2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders is not afraid to talk about SINGLE PAYER HEALTHCARE [View all]Cosmocat
(14,559 posts)this is why I like Bernie and am leaning toward getting behind him.
He is fortunate enough to be in a district where he can talk like this and not get punished by his voters.
I think people fool themselves into acting like it being as simple as "standing on your principles."
But, as someone else noted, the closest we have gotten to universal was when Hillary put it forward, and she and MANY other democrats got beat up to no end for it, and this was the reason a lot democrats lost their seats in the 94 republican takeover of the House.
Hell, this democratic president and his democratic majority passed what was the REPUBLICAN version of health care reform in 94 in ACA, without one god darned republican vote and history repeated itself, with the american public punishing them and giving the republicans the house in the next mid term.
It is worth getting behind Bernie Sanders because he is right on most of the issues and speaks to them as well as any other politician in the country.
It is a LONG shot that he gets past the deep seated stupidity of the people of this country to be president. But, if he does, he isn't magically changing things. He won't be a king, he will be the president. And, he will will have a flacid party around him and the same kind of craven opposition Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama faced.
He also has not faced even 1/100 of the bullshit he will face if he manages to become a truly viable candidate. Howard Dean was destroyed in a heartbeat, John Kerry was marginalized as a weak coward, Al Gore as an arrogant liar, all while making an entitled moron into a RESOLUTE MAN OF CONVICTION!
You will know he is a real viable candidate when the republicans and their media lap dogs turn their heat on him.