You know who has really had it?

[jodymarie aimee]

55. I am the radical left

I protested the war in 1969-70 in Berkeley. Below is my February letter to my local paper about Bernie. I knew Bernie had no chance, and HRC would be our nominee. I am happy to campaign every day for her. When the Tea People made their debut, I said time for us to do that on our side. WE DID NOT. So for you to say there is some false equivalency is nuts. The Republican batshit crazy radicals are nowhere to be found on our side. What planet are you living on? My letter follows and if you can find anything batshit crazy in the New Deal and the 2016 version of same, let me know.

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In 1951 America was prosperous with a 90% tax rate. Conservative writer Russell Kirk predicted if the middle class grew to the point where they started to feel their own economic power that would lead to chaos. He contended change was ok if small slow and incremental. Progressives, in line with the new Deal, said just the opposite. Kirk predicted women, minorities, 18 year olds, soldiers, gays would demand their rights. He wrote that we've got to dial back the middle class. Reagan said the middle class is too fat and happy. "Why should I pay for free tuition for some kid who's just going to challenge my policies and call me names?"Reagan did away with tuition free college. Since the 1980s Republicans have promised to grow the economy by cutting taxes, privatizing the public sphere and deregulating. Democrats have mainly promised to limit he damage done by the Republicans.


Why are the middle class voting against their own interests and not demanding what we demanded in the 1930s and 1960s? Right now the only person saying stuff like this is Bernie. Corporate media ignore him, they are too busy fawning over the Vulgarian. Bernie is calling for a political revolution and appealing to our better angels. The seeds of the better have always been there. It is quite simply a new humanity. While we are fortunate to have 2 great candidates on the Democratic side, Hillary is a Corporate Democrat and Bernie is a Progressive Democrat. Bernie has lived his politics for decades, he has no baggage. He will not move to the middle for votes, that is nuts.


Some are rightly scared, they have all their marbles in the system. But, that system is unworkable. The problems we are up against relate to a power structure that is ruining this county. Social inertia. Crystallization means the more pressure you put on coal the sooner it turns into diamonds. This guy has captured the entire minority so that is isn't a minority anymore. .It's a majority of minorities. Bernie's stirring our brains with a spoon. JFK said we are going to do big things, things they say are impossible. The future's about nerve.


You say America won't vote for a Socialist Jew? I say to you, America celebrates a Socialist Jew every December 25th. Socialism didn't poison Flint. Austerity and capitalism run amok did. Some say his policies are pie in the sky. 170 economists beg to differ. They will work, they have worked.


The New Deal and Civil Rights Movement created a country that was for things, not against things. We succeeded in creating a place, for a brief shining moment that embodied all we had been taught to hold dear, that all men were created equal and destined for a place where the pursuit of happiness was an achievable goal. Halfway down the stairs is a stair. Bernie is that stair.