March 2, 2016

The Next Majority

TBF Note: Congratulations to Bernie Sanders on wins in Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota & Vermont (and nearly Massachusetts - where shenanigans involving Bill Clinton were occurring - more about him below). Forward!

The zero-sum nature of elections often causes us to miss the ways in which a loss can also mark a victory. Barry Goldwater lost his presidential bid in 1964 to Lyndon Johnson. But his presidential campaign helped pave the way for the next generation of conservative politicians in the Republican Party. Sanders has not lost yet. But even if he does, a sea change already appears to be under way. A new generation of liberal Democrats and radical activists is emerging, hoping to push the Democratic Party to the left. This is not a silent majority. It is outspoken and willing to do what it needs to be heard.

The Next Majority
David Marcus ▪ March 1, 2016

Ever since Nixon uttered the taunt a year after cruising past Hubert Humphrey in 1968, Democratic Party elites have been in hot pursuit of the “silent majority.” The Coalition for a Democratic Majority rose to the challenge in 1972 and tried to recapture the Democrat’s working- and middle-class base by resurrecting the party’s more hawkish Cold War policies. The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), founded after Reagan’s crushing defeat of Walter Mondale, went even further. Composed mostly of young southern and midwestern Democrats, the DLC tried to roll back much of the state-centered liberalism of the New Deal and Great Society. Arkansas’s popular governor Bill Clinton carried the momentum of this strategy, becoming the DLC’s chair in 1990 and winning the White House in 1992. He was the second Democrat to have done so since the late 1960s.

The rise of Clinton and the “New Democrats” also came with significant political and human costs. They may have won a new majority for the Democratic Party. But they also turned against many of their constituents. With the passage of NAFTA, large swathes of industrial workers found themselves out of work. With the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act in 1996, Clinton got rid of “welfare as we know it.” And with an omnibus financial deregulation bill in 1998, the party eroded many of the constraints that kept American banking from the types of practices that led to the crisis of 2008. Seeking a “third way” between the liberal egalitarianism of the old Democrats and the free-market orthodoxies of the Reagan Republicans, Clinton ended up not only alienating much of the Democrats’ young, black, and working-class bases; he helped diminish the differences between the parties. The party of “big government” had become, like its rival, a party for big businesses.

It was into this political world that my generation came of age in the early and mid-2000s. September 11 and the catastrophic “war on terror” that followed were the hallmarks of our coming of age, bringing many of us out into the streets and into politics for the first time. But so were the experiences of economic uncertainty and precarity created by policies of the Clinton and New Democrat years. None of us wanted another Republican in office. But it was also unclear how the Democrats, still under New Democrat control, could offer us much of an alternative ...

More here: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/next-majority-sanders-democrats-party-insurgency

February 28, 2016

The Long Haul -

I have met so many wonderful folks who envision a better future - both here in the Bernie group, on JackPine Radicals, on Twitter, and Bernie Meetups IRL.

We will have to motivate each other and stay focused and positive as we go into Super Tuesday. We will do well, I believe, in Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont. These are proportional delegates so he will pick up what he can while Hillary takes the bigger southern states like Texas (remembering that she is winning these southern states that are very conservative - they will not vote for her in the general).

After that it gets brighter as we move on to the Western and Northern states - Bernie's firewall. These states will take us to the convention. Bernie's got to hang in there and so do we - you never know what will happen along the way. Even if it seems that Hillary is ahead we still have the email situation lurking in the background, with a democratic administration still reviewing what she did as Secretary of State. If she is forced to pull out Bernie needs to be ready - whether he is ahead in delegate count or not.

I would also like to say this morning is that I am so proud of all of us. I am sticking with Bernie and the movement for change. Ultimately it goes beyond whether he wins or not. This movement has attracted so much energy and youth that I feel like it is not just an outlier but a fight for the democratic party itself. That is the reason I am still posting on this site. I want folks to know that those of us on the fringe are still here and will not give up. We are not giving in to the Hillary Clintons and Donald Trumps of the world. Capitalism is a horrible, inherently unequal system. I may be getting older now but I am still working for that better world for my kids. It doesn't have to be like this and frankly this oppressive system is not sustainable.

How we help Bernie:

1. Phone bank
2. Canvass
3. Donate

Go to Bernie Sanders.com, Click on "events", and put in your zip code to see what you can do to help!

In Solidarity, TBF

February 27, 2016

They Didn't Know We Were Seeds

They tried to bury us ... they didn't know we were seeds.

Confirmed 10,000K+ in Austin, TX this morning w/only 12-hrs notice. The folks in Dallas are freaking out about getting in the building because the line is so long.

From Twitter:

:large

February 27, 2016

With 12 hours notice - Bernie in Austin! (Pic from Twitter)

Edited to add: Official count just over 10,000 people at Austin Rally!!
2nd Edit: From facebook, confirmed 7000 in Dallas.

:large



And Verizon theater in Grand Prairie TX (Dallas):

February 27, 2016

The University of Texas in Austin VOTES

Please excuse the source (local Fox news station) - but the story is good!! Lots of interest in voting this primary at the University of Texas. This can only be good for Bernie

“I'm just really glad to be alive in a time when we have so much involvement from people in my age group that are really concerned about the future of our country,” said Joseph Trahan with the University Democrats.

By: Jennifer Kendall

Posted:Feb 25 2016 08:19PM CST

Updated:Feb 25 2016 09:49PM CST

Friday is the last day for early voting during the 2016 primary elections and one group of people who have come out in large numbers this year are students.

Students at the University of Texas are hitting the polls in larger numbers than previous early voting primary elections.

< snip >

“UT Votes was able to register just over 430 people in the week leading up to the deadline for registration in order to vote for the primary,” Tessa Tigar-Cross who works with UT Votes said.

As of Wednesday night, the Travis County Clerk's office reported more than 3,900 students and faculty voted at the University of Texas Flawn Academic Center during early voting primaries. That's triple the number of early ballots cast at the university's only polling site during the 2014 primary ...

Rest of story here: http://www.fox7austin.com/news/local-news/97718794-story

February 27, 2016

Official endorsement from Robert Reich (Clinton Secretary of Labor)

Robert Reich
12 hrs ·

I endorse Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. He’s leading a movement to reclaim America for the many, not the few. And such a political mobilization – a “political revolution,” as he puts it -- is the only means by which we can get the nation back from the moneyed interests that now control so much of our economy and democracy.

This extraordinary concentration of income, wealth, and political power at the very top imperils all else – our economy, our democracy, the revival of the American middle class, the prospects for the poor and for people of color, the necessity of slowing and reversing climate change, and a sensible foreign policy not influenced by the “military-industrial complex,” as President Dwight Eisenhower once called it. It is the fundamental prerequisite: We have little hope of achieving positive change on any front unless the American people are once again in control.

I have the deepest respect and admiration for Hillary Clinton, and if she wins the Democratic primary I’ll work my heart out to help her become president. But I believe Bernie Sanders is the agent of change this nation so desperately needs.

^ Posted on his Facebook account

Also please check out his website. He has a great column on why Marco Rubio is not a moderate: http://robertreich.org/

ROBERT B. REICH is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century.

February 27, 2016

Bernie's Jewish Background

Bernie Sanders Opens Up About His Jewish Background
"I’m very proud of my heritage.”
02/26/2016 08:39 am ET

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders opened up about his Jewish heritage at a town hall that MSNBC’s Chris Matthews hosted on Thursday night.

“I’m very proud of my heritage,” Sanders said. “And what comes to mind so strongly is a kid growing up in Brooklyn and seeing people with numbers on their wrist; you probably have not seen that but those were the people coming out of the concentration camps, and knowing that a good part of my family was killed by the Nazis. And that lesson that I learned as a very young person is that politics is serious business and when you have a lunatic like Hitler gaining power, 50 million people died in World War II. So I am very proud to be Jewish and I’m very proud of my heritage.”

The 74-year-old Vermont senator has rarely discussed his Jewish heritage on the campaign trail, even as he became the first Jew to win a presidential primary or caucus with his victory in New Hampshire.

In his victory speech, he noted that he was “the son of a Polish immigrant who came to this country speaking no English and having no money.” In a previous candidate town hall meeting, he said that his Judaism is a “guiding principle” in his life, but that “everybody practices religion in a different way.”

More here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-jewish_us_56d04b59e4b0871f60eaf9e7?section=politics

February 27, 2016

Bernie in Austin, TX tomorrow 2/27

A Future to Believe In Austin Rally on 2/27
Official Event

Join Bernie Sanders as he rallies supporters in Austin. With just days left until the March 1st Texas primary, now is the time to hear from Bernie how we can build this movement across the state. He will discuss a wide range of issues important to Texans, including making college affordable, getting big money out of politics, and combating climate change.

This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but RSVPs are strongly encouraged. Admission is first come, first served: an RSVP does not confirm entry.

Location:

Circuit of the Americas (Austin, TX)
9201 Circuit of The Americas Blvd
Austin, TX 78617


Here's the link to RSVP: https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/rally/4glhp

February 25, 2016

Mrs. Clinton, Show Voters Those Transcripts

When the NY Times (huuuuge supporters of Clinton) tell you to release the transcripts, it's time to release them -

Mrs. Clinton, Show Voters Those Transcripts
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD ~ FEB. 25, 2016

“Everybody does it,” is an excuse expected from a mischievous child, not a presidential candidate. But that is Hillary Clinton’s latest defense for making closed-door, richly-paid speeches to big banks, which many middle-class Americans still blame for their economic pain, and then refusing to release the transcripts.

A televised town hall on Tuesday was at least the fourth candidate forum in which Mrs. Clinton was asked about those speeches. Again, she gave a terrible answer, saying that she would release the transcripts “if everybody does it, and that includes the Republicans.”

In November, she implied that her paid talks for the Wall Street firms were part of helping them rebuild after the 9/11 attacks, which “was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists.”

In a debate with Bernie Sanders on Feb. 4, Mrs. Clinton was asked if she would release the transcripts, and she said she would “look into it.” Later in February, asked in a CNN town hall forum why she accepted $675,000 for speeches to Goldman Sachs, she got annoyed, shrugged, and said, “That’s what they offered,” adding that “every secretary of state that I know has done that.” ...

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/mrs-clinton-show-voters-those-transcripts.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

February 25, 2016

Former Mexican President to Donald Trump: "I'm Not Going to Pay for That Fucking Wall"

This is hilarious.

In an interview with Jorge Ramos on Fusion, former Mexican president Vicente Fox said emphatically that if Donald Trump were to be elected to the Oval Office in November and make good on his promise of building a wall along the US-Mexico border, Mexico should not foot the bill, as Trump has suggested.

"I declare: I'm not going to pay for that fucking wall," Fox said. "He should pay for it. He's got the money."

Watch video here: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2016/02/former-mexican-president-fox-not-paying-for-trump-wall