senz
senz's JournalAs 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.
A bought-and-sold "Democrat" cannot be a "hard core liberal."
Sanders' "socialist side" is in keeping with FDR's "socialist" programs that paved the way for a strong economy, a prosperous middle class, and a can-do, optimistic attitude in this country that paved the way for the social and environmental programs of the 60's and 70s -- all of which is GONE now, thanks to the corporate takeover of our government in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.
FDR paid for these "socialist" programs with a progressive (ascending) tax structure. The chart below shows the top marginal tax rate from 1912 to 2008.
We can do it again, Thinkingabout, if we elect Bernie Sanders to the presidency. Hillary belongs and is beholden to the oligarchy (great wealth and big corporations); she would never do what we need to restore the country. Never.
Think about it.
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