Turning Democrats from Hillary to Bernie.

[Dragonfli]

22. What I have had success with is getting people to register to vote for him in the primary

We have spoken before of some of the similarities of our two neighborhoods, here there are many people that simply do not vote because no politicians ever speak of issues that concern them, they are not middle class suburbanites, or gentrified city dwellers.

They are mostly below the radar and are well aware that the party has left the struggling work force, those that do not make upper middle class wages. They see no champions in the Republicans either, they simply see no champions at all and are too tired from work (if they can find it) and stress from not being able to keep up with bills that increase even as their wages stagnate. Most of them no longer vote except for mayor and other local races that affect them directly.

At least half of the older people I talk to were once blue collar Democrats (middle aged), but abandoned the party after the party abandoned them and all the factories began shutting down leaving them with only service jobs that do not pay the bills. They are eager, not just wiling, to come back to the party and begin voting again just to vote for Bernie in the primary because he reminds them of a party that once fought for them rather than the white shirted managers and titans of business that have been the Democratic target constituency of late. I gave out registration forms for 18 such people and have to go get more .

Others I talk to are young people that have never felt a party existed that represents them and think (rightly) that when our pols talk about helping the middle class, they are talking about those that live in much nicer neighborhoods with picket fences and multiple 30 to 40 thousand dollar vehicles, they are the most apathetic that I speak with, but are smarter than people think, most already know of both Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, and surprisingly (to me) a number of them are trying with little success to access higher education, the best they tend to do is Community College, but are trying like hell not to be poor for the rest of their lives, they hear about Bernie and Elizabeth because they have heard their talk about student loans, all but a few want to go on to the state colleges and do not see how they can afford it. I don't need to get them registration forms, they have been getting them on their own

The older people, the disabled, and those without work are also plenty here, the elderly were scared as hell when there was talk about a compromise on SS with Republicans and are convinced both parties want to take their SS from them to invest in wall ST. It is more nuanced than that, but to people that are living on the edge of poverty that count on those checks, the fear is very real, they are already registered (for the most part) but prefer anybody but Clinton because they are convinced she will sell therm out on SS. The disabled have similar fears and appear to be leaning heavily Sanders. The non working, mostly single mothers I talk to are afraid they will lose assistance and don't see any Democrats fighting for them, once I inform them of Bill's end to welfare as we know it, they immediately lose trust in Hillary, and although not big voters (I did get many to vote for Obama in '08 which is hurting my credibility now) I have convinced a handful to try one more time with Bernie because he has a record of speaking and acting on issues that affect the lower classes. They love what he has to say about expanding the safety net, hell, everybody I talk to that is not financially comfortable loves what Bernie is saying, the biggest obstacle I have is that the last time I went around, I sold Obama big time and he ignored them all. There is a credibility problem that arose from his rhetoric that turned out to be empty, people don't want to be fooled again.

I will continue to go out and have discussions and bring material (and links) to show that he has been consistent and is not just saying what they want to hear, if I can get past the trust issues after the '08 attempts, I believe I can deliver most of the neighborhood in the primary, and then of course in the general.

For an experiment I will try to get a ride out to the 'burbs where folks aren't hurting yet to gauge what people think there, my feeling is they will like the white lady that they think is like them, but who knows, maybe some will realize that their comfort will be short lived with another 8 years of attacks on their middle class existence, putting them in the same position as most of my neighbors are now.


It is hard for me, because I don't have portable oxygen and I get out of breath rather quickly due to something called pulmonary hypertension, I will do what I can, and it is working, so many know they have been left behind and do not expect a corporate candidate to do anything but make things worse for them, such people so far have been open to Bernie's ideas and appear to find him an honest and trustworthy individual rather quickly (something about the way he speaks perhaps shows his integrity)