Sen. Bernie Sanders: United Against the War on Women.

[JonLP24]

27. The first two sentences (political calculus) I'm not sure what you mean

hear people doing political calculus. "War on women" is a talking point, slogan and war is a metaphor. I actually didn't realize, didn't remember or didn't know it was used in the 2010 election (I thought it was just the midterm following Todd Akin) so not sure the effectiveness of it -- the majority of people that participate in Presidential elections favor rather than limiting the options for women's reproductive health. It probably was effective in the sense with this framing it gave the opportunity to mention these issues but then the Republicans -- the evil geniuses they are at framing -- came back with "empowering woman" and pushing contraceptives over-the-counter after the whole restricting it thing but it was bullshit for a variety of reason. One was they went so far to claim funding for it trampled over their religious beliefs which I think even went up to the Supreme Court. The also saying wanted easier access (whatever that meant) to OTC made it about what's best for corporate interests. I almost think that was the plan given that they want to privatize everything.

I'm just saying when it comes to talking points & slogans is I think it is important to be smart about it. On issues, policies, themselves, etc I think it is important to speak out loudly against the government when they're pushing bad policies.

On your second paragraph, economics & capitalism itself is so vast I have no idea as far as talking points & slogans so I know where to address. Oligarchies -- you can point to Ukraine's economy to see the mess they left behind (a lot of their politicians don't even live there). Many of them actually had nothing before they got started in Ukraine's politics. The term itself? It is probably better to use a definition or being specific or clear what the politicians are addressing.

The Capitalism = opportunity reminds me of the "casino economy". People (not most people) in favor of not taxing or regulating the wealthy to improve quality of life until they hit the jackpot lever and don't want the government to come after their money but instead leaves behind a cruel & desperate world. I credit David Simon for "casino economy".

David Simon: 'There are now two Americas. My country is a horror show'

I think we've perfected a lot of the tragedy and we're getting there faster than a lot of other places that may be a little more reasoned, but my dangerous idea kind of involves this fellow who got left by the wayside in the 20th century and seemed to be almost the butt end of the joke of the 20th century; a fellow named Karl Marx.

I'm not a Marxist in the sense that I don't think Marxism has a very specific clinical answer to what ails us economically. I think Marx was a much better diagnostician than he was a clinician. He was good at figuring out what was wrong or what could be wrong with capitalism if it wasn't attended to and much less credible when it comes to how you might solve that.

You know if you've read Capital or if you've got the Cliff Notes, you know that his imaginings of how classical Marxism – of how his logic would work when applied – kind of devolve into such nonsense as the withering away of the state and platitudes like that. But he was really sharp about what goes wrong when capital wins unequivocally, when it gets everything it asks for.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/08/david-simon-capitalism-marx-two-americas-wire

This article actually doesn't include the word "casino" but it was so excellent but he is specific and I'm on the same page he is. I ironically even felt the same he does about Karl Marx as he was so excellent at diagnosing the problem rather than solving it.

The "casino economy" comes toward the end of this speech (I was trying to find something post to read rather than the whole half-hour video)