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I am voting for Sanders hoping he can make changes to America. America is in a sad pitiful state right now. So even if Sanders doesn't do much in Office at least he tried.
I mean healthcare and healthcare coverage is abysmall in the US.
Banks and Wall Street going unchecked.
The income gap grows and grows. It's not just the rich. The poor continue to grow receiving more money from the US Government. At least Bernie wants to make sure the poor can rise up and obtain an education to succeed in life.
Wants to fix taxes. I mean my taxes are close to 30% do jack squat.
The infrastructure in America is terrible and Bernie hopefully wants to improve it.
Fix the terrible AHA and create a Universal Heakthcare Plan.
Work on reducing America's debt.
Create more job's.
Fix issues regarding free trade.
Encourage growth in the field of science, technology, and agriculture.
Focus less on large scale wars and smaller operations.
Fix the corruption in Politics.
Additionally, Sanders is a champion for Women and Minorities.
Ensure Seniors can retire financially and have healthcare when they retire.
Sanders represents workers of America. Ensuring they have rights and a voice. Return America back to a balance of family and work.
And, that was then and this is now, thus the candidacy of Trump. I don't see how people can not see how the US has changed, but I guess, tucked away in their little corner, it all looks rosy. Unemployment and underemployment and college doesn't get one a job either.
I do understand that what Sanders proposes really goes over the heads of many, many people. They simply read the headlines and let others think for them.
Both Trump and Sanders are outside the box and unless someone wants to make an intelligent effort, they will not "get" them. That is fine because more and more, we see people getting "it".
I wonder, who are these people that like ostriches that have kept their heads buried chanting that everything is great while the US slides into 3rd world status? Probably those benefiting from the rest of ending up with little to nothing.
We just have to face it, not everyone lives in the real world, so it is up to the rest of us to make sure we get the people in place to help us revive our country.
Sanders' support largely boils down to the fact that people are seeing an ever-smaller share of society essentially hoarding a greater share of the wealth that many people feel (and are probably right, at least in part) that the wealth was ill gotten.
And, that was then and this is now, thus the candidacy of Trump. I don't see how people can not see how the US has changed, but I guess, tucked away in their little corner, it all looks rosy. Unemployment and underemployment and college doesn't get one a job either.
I do understand that what Sanders proposes really goes over the heads of many, many people. They simply read the headlines and let others think for them.
Both Trump and Sanders are outside the box and unless someone wants to make an intelligent effort, they will not "get" them. That is fine because more and more, we see people getting "it".
I wonder, who are these people that like ostriches that have kept their heads buried chanting that everything is great while the US slides into 3rd world status? Probably those benefiting from the rest of ending up with little to nothing.
We just have to face it, not everyone lives in the real world, so it is up to the rest of us to make sure we get the people in place to help us revive our country.
I agree with this and many posters in this particular thread.
Here's something that many Americans -- including some of the smartest and most educated among us -- don't know: The official unemployment rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading.
If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job -- if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks -- the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed. That's right. While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news -- currently 5.6%. Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, the vast majority of them aren't throwing parties to toast "falling" unemployment.
My family has several retail stores in the malls. Several years ago (say, 10 years ago, when I was about 19 years old) I can get any of my same age friends a job in the malls because I know a lot of retailers and chain store managers. Now, the same sales jobs (minimum wage job), you see over 200 people competing, (next time, I will take a picture to prove it) many of these people are middle aged men and women.
I don't know who can improve the economy, but what I see is not very good.
In my state it's usually say 25 openings for nurses. About 300 to 500 people are applying for those jobs. Our hospital network has the second most openings. Only 5% of those 500 will get a job.
And, that was then and this is now, thus the candidacy of Trump. I don't see how people can not see how the US has changed, but I guess, tucked away in their little corner, it all looks rosy. Unemployment and underemployment and college doesn't get one a job either.
I do understand that what Sanders proposes really goes over the heads of many, many people. They simply read the headlines and let others think for them.
Both Trump and Sanders are outside the box and unless someone wants to make an intelligent effort, they will not "get" them. That is fine because more and more, we see people getting "it".
I wonder, who are these people that like ostriches that have kept their heads buried chanting that everything is great while the US slides into 3rd world status? Probably those benefiting from the rest of ending up with little to nothing.
We just have to face it, not everyone lives in the real world, so it is up to the rest of us to make sure we get the people in place to help us revive our country.
The Trump phenomenon is an in-your-face reminder that a political atmosphere like this one is an opportunity for demagogues and extremists as well as problem-solvers.
Imagine the president we're likely to get if the inevitable(?) Hillary administration is just "more of the same".
Trump on steroids.
At least a bernie administration (with single-payer healthcare and free skills education, eg. public college tuition) has concrete policies to give people a bit more security and a bit more optimism. And his "public funding of elections" idea might also give people more confidence in the system -- something that is dangerously low at this point.
No proposal Hillary has put forth so far makes me feel more secure, more optimistic or more confident in the system. Maybe someone can point something out for me.
The Trump phenomenon is an in-your-face reminder that a political atmosphere like this one is an opportunity for demagogues and extremists as well as problem-solvers.
Imagine the president we're likely to get if the inevitable(?) Hillary administration is just "more of the same".
Trump on steroids.
At least a bernie administration (with single-payer healthcare and free skills education, eg. public college tuition) has concrete policies to give people a bit more security and a bit more optimism. And his "public funding of elections" idea might also give people more confidence in the system -- something that is dangerously low at this point.
No proposal Hillary has put forth so far makes me feel more secure, more optimistic or more confident in the system. Maybe someone can point something out for me.
Well, his platform also scares away many in the middle class and upper middle class. It isn't just the 1% that will pay; never has been and never will be.
I do agree with Hillary that single payer is something to strive for but also that it would tear this country apart at the present time - as the ACA nearly did and it was just a drop in the bucket compared to single payer. Evolution as opposed to revolution. Then again, I'm a very pragmatic person ~ it's a marathon not a race, etc.
Bernie's focus on the 1% and Wall Street - is very limiting, IMO and somewhat misleading. It gives those who have failed to achieve thus far - a scapegoat. Trump does the same thing ~ only his scapegoats are immigrants.
Do we need to improve? Absolutely. Can we, at this time, with our economy just getting back to normal ~ be Denmark? NO.
Free college is but a pipe dream at this point and Bernie knows it. Focusing on reducing student loan rates? YES.
Overturning Citizens United has LONG been a democratic priority and not just Bernie's.
This is why I'm not as enamored of him as many. I do have something to lose and I recognize a dreamer when I see one.
If you ask for crumbs you get nothing. Always has been, always will be. MLK didnt ask for crumbs and gradualism and evolution.
Evolution happens when there is a bold revolutionary vision. Only then will the power structure respond.
Hell, most political scientists agree that social democracy took place because of the threat of socialism, meaning the threat of workers owning the means of production.
Expanding medicare and social security through a universal payroll tax is absolutely the right thing to do. And these are highly popular government programs. People love programs they see they get something out of. Thats why FDR put a payroll tax in there in the first place:
Quote:
Franklin Roosevelt made a famous remark about the Social Security payroll tax, to the effect that he designed Social Security to use a payroll tax so "no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program."
Well, his platform also scares away many in the middle class and upper middle class. It isn't just the 1% that will pay; never has been and never will be.
What's "middle class" to you?
Did your taxes rise when Obama did his piddling partial repeal of the bush tax cuts? No? Then it is in fact possible to raise taxes on the highest earners without raising taxes on the middle class.
You speak as if it goes against the laws of physics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ringo1
Bernie's focus on the 1% and Wall Street - is very limiting, IMO and somewhat misleading. It gives those who have failed to achieve thus far - a scapegoat. Trump does the same thing ~ only his scapegoats are immigrants.
"Limiting" how? "Those who have failed to achieve" what?
Newsflash ringo -- we're not all gonna be rich. ...So society needs to function for the working stiff as well as the "achiever"... If you're a middle aged dude who's been laid off because of automation or job exporting, you haven't "failed to achieve"... you've been downsized while rich guys are enjoying their high profits, high worker productivity, hookers and tax cuts.
Mr. "underachiever" still deserves to have health care because he's human and a "fellow american"... And his kids should be able to get a college education, because living wages aren't out there for folks without one.
You're worried about scapegoating the 1%? lol Well the 1% are doing fine, while most americans are worried for the future.
The 1% helped wreck the economy, got bailed out, got bonuses and served no prison terms. That's not "scapegoating", that's the truth. The citizen's united decision gives them way too much power over the political system -- something Bernie's public funding of elections could rein in. Those are concrete points. No "scapegoating" there.
Unless you're a wall street "master of the universe" ( remember that?), you have nothing to fear in Bernie.
Hillary on the other hand, makes people real nervous. She's opaque, and an unknown quantity (which is saying a lot considering how long she's been on the political stage). She only came out against TPP on the stump after Bernie railed against it. And (as far as I know -- correct me if I'm wrong) she only came out against Citizens United (half-assedly) on the stump chasing after Bernie's points...
Hillary has been running for president forever, and her agenda and favors owed and political approach were probably formed long before 2008. So what have we seen?: she was for the Iraq war, and for bombing Libya, and talking "superpredator" stuff way back when...
Has she now changed her stripes? How do we keep up?
She's at best a craven, pandering politician and at worst a neocon.
...But worst of all, she's uninspiring... and as such, she's vulnerable to Trump, whose base is foaming at the mouth & energized.
In this situation, I think progressives should go for the candidate they really want, instead of playing it "safe" with hillary.
Bernie says "Wall street isn't going to like me". < -- That is a leader who can energize a base. We need someone who's as pissed off as the rest of us, and ready to throw down for what we know is right.
There are even people out there saying they would vote for trump or bernie -- but not hillary. What do you think those folks feel about Bernie's "wall street isn't going to like me" comment? They likely love it.
This is a grand opportunity, and we're about to waste it on Hillary (in the primaries yet ).
At least save your hillary vote for the general!
Last edited by bigpicture; 04-04-2016 at 08:03 PM..
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remember that?), you have nothing to fear in Bernie.
< -- That is a leader who can energize a base. We need someone who's as pissed off as the rest of us, and ready to throw down for what we know is right.
