Bernie Sanders NYT Op-ed: Democrats Need to Wake Up

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/opinion/campaign-stops/bernie-sanders-democrats-need-to-wake-up.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

My favorite part:

We need a president who will vigorously support international cooperation that brings the people of the world closer together, reduces hypernationalism and decreases the possibility of war. We also need a president who respects the democratic rights of the people, and who will fight for an economy that protects the interests of working people, not just Wall Street, the drug companies and other powerful special interests.

We need to fundamentally reject our “free trade” policies and move to fair trade. Americans should not have to compete against workers in low-wage countries who earn pennies an hour. We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We must help poor countries develop sustainable economic models.

I'm proud to have voted for him and am more proud that he is not capitulating to pressure and pushing hard for the policies that made us support him to be injected into the Democratic Party!

[Silver_Witch]

1. Rock on Bernie. Rock on!

[JaneyVee]

2. This is just getting sad now.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

5. In what way?

Bernie won 45% of the Pledge Delegates. He is doing what those of us who voted for him want. We want our voices heard at the convention and in the party platform. You may consider him some annoying gnat that just won't shoo away, but to those of us who voted for him we could not be more proud of him for standing up and demanding the party reflect our policies.

In respect to trade didn't both Clinton and Sanders say they were against the TPP in the many debates. It is bizarre then why the Clinton surrogates have blocked a firm statement from being made in the platform.

I'd also say it is thanks to Sanders that we have a much more open Platform drafting process this year and that the platform draft was released prior to the convention. God forbid Democracy involve the people.

[99th_Monkey]

21. +27

[Sheepshank]

3. bring them together...but not by using trade agreements?

so he's told us all the ways we are not supposed to bring nations together, how about some concrete, tangible steps that are palatable to all in "helping poor countries develop sustainable economic models"?. Developing models isn't hard, it's the money to implement those models that poor countries lack. How is it that Bernie want's to help them implement these plans?

[zazen]

6. maybe American companies doing business there have to foot the bill?

If American companies want to ship our jobs overseas or to Mexico and avoid paying taxes here then they have to set aside an amount that Congress redirects to helping the natives stay in and rebuild their own country rather than screw them out of their natural resources and drive them to immigrate here.

Of course, we also displace millions of innocent people by bombing them in unnecessary wars--not just through corporate exploitation and behind the scenes political manipulation--but I sure as hell wish we could help people not have to risk life and limb immigrating here and decimating their own rich culture to be cheap labor in the US by making sure corporations pay their fair share in those countries if not here.

[Sheepshank]

14. is that your idea, or Bernie's idea and I missed it?

[Sivart]

17. He said FAIR trade......he did not say no trade.....

[Sheepshank]

18. and then?

still, my original post stands...then what, how? He gives absolutely no tangible plan whatsoever. What economic plan does he suggest? And even more importantly, convincing poor countries that they should adopt the USA economic plans developed for them does not mean that is what they want, as suggested in his speech.

[Sivart]

20. Ok, well, "and then?" is alot like a child asking why? after every answer......

I was just pointing out that your post implied that he called for NO trade or NO trade agreements, which was and is not the case.

His OPed clearly conveys that he is opposed to the TPP, and that he is for trade and trade agreements that are FAIR relative to the American worker, as opposed to what FREE trade has traditionally looked like, which results in the American worker competing against companies who only have to pay their workers a fraction of what American companies do.

We should not encourage, enable, or facilitate trade with companies and/or countries that profit from slave labor, slave wages, below poverty wages, etc.....UNLESS the agreement addresses these issues in real way.

A livable minimum wage for full time work is not just the right thing to do for Americans, its the right thing to do for anyone, anywhere.

Lastly, since Bernie lost, I think he is allowed to write and have published OpEds that are brief, and appropriate for the setting. He is obviously not going to be able to address everyone's "what then?" and "but why?" follow ups in the OpEd format, which is obviously non interactive.

[deathrind]

4. Really?

How upside down are things when an op-ed calling for less war, protecting democratic rights and fair trade gets alerted on.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

7. I have many enemies for whatever reason...

They will look for any sliver of technicality to alert my posts.

[Hortensis]

9. Bernie's op ed is fine. The commentary on it is

clearly still fighting the primary and badmouthing non-Bernie Democratic leaders. IF it was alerted on, my only question is which reason was chosen.

[zazen]

10. you are friggin kidding me!!! I hope the new system will ferret out extreme alerts.

Sanders' (and many others' ) argument about this is vital.

If we don't address the very real economic pain people are feeling now, we risk ceding this vital issue to scary demagogues and we know how that will turn out.

It is imperative that the Democratic Party and platform recognizes the growing anger against the outrage of TPP or else this will be harnessed against us and ALL inequalities will be exacerbated, not just economic ones.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, GeorgiaPeanuts.

[CrowCityDem]

12. The line he 'respects the democratic rights of the people' is laughable.

Caucus lover, sure! Use superdelegates to overturn the primaries, why not?!

[BlueCaliDem]

13. Yeah. That made me chuckle, too. eom

[bettyellen]

15. And civil rights take a back seat to dealing w "corruption"

[Gothmog]

16. No concession or endorsement then no speech at the convention

[MohRokTah]

19. Oh brother!

[99th_Monkey]

22. K&R - Ax the TPP in the nuts. n/t