2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBernie CAN'T do it!
Bernie knows this. That is why he always talks about WE.
Bernie also knows that when WE stick together, WE can do everything in his platform.
When WE nominate Bernie, WE will have the attention of everyone running for congress. THEY will have a choice. Get on board or be replaced, because WE can do that.
WE can create a country where everyone has access to actual health care, not an insurance policy they can't afford to use, or no insurance at all.
WE can create a country that does not abandon the elderly, the infirm or the children. WE can create a country where people are allowed to live a dignified existence.
WE can create a country where policing is more akin to Andy Taylor than to Jack Bauer.
WE can do all this and more with Bernie as a focal point guiding the movement. WE will not be sent home on Jan 20 2016.
Why will this work? Because fuck this shit!
Juicy_Bellows
(2,427 posts)ybbor
(1,554 posts)Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)enough is enough is enough!
stillwaiting
(3,795 posts)Many claim he is lying to us by PROMISING us that if he's elected President that we will have the things he's campaigning on.
I think Bernie supporters know the reality of the situation.
It has to become a movement or we're getting nowhere.
And, I think a lot of us are ready for that movement.
TDale313
(7,820 posts)And contrary to the current memes, most Bernie supporters aren't stupid or naive and know this isn't gonna be easy. But supporting the candidate who has spent his life fighting for progressive causes, who is willing to actually make the case, is incredibly important. Yes, Republicans will fight him and obstruct- it's what they do and they'll do it to Hillary as well. But I trust Bernie to fight the good fight and I trust him know how to use the supporters who got him elected once he's in. And I trust him not to support the TPP. And I trust him to continue fighting against the kind of wealth and income inequality that is crushing us. He won't have a magic wand- I'm well aware of this. But I'd trust him at the helm.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)tazkcmo
(7,300 posts)It's just the beginning. When this election is over, win or lose, a grass roots infrastructure will have been built that involves millions of people. Initially, I think this will have it's biggest impact locally and grow from there provided the energy and awareness that is present now continues. Easier for that to happen with Sen Sanders in office than with out but still possible.
TDale313
(7,820 posts)But of course him winning would, as you said, make it easier. One, because there'd be an ally/leader in office to push the agenda forward, and second because it legitimizes the movement. Of course, that means powerful forces will fight even harder, but it will be much harder to make the case that the left just doesn't matter.
In regards to him being POTUS and the bully pulpit. If he loses, he still has his Senate stage and coupled with Sen Warren, that's pretty good too.
Biki
(15 posts)Thats just it! Bernie supporters arent naive
or ignorant .. theyre aware and informed and thats why theyre coming out and speaking up like they have. They finally have a chance to and a candidate they can believe in.
He's an honest man with clear convictions and a humanist morality that breaches class, gender and religion. Hes not afraid to say what he thinks and what hes thinking is to protect America - US - from scavengers - we know who they are. And hes been saying so throughout his entire political career. This man is brilliant and his time has come.
The partys over carpetbaggers.
They keep saying this that Bernie isn't going to be able to get things done. That it's going to be a lot of work. But, this is what I learned in a class on giving speeches: Know your audience. I think they aren't aware that they are talking to radicals. Radicals are the ones that actually roll up their sleeves and get to work. I don't think anyone who supports Bernie is afraid to at the very least make some phone calls and/or send emails to our Reps to pressure them into finally doing the right things.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)to get our government back to WE THE PEOPLE, and take from them, the corporations who have been ripping us off all this time.
A movement implies that many will be involved, and this, I believe is what Bernie wants. This is because a democracy can only be efficient if everyone is involved.
saltpoint
(50,986 posts)this past fall. The venue was full.
I try to make it to three or four film festivals each year. The audience for those films differs from the people at the Sanders rally in that they are far quieter and much less given to loud cheering.
But what they have in common is the rapt attention they pay to what is being presented. Sanders held the audience -- a very large number of people -- for what was a fairly long policy-laden address. The audience respected his words and absorbed the length of the address because he was asking them for their attention. They willingly -- even enthusiastically -- gave it.
People who attend a film festival want to be there. They are choosing this event. I felt that evening at the Sanders rally that a choice had been made. It's a lift to be in a group of people who want to be where they are and are full of respect for what is presented to them.
This Vermont Senator guy is a force to be reckoned with.
Karma13612
(4,552 posts)MuseRider
(34,105 posts)What a different way to describe this. I like it. He does have a way, the way that will include all of us. I have waited a long time for this moment. Loved Kucinich but Bernie is unique and knows exactly what is needed.
saltpoint
(50,986 posts)praise for Dennis Kucinich. He was a forward-looking mind who ought to have been taken very seriously and was in essence ignored by the media.
Sanders is even-keeled in application, IMO, because he has a field sense of what's out there across the national landscape.
It's unsettling to be a voter in a country where candidates of wildly different sensibilities and platform positions have relative appeal among voter blocks. Not sure at this point who has the best shot at the Pukes' nomination, but if Bernie is our nominee, I think he is going to blister the eventual GOP candidate in the debates.
MuseRider
(34,105 posts)with everything you have said.
I hesitate to even consider how I really think this primary may go for us. I see and feel landslide but I just can't let myself believe or say it often because, well because I hate to think where we will be if we do not get a game changer. I think people are ready to be involved, at least enough to make things happen. It is interesting to see the masses of people who have had it yet most of the time when the news is on or written it does not really see it. They are beginning to I think.
Bernie wastes the R's. Once this many people trust you there is little that can be done.
saltpoint
(50,986 posts)prepare for their debates. They can stand there and spew bigoted remarks about immigrants and minorities and women, and the GOP base just licks it off the floor.
In the general, whoever the GOP nominates will have to prepare before walking onto that debate stage.
All three of our candidates are already prepared, have already done the homework, and are ready to go before a national audience.
Agree that a game changer is the far better outcome.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)If new members are like Bernie Congress might get something done otherwise it's business as usual.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)and how they may want to align themselves with President Sanders because, well... because he's
their new president and they are part of the "WE" that's needed to create a future we can believe in,
political expediency aside.
floriduck
(2,262 posts)before the convention so they can be on the winning side.
Left Coast2020
(2,397 posts)Not sure where "coattails" comes from but it sounds warm and fuzzy. Again, the millennials will be out in force in the GE and then can we get a Congress that actually debates a bill in stead of voting 64 times (I lost count) to repeal ACA. They have to vote a straight D down the line. And 33 seats are up in the Senate. That will be in "D" hands in Jan 2017.
merrily
(45,251 posts)The Wielding Truth
(11,415 posts)Thanks for your post. There are so many who are coming together to transform and improve the fight to preserve our democratic system where all must matter.
The 1% can not continue to squeeze the rest of us into jobs, land or social iniquities which put us into impotent situations. We must not have it.
valerief
(53,235 posts)840high
(17,196 posts)Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)Agony
(2,605 posts)Bernie will only fail if we fail to act
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)Bernie because fuck this shit!
Kids giggled all the way. We loved it. Gotta admit though this is the strangest election cycle ever.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,354 posts)Thanks for the thread, hootinholler.
Duval
(4,280 posts)Karma13612
(4,552 posts)Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)PatrickforO
(14,570 posts)We've got to get him in because he is the only candidate in DECADES who has actually represented us, the American people.
baldguy
(36,649 posts)he has to either change the minds of people in Congress, or change the people in Congress.
Considering that the Sanders Campaign has pretty much declared war on the DNC, the former isn't very likely. And Sanders is doing nothing to bring about the latter.
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)and he's gotten off two frivolous lawsuits before a single vote has been cast or caucused ... I'd say he's doing pretty well!
paleotn
(17,911 posts)...and work for what any sane person knows is best for the vast majority of Americans. Will we get there? Maybe. Maybe not, but you know what we get if we do nothing? Exactly nothing. Compare that to the same ole bullshit candidate who doesn't want to upset her big donors who just happen to be heavily invested in the same ole bullshit. Damn, I see a pattern there. Do you? I'm not holding my breath, by the way.
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)But that is exactly what Bernie so loudly wants.
No thanks.
paleotn
(17,911 posts)....So you're an advocate of outsourcing good paying American jobs to the lowest bidder instead of forcing them to be on cost parity, like virtually every other industrialized nation does? So, should all us good Americans learn to speak Chinese or Vietnamese and figure out how to live on $0.80 USD an hour, with no benefits and dangerous working conditions? Did you miss that turn at Albuquerque and end up here instead of Freeper?
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)paleotn
(17,911 posts)....TPP is going to be like birthday cake and ponies all day long....just like NAFTA and WTO....for the rich and assholes. As for Rush, he'd oppose any Obama policy even if it actually were birthday cake and ponies. Nice straw man. Just like the isolation crack. Fair trade is not isolation. But then again, would I expect any different from someone who seems to be more interested in short term profits than what's in the best interests of average Americans? I still think you'd be much happier at Freeper.....or some other jackass site where posters care more for their wallets than average American's livelihoods.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Great post!!!
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)Yeah, he's all about we.
Mark Grable
(23 posts)He has the votes in NH and Iowa.
Paka
(2,760 posts)He says repeatedly, it's all about US.
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)The Senators and Representatives up for election won't have to stick a finger up to check which way the wind is blowing, we will already have a finger up for them to measure what positions they need to favor to win. If they don't pay attention they may not like what finger we hold up for them.
paleotn
(17,911 posts).....Nothing. Precisely Nothing. So if HRC supporters truly want Nothing at all to change, then keep on doing what they're doing and nothing will. Maybe they like it that way. Maybe they're all Goldman or United Healthcare execs and Nothing is in their best interest. If that's the case, the Nothing candidate fits them well. So knock yourselves out folks.
Sorry, but i don't believe in Nothing. I'm going to support the candidate who's willing to at least try and work towards what we all know is in the best long term interests of the vast majority of Americans, even if we have to be dragged kicking and screaming to join the rest of the FUCKING industrialized world. The only viable candidate who fits that bill is Bernie Sanders.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)silvershadow
(10,336 posts)the slots with candidates all up and down the ballot, from President to dog catcher, in every district. If you have an opening, please fill it. If you can't, run for office yourself. Bernie needs all the friendly faces he can get.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)Bernie 2016!
glinda
(14,807 posts)mikehiggins
(5,614 posts)I think that simple phrase marks the point at which Sanders' supporters have given up any hope of working with the Establishment to make a change in the future of this nation. It is, to be highly melodramatic (and I could of course be proven wrong) the Potemkin moment in this movement.
Just saying...
Oh yeah, Fuck This Shit
Octafish
(55,745 posts)We. The. People. Can. Do. Anything.
Fuck yeah!
madokie
(51,076 posts)if the congress critters who are left after this election still refuse to go along with the new reality we'll simply replace them come the mid terms. In the mean time we tread water until that day comes. Treading water is all we've been doing for years now anyway so a couple more years won't matter much. We're used to it anyway.
SoLeftIAmRight
(4,883 posts)we can do better
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)gordyfl
(598 posts)lark
(23,094 posts)Wish I were more optimistic. I came of age politically with McGovern and worry this movement could have the same results, especially in this day of unsafe voting machines. I love Bernie and am voting for him in the primary and of course the general if he wins the nomination. I am very concerned about the millions of people who aren't committed either RW or LW and how the MSM will totally kill Bernie for being a socialist. I hope the revolution will overtake the media's and $$$ people's spin, but do worry. Guess that's what I always do, worry about the worst, hope for the best and act on my hopes, not fears.
azmom
(5,208 posts)United there is nothing we can't do.
Si se puede!
jwirr
(39,215 posts)she is not going to work on the things we want.