I Support Bernie Sanders, And I'm Not Stupid or Unrealistic

[cal04]

Last edited Fri Jan 29, 2016, 05:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Today, I read for maybe the 10,000th time an assertion that supporters of Bernie Sanders are unrealistic, that Bernie Sanders supporters will all be disappointed if they elect him because he won't be able to bring the change he's promising, that Bernie Sanders's policies will be "just another example of Democrats making promises they can't keep," and so on and so forth. And I'd like to briefly dispel a misconception about people who support Bernie Sanders as the next president of the United States:

We're not stupid

I've got a college education and a good job, and I'm guessing I'm not the only Sanders supporter who does. Now, this doesn't necessarily make me smart, but it is at least an indicator of having achieved some level of learning that would indicate that I'm capable of coherent and independent thought.

And guess what? Neither many of the Bernie Sanders supporters I've encountered nor I expect any of Bernie Sanders' major proposals to take effect in the next 2, 3 or possibly even 4 years. I don't support Bernie Sanders simply because I think he'll magically overturn Citizens United, fix our indisputably broken campaign finance system, legalize marijuana, eliminate privately owned prisons, institute a single-payer healthcare system, crack down on Wall Street, or pass most of his other proposals within his first year of office.

(snip)
As a supporter of Bernie Sanders, I fully recognize that this whole "political revolution" thing is not a guarantee. But right now, the opportunity to start one is a whole lot more appealing to me than the status quo.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-gough/i-support-bernie-sanders-not-stupid_b_9103152.html

[Faux pas]

1. K N R

[Nyan]

2. I say "Don't mind the brain-dead MSM whores"

They have to keep saying that for themselves that Bernie supporters are unrealistic. They'll keep trying to lie their way into coronating Clinton.

[daleanime]

3. Massive K&R.....

[Bjornsdotter]

4. Sums it up

...for me.

I want someone who will try rather than someone who keeps saying "we can't do that". Makes me wonder how we ever accomplished anything with the constant doom and gloom.

[Jeff Murdoch]

18. Yes, we know that we (probably) won't be

getting a pony, but it would be great if our politicians are willing to fight for it once in a while. If you do that, you can maybe get a serviceable donkey out of the sausage making, rather than a broke down circus elephant.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. Being brought up in another country I don't see why change can't happen here

The things that Bernie is proposing worked over there (they work over the border in Canada too).

[Bjornsdotter]

21. Agreed

They count on the fact that most Americans have never traveled to Europe or Australia and therefore can be kept in the dark. Social media has opened some of those doors.

[jillan]

6. And his supporters are not all young! Jane was on Morning Joe this morning & told the msm

to start looking at the people that show up to support Bernie.

I'm a senior citizen. The people I know that support Bernie are in my age group. We are educated and retired from long careers & are thrilled to have a candidate that is willing to push for change.

We have been fighting for civil rights for decades (many of us were fighting BEFORE Roe v Wade was signed into law) and feel we finally have a candidate that will fight even harder for those rights.

We're also a generation that supports mmj as an alternative to pain meds to deal with all the aches and pains we now live with.
We're also a generation that grew up with local business, local farms before there was a Walmart on every corner.


Bernie speaks for my generation. His fights are the fights we believe in.

[Old Codger]

8. We are not all

Youngsters, I am 74, retired after a reasonably successful career and love love Bernie.. Every single "revolutionary" change has to start somewhere/sometime. I am proud to be what might be a start, and sincerely hope I am still around long enough to see some real progress with it...

[jillan]

11. Yes!

[cal04]

12. I am 61, still working and still can't afford health hcare

Because my job thinks that he lowest paid should pay the most for
Healthcare. 30 years at the same job.
I support and agree with Bernie
Living in Hillarys state knowing what the rents and cost to live here is, I cant agree with most of her views.

[Old Codger]

13. Personally

I worked til I was 67, now have SS and Medicare, I cannot afford the so called supplements... In the last year my wife and I have had several health problems that are threatening to bankrupt us but can't do that so just muddle along as best we can...

[Human101948]

17. Retired, 67, collecting SS and Medicare...I support Bernie

I have been pretty liberal ever since college and I am only getting more strongly so as the years go by. I can think and evaluate information. And what I see is too many Americans are totally snowed about what is and what can be.

We only have to look around and see that the healthcare "system" in this country is a complete clusterfuck created for the benefit of the insurance companies and enforcing a right wing Darwinism on the less fortunate (aka human beings.)

We can look around the world and see many systems that work much better at half the cost. But over the years, propaganda from entrenched special interests and rabid right wingers who are still fighting against FDR has managed to deceive and intimidate a large proportion of the population. I find that very discouraging.

But Bernie is fighting against that propaganda and giving me hope that the conversation will swing toward a better system, one that emulates the more successful and effective systems that are a REALITY in other countries.

All of this applies equally to the inequality issue. More propaganda that intimidates and misinforms and actually services the aims of the one percenters. We may not be able to reverse 40 years of bullshit from the right wingers and the oligarchs but the time to start fighting back is today...right now!

Worring that we might not get a few crumbs because of the Republican instransigence and right wing obstinance is a defeatist attitude.

[litlbilly]

20. I am retiring this year and my wife in about 5 years, we are both Bernie supporters.

[Betty Karlson]

25. His supporters are not all young, but someone under 35 is probably his supporter.

The status quo is so harsh on my generation (Millennials) that we are desperate for someone to chase the neo-liberals back to whatever rock from under which they have crawled up in the late seventies.

And Clinton's attitude is basically she doesn't even want our votes, because we don't think like young people did 25 years ago. Her campaign is stuck in the 20th century.

[ypsfonos]

7. We can make it work!

-Bob Marley

[bkkyosemite]

9. I've got college and a parent of my kids is getting her Phd

and we are Feeling the Bern.......whether college or not...like I told Chris Mathews...we are NOT morons.

[farleftlib]

10. Thanks, I needed that

I've been spending too much time in GDP.

I'm a college-educated but currently unemployed baby-boomer woman and I have a pretty good head on my shoulders. I've done my due diligence. Not only that, but every bone in my body tells me that Bernie is the real deal. I don't want unicorns or rainbows and I realize it will be an uphill struggle but guess what? We the people are finally getting a seat at the table thanks to Bernie. He's not only inviting us, he's telling us it's our responsibility to be there. This is the very first time in my life I feel enthused to be casting a vote in a presidential primary election.

Enthused! Imagine that.

[TIME TO PANIC]

14. K & R !

[nxylas]

15. They said the same thing about Obama supporters

"They're young and silly! They want ponies and unicorns! Get off my lawn!"

[Betty Karlson]

23. Oh yes, I remember my marriage rights being called a unicorn. Disgusting. eom

[Bubzer]

16. ...

[99th_Monkey]

19. K&R - i'm an Oldster for Bernie and for most of my professional life have been fighting

for the same things Bernie now stands for, and has stood for like forever.

It's exceedingly gratifying to have lived long enough to see this political revolution
unfolding, to see the intergenerational linkages and solidarity, to see "occupy the vote"
actually happening.

Go Bernie!!!

[Betty Karlson]

22. We don't expect Sanders to fix everything in one term.

We expect him to lay the foundations upon which WE, ourselves, can gradually build the social and financial infrastructure that will allow fixing things in the long run.

Sanders identifies the goals. We are the means.

[nxylas]

24. And at least he'll fight for his goals

I can't imagine him taking the public option off the table before negotiations have even begun, the way Middleman did. I've never forgiven him for that.

[Jean Genie]

26. Not stupid

I'm well-educated, age 70, and still idealistic enough to believe that we can help change the world. I worked in California for Jerry Brown's campaigns, way back in the 70's, when they were laughing at him and calling him"Governor Moonbeam." Well, the Guv's still standing, isn't he? A more realistic idealist now, perhaps, but nevertheless, still a principled politician, practicing the Art of the Possible.
Bernie practices the Art of the Possible. He's well beyond moonbeams, but not beyond the belief that within most of us (yes, possibly even within some - or perhaps the majority of - Republicans) is the yearning to be better, be moral, to open our eyes and our hearts and see clearly this world that we helped create. And with seeing, to work to make it more fair, just, kind, and accessible to all of Earth's beings. No magic bullets, nor slick rhetoric, no false promises; just the firm belief that together we can - and should - dedicate our hearts, minds, and souls to working together to make a brighter future in a better world. Bernie's just one man. He can't do it all himself. but maybe he can jump-start the rest of us, so that his vision becomes our vision, and we truly do start a revolution of hope, kindness, and the Art of the Possible. You can say that he's a dreamer, but he's not the only one . . .

[djean111]

27. Remember that some of the people we see this from either honestly believe that ANYONE who does

not support Hillary is willfully wrong or stupid or unrealistic - or else they have a delusional belief that we care what they think.

As the primary season grinds along, I find that I really don't care in the least little bit what they think - it is irrelevant. That's not me being sarcastically dismissive, I just do not see their name-calling and assertions as relevant to my political beliefs and actions.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Me too.

I'm old and well-educated (law degree) and have been around the block just a few times, politically. I saw what happened to McGovern and Mondale - and I voted for both of them - but this election is vastly different from those in more ways than I have time or space to list (but including among other things, in both cases, an incumbent president running for re-election against them). I doubt many Sanders supporters seriously believe he can make his aspirations come true just by getting elected. He knows, probably much better than we do, that accomplishing any of those things will be an uphill battle that requires a major change in the way we do politics in this country.

What Bernie wants to do is propel that change by engaging the people who want it to happen. Those are not by any means just a bunch of naive young people, either, but we are seeing more than the usual number of young people because Bernie is giving them a reason to hope that they and their children will have better lives - that they will be able to have health care, not be crushed by student loan debt, get good jobs, and live in a country where everything isn't controlled by the wealthy. Hillary says we might be able to get some incremental improvements if we're lucky. What she's really saying is "No, we can't," while Bernie says "Yes, we can." That makes all the difference in the world.