Sanders, Socialism, and the Shafted Generation

[eridani]

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/29/sanders-socialism-and-shafted-generation

Once again, Bernie Sanders has demonstrated, with a trifecta of big wins in Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington State, that he has broad and enthusiastic support, especially among the young. Equally astonishing is the large percentage of voters who say they are attracted rather than repelled by Sanders’s embrace of socialism

But if you’d bother to conduct your own focus group among Americans under 40, neither phenomenon should be surprising. Except for those graduating from elite universities, with either full scholarships or wealthy tuition-paying parents, this is the stunted generation—young adults venturing into a world of work, loaded with student debt, unable to find stable jobs or decent careers.

This is also the post-Cold War generation, for whom Soviet communism is a distant memory (along with reliable jobs). For this generation of Americans, capitalism is not exactly a good word, nor is socialism a bad one.

And this is the generation that finds employer-paid health insurance hard to find; often the “Bronze” version of the Affordable Care Act, with its high out-of-pocket payments, is all they can afford; a generation paying too much of unreliable incomes in rent, and putting off the dream of homeownership and having children.

So, when a candidate comes along calling for free college education and free universal health care, and far higher minimum wages, it sounds pretty fine. And if capitalism means the 1 percent making off with everything that isn’t nailed down, then maybe Sanders-style socialism is worth a try. So say the young.

[TrueDemVA]

1. Beautifully said

Most us have never seen or experienced the American dream. Each day that glimmer of hope fades. So many of us live paycheck to paycheck with no job security and wait each day for the hammer to drop from the companies we work for (if we are lucky enough to find work). People say younger people have no loyalty to their jobs, but why would they? A majority of corporate America has no loyalty to its workers. Pensions plans are all but extinct, health insurance is too high, pay is stagnant or low, and the next round of lay-offs are right around the corner just to make stockholders happy about gaining 2 or 3 cents per share.

It's exhausting. We are tired of being treated like just a number and not a person. We are ready to fight for a better way of life. We want to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and care. We are sick of seeing only a few have everything while the rest of us have to live with debilitating stress.

Screw the people that say it is too hard and not realistic. Living the way we do is unrealistic. We are fuckin tired of this shit!

I want my children to have a chance in life and I am willing to fight until that happens.

GO BERNIE!!!