Bernie Sanders Is Building An Army To Stop Trumpcare Dead In Its Tracks In The Senate

[Ninsianna]

37. My goodness, you wrote all of that with quotes in response to my pointing out that

the positive work is being done by people other than a single Senator?

Yes, that is what I think. I guess you have not been paying attention to the groups that are actually engaged in activism? The indivisible groups organized by district, the Resistance groups, the various groups that splintered off from Pantsuit Nation who didn't need "rallies" to get them organized and making calls?

You actually think it was all Bernie and his rallies? Millions of people organized their own rallies literally all over the world, Bernie attended some, along with other Senators, they were behind us, they were not leading us and we didn't need their inspiration, we found that with each other. Most of us found each other DURING the election, when we saw what was happening and understood it for what it was. We also saw where the attacks were coming from, many of us were attacked ourselves not only by the obvious Right wingers, but people who were supposedly on the left. It opened our eyes and we shared our experiences, and we made our connections, we went in and worked our rears off to make phone calls and knock on doors.

We commiserated in that shock that followed. We saw the savagery and we knew what it was, and when we stopped grieving the loss, we organized. That's what we do. We didn't wait around for Bernie to get off his book tour to give us orders, we found each other, we planned, we knitted and we marched. We're the ones who inspired the Democrats, Bernie and Angus.

That was us. We deserve the credit for the work we do everyday. The calls we make, the messages WE spread the Town Halls we organize even when the Reps are too terrified to show up. WE are who terrify them. We're used to our work being ignored and that some are desperate to give credit for it to old white men who don't do much of it.

I prefer to credit the people doing the work not any single man who didn't do it, not even BERNIE with the pom poms agoing and the breathlessness. That's a lot of work put into disparaging someone for pointing out that people didn't need Bernie or Chuck or any other Senator to inspire us or give us orders, it's as if cheerleading is more important than giving the shout out to the women who make up the backbone of this party and this resistance, which is not affiliated with any branded PAC, and isn't devoted to singing the praises of just one man, in caps and underlined, no less.

Opinions are nice and all, but when they're about making false assertions to divert credit from the people doing the actual work, to the guy who just pissed them off, it feels a little less unifying, ya know? I mean, why do a song and dance about Bernie in a thread that makes some vague claim about him marshaling some army (who is he marshaling, where, how exactly?)

The soldiers fighting this battle aren't waiting around for Bernie to come tell us what to do, we're a little miffed that he thinks our rights are expendable. This isn't about Bernie. I don't know why people keep trying to make it into some cult of personality, when it's the party, the actual base that's doing all the work, and its leaders who are taking the lead here, Bernie is one of them, but this constant need to pretend it's all about him, while he says dumb stuff and does things without thinking them through ... it's pointless.

I can see that the DEMOCRATIC underground likes it's Democrats, it's why we're here after all, we like our Independents too, but we're also out there and we've been out there doing the damned work, without any of those people giving us orders or "inspiring" us. We're pretty damned inspired, we're angry and we're not going to let anyone get away with saying or doing things that piss us off. That goes for those in the Senate and House who we're cheering on in their jobs, on the floor. That's why we're miffed at Liz, and pissed off at Bernie and we do give credit where credit is due, Nancy, Chuck, the various Johns who have stepped up, Elijah, and Amy and Al!

I'm glad Bernie didn't do anything to your rights, he did however endorse a guy who violated the rights of the women who make up this party. He said this after he said we should not be rigid on choice, that's something that the women of this party do not appreciate. Yours might not have been negligible to Bernie, but for those of us women of reproductive age, OURS were. It's why you keep hearing so many of us expressing our anger at him. That loud din, of all those pink hatted women, we weren't out there for Bernie, we were out there for OUR rights. We were inspired by Hillary and Cecile Richards and Planned Parenthood, and our own anger at having an election stolen from us.

I'll leave the cheer leading to you, I'm busy with the rest of the women out on the filed fighting, and cheering Bernie on seems to be important to you, and if cheering on a single man is how you do your thing, go for it! I personally prefer to give credit to the ones doing the work, and to be out there working rather than sitting on the sidelines, but that's just me, thankfully I'm in good company with the millions of women who don't have the time for acrobatics.

Oh and the thing that Bernie did was make comments on Morning Joe and the trip he made to Omaha, where he endorsed a guy who was pro Keystone and introduced some terrible legislation, so please do give him a call and tell him that while he didn't do anything to harm you, the women in your life who heard him were not pleased, in case he didn't hear our voices.

He attacked a pro-choice House candidate, a vote against Trump while wasting time and money on a mayoral race. The goal is to prioritize where our resources go, and these were very different races, one with national impact, replacing a Republican with a pro-choice, progressive Democrat, and the other a local mayor that doesn't have any national impact, but whose record doesn't bode well for his city. His record was worse than the Republican he was running against, in such cases, that's an odd race to expend resources on.

If you're voting for someone who is actively working to deny you live saving medical care, holding your nose doesn't fly. Omaha, by the way, isn't a state. Congressional seat over a mayoral one. Some clear headed reasoning is needed here, Bernie wasn't engaging in that. He's a man, he makes mistakes, and he needs to be held accountable, ALL politicians do.

I didn't mention Virginia, so I'm unsure where that came from. Not everything is an attack, and some deep breaths and some calm is called for here. Nothing wrong with the pom poms but dial down the hyper-reactivity a bit, that's all that's called for.

Also, what exactly is Bernie doing to defend the ACA? I'd like to know, all I see is vague allusions to something, no actual specifics. Also, medicare for all is a nice catch phrase, but it's not really the best form of Single Payer, I think we can get there but we need to fix what's wrong right now with the ACA, actually defend it, and then do what the Republicans have failed to do: come up with a workable, well thought out plan to get to Single Payer.

Medicare as it is doesn't work well for the limited population it covers. So do we go with a Canada type plan, an UK NHS type, something better and different? This needs discussion, the pom poms and the somersaults get in the way of an actual reasoned debate, that shouldn't be about personalities, and we need the actual experts in the field to sit down with our electeds, any and all that will do it, to hash this out.

In the meantime, how about joining us in the Indivisible groups, the Resistance, and the numerous other groups that don't attend rallies and don't need to be "inspired" by a rehashed campaign speech. We don't have birds landing on us, and we're better groomed AND we're out there effecting change. If you're in or near a red district, find out when and where we're meeting tomorrow and join us!