2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I like Sanders, really I do......BUT... [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)It's the rare bird who makes hay in that scenario--thieves and people who sell stuff that fell off a truck do well in that environment.
War is a profit-making enterprise for people like Boeing and Lockheed Martin and those clowns that make guns and bullets, and body bags and military uniforms, and it can provide an engine for the economy, but it's an engine that is fueled by blood.
Our electoral system is what it is--complaining about it isn't going to change the outcome of the next election. The time to complain was well before the Citizens United decision, but that horse has left the barn.
As I've said, the only way to get past all this money in politics is for a tipping point to be reached, where politicians get sick of raising money all the live-long day, and donors decide that they aren't getting enough bang for their buck and decide that the whole exercise is just Not Worth It. It'll take a long time before we get there, I suspect, but who knows? That day may one day come.
I don't appreciate your "spin" characterization. I'm not "spinning" anything. The Democratic Party is a Big Tent, big enough to allow Bernie to compete for their nomination even though he's not a member, but they're not so big or stupid that they'll give him more propers than he deserves in the organization-- because like the song says, to get love you have to GIVE love.
He has never, not once, lifted a finger to help Democrats get elected. That's fact. He has never, not once, raised money for Democratic PACS or candidates. He has never, not once, managed a fundraising PAC of his own to use to help Democrats get elected to Congress or even local offices. He has never, not once, gone out on the campaign trail and stumped for a Democratic candidate for office. He has never, not once, held an administrative Democratic Party leadership position in the House or Senate. This isn't a "slam," this is fact.
He has made the deliberate CHOICE to not grab his oars and help row our boat, and that's fine. No one has demanded that of him. Now he wants a ride down the river--and we're gracious enough to make room for him, but he's not getting the best seat in the middle of the boat--that's just the way it is.
He could try getting a better deal from the GOP, if we're being so "mean" to him. You know what they'd tell him to do--the words "pound" and "sand" come to mind.
I'm just telling it like it is, you don't like my opinion, so you're engaging in some snarky characterization. Not buying your assessment one bit, there. You haven't told me why the Democratic Party should be 'loyal' to Bernie Sanders ('just because' doesn't cut it), you haven't shown me any Democrats who have demonstrated their 'loyalty' by endorsing him (in fact, HRC has garnered a number of 'liberal' Congressional endorsements, so there goes that thesis), and--like it, or not-- endorsements DO count.
No one is being "betrayed." People stick with the people who have helped and supported them in the past, not some person who has never helped them or their friends, and who articulates a laundry list of gripes and proposes no realistic path to any solutions. I can complain all day, too, with verve and vociferousness--that and a couple of bucks will buy me a cup of coffee. Gee, make me POTUS!! I can recite a list of Things That Suck, and wave my arms and pound the lectern, too!!