22nd February 2016, 1:49 AM
The world is ending. I am officially to the left of ABF!
That's rite. I'm 100% Feeling the Bern as the kids say. My wife and I have donated money multiple times and I'm going to try my hand at phonebanking.
Because, he's definitely not a one-issue candidate. He's loudest about his economic policies, and let's face it: people who are chained to the ground by systematic poverty can never hope to break free of all the other chains. It's sad, but true.
What's not true is the 'one issue' meme. Not even slightly. Here are some others you'll almost always hear come up in any given public speech:
An end to the War on Drugs (and a reminder that it disproportionately targets minority populations)
Removal of cannabis from the controlled substance schedule list + decriminalization
An end to private prisons (and a reminder that we have a higher prison population than any other country on Earth)
Amnesty + a path to citizenship
Strong support for efforts to battle climate change
Champions alternative energy sources (often solar)
An end to police brutality
Demilitarizing police forces
Unconditional support for a woman's right to choose to have an abortion
Insists that health care is a fundamental human right
As is college education
Proponent for campaign finance reform, of public funding for elections, and the abolishment of Citizens United
The restoration of the Voting Rights Act
Supports measures to end discrimination against LGBTQ people in schools, workplaces and in the public sector
Abolish the death penalty
Against police action use of military force, favors military intervention only as a part of an international coalition
Against the War on Terror and unilateral military operations
Against free trade agreements of any kind
Against pervasive government surveillance programs
Against Patriot Act
Strong proponent of Social Security expansion
Proponent of major infrastructure investments in transportation, energy and other sectors
Proponent of net neutrality
I do not think that Clinton will fare well against Donald Trump in the general election. Imagine the nightmare of Clinton being attacked from the left and the right, except you won't have to. Donald will be able to attack her (and credibly) on issues like SuperPACs and corruption, plus her pro-Iraq War vote, all the while rallying the racists and the bigots as he has been doing all along. She has very high unfavorable ratings (which have proven to be murder in general elections), and nothing will help glue the fractured GOP back together (even if for one final presidential campaign) than the prospect of finally defeating Clinton once and for all, as she is a supremely hated figure on the right. And, independents (who are considerably larger in number than affiliates of either party) are vastly more comfortable with Sanders than Clinton. Clinton has the support of registered Democrats... a shrinking cohort that can't win an election by itself.
Furthermore, Clinton depresses voter turnout. It's been the case in each primary so far. Sanders set an all-time record for New Hampshire votes received, even though turnout was down something like 30% from 2008. Clearly, low turnout wasn't his fault. Her message is not inspiring, and what's worse, her campaign is simply dirty as fuck. She's personally been spreading false memes about Sanders, and she's having surrogates, famed civil rights icons, slandering Bernie Sanders (how about John Lewis trying to imply that Bernie Sanders wasn't involved in the Civil Rights marches!?). And, she's corrupt. She won't release transcripts of her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs, almost 90% of her fundraising comes from wealthy donors maxing out, she takes full advantage of Citizens' United and has no interest whatsoever in solving problems of income inequality or corruption in government. The DNC has been limiting debates to deny Sanders national exposure, and has lifted bans on SuperPAC money so as to give Clinton a fundraising advantage. All this runs the significant risk of alienating Sanders supporters come November, and she's screwed if that happens.
We need a candidate who will inspire voters to not just vote for a president every four years, but to replace the GOP in state houses, legislatures, governor's mansions and Congress. Bernie Sanders repeatedly maintains that it's not about him, and he can't do it alone. It's true. We need an energized, motivated base of voters. What do we have now? A Party that has basically given up all hope of ever dislodging Republicans from Congress, who puts up weak candidates who are afraid to be progressive and end up losing to fucking cavemen like Matt Bevin and Paul LePage, when an even halfway competent candidate who would actually give Democrats a reason to show up on Election Day should have slaughtered both of them.
Finally, the trend is definitely in Sanders' favor. Clinton has done nothing but bleed away her lead since Sanders began his campaign. He achieved a virtual tie in Iowa, a blowout in New Hampshire (where Clinton won in 2008), and a 5 point loss in Nevada (where Obama lost by 6 points in 2008). In all of these places, Clinton started out with enormous leads. She was up double digits in Iowa and Nevada within weeks of those caucuses. If he manages to keep SC and Super Tuesday close, the rest of the map is actually quite favorable (as polling trends indicate that his numbers will continue to rise as hers fall). It's a long fight.
The GOP is fracturing now. Clinton wants to board the windows and hope they don't hurt us too badly. Her message is that there's no hope of achieving any substantial progressive policy victories, so we might as well just try to avoid being rolled back. That's not an inspiring message! Sanders wants to break them. There may be no better opportunity than 2016.
If America could vote in that Marxist Socialist Muslim Kenyan Nigger Barry Soetero twice, by comfortable margins, then I am not afraid of the 'socialist' tag harming Sanders.
That's rite. I'm 100% Feeling the Bern as the kids say. My wife and I have donated money multiple times and I'm going to try my hand at phonebanking.
Because, he's definitely not a one-issue candidate. He's loudest about his economic policies, and let's face it: people who are chained to the ground by systematic poverty can never hope to break free of all the other chains. It's sad, but true.
What's not true is the 'one issue' meme. Not even slightly. Here are some others you'll almost always hear come up in any given public speech:
An end to the War on Drugs (and a reminder that it disproportionately targets minority populations)
Removal of cannabis from the controlled substance schedule list + decriminalization
An end to private prisons (and a reminder that we have a higher prison population than any other country on Earth)
Amnesty + a path to citizenship
Strong support for efforts to battle climate change
Champions alternative energy sources (often solar)
An end to police brutality
Demilitarizing police forces
Unconditional support for a woman's right to choose to have an abortion
Insists that health care is a fundamental human right
As is college education
Proponent for campaign finance reform, of public funding for elections, and the abolishment of Citizens United
The restoration of the Voting Rights Act
Supports measures to end discrimination against LGBTQ people in schools, workplaces and in the public sector
Abolish the death penalty
Against police action use of military force, favors military intervention only as a part of an international coalition
Against the War on Terror and unilateral military operations
Against free trade agreements of any kind
Against pervasive government surveillance programs
Against Patriot Act
Strong proponent of Social Security expansion
Proponent of major infrastructure investments in transportation, energy and other sectors
Proponent of net neutrality
I do not think that Clinton will fare well against Donald Trump in the general election. Imagine the nightmare of Clinton being attacked from the left and the right, except you won't have to. Donald will be able to attack her (and credibly) on issues like SuperPACs and corruption, plus her pro-Iraq War vote, all the while rallying the racists and the bigots as he has been doing all along. She has very high unfavorable ratings (which have proven to be murder in general elections), and nothing will help glue the fractured GOP back together (even if for one final presidential campaign) than the prospect of finally defeating Clinton once and for all, as she is a supremely hated figure on the right. And, independents (who are considerably larger in number than affiliates of either party) are vastly more comfortable with Sanders than Clinton. Clinton has the support of registered Democrats... a shrinking cohort that can't win an election by itself.
Furthermore, Clinton depresses voter turnout. It's been the case in each primary so far. Sanders set an all-time record for New Hampshire votes received, even though turnout was down something like 30% from 2008. Clearly, low turnout wasn't his fault. Her message is not inspiring, and what's worse, her campaign is simply dirty as fuck. She's personally been spreading false memes about Sanders, and she's having surrogates, famed civil rights icons, slandering Bernie Sanders (how about John Lewis trying to imply that Bernie Sanders wasn't involved in the Civil Rights marches!?). And, she's corrupt. She won't release transcripts of her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs, almost 90% of her fundraising comes from wealthy donors maxing out, she takes full advantage of Citizens' United and has no interest whatsoever in solving problems of income inequality or corruption in government. The DNC has been limiting debates to deny Sanders national exposure, and has lifted bans on SuperPAC money so as to give Clinton a fundraising advantage. All this runs the significant risk of alienating Sanders supporters come November, and she's screwed if that happens.
We need a candidate who will inspire voters to not just vote for a president every four years, but to replace the GOP in state houses, legislatures, governor's mansions and Congress. Bernie Sanders repeatedly maintains that it's not about him, and he can't do it alone. It's true. We need an energized, motivated base of voters. What do we have now? A Party that has basically given up all hope of ever dislodging Republicans from Congress, who puts up weak candidates who are afraid to be progressive and end up losing to fucking cavemen like Matt Bevin and Paul LePage, when an even halfway competent candidate who would actually give Democrats a reason to show up on Election Day should have slaughtered both of them.
Finally, the trend is definitely in Sanders' favor. Clinton has done nothing but bleed away her lead since Sanders began his campaign. He achieved a virtual tie in Iowa, a blowout in New Hampshire (where Clinton won in 2008), and a 5 point loss in Nevada (where Obama lost by 6 points in 2008). In all of these places, Clinton started out with enormous leads. She was up double digits in Iowa and Nevada within weeks of those caucuses. If he manages to keep SC and Super Tuesday close, the rest of the map is actually quite favorable (as polling trends indicate that his numbers will continue to rise as hers fall). It's a long fight.
The GOP is fracturing now. Clinton wants to board the windows and hope they don't hurt us too badly. Her message is that there's no hope of achieving any substantial progressive policy victories, so we might as well just try to avoid being rolled back. That's not an inspiring message! Sanders wants to break them. There may be no better opportunity than 2016.
If America could vote in that Marxist Socialist Muslim Kenyan Nigger Barry Soetero twice, by comfortable margins, then I am not afraid of the 'socialist' tag harming Sanders.
YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER
WE STAND AT THE DOOR
WE STAND AT THE DOOR