Bernie Sanders: Progressives are the Majority (InZane Times)

[Omaha Steve]

http://nhlabornews.com/2014/06/bernie-sanders-progressives-are-the-majority-inzane-times/

By Arnie Alpert | June 30, 2014 | InZane Times



Image by Arnie Alpert


It was a sunny Saturday afternoon in Warner, New Hampshire, and Bernie Sanders didn’t need much time to warm up the sympathetic crowd outside Bookends.

“I think that old fashioned politics, I think the politics of big money dominating what goes on in Washington, the old status quo is not good enough,” began the Vermont Senator. “In my view, and I say this very seriously, we need a political revolution in this country.” The audience of perhaps one hundred people applauded enthusiastically.

Senator Sanders would sign copies of his book, The Speech, afterwards, but this is no more a standard book tour than are the recent appearances of Hillary Clinton. Bernie, as he is commonly known, is considering a run for President, and this was his second campaign-style trip to the state that hold the nation’s first primary election.

Sanders’ speech, like one he delivered at the NH Institute of Politics a couple months ago, ran through a menu of issues he referred to as the “progressive agenda.” The growth of economic inequality and its pernicious effects, the threat of global warning, the need to end wasteful military spending, the need for universal health care, and the importance of free, public education each received a couple paragraphs of stump speech, as did the importance of political reforms to take the government back from the 1 percent and the corporations they own.

FULL story at link.

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About Arnie Alpert

Arnie Alpert is New Hampshire Program Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee (http://www.afsc.org/nh), a Quaker organization that supports social justice, human rights, and peaceful change. He is a member of UNITE HERE Local 66-L and blogs at http://inzanetimes.wordpress.com.

View all posts by Arnie Alpert ? http://nhlabornews.com/author/arnie-alpert/

[geek tragedy]

1. I admire Bernie, but Vermont isn't

like the rest of the country.

The job of progressives, according to Bernie Sanders, is to educate people about what is really going on in the economic and political systems. And that means going outside of our comfort zones to talk to people with whom we don’t always agree. The right-wing specializes in division, he said. Progressive need to bring people together.

Ask Barack Obama how that worked out.

We don't need to bring people together. We just need to get more of ours to the voting booth than they do of theirs. A goal that becomes more and more achievable through sheer force of demographics.

[madokie]

2. Bernie and Elizabeth is my dream ticket

either one in the VP slot would be fine with me too. I really really really really like both of them

[Scuba]

3. Bernie is correct, again ...

http://www.democracyjournal.org/arguments/2013/09/politicians-think-american-voters-are-more-conservative-than-they-really-are.php

When we compare what legislators believe their constituents want to their constituents’ actual views, we discover that politicians hold remarkably inaccurate perceptions. Pick an American state legislator at random, and chances are that he or she will have massive misperceptions about district views on big-ticket issues, typically missing the mark by 15 percentage points.

What is more, the mistakes legislators make tend to fall in one direction, giving U.S. politics a rightward tilt compared to what most voters say they want. As the following figures show, legislators usually believe their constituents are more conservative than they actually are. Our attitude measurements are most accurate on the questions about same sex marriage and universal health insurance – and in both instances the legislators’ guesses about their constituents’ views were 15-20 percent more conservative, on average, than the true public support for same-sex marriage or universal health care present in their districts.

Our study also found that politicians don’t learn in the normal course of events. After November 2012, we posed the same questions again to some candidates. Even after conducting campaigns and seeing the results, politicians did not arrive at more accurate perceptions of constituent views—not even those who had spent more time talking to voters. Much remains to be learned about why U.S. legislators think constituents are more conservative than they truly are, but researchers have found that politically active citizens tend to be wealthier and more conservative than others. Politicians who want to represent all the people in their districts need to keep this in mind.

Our findings also suggest that progressive groups might be able to use a simple lobbying strategy—just let legislators know the truth about what their constituents think and want! Most of the time, legislators will discover that their constituents are more liberal than they suppose. Would that lead to policy change? It is an open question, but some research suggests that public opinion can influence what politicians do. Perhaps helping representatives perceive their constituents correctly could pave the way for public policies closer to what Americans really want.

[treestar]

4. Maybe if they started voting?

Really? A majority. Prove it.

[Armstead]

5. Not either/or. Red States have passed referendums for raising minimum wage

When actual issues are separated from the sports and melodrama version of politics, people often are more liberal on specifics than they claim to be (or in some cases think they are).

That creates a cognitive dissonance such as states that went for GW Bush (or other GOP candidates) who also pass tings like referendums on the minimum wage.

The GOP is muh better at presenting "red meat" narratives to appeal to the conservative side of people. But when push comes to shove people are more receptive and/or supportive of specific liberal/progressive policies than one would think.

[malokvale77]

6. Damn it...

We do vote. Quit blaming us for the sorry ass candidates the party puts forth. It is tiresome.