A conservative explains what he likes about Bernie Sanders

[LiberalArkie]

(Note This is not my view. It is an OP from LA Times)


By Barton Swaim

Bernie Sanders' success on the campaign trail does not defy explanation in quite the way that Donald Trump's does — Sanders has not dominated the polls, for one thing — but it's improbable all the same. He is a 74-year-old grandfather with thick glasses and frequently disheveled white hair. And as an avowed socialist, or “social democrat,” he routinely enunciates positions that almost no successful high-level politician in the U.S. has ever held: for instance, that higher education ought to be free for everyone.

There are no doubt convincing political/demographic reasons for Sanders' competitiveness at this stage, the most obvious being that the longtime Democratic front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is widely regarded as unprincipled and insufficiently liberal. But none of these reasons explain why I like Sanders. I'm not a Democrat, a socialist or a social democrat. I'm a conservative.

Let me stress: I would not vote for Sanders under any circumstance. I find some of his statements reprehensible, as when he says that the U.S. is not a just society “or anything resembling a just society today.” That's a preposterous slur.

Yet I enjoy listening to him speak and rather envy those who can in good conscience support his candidacy. My reluctant admiration began when I heard him in a radio interview. “In my view,” he told the interviewer, “healthcare is a right, not a privilege.”

Snip

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-swaim-sanders-rhetoric-20151113-story.html

[n2doc]

1. The guy damns with faint praise

And if he truly thinks saying the US isn't a just society is a 'reprehensible slur' he ought to spend some time in the poorer parts of America. Asshat.

[Scuba]

2. Our "just" society ...

[n2doc]

6. Many examples

A Superior Court judge who sentenced a wealthy du Pont heir to probation for raping his 3-year-old daughter noted in her order that he "will not fare well" in prison and needed treatment instead of time behind bars, court records show.

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/crime/2014/03/28/sunday-preview-du-pont-heir-stayed-prison/7016769/


Debra Harrell, 46, let her 9-year-old daughter play outside alone at the park. The South Carolina child had a cellphone she could use to call her mother in case of emergency. On the girl’s third day alone at the park, someone asked her where her mother was. The girl said her mom was at work. (Harrell works at McDonald’s and didn’t want her daughter to have to sit inside the restaurant for hours on a beautiful summer day.) The result? Harrell was arrested for “unlawful conduct towards a child” and put in jail; her daughter is now in the custody of the department of social services.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/07/15/debra_harrell_arrested_for_letting_her_9_year_old_daughter_go_to_the_park.html

[Enthusiast]

9. +1!

[Enthusiast]

10. Plus one to the absolute Max!

This conservative guy doesn't know shit from a just society.

[Kalidurga]

3. I don't quite know what to make of that.

He sounds like he is saying you should vote for Bernie Sanders because he can heal the nation. On the other hand I would never vote for him because he points out cold hard facts like we do not live in a just society and it doesn't even resemble one.

[LiberalArkie]

4. You have to remember a conservative never lets logic get in the way of their beliefs

[Art_from_Ark]

5. That's the conservative mindset for you

In his heart he knows Bernie speaks wisdom, but he can't conflate it with the conservative crap that he's grown up with or is exposed to day in and day out.

[pinebox]

7. I'll cross post this in GD-P

[Enthusiast]

8. It's not a preposterous slur! It's an accurate statement. Look at the lives of luxury the

Wall Street thieves lead compared to low level blue collar criminals that are in prison for a far lesser offense.

Then, look at the inequitable way we outspend the world on a war machine we have no practical use for while our population goes with adequate food, shelter, health care and education.

So I don't like this fuck, this conservative.

Besides, I don't value the opinion of a conservative. Just look how they have fucked up this country.

If you think this is a just society you are out of touch. You are not on the receiving end. Maybe you should try driving while black. Or playing with a BB gun while black. Or looking at a toy gun in a store while black. You out of touch asshole.