shill she is and how much support there is for the truth.

    3. Hillary or Jeb win.

    4. We have a revolution.

    Posted 9 years ago #
13. truthmover
    Administrator

    Love it! :D

    Posted 9 years ago #
14. BrianG
    Member

    What form does this revolution take? Are you talking a Barrett-style revolution where we burn down the Governor's mansion, stockpile guns in the basement, and threaten federal judges?

    Are you talking a People-Power revolution where we block the freeways and the commuter trains and bring the economy to a halt?

    The ingenious thing about our Constitution is that theoretically we could have a revolution every two years simply by electing a new Congress. The trick is to make the people recognize their power, and recognize that their incumbent congresscritters have been part of the problem for way too long.

    And marc, seriously--have you ever considered moving to sunnier climes? Maybe some Vitamin D would improve your mood.

    Posted 9 years ago #
15. truthmover
    Administrator

    I'm down for nuclear war.

    Posted 9 years ago #
16. mark
    Member

    Sanders is good on many things, but he does not discuss the limits to growth on a finite planet, nor does anyone else in Congress. There's probably a few who know but none who make a big deal about it. Even most of the Green Party ignores this.

    It's much more fun to blame oil companies. I don't want to Exxon-erate Big Oil, but if you use electricity, liquid fossil fuels, travel farther than you can walk, eat food from the other side of the world, you're part of the one percent of humans through history with this ability. That is ultimately at the root of the energy crisis, but you won't hear Bernie or Jill Stein or Ralph Nader hint at this. You certainly don't hear them urging people to tear out their lawns and grow food, promote Transition Town approaches or anything else to take personal, family and community responsibility for meeting needs on the resource downslope.

    When the fracking bubble bursts the energy crisis is likely to come back like the passing of the eye of a hurricane.

    On denial of limits, there's not much difference between Democrats, Republicans or Greens. There are a few exceptions in each category but not many.

    It's been almost 52 years since the American coup d'etat, which makes the election merely a spectacle. It's as real as televised wrestling. Perhaps your local city council race is real, but the Presidential contest is the greatest show on Earth.

    ---

    "it's a cold political reality that today no candidate can win election on a platform that respects the laws of physics on a finite planet." -- Dave Gardner, "Who Will Get This Economy Moving? No One," Nov 05, 2012 www.growthbusters.org/2012/11/who-will-get-this-ec...

    Posted 9 years ago #
17. BrianG
    Member

    Sanders may be more aware than his rhetoric lets on. Sources I trust said that Kucinich was aware of the 9/11 anomalies but explained that he couldn't take his awareness public because then he'd be branded as The 9/11 Candidate. Similarly, Sanders may be unwilling to get branded as a "low expectations" executive a la Jerry Brown circa 1978.

    Some people who've put solar electric panels on their roofs claim that they are supplying almost all their domestic electrical needs from those.

    Maybe we already talked about Amory Lovens, but when I heard him speak about 4 years ago he was pretty optimistic that in the USA natural gas could keep civilization alive for the 40 years or so it would take to transition to renewable energy.

    Maybe I'm being Pollyannaish, but my suspicion about the Tar Sands and Bakken fracking is that this manic development activity is motivated by the oil industry's perception that the day when alternatives become practical is fast approaching and they'd better get this stuff onstream before it becomes obsolete as fuel.

    Posted 9 years ago #
18. mark
    Member

    If you're living in the southern US and don't have winter, then solar panels can supply all your domestic electric needs, assuming you don't either have a gigantic array or you have cut your consumption. But the real issue with energy is going to be FOOD, which is something we actually need more than electrons.

    Most people who have a grid tie PV system don't really have much concept of how much electricity they actually use. Perhaps a few do.

    Amory Lovins claims nat. gas can continue to prop up the power grid in 2050, which is a more enthusiastic promotion of fracking than I have. Since conventional nat. gas is in sharp decline in the US, fracking is now 40% of the gas supply, but it is near or at its peak. www.peakchoice.org/peak-frack.html

    From a physics perspective - actual physics, not truther physics - tar sands and fracking are a sign that the easy to extract oil is mostly over. I doubt the oil industry is that worried about low energy density alternatives since they understand that fossil fuels are more concentrated than living on our solar budget.

    ---

    www.postcarbon.org/our-renewable-future-essay/

    Our Renewable Future, Richard Heinberg

    January 21, 2015

    Or, What I’ve Learned in 12 Years Writing about Energy

    (7000 words, about 25 minutes reading time)

    Posted 9 years ago #
19. truthmod
    Administrator

    Are you talking a People-Power revolution where we block the freeways and the commuter trains and bring the economy to a halt?

    I think it's self-defeating not to believe in some sort of semi-peaceful revolution. It's happened in other countries. The only reason we don't have a people power revolution today is that most people don't believe it's possible.

    The election of radically left governments in Spain and Greece could be revolutionary. The same thing could happen here under the right conditions.

    The collapse of society that many of our colleagues are waiting and hoping on may not happen in our lifetimes. Don't underestimate the ability of the empire to externalize the suffering and chaos. We may just get a gradual march toward pleasant techno-pseudo-eco-fascism.

    I don't have any problem with presidential candidates who don't talk about 9/11 or JFK. I don't talk about those things with many people either, because I don't think it's necessarily productive.

    Posted 9 years ago #
20. BrianG
    Member

    Externalizing Suffering is a shrewd framing. "Pleasant techno-pseudo-eco-fascism" was forecast in "Brave New World".

    The true genius of the US Constitution is that it provides that we could have a democratic revolution every two years simply by electing a new congress. It's that easy. Congress is, as Lawrence Lessig has pointed out, our most accessible democratic institution.

    Posted 9 years ago #
21. truthmod
    Administrator

    Here's how the corporate media treats Bernie. I can't stand seeing George Stephanopolous and the rest of these schmucks covering Bernie.

    It's pretty pathetic that you have serious voices in democratic politics telling voters not to go with the "idealistic" candidate and to stick with the "safe" one. How safe have these psychopaths kept us over the last 20 years? Hillary can take her Walmart board membership and Monsanto connections and Goldman Sachs money and kiss her credibility goodbye.

    Bernie in a minute video
    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/meet-bernie-s...

    • He's Jewish
    • He's crazy
    • He's a socialist or communist
    • He's not really a democrat
    • He's a hippie
    • He's a foreigner
    • He's angry

    Nominating Bernie Sanders would be a terrible decision
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/comment...

    Hillary Clinton, by contrast, is a dreary candidate. She has, again, failed to connect with voters. Her policy positions are cautious and uninspiring. Her reflexive secrecy causes a whiff of scandal to follow her everywhere. She seems calculating and phony.

    And yet if Democrats hope to hold the presidency in November, they'll need to hold their noses and nominate Clinton.

    Posted 8 years ago #
22. truthmod
    Administrator

    More "realists" for Hillary...

    Column: It's a nice thought, but Bernie Sanders can't win

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/zorn/ct...

    ---

    In my heart, I #FeelTheBern.

    I believe in universal health care coverage, generous minimum wages, an extension of the public education model through college and tight leashes on big banks, all of which are being advanced by the Democratic presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and symbolized on Twitter by the hashtag #FeelTheBern.

    I admire Sanders' comparative purity and integrity, his inspiring rhetoric, his boldness, his idealism. And I like how he has moved the party to the left and drawn greater attention to the problem of vast income inequality.

    But in my mind, I #FeelTheCrash.

    I think through the political ramifications of Sanders at the top of the Democratic ticket in November, and "The Bern" (supporters' shorthand for exhilaration over Sanders' refreshing candidacy) becomes heartburn.

    Posted 8 years ago #
23. truthmod
    Administrator

    I recognized this Berniebro bullshit for what was as soon as I saw it. Glad Greenwald is jumping on it too.

    Here Comes the Berniebro
    http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/1...

    The “Bernie Bros” Narrative: a Cheap Campaign Tactic Masquerading as Journalism and Social Activism

    https://theintercept.com/2016/01/31/the-bernie-bro...

    The concoction of the “Bernie Bro” narrative by pro-Clinton journalists has been a potent political tactic – and a journalistic disgrace. It’s intended to imply two equally false claims: (1) a refusal to march enthusiastically behind the Wall-Street-enriched, multiple-war-advocating, despot-embracing Hillary Clinton is explainable not by ideology or political conviction, but largely if not exclusively by sexism: demonstrated by the fact that men, not women, support Sanders (his supporters are “bros”); and (2) Sanders supporters are uniquely abusive and misogynistic in their online behavior. Needless to say, a crucial tactical prong of this innuendo is that any attempt to refute it is itself proof of insensitivity to sexism if not sexism itself (as the accusatory reactions to this article will instantly illustrate).

    Posted 8 years ago #
24. truthmod
    Administrator

    The Hillary supporters are not idealists and they are not honest. They prefer a completely phony candidate. This is the kind of crap you can expect from them....

    Bernie Sanders' Campaign Is Concerned About the 'Berniebro,' As They Maybe Should Be
    http://theslot.jezebel.com/bernie-sanders-campaign...

    If you disrespect Bernie Sanders, you’re going to get a visit from his social media goons. They are passionate about campaign finance reform, staying active in one’s 70s, and being very, very manly.

    They are the Berniebros. The Atlantic’s Robinson Meyer first coined the phrase in October, describing your typical Berniebro as someone who is “white; well-educated; middle-class (or, delicately, ‘upper middle-class’); and aware of NPR podcasts and jangly bearded bands.” Meyer continued:

    Posted 8 years ago #
25. truthmod
    Administrator

    The bros who love Bernie Sanders have become a sexist mob
    http://mashable.com/2016/01/29/bernie-sanders-bern...

    Posted 8 years ago #

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