The Future of Our Country Is At Stake in This Election.
It has come to my attention that some of the Hillary supporters are having fun ousting Bernie supporters for speaking our minds.
This election is not a question of my team wins; yours loses. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
This is not a football game. It isn't a wrestling match. It isn't a cartoon either.
We are deciding the future of our country.
We who support Bernie support him because we believe that his stands on the issues point us in the direction that we as a nation need to go if we are to survive as one whole, united country for at least the next 50 years.
We believe that he has the experience, both executive as mayor for 8 years of Burlington, Vt. and in Congress since 1992 and that his knowledge and understanding of the issues facing our country far exceed that of Hillary Clinton.
Remember, the first and foremost jobs of a president are to pick the heads of departments who will make decisions that are in the interests of all Americans and not just in the interests of a few wealthy individuals and companies. Secondarily, the president makes the final decision on issues of all kinds. How well he or she can make those decisions depends on his or her character but also on the information provided by the president's appointees. I trust Bernie to choose the best aides and advisers and heads of departments to help him make decisions. Bernie's picks will not be dictated by wealthy donors to his campaign. Bernie will choose the best.
Our financial system is mired in lies and corruption. I support Bernie in great part because of his promise to clean up our financial system, to clean out the fraud and dishonesty of all kinds from our financial system.
Our trade deficit is the worst in the world, and our industrial states have been gutted of good jobs. We are no longer economically self-sufficient. We can no longer produce the parts for our cars.
We won WWII because our mighty industry was independent and could be geared to produce war material in a short time. That advantage is gone and should we have a war, should we, let's say have a dispute with even our closest neighbors, we would be unable to defend ourselves because we do not produce enough industrial material to survive without trade. That is a major security issue that is ignored because the multinationals love "free" trade and the huge profits that come with it. Never mind that our industrial core and our self-sufficiency have been destroyed.
I support Bernie because he opposes the give-away-to-the-multinational-corporations that NAFTA and other trade agreements put in place. Our tax policy should be fair. Revenue that is hidden in other countries but that has accrued thanks to trade in the US should be taxed at US rates.
I support Bernie because of his strong and long-standing stance in favor of civil rights and his welcome and strong stance in favor of Black Lives Matter. He began to fight for civil rights and racial equality as a student in the 1960s. He was arrested then and we have the photos to prove it. The accusations against him that claim he is a racist are the lowest lies that I have seen on this board. If lying is a ground for removal from this board then anyone who calls Bernie a racist should be removed. Because it is a terrible lie.
I support Bernie because he supports women's rights. No comment needed there. No one who is sane questions that.
I support Bernie because of his strong stance on the environment. He does not support fracking. If president, he will pick people to lead our Agricultural Dept. and the EPA who are independent and concerned about the environment. He will not pick leaders based on their financial support of his campaigns.
I support Benrie for his stands on many other issues but most of all because he is a moral human being who asks the question, "What is the right thing to do here?" He is human and is not and will not always be right, but at least that is his core question. He will not be heard to say, "We came, we conquered, he died" or any other statement that denigrates human life and is followed by a smirk and maybe a silent giggle. Killing will not be viewed as a sport by him.
Above all, I support Bernie because of his stand on campaign finance. He will not be beholden in the slightest to anyone because of their big bucks. I like that. It will be a change and very good for America.
On all of these issues, Hillary fails big time.
On the issues, Bernie wins fair and square.
The campaign to remove Bernie supporters from DU, to my mind, proves the weakness of Hillary's campaign and her platform. She is money rich but morality and ideas poor.
Her supporters cannot compete when it comes to ideas and conceptual depth in their posts.
So when Hillary supporters read my posts and want to bar me from DU because they feel offended by something I say, I hope they will remember that my posts are not aimed at them, not aimed to offend or not offend them as individuals. Rather my posts are intended to stand up for what I believe is right. If I sometimes step on toes, I apologize, but I say what I believe is right. No one can do better. I think Bernie is doing the same.
Bernie avoids negative campaigning because it distracts from the message about moral and economic right and wrong. But as voters it is our duty to scrutinize the conduct, ideas, proposals, campaign funders, histories and everything there is to know about the candidates.
Feel the Bern!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Well said JDPriestly! 
It's our country, our future, our national morality at stake. It's not a game.
Sorry, I get a little patriotic when I listen to Springsteen. 
Here is what I think John F. Kennedy would say to the neoliberals taking over our party:
That was beautifully written, and I needed to hear it tonight. 
It was a calculated personal insult because they are incapable of writing such a well thought out and heartfelt piece as your OP.
Can you imagine how this campaign season looks to our ancestors?
WWII had people with political viewpoints from every possible position on the political spectrum pulling together to win that war.
But, here we find some wishing that the candidate with more money from Goldman Sachs becomes the one to represent us??
WTF?
How far down the pipe has this site gone when people claim that Bernie isn't good enough, even though he is to the left of President Obama?
That does not even make sense.
So, even though it may be hard for some to see, the future is not as bright with their concept in mind.
The GE will be nothing but a liar's contest if Hillary faces off against Trump in the fall.
We hold our caucus here in Idaho on Tuesday.
Hillary didn't even come here to campaign.
She has never been to Idaho.
Bernie just held a rally in Idaho Falls here today.
He'll be in Boise on Monday.
I especially liked this:
We won WWII because our mighty industry was independent and could be geared to produce war material in a short time. That advantage is gone and should we have a war, should we, let's say have a dispute with even our closest neighbors, we would be unable to defend ourselves because we do not produce enough industrial material to survive without trade. That is a major security issue that is ignored because the multinationals love "free" trade and the huge profits that come with it. Never mind that our industrial core and our self-sufficiency have been destroyed. --JDPriestly
But it isn't just our "industrial core" and our "self-sufficiency" that have been destroyed, but also our very sovereignty as a people. "Free trade" means "free trade for the uber-rich" whoever they are, and wherever they have set up their tax dodge headquarters. Further, the secret tribunals that decide what labor, environmental and food safety laws we are permitted to have are not comprised only of American representatives--however unrepresentative and unaccountable they are; these tribunals are comprised of the representatives of foreign countries and transglobal corporations and their many lawyers, as well.
Our sovereignty as a people is GONE. It no longer exists. The matter has been taken out of our hands.
Those of us who understand this are voting our conscience and are trying one more time to be heard. Our country and our democracy have been gutted. Sanders has inspired us to make the effort within this gutted and unresponsive system that has been so rigged against the truth in so many ways, including all the disinformation and lies that our people get rammed into their brains every day by Corporate propaganda media. It is simply a wonder that the Sanders campaign has gotten this far and is still viable for a nomination win. Bernie Sanders is a very great man, indeed. And our collective effort in support of him is also a great and wondrous development. It is without precedent in American history, given the odds against it and the enormous handicaps that it has faced from the beginning, and still faces.
Here's to our country and our democracy being restored!
