The Bernie Objection Memes I have Heard

[SandersDem]

I am sharing these as I know they have been pretty common. I won't waste my time with Republican thoughts on Bernie, because, well who cares.

But Dems...

1) He isn't electable in the General. This was early, this one has changed...a lot.

2) He is a socialist. Yep all heard that one, just have to dive into the issues and mention Democratic Socialist and who cares anyway, haven't you heard republicans refer to Obama as a Socialist anyways? Get used to that, R's just trying to move us away from being what we are progressives.

3) I am concerned that he would be really bad for business. (I have a number of friends who are dedicated Democrats, but in the Corporate world and Hillary is probably up their alley, but I do not believe Bernie will be bad for business, in fact the opposite. Big business needs the middle class, I call them customers....)

4) He only gets supported by this (insert here) segment of the population. It's early, and even though I am not a stereotypical Democrat (if I were profiled odds would be on me being a conservative R...god forbid!) Honestly, I am very concerned about how people get treated in this country, including the poor, women, immigrants, minorities, LGBTP, the elderly, students...ya know most of America...and I see Bernie's issues standing up well for 99% of us.

Anything else you guys are running up against and how have you swayed people to Bernie based on their specific concerns? My biggest challenge is with #3.

Oh and I do believe I have swayed at least 12 people to vote for Bernie in my circle of influence. People know I love talking politics and am pretty well informed. A LOT of them like to argue with me, I just tell them, "Yeah, I like that Trump guy too, you should vote for him" laughing under my breath...

[TBF]

1. Regarding #3 -

Well you and I may be pretty far apart in terms of political world-view/theory (my orientation is libertarian communist if we are going to talk labels), but I'd bet we could find some points of agreement.

If you look at the US historically it was built by small businesses, labor union members, farmers. There were larger businesses but those have become multi-nationals and frankly have sucked this country dry in the past 35 years. If we have any hope of closing the runaway gap between the very wealthy and the rest of us that is what we need to focus on. Companies are being rewarded for getting larger, moving jobs overseas, they don't have to be headquartered here to get tax benefits, and they still have the protection of the US military. We need to look very seriously at what type of behavior we want to reward in this country and who will be benefited when we give specific tax breaks. Currently the top 1/10th of the top 1% is making out like bandits. The rest of us - not so much. We either come up with some sort of New Deal (which Bernie I think could do more capably than most) or we keep letting it fester. People can only lose so much before milling around in the streets becomes a revolution.

Please note that one talking point is that the "give-aways" are too high. Well, we wouldn't have to subsidize neighborhoods with programs if we would have jobs available. There are always going to be a small percentage who take advantage, but I believe most people just want an opportunity. Most aren't getting that right now.

[SandersDem]

3. TBF we ain't that far apart at all :)

I am actually 100% with you on this, It annoys me to no end that major companies can do business in the US without paying their share of taxes. If they did, this country would not be in the downward skid it is at all. Infrastructure would not be left to crumble and high paying union jobs would lift us all, keeping wages and salaries up.

I think too many in the world I travel in believe the falsehood that higher taxes and government spending on programs that benefit all of us = a poor economy. Historically, when unions are strong and taxes were at pre-Reagan levels and prior to the high spend on guns we were an insanely strong and prosperous nation.

I really appreciate your answer though, I think you have me going down the right track when I talk to them again.

[retrowire]

2. Honestly?

Its the "too old" meme I come across.

I tell them he was a cross country runner so his health is definitely in check, he's still active, he's got to have a good heart.

I mean, look at the energy he has right now, jumping state to state! I'm 27 and couldn't do that.

[Ed Suspicious]

4. The one I'm seeing today is that his spending plan will bankrupt us. The meme I saw today had

an overly simplified breakdown which had a smidgeon of truth to it, x policy + y spending still doesn't add up to 18 trillion (today I saw Jeb say that the figure was 19 trillion)( clearly he felt 18 that the wsj presented lacked the appropriate level of scare so he rounded up), but are clearly misleading.

We will be fighting these "scary cost" memes especially hard once he reaches the general.

[dae]

5. Krugman and Reich both shredded the WSJ

hit piece and exposed it as such.