Bernie Sanders Hits A Home Run With Democratic Socialism Speech That Could Change America

[cal04]

Last edited Thu Nov 19, 2015, 10:09 PM - Edit history (2)

Bernie Sanders delivered one of the great political speeches of the year with an address that if listened to and heeded has the power to change America.

(snip)
People are not truly free when they are unable to feed their family. People are not truly free when they are unable to retire with dignity. People are not truly free when they are unemployed or underpaid or when they are exhausted by working long hours. People are not truly free when they have no health care.

So let me define for you, simply and straightforwardly, what democratic socialism means to me. It builds on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said when he fought for guaranteed economic rights for all Americans. And it builds on what Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1968 when he stated that; “This country has socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor.” It builds on the success of many other countries around the world that have done a far better job than we have in protecting the needs of their working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.

Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.

Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system in America today which is not only grossly unfair but, in many respects, corrupt.

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/11/19/bernie-sanders-hits-home-run-democratic-socialism-speech-change-america.html



Thank you IDemo for the hashtags

use the social media hashtag #BernieAtGU to respond to the speech or explain what "economic and social justice" means to them: #bernieatgu Tweets
https://twitter.com/hashtag/bernieatgu

[FreakinDJ]

1. Fuck ya he hit a home run

That one will make it into the history books

Bye Hillary

[RoccoR5955]

2. A GRAND SLAM! n/t

[FreakinDJ]

4. Say Good Night Hillary

[INdemo]

12. After waving the 911 flag at the last debate using it

to justify taking millions from Wall St..yes Hillary say Good Night.

[LiberalLovinLug]

39. Good night!

[bvf]

40. Hard to believe some people want

that as president!

[CoffeeCat]

51. It is hard to believe...

...and I can't wait until Bernie takes this message, full throttle, into my state of Iowa. He's going to pack large venues with tens of thousands of people.

The optics alone will kill Hillary. She's too busy "listening" to small groups of die-hard Hillary supporters.

Whatever the hell that means...

[Snotcicles]

3. +1.nt

[merrily]

19. Yeah, he did. Those in attendance ate it up.

[rainman2015]

49. Best speech by any candidate or president in my lifetime EVER!

The only speeches I can think of that compare to this one (watched the whole thing last night), are Ike's farewell speech and FDR's 2nd Bill of Rights speech, which this speech is built around. Wow! Maybe there were some Bobby Kennedy speeches i have not heard that were as good. RFK made some really amazing speeches, especially the one on standing down in the cold war (that likely was the final straw that got him killed), but even he didn't say all the taboo things about the economic royalty that Bernie lays out in this speech. Again, best speech i think since FDR's 1937 speech!

[arcane1]

5. It's time to separate the TRUE progressives from the phonies.

[MissDeeds]

9. Absolutely!

Bernie is the real deal, no 'evolving' needed!

[dorkzilla]

6. Bye Felicia!

And by Felicia I think we know who we mean.

[roguevalley]

10. sometimes when they play that nun and

a few others reciting the rosary, I listen to it because it has a hypnotic soothing tone, the droning of all the voices when they recite together.

[jwirr]

30. I was 6 years old when left the radio on to Catholic service.

I thought it was pretty and when she came back in the room I was singing away. I never lived it down - we were Lutheran and have no rosary in our church service. And I still think it was beautiful.

[azmom]

7. K&R

[KansDem]

8. It was inspirational!!

Spoken with wisdom and passion!!

Today. I became a Democratic Socialist!!

[Admiral Loinpresser]

26. Now I know what it means! n/t

[Scruffy1]

11. K&R NT

[Peace Patriot]

13. Great MLK quote: "...socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor.”

I'd never heard that one before. That's a winner! Thank you, Senator Sanders, and thank you, cal04 for posting this.

[katmondoo]

15. I think I am ready for Bernie now

Hillary sounded too hawkish for me. Her speech showed great knowledge but still had the winds of war throughout.

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. KnR

[Uncle Joe]

16. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, cal.

[Dont call me Shirley]

17. Democratic Socialism for All!

[cantbeserious]

18. Go Bernie Go

eom

[me b zola]

20. K&R

[Aldo Leopold]

21. It was a great speech. His best so far.

And maybe even a landmark. Very inspiring, and inspiration is just what this party needs right about now.

[monicaangela]

22. Bernie Sanders!!!! Go Bernie!

[Change has come]

37. Thank you for the links! n/t

[monicaangela]

48. You're welcome

Hopefully everyone who hasn't had an opportunity to this speech can listen to it here.

[LiberalLovinLug]

41. yes, thanks.

I don't see how any person, on DU, or even who votes Democrat, or even any person that simply cares about the well being of their country could argue with his basic premise. This is also a rare kind of sincerity missing from US politics for a long time, maybe since Carter.

What happened was the nation may just have caught up to Bernie. Or its in a cycle and the nation is subconsciously ready for another FDR moment. Deep down most Americans must realize how far the tables have turned in the last 40 years, that its just plain unhealthy, economically and socially, to have such a runaway gap between the poor and the very rich. Hillary unfortunately has hitched her horse to the wrong wagon.

The Clintons are still stuck in the late nighties. In their third way they ignore the crazy far right, but also ignore what they define as the crazy far left. Which they may have described Sanders as back then, (and you just know Hillary is quivering on the edge of playing that card yet again). When campaigning, they steer their attention to what they believe is a majority of conservative middle america, guv'ment bad, get rich quick dreaming, sheep. Much to her and Bill's surprise, they were so busy shmoozing with their new jet set class of friends, they may have totally missed the transformative shift in the zeitgeist of the common people. Look at how it has already shifted towards gay marriage and marijuana laws. Fox News and the rest of the MSM never had any power over those shifts. The message got out despite the propaganda. Just like it will with Bernie.
Feel the Bern.

[monicaangela]

46. I couldn't agree more with your statement

LiberalLovingLug than I do. My hope is that the 99% in this country has finally awakened and now realizes that "Reagans Trickle Down Economics" were just code for "Royalty and Serfs" Royalty being himself and the rest of the Oligarchs that are still trying to perpetrate the myth, and Serfs being the rest of us.

Yes, I agree, we in this nation, those of us that fell into the Serf category are finally catching up to Bernie Sanders, or Bernie Sanders is finally speaking loud enough for us to hear what he has been saying all along. It's such a breath of fresh air, I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to see a politician with principles. Bernie is allowing me the opportunity to once again have conversations with my family and friends regarding politics and politicians without ending every sentence with, well he/she, is bought and paid for, but less evil than those guys over there that are completely sold out.

I agree with your statement regarding the Clinton's. I also feel they are entirely too connected to Wall Street to be able to understand the plight of the common man. How soon they all forget once they reach that arena where they feel suddenly they have arrived. They hang on tooth and nail to try to remain among the Oligarchs, never realizing the fact that they too are nothing more than a middle man, Lords and Ladies that are obligated to do the Oligarchs bidding by helping to keep the serfs in their place.

[w0nderer]

23. K & R N/T

[bvar22]

24. Inspiring.

DURec.

[Oilwellian]

25. Love him

K&R

[peacebird]

27. Love it! Tweeted it! Feel the Bern!

[lordsummerisle]

28. K&R n/t

[hibbing]

29. Socialism for the rich

You see it all throughout our economy. Taxpayer funded stadiums for billionaire owners, TIF funding for private businesses, let alone our tax system. The massive redistribution of wealth to the ruling class that has been taking place for decades, is frightening.


Peace

[jwirr]

32. And Bernie is right to connect it to FDR and the Great

Depression. Those same things were happening then.

[IDemo]

31. #BERNIEATGU -

The Sanders campaign was encouraging people to use the social media hashtag #BernieAtGU to respond to the speech or explain what "economic and social justice" means to them: #bernieatgu Tweets

[cal04]

33. Thank you IDemo

Great! Going to add it to the post

[pa28]

34. Stump speeches are great but a major address like this was just what Bernie needed.

It was a corker.

[deutsey]

35. K&R

[sabrina 1]

36. He may be the one to change the course of the terrible history created by neocon/lib policies that

have so destroyed so many cultures and people around the globe.

[rhett o rick]

38. He is doing his part at great risk to himself and his family. We must take up the challange

and go door to door, put up signs, hand out fliers, call our friends, etc. We must not let this opportunity pass.

[Major Hogwash]

42. "It builds on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said . . ."

This is the first time in my life that I will be able to vote for someone that is like someone that my parents voted for.
Bernie is someone who more liberal than me, and that is something that I never thought would happen in a million years.

[Scuba]

43. K&R

[sorechasm]

45. The policies of that 'Socialist-Commie' Roosevelt shaped America as we know it...

...with Bernie, we can do the same.

[Demeter]

44. I finally got some time to watch the debate, and I am reduced to tears

This man speaks Truth to Power to the People.

He MUST be elected, and serve with a whole Congress of like-minded, big-hearted legislators.

[monicaangela]

47. I agree Demeter

and we, those of us who agree need to help make that come true. We need to get out in force, make sure he wins the primary, and then the general, and at the same time do everything we can to remove the majority of those in congress and replace them with legislators intelligent enough to do their own legislation. We have so many lobbyist writing legislation these days, groups such as ALEC and others, it makes me wonder why we even elect men and women to congress. We need to vet congressmen and women, and only elect those that do the will of the people, and not the will of the Oligarchs that have through the political activity of the Supreme Court bought and paid their way into our government.

Of the world's 100 largest economic entities, 51 are now corporations and 49 are countries. This is no accident and the implications of it are frightening:

http://www.corporations.org/system/top100.html

[sabrina 1]

56. I agree. And it is super important to make sure he gets a Congress that also supports

the Democratic policies he supports

[ChazInAz]

50. Yes!

Damn, but that warmed the cockles of my cold, dark heart.
Thought I was listening to FDR.

[lark]

52. Sounds like a good speech.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any mention of it in the news or on FB this morning. Just checked out my feed again, and no mention of speech. What good is a speech if it doesn't get heard? Pisses me off how msm is just ignoring him for the most part.

[d_legendary1]

53. That's why we gotta do our part

and spread it around. I introduced several people to the Sanders campaign at work and they like the guy. In this day and age of smart phones looking things up is pretty easy. If even one of those persons tells a friend or family member then there's a chance that another person is going to vote for Sanders.

Its either that or have the MSM tell your friends and loved ones that the race is boiling down to Clinton and Trump before it even starts.

[turbinetree]

54. I just gotta ask..................................

did NPR (you know what was once Public Radio, television , "sponsored by viewers like you" ), or did some other media, cable show, show this speech "AT" all, and in its "entirety", you know there is a election format in progress-------------------nope.

We got the loony tune show of the bigots and there clips for ratings, and of some twits saying we need a national data base for other human beings.


Then to top it all off we have "guy" go into the well of Congress to announce that this country needs to have a "pause" from a $223,500.00 a year congressional hypocrite, while the allies across the pond are allowing human beings fleeing terror to come into there country----------------amazing.

That is what you call a Coward



I am so glad that I have other means to hear great speeches and why I have been a Democratic-Socialist my entire life






Honk-------------------for a political revolution Bernie 2016

[senz]

55. As I listened to Bernie's GU speech last night

two thoughts were going through my mind:

1) This man is working his heart out to tell us what we need to know so that we can begin to reclaim America for the people.

He's giving it his all. Don't know how many noticed, but he was not feeling so great yesterday morning. Could have been tired, in pain, coming down w/a cold, whatever. When he sat down for the Q&A, it was obvious, and my heart went out to him. But at the same time, his sheer will, his determination to carry it through, was just as clear. I think Bernie has waited patiently his entire life for this opportunity to talk directly to the American people. He's less interested in persuading us than in instructing us, growing us, preparing us. However, if he's going to win -- if we should be so lucky -- he's going to have to shift a little more into persuasion mode. We have become a dumbed down people. Hillary and the Repubs (sounds like an ultrawhite motown group) know this all too well. I don't think Bernie is capable of pandering, nor of deceiving, but he could tie his message closer to people's personal experiences, feelings, felt concerns, if he wants to reach them. I believe he can do that.

2) His audience cheered wildly at all the truly salient points. They get it. These are America's elite youth, and they get it. As an old boomer who still feels my generation's hopes, dreams, and failures, this gives me even greater hope than I once had "back in the day." Today's world is logarithmically more centralized and inaccessible to the average person. Power and wealth have consolidated, hardened, and entrenched themselves so thoroughly that most of us have little if any voice in the forces that control and delimit our and our children's/grandchildren's life options. Many of the controlling factors (e.g., the TPP) are nearly if not totally invisible to us and do not look for input from us. This, of course, is the death knell of democracy and of the idea of the individual. And it's all happening in a way that many do not even notice. They may "feel" it but they don't "know" it -- and the Corporate Controlled Media bears much responsibility for this fact.

So the fact that younger, educated Americans can see what is happening, and hold values, such as democracy, that make dignified, meaningful, responsible human life possible, could very well be the only hope we have, going forward.

It was a significant speech.

[mnhtnbb]

57. Great speech. Thanks for the links.

Did anyone else find it stopped working about 12 minutes in on the last link? About 3 minutes until the end?