My only issue with Bernie's speech . . . .

[pdsimdars]

All of the issues he raised are important, necessary, Democratic values.
But I think there was too much Thom Hartmann influence in that "we all have to become politicians" thing. That is what Hartmann is always saying and that is NONSENSE. It's one of those feel good little packages that you can wrap everything up in and make it seem like it's solved, until you give it a couple of minutes of grown up thought.

Some people, like Bernie, have been politically active since their youth. It is their "calling", what they feel drawn to. I was mathematically inclined and ended up as a software engineer. I HATED sitting in rooms with a group of people discussing an issue, political or otherwise. Some people LOVE that, hammering out all the intricacies of something. I didn't.

Why should everyone run for office? It makes no sense. If you feel drawn to helping people in that way, please do. But if someone else wants to make the airplane you're flying in behave in a certain way, that is what they should do.

Continuing with Thom as an example, he runs his show, his cameras and mics and computer, etc. . . are his tools for him to do what he enjoys and helps others. He doesn't think about all that stuff UNTIL IT MALFUNCTIONS. If the mic starts popping and the camera goes on and off, etc. THEN he thinks about it. But that doesn't mean HE should become an engineer. He talks to his engineer.

Similarly, we are all living our lives, doing what we enjoy and helping society in our way. We don't notice how the country is functioning UNTIL IT MALFUNCTIONS. I don't think that means we all have to become a politician, but you talk to your politician.

That is where we are, communicating to our politicians. THEY should solve it. We finally found the appropriate politician to fix the problem and we decided to go with him and now he's telling us that the way to solve the problem is for US to become politicians?

THAT MAKES NO SENSE! Sorry. It may sound good. It may feel good. But when you find the right engineer to fix your hardware, he doesn't tell you to become an engineer, he tells you what he is going to do and you follow his instructions and support his work. Same here, he shouldn't be telling us to get into politics but telling us what his solution is and we will follow his instructions. We all have our own lives and our own callings.

Your engineer would say to unplug this, change that wire, fix that plug, etc. You do it, you help him do it. Same with politics. Your chosen politician tells you what his plan is and you go with it. If he says we need a big gathering here for this purpose, then if you agree, you show up and make your impact.

I think we need a bit more of a plan than "become a politician". That isn't going to happen. EVERYONE in the country does not need to become a politician.

[OnDoutside]

1. It would be better if he encouraged people to get out and vote in November and the Mid Term.

[Sunlei]

3. He mentioned voting in the speech.

[Sunlei]

2. was a speech to his supporters. He's right,at the LOCAL level there are to many Rs who run unopposed

[OnDoutside]

14. Yes, it is actually something I can completely agree with Sanders on.

[FSogol]

4. So, your problem with the revolution is the call for you to actually do something?

BTW, encouraging like-minded people to run for office is how you change the system. It changes from the bottom up, from school boards and local reps. Changing from the top down never works. Does Sanders and Hartman think everyone single supporter will heed the call and enter politics? Of course not, but if people get involved, care, and actually bother to register and vote, change will happen. Some will heed the call and get involved.

On the other hand, if they grouse constantly, demand purity, find zero candidates they can support, or work for 3rd parties, they are merely helping the GOP.

That speech was a speech for you personally. It's too bad you missed the point.

[pkdu]

9. I agree with everything in your well worded post, except the damned

Nationals gif!

[pdsimdars]

12. I agree with that. . . 'like minded" people. Not everyone should run for office.

Different people are suited for different activities. Not everyone should quit what they enjoy and run for office.
My argument has nothing to do with top down/bottom up. It's about calling everyone to run for office. I don't think either Bernie or Hartmann make that distinction. They just say to run for office. I didn't pay close enough attention to how Bernie phrased it because I wasn't expecting him to say that. But Hartmann pretty much says if you have a complaint about government, then you should run. That is NONSENSE. He isn't a precinct captain or anything else that I know of. And if you have a complaint about how your electronic equipment works, doesn't mean you should become an electronics expert.

[FSogol]

13. I guess some people do things and some people complain about things.

[pdsimdars]

15. I guess you weren't able to follow the whole thought. It's OK, many people can only

grasp the first big word that goes into their brains. But later on, you learn to hold a WHOLE thought at one time.

[FSogol]

16. That's ok, inert laziness isn't a difficult concept. n/t

[LuvLoogie]

5. Mmm hmm

[yodermon]

6. Very well written OP. You should write more.

[pdsimdars]

10. Thanks. I am usually a horrible writer. This must have been something forming

in my mind for a while so it had time to arrange itself in some coherent way.

I just don't see everyone quitting their jobs to run for office. Thom Hartmann didn't. He isn't a precinct captain. And yet, he advises everyone else to.

Here's one for you (that I have written to Thom a few times)
There is a story about a lady who took her son to see Ghandi. She asked him to tell her son to stop eating sugar. Ghandi told her to bring her son back next week. The following week she brought him back and Ghandi told him to stop eating sugar. The woman asked him, if you were just going to ask him to stop, why did you make me come back this week. Ghandi told her because last week he was eating sugar.

See, he wouldn't tell anyone to do something he was doing. That is integrity.

[aikoaiko]

7. Its funny, but I thought that was the best part of his speech.

Most people think it is impossible to win an elected office. We assume we must be rich and/or connected, but its often not true at the local level for smaller positions. Once you have a foot in the door you have potential for county or state office. Once you have state position, federal positions are possible. Its really the Bernie model.

Of course not all of us should run for office, but all of us should consider it and some of us should. We need more lefties in office even if its for dog catcher.

[pdsimdars]

11. And like I said, different people have different gifts. People who are drawn to

it should do it. But some, like me, are not. It would be a disruption to society if everyone abandoned what they were best suited for and ran for office.

Just because you don't like the way things are going doesn't mean you have to run for office. But support people who DO want to run.
Just like if you don't like the way your computer works, doesn't mean you should go learn computer technology. . . call and expert, someone who enjoys that kind of work.

[Hortensis]

8. Citizens probably should at least vote.

Since political power comes from us and is given to our representatives by voting, onerous as voting itself is, we probably should first educate ourselves about what to vote for and against and who to vote for and against. With a world of information on our laps, that's just not all that hard to do once every 2 years.

The bar is really, really low right now. If we improved our performance on average by maybe only 10%, most of the problems we just let develop, or worse helped develop, wouldn't have happened.