PatrickforB
PatrickforB's JournalA story of Bernie Sanders in action:
This is from Facebook. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=959329920791975&set=gm.1063287967023677&type=3&theater
"Brenda W. I am a Disabled Vermonter. I was having trouble getting through the process of being accepted on the SSDI process, was supposed to have a definitive ruling within 5 months meantime I was on the brink of becoming homeless, my vehicle which Oliver only owed 2 more payments was repossessed prior to getting a ruling. Which I don't believe would have come through had I not called Bernie office. To my Surprise Bernie answered the phone while his Secretary was out of the office. I explained my dire situation to Bernie, he listened intently. Asked whom if anyone was representing me. I told him I had felt confident enough with my record keeping & ability to navigate the mounds of paperwork that I did not hire an attorney. He asked a few pertinent questions & told me he would follow up with the local SSDI office & the person who made the determinations to see why I was being held up so long. The next day the SSDI rep called me asked a couple simple questions & told me he was ready to make a ruling on my case. Later that week, Bernie called me back & told me he had good news for me! My claim had been sitting approved on a desk & once he made the phone inquiry he asked that the process be expedited due to special circumstances. I received my first check that same day, the award letter came 2 weeks later! Talk about being Greatful! This man takes an interest in the little ppl. And he ACTS ON THE ISSUES. GETS RESULTS! And Genuinely Cares."
So there it is. Bernie acts on the issues and gets results because he genuinely cares!
Bernie Sanders Candidacy a Moment of Truth for Democratic Voters
The politicians, plutocrats and pundits of the Democratic Party establishment have no answer to Bernie Sanders' blistering critique of their failure to defend the interests of the voters who have kept them in power. Neither have they a substantive case against his policy agenda, which would shift government from working for the rich to working for the rest of us. Nor has it been easy for them to mount a personal attack on someone who says what he believes and acts on what he says.
They have one argument: he can't win. Why? Well... he's too radical, he lacks charisma, he doesn't connect with minorities, he's a secular Jew, etc. Don't waste your vote, they say; the risks of electing a Republican are too high.
But prematurely presumed losers have won enough elections in our history to make this glib conventional wisdom suspect, especially this year when voter anger at the Washington-Wall Street axis that dominates American politics is so widespread. Even Republicans are, rhetorically at least, trying to distance themselves from being associated with welfare for the rich. In this environment, Sanders' rivals, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden -- whom the Wall Street Democrats are keeping in reserve in case Hillary implodes -- carry a lot of negative baggage. Hillary's recent drop in the polls, driven by a dramatic decline in the support of women, has already undercut her claim to be the Democrats' strongest champion in next year's election.
More important, those who are Democrats because they believe the Party should be an instrument for building a better country- rather than just a personal career ladder -- need to think through the larger probabilities. Whatever the odds are for Bernie Sanders becoming president, the odds that Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden would, as president, seriously address the issues that the Democratic rank-and-file care about are much longer.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-faux/bernie-sanders-a-moment-o_b_8163092.html
Why is Bernie in this race? Everybody is saying he can't win, but....
My feeling is that Bernie felt an overpowering need to run this campaign, not because he wants to be president, because I don't think he really does. Instead, I believe he wants to elevate the dialog; he wants to educate the American populace. This is important because a huge number of Americans, definitely a majority, don't know about this stuff. People just know they are tired. They work really hard and nothing ever really seems to come from it. They can't get ahead, they can't save, and instead struggle just to make ends meet. Baby boomers and Xers have pretty much given up hope their Millennial children will have lives anywhere near as good as theirs have been, and they are ashamed. People are a paycheck away from hunger, an illness away from bankruptcy, a sick child away from losing their jobs.
Bernie, all of us must admit, has been working his ass off. Town after town, city after city. The crowds are growing because people are hungry for his message. This debate that is set for October 12th - when it happens and Bernie's message on the issues gets out to millions, we will have reached the tipping point. I have spent a long time and made much effort to know the truth, as I know you have, and the funny thing is, once you know you cannot go back.
We've had 35 years of right wing corporate propaganda. We've watched the systematic busting of unions. We've seen pensions that workers bled for disappear. We have seen salaries of CEOs go into the stratosphere while at the same time our wages have stagnated. In the meantime, prices for healthcare, for dental work, for groceries have gone up, up, up. Corporations like Dannon have reduced the size of the package of products we buy, but are charging the same price or more. My last refrigerator lasted about 20 years. It still worked when we bought a top of the line Kenmore, and guess what? The sales guy told me that there was no way we'd get that kind of quality nowadays.
I'm white, but I sure am aware that unarmed people of color are getting killed everyday by a militarized police. I feel uncomfortable with the idea that everything I write or say is getting recorded by a giant domestic spying operation called NSA. The Patriot Act makes me sick because it trampled on what was left of the Bill of Rights. Cops routinely stop people and steal their stuff using unconstitutional forfeiture laws.
Our schools suck now. It's really hard for kids to get any kind of a decent education because of these conservative ideologues who think they can just rewrite history the way they want it. Teachers are so busy getting kids ready to take stupid tests that they can't teach them to think. Did you know that schools don't teach kids typing any more? That's right. Not on the test.
If even 10% of Americans are educated by Bernie's message, then maybe things will change. Bernie is calling for a political revolution, meaning that if we're to have a government of, by and for us, the people, then we're going to have to get active and informed and wrest it away from these corporatists.
But cheer up. All is not bad. Lots of people are doing lots of really good things at the local level. Slow money, slow food, micro lending, B corporations, employee owned coops. All this stuff is happening, because many local thought leaders recognize the neoliberal model is unsustainable and so they are seeking to expand their economies in regenerative ways. The occupy movement brought the concept of inequality of wealth into American living rooms, and now Bernie is pounding that message in all across the nation to thousands of people like us.
And you know, I hope it works, because if the oligarchs don't toss the middle class some pretty big bones we have maybe 20 years until massive social unrest and revolution. At age 57, I am glad I'll be dead by then because I don't want to live through that at all. I'm hoping we can achieve more equity over the next few years by working through the system, even though it is stacked against us.
Of course, all this may be moot if climate change accelerates as quickly as scientists are projecting. This earth might have a mass extinction of species, including us. So, let's cheer for Bernie, say 'screw the establishment' and try our best to get him elected!
Tilt at this windmill with me one more time.
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Gender: Do not displayHometown: Not disclosed
Home country: USA
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Member since: Mon Apr 28, 2014, 07:28 PM
Number of posts: 14,570
