Bernie Sanders for President! The election is a year away, but, as of now, after his speech on Democratic Socialism, Bernie Sanders has my vote. For me, his speech was a textbook intro for how to succeed in the business of making America the best place it can be, from inaugural day 2017 forward.
Clearly Bernie Sanders speaks from the heart, not for some well-oiled financial constituency who’s bankrolling his political career. That much is clear after looking at the organized yet passionate way he presented himself: professorially (which is a good thing), truth telling, saying things other politicians wouldn’t dare.
“The system is rigged by the rich for the rich. The war in Iraq was a mistake. Black lives matter is legit.”
From the Salon article, America has never recovered from Ronald Reagan. That’s why Bernie Sanders is so important:
“On Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) gave his long planned speech on Democratic Socialism, invoking great American leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and reminding everyone that some of the most popular social programs we have today — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid — were all once labeled socialist and aggressively opposed by monied interests whom FDR called “economic royalists.”
Not only were social programs opposed and called socialism; so, too, were laws or regulations intervening with the “free market” for the betterment of society.
“Unemployment insurance, abolishing child labor, the 40-hour work week, collective bargaining, strong banking regulations, deposit insurance, and job programs that put millions of people to work were all described, in one way or another, as ‘socialist,'” explained Sanders.
Of course, capitalists never come out and say that they want the government to get out of their way so that they can take advantage of workers, employ children or contaminate the water supply. They fear-monger about the threat of socialism and claim that as long as the government intervenes with their business, we can never have true freedom.
But freedom to what? The article goes on to ask.
Freedom to starve? To die whenever you want and however you want, to live life taking all manner or risks while having no health insurance? Who’s going to pay to remove your dead body and mangled motorcycle from the street after you bled out because you opted out of ever having health insurance?
The rest of us have a better idea and Bernie Sanders best represents that idea, in part, because he walks the walk and talks the talk of some of the greatest justice fighters of our time. This is Bernie quoting Dr. King:
“This country has socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor.”
And this is Bernie quoting FDR:
“America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.”
The Bern also threw in some of Pope Francis’s greatest hits — to America’s rich and greedy, delivered to America during his recent visit:
“We have created new idols. The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”
Let’s hear Hillary or anyone else on the campaign trail quote Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King.
What about Hillary?
If this where the TV show Scandal, of course I’d be rooting for Hillary Clinton to become president, especially the first female president, especially after the first black president.
But right now she doesn’t pass the boat test for me.
The boat test: you’re on an island that’s about to be destroyed and must leave the island by boat in search of a better world. You must choose a boat captained by a presidential candidate. Who you gonna choose?
If this is about survival and not sentiment, Bernie gets my vote.
Bernie Sanders is the real deal.
Bernie Sanders is both rational and emotional about what this country needs, and I couldn’t agree more. Except with the possibility of his ideas about gun control.
In the ideology department, everything else is a dream come true. Feel this Bern:
On the second American revolution (my line, not his, trademark!):
“If we are serious about transforming our country, if we are serious about rebuilding the middle class, if we are serious about reinvigorating our democracy, we need to develop a political movement which, once again, is prepared to take on and defeat a ruling class whose greed is destroying our nation.”
On race relations:
“I don’t believe in special treatment for the top 1%, but I do believe in equal treatment for African-Americans who are right to proclaim the moral principle that Black Lives Matter.”
On ISIS: the new Nazi
“Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE – countries of enormous wealth and resources – have contributed far too little in the fight against ISIS. They must step up to the plate.”
Plus, he’s beyond gay friendly. When gay rolls off his tongue, for example, when talking about all the different types of people in America, it’s as fluid as saying red, white and blue.
Bernie Sanders for president in 2016.
Randy Boyd author 