Bernie Sanders Isn't the Left's Trump And this is no time for ego or self-indulgence.

[applegrove]

Bernie Sanders Isn’t the Left’s Trump

And this is no time for ego or self-indulgence.

By Paul Krugman, Opinion Columnist, the NY Times

Feb. 23, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/23/opinion/bernie-sanders-isnt-the-lefts-trump.html?algo=top_conversion&fellback=false&imp_id=818603263&imp_id=718686674&action=click&module=Most Popular&pgtype=Homepage

"SNIP.....

Look, I know the primaries aren’t over, and it’s still possible that Democratic centrists will get their act together. But Bernie Sanders is now the clear favorite for the Democratic nomination. There are many things to say about that, but the most important is that he is NOT a left-leaning version of Trump. Even if you disagree with his ideas, he’s not a wannabe authoritarian ruler.

America under a Sanders presidency would still be America, both because Sanders is an infinitely better human being than Trump and because the Democratic Party wouldn’t enable abuse of power the way Republicans have.

And if you’re worried about his economic agenda, what’s your concern, exactly? That he’ll raise taxes on the rich part way back to what they were under Dwight Eisenhower? That he’ll run budget deficits? Trump is doing that already — and the economic effects have been positive.

I’m more concerned about (a) the electability of someone who says he’s a socialist even though he isn’t and (b) if he does win, whether he’ll squander political capital on unwinnable fights like abolishing private health insurance. But if he’s the nominee, it’s the job of Dems to make him electable if at all possible.

.....SNIP"

[BootinUp]

1. I'll rec it for his concerns. Nt

[LaurenOlimina]

2. Yup. The world is not ending.

Bernie is not a villain.

[highplainsdem]

3. We can try to sugarcoat Sanders later if we're stuck with him. In the meantime, we're only

a few races into the primary, and he should be vetted.

[Skittles]

11. the very idea just makes me sick

UGH

[CentralMass]

4. Thanks for the post applegrove

[applegrove]

5. De Rien Mass Centrale!

[babylonsister]

6. Rec'd with thanks. Voices of sanity welcomed. nt

[Mersky]

7. I generally agree

But, I could have done without Sanders’ tweet from Friday evening.

[applegrove]

8. What was his tweet Friday?

[Mersky]

9. I was referring to Bernie's tweet

from Friday.

I’ll edit my post to be more specific.

[applegrove]

10. Okay. I hear you on that tweet. Bad form.

[PatrickforO]

12. Please remember that if Bernie is our nominee and we elect him,

he won't have the broad, sweeping powers that Trump claims. He will necessarily have to work with Congress to get things through, and our founders specifically set our government up so that forward progress requires lots of debate and some compromise.

It does.

Think about your history, and if you were lucky enough to have a good, solid civics course in high school, think about that, too.

Sanders isn't some ogre. He's not a Russian agent (like Trump demonstrably is). Sure Putin is going to troll him because that's the plan - to sow division among us so we lose and the oligarchs win another term for Trump. But that isn't Bernie's fault.

You know what kills me is that we all seem to pay lip service to speaking truth to power, but when we have someone who actually does it, we worry he's too far 'left.'

I'm not worried and I'm not going to worry. I'm saving my worry for whatever crap Trump is going to try. Whoever our nominee is will enjoy my full and active support. We're going to paint our towns, and our cities, and our counties, our states and this country blue!

[Mountain Mule]

13. K & R

The voice of reason is very much appreciated these days.

[AlexSFCA]

14. his economic agenda should be irrelevant cause it will require congress vote

I’d be focusing on his chances to beat trump.

[burrowowl]

15. Kick!