He was right to run in 1 of the major (corporatist) parties to get his views heard, but once he was denied the nomination, if he were truly sincere about his agenda being enacted, he would’ve then accepted the Green Party’s offer to head their ticket. I believe he would’ve won in a fair contest had he done that.
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If it’s true that Biden won’t do anything unless he is pushed, which I agree with, then it’s better than someone who will oppress any opposition, and therefore the better option in a binary choice, which unfortunately is what we once again have.
There is hope since several progressives politicians seem willing to push Biden, & we have a reinvigorated & assertive public that appears willing to push against authority for causes that most Americans support.
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Yep, the NYT never says the right things, the courageous things, when it matters.
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My understanding is that’s the cost of 7 U.S. Senators or 38 Congressional Representatives at the going rate.
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Thank you, Senator Sanders, for your legislation on behalf of justice and peace, and keep it up!
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Welll, why not say 60% … or 85%?
LOOK — this measure, while unlikely to get approved
by our Congress, is quite likely to get large PUBLIC approval
which is good … and what we need right now.
ALSO — it is time to remind the DOD:
• This IS DEFENSE of our nation!
— We ALL need to re-think the true meaning of "National Defense’!
Let’s go for what we possibly can and get all the support we can.
Reality.
how about really cutting the criminal military budget-the ones sent to war by the lies and then acceptance of those lies by our so called leaders(incidentally --ALL our activity for the last 2 decades in the Middle East has been and remains–A WAR CRIME–along with the destruction of needed civilian infrastructure-like hospitals-- the military is so fond of bombing)-the one used to bomb poor third world people all over the globe-the one sucking up the resources that could be used for M4A-get rid of student debt-produce the low income housing we need so desperately-repair our infrastructure that has been ignored for decades while it crumbles–and so many more things so much more useful than the biggest ,nastiest,best equipped terrorist organization in the world --our military—so let us dispense with this gas light and call for the reduction of our military spending by at least 50%–an amount that will actually make a difference—for the world and for us
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Hi mbob
Bernie is actually the king of the little little people with small donations. It is truly amazing how much was raised with those who have less. Bernie still has his declared delegates and hopefully they will help to influence the DNC platform… However, as things are becoming worse and worse for everyone------maybe the police will just off both candidates and put in who they want. : )
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Hi yunohu:
Hmmm, but if Bernie had run for the Green Party, would anyone know that as the Green party was ignored by the media or maligned for anything. The media really just wants 2 parties, as do the 2 parties.When Ben Franklin said :’"It’s a republic, if you can keep it, " he wasn’t kidding! : (
Hi yunohu:
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all used mail in ballots AND that there was a space for a WRITE IN----maybe then we would have more fair elections! : )
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Some notes:
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Joe Biden never said that he would veto single payer if it got through congress. You should read the text of the interview with O’Donnell where the topic came up. But regardless - nobody in their right mind would ever have thought that a Biden administration is going to deliver that anyways (i.e. all along it would have to happen in spite of him, not because of him).
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I have read Nick Skala’s paper (an advocate of single payer before his untimely death). Like the other papers you cite it talks about potential (not known) GATS problems with any kind of health care reform. Skala clearly shows how single payer has fewer problems with GATS than other type of health care reforms - especially with Obamacare type reforms for which Public Citizen, where Nick worked, did followup and more detailed reports on GTS problems.
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Importantly, it is now over a decade later and there have been no GATS cases against Obamacare.
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There are plenty of good reasons to get out of GATS - but whether we do so before or after passing Medicare For All makes no difference to the law itself. There would not even be any kind of GATS case come up until the law is actually implemented and we can get out of GATS at that time with essentially the same article XXI penalties as we’d have if we did it now.
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The biggest problem with GATS and Health Care is the dispute process built into GATS - which might result in extreme rulings (such as ruling that establishing monopolies refers to government monopolies in services and not just to government granted monopolies like we’ve had with utilities).
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I’d guess that you probably agree with me that, overall, the GATS quasi-judicial process that has unreasonable powers over government decision making is the heart of the whole GATS mess.
Thus, my view is that progressives need to continue to try to pass Medicare For All and not take the defeatist attitude that it cannot stand. We also need to be more on top of things like who is appointed to the US Trade Representative position as well as the Deputy representative. Both are ambassador level appointments that must get through the Senate. Avoiding people that will not take a forceful stand against egregious interpretations of GATS commitments is crucial to moving progressive ideas forward.
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Hi, Stardust:
He had already gotten the attention of the public and media, made his agenda well known, and shown what a huge following he could draw by running in the Democratic primary, so he had the status required to be competitive the rest of the way. At that point the media would’ve covered him like they did Wallace and Perot.
That’s exactly how it is here in Oregon, and it is very popular & reliable. I could be wrong, but I think we have the highest per capita turnout of any state.
I have looked at your site and read many of the WTO reports. The question is not whether countries are bound by their commitments - the question is what those commitments say - which is very much open to interpretation. And secondly, even if the WTO dispute process goes against us - exactly how much the article XXI penalties will really be.
I simply reject the idea that progressive people should put everything on hold for a few decades because there might be some GATS related consequences down the line. Nick Skala felt the same way - he was, like me, staunchly for a singe payer system and simultaneously against GATS. He did not feel that we had to wait until we were out of GATS before we attempted to pass single payer. I don’t understand why you would take that stand. That’s not a strategy for progressive change at all.
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congress will never cut $ to war mongers and wall street criminals. Its up to US! Boycott federal income taxes. Redirect what you owe to local services.
This is a much better option than “defunding the police”. Democrats need to understand that police, military and prison guards are workers too. Democrats can’t be the party of workers if they exclude workers who traditionally vote ®.
STEPS
- Eliminate “qualified immunity” for police and elected / appointed officials.
- Demilitarize the police departments by stopping equipment transfers from the military.
- Audit the Pentagon and reduce their budget by 10% to financially support the devastated communities. However don’t reduce the armed force. Mysteriously the cost of military equipment will decrease to match the new budgets and the military will buy the same amount from the MIC companies (Boeing, Lockheed, etc.). That’s because the cost of military equipment has been marked up over 1000% since the 1990s.
- Legalize weed and defund the war on weed. Repurpose those funds to pay for public defenders.
I believe we could slash up to 50% and STILL be more than all the other nations COMBINED!
But Bernie is at least getting the idea STARTED…And I Approve of That!
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Remember, most of those dictatorshits were put in place by or supported by the USA Fourth Reich.
;-})
Hi yunohu:
YES! I just moved here and did my first vote by mail! YES # 2—get rid of those privately owned voting machines everywhere! : )
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While the Nazis were building their base, they didn’t set up death camps. It wasn’t until later, after the SS burned the Reichstag Building and blamed it on a Dutch Carpenter who was said to be a Communist, and the Enabling Acts were instituted that the real buildup of such things as the death camps were instituted. There was a lot of killing that went on before that, but it was mainly people that were not enthusiastic about the party, etc., and people that broke the rules by listening to foreign broadcasts on the radio, or expressing opinions contrary to the fuehrer’s. It slowly grew as the propaganda began to be believed. Herr Goebbels said (and I paraphrase a bit) “Pick a lie, and make it a whopper. Then repeat it over and over, as authoritatively as possible. Soon, it will be believed as the truth.” Then you move on to the next lie and the next. Eventually, Death Camps will be accepted as a necessity, to save the Reich from various threats. I seem to be noticing that same MO going on here in the Fourth Reich as our Constitution is being slowly, but thoroughly, shredded.
** Sooner or later, the fuehrer of the moment is going to do something really stupid, probably against some country that isn’t doing what it is told to, and the lesson will probably be nuclear. The end of the story will probably be the end of the human race and probably the viability of our home, Planet Earth.
** And still, it seems that as large as the protests seem to be, it is only a handful of those needed to overturn this nonsense and work to rebuild our planet and save it for those creatures of all ethnicities that live upon it.
WAKE UP!
;-})
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