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Why Moderates Support Bernie Sanders
http://themoderatevoice.com/210051/why-moderates-support-bernie-sandersI thought this was a pretty good article. It has some good points that could be used by us Sanders supporters to help persuade undecideds to get behind Bernie. Here's an excerpt:
How can a moderate support a socialist? Isn’t Bernie Sanders too extreme? Won’t this commie [insert expletive here] destroy the American way of life? We’ve gotten these questions so many times that we thought it would be easier just to write this post.
Let’s start with a radical concept: we don’t have to 100% agree with a candidate to support him. Sure, Bernie and a majority of Americans agree on many, many issues. But not all. We ourselves don’t fully agree with all of Bernie’s proposals, and we suspect that many of the people reading this don’t either. In fact – surprise! – some of the other candidates have some policies we actually like better than Bernie’s. Don’t tattle on us.
Saying we only like some of Bernie’s proposals is not exactly a resounding endorsement. So why do we support him? What got us excited enough to create this Facebook page and deal with the endless barrage of Internet trolls day after day? And why should you care, especially if you disagree with Bernie even more than we do? Fortunately, there is something that 90+% of us do agree on, the one issue above all others:
Congress sucks.
Whether you believe the Democrats or the Republicans are primarily responsible for the catastrophic dysfunction currently plaguing Washington, hopefully we can agree that it has to stop. A political pragmatist like Hillary Clinton or an experienced negotiator like Donald Trump might be able to temporarily restore functionality (and sanity) during their administrations. However, a permanent solution requires permanent institutional change. The person by far most likely to make that happen is Bernie Sanders.
Here’s why:
1. CAMPAIGN FINANCE: The first step is to separate money from politics by switching to publicly financed elections. Bernie has advocated for that for years. And who do you trust more to make this happen: a populist with an average donation of ~$30 or a corporate-sponsored, Super PAC-backed politician-for-hire?
2. CHARACTER: Bernie is the “un-politician politician.” He has had more consistency over his multi-decade career than any other candidate. And he has Trump’s candor without Trump’s crassness. Frankly, it’s refreshing. But more than that, it guarantees that Bernie’s stated desire to reform Washington is a sincere goal rather than a mere ploy to acquire votes.
3. CLASS: Clinton calls Republicans her enemy. Trump has called just about everyone his enemy. Sanders has no enemies… beyond the ruling class. Instead he sees only partners and potential partners. The destructive denigration that’s all too common in politics – and that prohibits future collaboration — is beneath him. More importantly, Bernie has gone further than any other candidate to reach all Americans, not just his base. Indeed, he spat on the modern political paradigm when his spoke at an Evangelical university. Only those willing to journey into “enemy territory” have any hope of bridging our divides enough to enact real change.
4. CREDIBILITY: Some particularly entrenched or dogmatic politicians will not cooperate no matter what…unless their careers depend on it. And politicians’ job security depends on their constituents. That’s why politicians take it so seriously when they receive 100s of letters from their voters in support of an initiative. Bernie, who has had by far the largest rallies and largest social media presence, seems like the candidate most likely to leverage this potent weapon against Washington.
(Note: Obama had similar mass market penetration during his elections, but for some reason he somewhat disengaged from the people once elected. Bernie has vowed not to repeat that mistake.)
5. COMPETENCE: Simply put, Bernie has had more legislative success at the national level than any other candidate. In addition, his tenure as mayor of Burlington, VT places him within the top echelon of candidates in terms of executive credentials; his dramatic rejuvenation of Burlington has served as example for many once-struggling cities throughout the country.
Let’s start with a radical concept: we don’t have to 100% agree with a candidate to support him. Sure, Bernie and a majority of Americans agree on many, many issues. But not all. We ourselves don’t fully agree with all of Bernie’s proposals, and we suspect that many of the people reading this don’t either. In fact – surprise! – some of the other candidates have some policies we actually like better than Bernie’s. Don’t tattle on us.
Saying we only like some of Bernie’s proposals is not exactly a resounding endorsement. So why do we support him? What got us excited enough to create this Facebook page and deal with the endless barrage of Internet trolls day after day? And why should you care, especially if you disagree with Bernie even more than we do? Fortunately, there is something that 90+% of us do agree on, the one issue above all others:
Congress sucks.
Whether you believe the Democrats or the Republicans are primarily responsible for the catastrophic dysfunction currently plaguing Washington, hopefully we can agree that it has to stop. A political pragmatist like Hillary Clinton or an experienced negotiator like Donald Trump might be able to temporarily restore functionality (and sanity) during their administrations. However, a permanent solution requires permanent institutional change. The person by far most likely to make that happen is Bernie Sanders.
Here’s why:
1. CAMPAIGN FINANCE: The first step is to separate money from politics by switching to publicly financed elections. Bernie has advocated for that for years. And who do you trust more to make this happen: a populist with an average donation of ~$30 or a corporate-sponsored, Super PAC-backed politician-for-hire?
2. CHARACTER: Bernie is the “un-politician politician.” He has had more consistency over his multi-decade career than any other candidate. And he has Trump’s candor without Trump’s crassness. Frankly, it’s refreshing. But more than that, it guarantees that Bernie’s stated desire to reform Washington is a sincere goal rather than a mere ploy to acquire votes.
3. CLASS: Clinton calls Republicans her enemy. Trump has called just about everyone his enemy. Sanders has no enemies… beyond the ruling class. Instead he sees only partners and potential partners. The destructive denigration that’s all too common in politics – and that prohibits future collaboration — is beneath him. More importantly, Bernie has gone further than any other candidate to reach all Americans, not just his base. Indeed, he spat on the modern political paradigm when his spoke at an Evangelical university. Only those willing to journey into “enemy territory” have any hope of bridging our divides enough to enact real change.
4. CREDIBILITY: Some particularly entrenched or dogmatic politicians will not cooperate no matter what…unless their careers depend on it. And politicians’ job security depends on their constituents. That’s why politicians take it so seriously when they receive 100s of letters from their voters in support of an initiative. Bernie, who has had by far the largest rallies and largest social media presence, seems like the candidate most likely to leverage this potent weapon against Washington.
(Note: Obama had similar mass market penetration during his elections, but for some reason he somewhat disengaged from the people once elected. Bernie has vowed not to repeat that mistake.)
5. COMPETENCE: Simply put, Bernie has had more legislative success at the national level than any other candidate. In addition, his tenure as mayor of Burlington, VT places him within the top echelon of candidates in terms of executive credentials; his dramatic rejuvenation of Burlington has served as example for many once-struggling cities throughout the country.
more at the link
