Bernie Sanders’ Aim: Enact Democratic National Platform
Hillary Clinton topped Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. But Sanders got 46% of the pledged delegates, and brought out great enthusiastic throngs to back him and his policies. He then took that power to the Democratic Party platform negotiations with the Clinton camp, and parlayed it into what he and others call "the most progressive Democratic Party platform in history." (See list of platform planks below.)
Of the platform negotiations, a top Sanders adviser, Warren Gunnels, said:
We believe we got at least 80% of what we’ve been fighting for.
Sanders enlisted the renown author and climate action champion, Bill McKibben, for his negotiating team. McKibben came away fairly pleased with the platform results:
In four years we've gone from an "all of the above" energy strategy to one that explicitly favors sun and wind over natural gas. The platform promises a Keystone-style test for all federal policy: If it makes global warming worse, it won't be built. And it calls for an emergency climate summit in the first hundred days of the new administration.
And just last week Sanders himself said:
[B]ecause millions of people came out and stood up and fought back ... 80 percent, I would say, of the Democratic National Platform is what we believe in. ... So, when you ask me, where do we go from here in a sense, it means that we implement this.
Clearly, the best chance for implementing the Democratic platform is to elect Democrats. Sanders' approach is at once true to his values and practical:
I would hope that all those people who worked with me on this campaign, who supported me, understand that Donald Trump would be a real, real, real disaster for this country. He stands in opposition to everything that we believe in. On the other hand, the day after the election we don't sit back and say, "Well Clinton is president." What we do is we mobilize our people to make certain that, hopefully President Clinton, hopefully a Democratic Senate moves forward with an agenda that helps transform this country.
...
I think what politics is about is trying to be smart and think about where we are at this moment. I want to see Clinton become president and the day after that I, and the progressive members of Congress, and hopefully millions of other people will say, "President-Elect Clinton, here is the Democratic National Platform. It is a progressive document."
...
This is not trust. We're not here to trust. It is the very opposite of what I am saying to say, "Oh, sit back, elect Clinton, and then trust." No. Mobilize. Educate. Fight.
(video:Now This)
#StillBernie: For some Bernie backers, being still with Bernie means they still won't vote for Clinton. For others, it means they still back Bernie and his plans of today, that is:
- Elect Clinton for president.
- Elect a progressive Democratic Congress.
- Enact the Democratic National Platform.
- Mobilize.
- Educate.
- Fight.
List of Democratic Party Platform Planks
Here are some of the planks in the Democratic Party platform that line up in total, or in large part, with top planks in the Sanders platform.
- Tuition-Free College: For all with family income less than $125,000, tuition is totally free. The limit scales up from $85,000 over six years. This differs from Sanders plank, which had no income limit.
- Clean Energy: Government policy will favor solar, wind and other clean energy sources above any fossil fuel, including natural gas. Supporting this is a program to install half a billion solar panels across the country. The plank includes a specific goal of having 50% clean electricity within ten years. The Sanders plank had similar proposals, but also called for 100% clean energy for electricity, heating and transportation.
- Carbon Pricing: Greenhouse gases are priced to reflect their negative effects. This is similar to, though not as simple as, the Sanders plank of a carbon tax.
- Climate Summit: Within 100 days, the president will convene a summit meeting aimed at solving the climate crisis, going beyond the commitments of the Paris Climate Agreement. This plank is the same as that in the Sanders platform.
- The "Keystone Test": All government policy would be subject to the test used in President Obama's rejection of the Keystone Pipeline: If it worsens global warming, it won't be built.
- $15 Minimum Wage: This scales up over several years from the current $7.25 minimum wage, and is very close to the Sanders plank. The idea behind it is that no 40-hour-a-week job-holder should live in poverty.
- Family and Medical Leave: This plank calls for 12 weeks of paid family leave, "the right to earn" at least seven days paid sick leave, and encourages employers to provide paid vacation. The Sanders plank differed in that it would also have required two weeks of paid vacation.
- No Too-Big-To-Fail Banks: The plank states that too-big-to-fail is too big to exist. It stops short of the Sanders plank, which specifically calls for breaking up these banking corporations, but calls for stronger criminal and civil penalties for Wall Street fraud, and stronger enforcement. It would also create a wall between commercial and investment banking, as did the old, effective Glass-Steagall act.
- Wall Street Transaction Tax: A small fee on each market financial transaction would tamp down stock market volatility and, like the Sanders plank, provide funds for free college tuition.
- Social Security Enhancement: Rather than cut benefits and push out the age requirement, Social Security benefits would be increased. This would be funded by persons with incomes more than $250,000, who now pay a lower percentage of their income into the system than low and middle income persons. This is very close to the Sanders plank.
- Supreme Court: Clinton, like Sanders, would appoint judges that supported the power of Congress and the states to regulate election campaign finance, and that would overturn the "Citizens United" corporation-is-person, money-is-speech ruling that Chief Justice John Roberts spearheaded.
- Health Care Access: This plank supports having a public option on the health insurance exchange. This would likely be higher value insurance, since it would be free of covering corporate profit. Also, the plank would double support for community health centers. This is good progress, but still short of the Sanders plank of Medicare for all.
- Building Infrastructure: This plank would rebuild "crumbling roads, bridges, railways, airports, public transit systems, ports, dams, wastewater plants, and other infrastructure needs." Also, it would include modernization and greening of energy and water systems, and internet speed and access enhancement. A new independent national infrastructure bank would support these projects. The Sanders plank, from what I read, did not call for the new bank, but called for spending $1 trillion over five years for infrastructure.
- Internet Access:This plank would connect every household to high-speed broadband, help with free public wifi and wide deployment of 5G wireless. The Sanders plank put $5B a year into high-speed broadband expansion. Both platforms state that internet is not a luxury, but a necessity in the 21st century.
- Net Neutrality (Open Internet):This plank supports a free and open internet at home and abroad, and the FCC's net neutrality rules. Sanders has strongly supported net neutrality in Congress.
The Democratic platform, like the Sanders platform, appears to be designed so that all new spending is paid for, and so would not increase the national debt.
~~~
"[O]n every important issue ... Hillary Clinton's views are far, far better than Donald Trump's. And it is absolutely imperative that Donald Trump not become the next president of the United States. That's true on economic issues, it's true on healthcare issues -- it is especially true on environmental issues and on issues dealing with climate change." -- Bernie Sanders (video: 350.org)
* * *
By Quinn Hungeski, TheParagraph.com, Copyright (CC BY-ND) 2016
Comments
Good for him. Been saying he was a democrat
since he started running as a Democrat. Even before that he was a Democrat in practice, voting 96% of the time with Dems. So of course he's going to work for the Dem party platform and of course he's going to endorse, support and vote for Hillary Clinton.
The Democratic party is THE war party now, there's no denying that, not with what Obama has done and what Clinton will do. Bernie wants to support that he's nothing but another warmonger.
Hillary Clinton belongs in prison.
I follow the rules of 3
One lie, one broken promise, or a single neglected responsibility may be a misunderstanding instead. Two may involve a serious mistake. But three lies says you're dealing with a liar, and deceit is the linchpin of conscienceless behavior. Cut your losses and get out as soon as you can. Leaving, though it may be hard, will be easier now than later, and less costly. Do not give your money, your work, your secrets, or your affection to a three-timer. Your valuable gifts will be wasted.”
― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door
Suffice to say Hillary has lied way more than 3 times. Anything that comes out of her or any of her follower's mouths I do not trust at all. I believe her when she proves countless times that she is a liar, you should too.
'We'll use specially crafted words
so labor won't have anything to hang us with when we fuck them over" = John Podesta (paraphrased for profanity)
"Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh,,,(now get back to your ghetto where I can find you when we need more prisoners) - Hillary to BLM (paraphrased for truth)
"If Hilary is President her blatant illegitimacy will make it easier to build a movement." = Bernie Sanders (I hope)
On to Biden since 1973
If they're really that bad, why paraphrase?
"We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost
You think they are good?
Have you read the actual emails?
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I think they are imperfect human beings.
No, I have not read the actual emails. Have you?
"We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost
Color me shocked.
Of course I have, which is why
I asked you if you had because it was evident you had not. Not shocking you have your head buried deep in the sand or somewhere else that is unpleasant.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I was thinking he meant he ADDED the profanity.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Yes, I get it.
Sigh back.
"We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost
Podesta's actual words were something like
"don't come through with our promised support" or some such neutral sounding words. My paraphrase was necessary to convey the truthful meaning of his statement, but that required that I be honest about my choice to paraphrase.
Hillary's "Uh huh, uh huh." war spoken with a distant tone that made it clear to anyone who listened that she was ignoring the BLM person and had nothing but contempt for him, but a parenthetical comment was necessary to convey that.
On to Biden since 1973
Fuggeddaboutit, Bernie!
When you dropped your opposition to Hillary and endorsed her in return for a few meaningless comments to be inserted into the platform which will never be honored, your influence over the Democratic Party ended. In fact, your influence WITH a lot of your supporters (including me) came to an end as well. All you can do now is use your seat in the Congress to restore your credibility. Whether you will remains up to Corporatist lackey running dog Chuck Schumer, who can remove you from all committees if he decides to do so.
The following clip from Animal House describes your predicament more tersely than I can:
edited for typo
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Well said! eom
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Half vote
No matter who wins, this is the constructive way forward, even if I disagree with some of the premises of this essay.
I especially agree with the last three bullet points:
Otherwise you will never get anything you want.
For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to everyone that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still.
John Maynard Keynes, 1930
So do I
but doing it within the confines of the current Democratic Party is a fool's errand.
Bernie gets another look
when he walks away from the Democratic Party. Which he won't.
He'll do what little he can within the system. Which will be something between Jack and shit. Clinton will consolidate power for the pro-corporatist imperialist Uniparty and make any true progress impossible.
Notice how Justice Thomas is now a "groper"? That seems to be the new "Communist", a convenient propaganda vector for your enemies. She's now trying to run up the score in the Supreme Court - force Thomas out so that she gets to make maybe 4 appointments (one of them will be named Obama, mark my words) who will promote corporate interests.
In the meantime the hot blob has reformed off the west coast and the drought pattern is re-establishing itself. Conventional agriculture will fail within a decade and millions of Americans will starve. Then things will get really bad.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
They knew what Thomas was when they approved him
They don't get takebacks now, when it's many years too late.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
takebacks
Sure they do! It's called "impeachment", and Supreme Court Justices are subject to it. (In fact, it's the only way to fire one without his/her consent.)
Hillary and Co. are obviously angling for impeachment grounds against Justice Thomas. The only question is: is "conduct unbecoming" an adequate offense to remove a Justice? And can they prove the underlying acts?
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
If Samuel Chase was not removed from office
for deciding cases on a flagrantly politically biased basis, no one else will ever be.
These days, "good behavior" means "doing the bidding of the Plutocracy and the Power Elite" - just exactly that, and nothing more and nothing else.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
I get it
I get it, hungeski. You want to keep the fascists from power so you're advice is.....vote for the mafia. Screw that. I already voted for Jill Stein.
Bernie made way more sense in 1988
"Essentially, it's my view that the leadership of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are tied to big-money interests and that neither of these parties will ever represent the people in this country that are demanding the real changes that have to take place." --Bernie Sanders
As morally rancid, corrupt and generally worthless as it was even then, comparatively speaking the Democratic Party of 1988 was a temple of enlightenment and egalitarian idealism compared to the 2016 edition. The growing concentration of wealth (and mass media), plus the toxic and pervasive influence of neoliberal ideology has put the party well to the right of even Richard Nixon's 1960's Republicans on virtually all major issues.
The rightward drift of the party will surely continue, because the people who write the checks and control the party infrastructure desire it, and anyone who believes a non-binding set of position papers approved by party convention-goers will change that one iota is living in a fantasy world. Ultimately politicians must be judged by their record and their actions, not by the lying and self-serving statements that come out of their mouths or their word processors.
If Bernie's remarks concerning the utter futility of attempting to work within the Democratic Party to bring about urgently needed changes in public policy were correct in 1988, which I emphatically believe they were, then with all that's happened since they are even more obviously correct twenty-eight years later. What Bernie says now clearly has to be judged in the context of his current position as a U.S. Senator, and the necessity of not burning bridges with people he's forced to maintain cordial relations with in order to retain any measure of political viability.
But what's good for Bernie today is not necessarily what's good for the country as a whole, and I for one am not buying his current bullshit. Sorry Dems, I'm done with you forever.
inactive account
The Inside Game
If Sanders thinks he can play an insider game and move a Clinton administration to the left with the help of the party platform, then more power to him. I'm moving on from the Democrat party (not that I've been that loyal to begin with).* I haven't decided how yet, but I think I'm going to invest my efforts in local politics starting in January.
* my presidential voting record is Perot (92), stay home and sit on thumbs (96), Nader (00), Kerry (04), Obama (08), Obama (12), and probably Stein (16). If I lived in Utah I'd vote McMullan strictly for the chaos factor (without any regard for his positions, but he's independent and running 2nd there so the lectoral votes going to him would entertain me.)
Interesting about Utah.
The same might happen in New Mexico with Johnson. I'm hoping he gets all 5 electoral votes here. I'll invest in popcorn if that happens!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
That could really monkey-wrench the election
With both major-party candidates as detested as they are, it wouldn't take much to force a deadlock. One state might be enough - two would make it more likely, and three or more....
We will then see the iron hand of the Kleptocracy place their chosen pawn in the White House by some nefarious means or other, but at least it will be clear and explicit fraudulent theft. (Do I think they'll drag butt waiting for the House of Representatives to do its Constitutional duty? Do pigs fly?)
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
My thoughts, exactly, TOM.
Anything is possible this election more than any other. We will learn the identity of the oligarchy's anointed one.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I'd love to elect a progressive Congress.
But we have to have progressives running to do that.
Too bad there are so few running. Especially in the senate (thanks you, Chuck shumer)
Our Revolution has a good list of them.
If they all won, we'd be further along toward a progressive Congress.
https://ourrevolution.com/candidates
"We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Pull the other leg, it's got bells on. We've seen what the Democratic Party does to real progressives - it yanks away support and shits on them. If the ghastly horror that was the Democratic presidential primary wasn't enough, there's the way Tim Canova was railroaded to Palookaville while Bernie was arm-twisted into abandoning him.
Get real or get lost.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Who Exactly Is Quinn Hungeski?
Why, he is a famous and renowned blogger, that's who. Proud publisher of The Paragraph, a blog emanating from Cleveland, Ohio, which bills itself as offering "Terse news, history and science."
In its Mission Statement - aka About page - Mr. Hungeski states the following:
My gosh, all those bullet points fairly shriek "Daily Kos", don't they? Regrettably, it seems the Great and Powerful Kos himself was otherwise occupied with more important stuff to be able to visit us here at C99 personally, but the good news is that we got the next best thing courtesy of one of his loyal contributors. Now please search your consciences, peeps - wouldn't you agree that a vote for Hillary Clinton in the presidential election is not an unreasonable gesture to make as a small token of appreciation for being so honored?
inactive account
Great job mouselander. Seems Hungeski added c99 to his masthead.
Just looked and copied this straight from the page:
(emphasis mine)
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Thanks
A born again C99er - how inspiring! Already I can hear the thunderous cracking sound of thawing ice flows (hopefully it's not solely due to global warming), as the DK and C99 communities are finally reconciled.
Next up: Markos generously allows me to post my "Please vote for Jill" screed on the front page of Daily Kos.
inactive account
Which of those bullet points do you disagree with?
"We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost
Better question is why even consider that they
will ever getting anything but scorn from a Clinton Admin or Dem led Congress?
Will watch with interest to see if the push for the platform gets anywhere, because the platform has been meaningless before.
Sorry to be so cynical. Have to admit am glad you posted this here because I had missed seeing anything about it.
Found this on de tweeter.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Bernie revealed much more than flaws in the DNC
during the 2016 primaries; he revealed his own. He failed to recognize the importance of "those damn emails". He failed to challenge dirty primaries, voter disenfranchisement, Clinton campaign-media collusion, that Clinton essentially never accomplished anything in her political life. He failed to fight for his delegates and how they were treated by the DNC. He failed to keep his promises to voters but honored the ones he made to the DNC. He still hasn't told us why he crumpled like a cheap suit to the Clinton campaign. Worst of all, he "coulda been a contender" and run third party, "instead of just being a bum."
Agree with all but the last.
He promised not to run Third Party. I can't fault him for honoring that promise. But he has gone much farther, actively campaigning for Hillary. That was not necessary. That was a sell out.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Bernie told everyone Hillary won the nomination fair and square
So my first strong point of disagreement with Betty, hungeski, and Bernie himself — and it is a matter of character and a deal-breaker — would be:
I don’t think a blatantly fraudulent primary election process is something you can morally just “move on” from — applying social pressure to everyone, including yourself, not to even think or ask about it or mention it any more.
I asked Betty a direct question whether she thought the primary process was fair and I received no answer. That’s a bad sign.
“Well, yes, the DNC and Hillary engaged in primary fraud, but we have to ignore it, forget about it, pretend we didn’t see it, act as if it never happened — because that’s just our system of American politics, and demanding ‘doublethink’ of everyone is expedient and necessary in order to ‘get things done’.”
Is that what Betty, hungeski, and Bernie himself are saying? If so, just be honest and say it.
Let's not forget those elusive tax returns.
Are they still at the accountant's office, Jane? No copies available anywhere?
Bernie? Bernie?
There was also the betrayal of Nina Turner at Clinton's direction.
Hope you enjoy the vacation trips to your new lake house. Thanks.
Burn me once ...
Stein - Baraka
2016
Flaws in the plan --
One thing that one can say for hungeski is that hungeski in fact HAS a plan whereas many here prefer to jeer from the sidelines without any idea of what to do. (Hint for the critics: if you want to have a plan, and you don't want it to be THIS plan, one way is to start with this diary, and start writing the business plan which will have to accompany the new party I've proposed.) At any rate:
1) Yeah, the platform. Sorry. What really determines what-exactly will happen are Clinton's various quid pro quo relationships with elites possessed of moneyed power. We will get the TPP, austerity planning, the conversion of Social Security to a privatized welfare program, and an increase in the mandate penalty for the ACA. And nobody takes seriously any sort of cheerleading that says "mobilize, educate, fight" while at the same time asking voters to vote FOR that which we should be mobilizing, fighting, and educating AGAINST.
2) Let's take a look at three of these planks.
a) Tuition-free college -- actually what will happen is that the limit will scale DOWN until it's another welfare program to be cut by Republicans with Democrat permission. This is how they get you -- universal entitlements are really the only way to go, because they are universal, whereas "welfare programs" are a way to give politicians an excuse to scrap programs they don't want the welfare bums to have.
b) "Carbon pricing" -- all you're doing is making it more expensive for people to get to work while at the same time trusting in THE ELITES to create an infrastructure which will make "carbon pricing" irrelevant when it is clearly AGAINST THEIR INTEREST to do so. It's not going to work. Try my suggestion here.
c) Supreme Court -- no, sorry, Clinton will appoint more Citizens United advocates.
In other words, some of it is really milk-and-water when strong Sri Lankan tea would be the minimum requirement.
3) Let's go back to what Gopal Balakrishnan said earlier this year on Facebook:
See, this is the real reason the Sanders stock is declining while the Trump stock is on the rise (even despite the fact that Trump himself is a boob and a buffoon). It's people such as hungeski, here, who THEMSELVES make Trump the shining alternative to more self-disempowering Establishment voting. "First we must elect the Establishment candidate, then we need to fight the Establishment." People like hungeski have been promising us a real fight for forty years now. Does anyone wonder anymore why such a strategy doesn't work?
As for Our Revolution? I saw the list of candidates. It looks nice. But it will fail to the extent that the candidates do what Sanders did this year -- which is to endorse the person who cheated him of victory.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
Thanks for addressing the essay in such a civil
and substantive way.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
I didn't make it all the way to the end of the comments
(wow!), but Betty and hungeski, AFAIAC you are welcome to express your views here, this is not a partisan site but an issues site. All sides of the issues need to be discussed.
But I also think that the platform is meaningless, as is "hold her feet to the fire" talk. What does Hill want more than anything? To be President. If you give her those votes despite everything, what do you have to offer her later? Nothing. She does not have to adhere to the platform, and she will take any protests as, "Meh. Where are they going to go?" just like she does now. She wants your vote. You give her that, you have zero leverage.
I don't hate Bern and I don't think most here do. He just made what most consider the wrong choice. So I don't follow him any more. I think he is dreaming if he thinks Hill will do anything he wants after she gets those votes.
If you really want to see Hill respond after November, then vote Jill Stein. A win for Jill is a win for America. A YUGE "protest vote" at least might make Hill sit up and take notice. If she's nervous about her chances for re-election, she may be responsive to "pressure," but for that to happen she has to come close to losing in November. If our calculations are wrong and Trump wins, there's no evidence that he'll be dramatically worse than Hill.
As Jill has said, we voted for the lesser evil and got all the things we voted against anyway, just a little slower.
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
I think we can all agree that the Democratic National Platform
... is a pretty good document, and the more of and faster we can put those policies in place, the better.
Hillary is on record as supporting that platform, and I think that, as a more-or-less average politician, she's not going to want to be seen going back on her word. But I think she will have to know that people are watching, which is why Bernie is hoping for "the progressive members of Congress, and hopefully millions of other people" to join him in keeping up the pressure.
Beyond that, there is the second term, and the youth wing that Sanders represented, and a president's concern for one's legacy. But the pressure beginning the day after the election and going forward is I think the most important.
"We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost
Was this snark? It had to be....
She has a long history of going back on her word, or flat out lying.
If you think she is going to do anything that the corporate overlords don't approve of I have some lovely land down here in Florida I would like to sell you.
I may even have a bridge laying around real cheap too...
She will do what the Clinton's have always done, work from within the Democratic Party to drag it further and further right...
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
No, this is snark ...
http://caucus99percent.com/comment/198512#comment-198512
"We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost
Not sure what your point is with that link and fail to see how
it rebuts my assertion.
The thing that should be snark is the entire democratic party.
The fact that they are so corrupt and despicable that people on the left side of the spectrum are willing to vote for an Ooompa Loompa with Tourette Syndrome SHOULD be snark, but sadly, due to the corruption level of their candidate this is happening quite a bit I bet, because I have heard similar statements from other people that I know that are even further left than me.
The general consensus is if they are going to get screwed over they would prefer to have it be from people that are not supposed to be their allies and believe that a Clinton presidency will set back progressives for at least as many decades as the last time we let one of those phony "liberals" in office.
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
Presidencies ranked
Just based on my impressions at the moment, here is my list of presidencies ranked from worst set back to best advance for progressives:
WORST SETBACK
1. Bush II
2. Reagan
3. Bush I
4. Ford
5. Clinton I
6. Nixon
NEUTRAL
7. Obama
8. LBJ
9. Carter
10. Ike
11. Truman
12. JFK
13. FDR
BEST ADVANCE
I think Spence/Trump would become the new #1 on the list, and Clinton II would come in somewhere from 4 to 9.
"We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost
That football has already been kicked
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Indeed - we should never
Indeed - we should never again vote for evil! And cannot afford to.
Although I personally still Bern and believe he's doing his best toward some greater good - and that he knows damn well that none of his more informed supporters would ever vote for the Clintons and therefore feels safe in 'campaigning' for her as a public reminder of what should be - needs to be - done and the fact that Hillary, however pressured, is not going to do anything but what her paymasters ordered. That is the first thought of every one of us aware of the situation and that's utterly predictable.
So you're taking that constantly renewed outrage, which might, in some, otherwise have diminished to apathy, and in many cases have voted/will vote for the only non-TPP-supporting, non-corporate, non-billionaire/multi-millionaire candidate out there.
If everyone was informed and voted their conscience and interests, Jill would have a landslide which would make a Hillary cheat utterly implausible; Hillary could be loudly mass-rejected by not only the people but internationally. No sane foreign leader wants to have to deal with her or Trump anyway.
Hell, Indies are the largest US voting group - the numbers of possible votes right there, in that group alone, would do it and we could all survive quite nicely. Otherwise, I really, really don't think we will at all.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
So, what exactly are you on, and can you let me know
where to get some? I'd like to be able to transport myself to lala-land at a whim during the terrible times that are to come, and if you believe the Democratic platform will come anywhere near being legislated into fruition, well, I want some of what you're on.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Moderation: let’s not get on the Insult Expressway. Thanks. n/t
Hungeski and Betty Pinson
are tag-teaming us and using Clintonesque tactics to herd us to the Dems, aka Hill $ Bill, Inc. It is pure propaganda, the Big Lie repeated over and over again until they wear us down and we surrender. Salespeople use the technique also: agree with the target, sound sane and reasonable ("Stronger Together"), move in for the sale. So peeps, just stop responding to these Hillbots and this essay will close. Stop wasting your good energy on this exercise in futility.
Big Lie
I'll leave aside the rest of your ludicrous characterization, but not your charge of "Big Lie".
For that you have to be specific. Anything less would be cowardly.
"We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost
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