Sanders: 21st Century Hamlet?
Classic Greek tragedy lives on today in real life. Lacking the moral fortitude demanded of a leader, Bernard of the 40 acre wood, has abdicated or abandoned many opportunities to lead. How many times? Recounting his numerous failures is unnecessary. Such a recital will either dismay or enrage those who loved or loved Bernie, the unbrave.
Earlier, I expressed remorse at the abandonment of the field of combat by Warrior Tulsi. My purpose is not to dwell on her withdrawal from combat against the political tyranny of the DNC. My purpose is to give an an analysis for your consideration about the dearth of moral fortitude of Mr. Sanders, who is more suitable to be the Mr. Rogers in his own 40 acre wood. Play with the bears possessing very little brain, as Pooh laments knowingly. Bernie, you are not up to fighting with the big boys and big girls in the bloodsport known as politics.
I come not to bury Bernie, for he is doing an admirable job of forfeiting whatever moral suasion he may have once possessed. Bernie is in the process of making his own bed at the bottom of a 6 foot deep political grave from which he will never re-emerge. Should we sing mourningful dirges at his self-entombment? No. I will not raise my voice to remember fallen heroes with feet of clay. Many here still believe in the holiness of the cause. Yes, I do believe in many Sandernista ideas but the messenger is weak, timid, cowardly. Sling your stones and arrows at me, ye faithful apostles. My armor is the sure and certain knowledge that Bernard Sanders was never a leader. Yes, an inspiring orator to whom I listened on TV and in person. But depth of vision unaccompanied by moral strength is useless. B.S. is not and never has been the leader many of us yearn for.
Once again, no recitation of his numerous failings here. I am not sadistic, although some may view this essay as such. Nor am I masochistic, having resigned myself to Warrior Tulsi abandoning the field (though I do relish her poison pill "support" for Hidin' Biden).
Please consider this video from the Duran 3/29/20 - The tragedy of Hamlet, the tragedy of Bernie.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5p_jLZrksM]
The usual modus descensus of Greek tragic figures was hubris. Alas, Bernie was not filled with enough hubris. If he were, perhaps then he would manifest more spine. He is bereft of that anatomical structure which allows mammals to maintain an upright posture. Bernie always stops short when the opportunity its to inflict severe blows to his opponents presented. But, again, you may fill in your own choice of the numerous examples of his failure to vigorously promote his ideas where it counts and when it counts. Giving fiery speeches to adoring followers is no substitute for taking decisive action.
Don't tell me what you believe. Let your actions show what you believe.
Return to the 40 acre wood, Mr. Sanders. Play with Pooh, Tigger, Eyore and Owl. Retire to your living room, gaze into the logs slowly burning, and see your dreams of righteousness filling the land travel up the chimney with all the heat once devoted to your vision. Visions in the mist. Mirage.
Comments
Too late. Too late. The fall has occurred
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulNgVRMflTI]
He's a victim of abuse
He has lived as a Socialist in a sea of ravenous, punishing Democratic corporatists his whole life. He has had a career in politics only because he has learned to defer to his masters. He is in a constant state of emotional fear that they will take away to keys to the car. He has existed because he makes himself acceptable to the Democratic establishment. But, again, we understood this and hoped beyond hope that he would succeed and bring about radical change. At least his values are consistent and honest, even if he lacks the fortitude to push through. Perhaps if he had been more aggressive, then he would have had no success at all. Or, perhaps he would be leading a surging third party today. Who knows? I do like him infinitely more than Clinton or Obama who are complete frauds.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
Bernie's heart is or was in the right place
Your assessment of being allowed to drive the family car every so often is quite appropriate. From the mists, now for all to see, is the underlying authoritarian state of the Democratic Party. FDR, Truman and JFK were aberrations of the great tradition of Jim Crow, KKK, and demonization which are the true legacies of the Democratic Party. The JFK-FDR idealism (tempered with practicality) has been the camouflage worn by the Dem Partei before FDR and since JFK. Woodrow Wilson is exemplar of that deceitful, lying Dem code of "ethics". How long has it taken for the masses of ant volk to realize this. Now the genie can not be shoved back into the bottle. All who will look, have seen the ugliness and sheer corruption of the "Left" wing Partei. Can any honest citizen, who bothers to inform his/herself of reality ever again believe the nonsense spewed by the Party of the Ass? My fellow swampers, whom I hold in great respect, you know the reality of this. Preach to the choir. Wasted effort. You know. And I comprehend that you know the true state of affairs. Real Politik is cruel, uncaring, dispositive of the masses, supportive and enabling of the rich. Jesus was correct in throwing the money changers from the temple. But J.C. was so wrong if saying the meek shall inherit the earth. If viruses and bacteria are considered meek, then he was correct. If J.C. referred to humans, then he was wrong. It is not within the realm of life that humans shall ever be "perfected", however that perfection is thought to consist.
His failure is our failure
This applies to us all, not just to those who engender disappointment in us. Bottom up, not top down.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
So true my dear Ovals
In the common but private delusional states in which we live, self-deception is essential to maintain ourselves in a cruel world. Cruel is not the proper word. Better is the word Uncaring. Credo in unum deo--nyet. There is no god except those which the rich would have us worship. Who is it that said religion is what prevents the poor from murdering the rich? Nappy, perhaps. The same "Great Man of History" who ordered the slaughter of 40,000 inhabitants of Acre who had surrendered to Nappy's invading army. Even those French soldiers participating in this carnage, on the whole, were revulsed by this extermination of innocent lives.
Is anyone truly innocent? Holy father Sobek, those who are innocent cast the first stone. We all sin in various ways to varying degrees. Is life a zero sum game? There are those who wish making it so. Pay it forward instead. Make of the human situation better than you find it. But be certain that your good deeds, humanity, empathy will be erased at first opportunity by the evil ones born every century, every decade.
Nappy was just following the example of Coeur-de-Lion
who did essentially the same thing at the same place about 600 years earlier.
Regrettably, humans seem to be incapable of learning from history. Especially when it comes to things they should not do.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Maybe more Don Quixote
We're his Sancho Panza, and the DNC is the Duke and Duchess, pranking him all the way. He believes in a mythical government. It's the dems playing field, their ball and their rules. We should have been more soccer hooligan than spectator.
As you say "Don't tell me what you believe. Let your actions show what you believe."
Pffff, you swiped that from r/WayOfThe Bern
who swiped it from one of those half-baked anti-Bernie articles floating around.
I thought you had more originality than that.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Incorrect, my dear Maven,
Credit for my essay should in large part be given to The Duran. They put my thoughts into a more cogent form than I could have done. I do not consult any other forums devoted to Bernie adulation or evaluation, by which to shape my opinions.
If my essay is redolent of other web sites, blogs, opinion sites, it is by parallel evolution based upon empiric facts, supported by experience, and of course a healthy dose of Real Politik.
Bernie has failed us.
As have all the recent progressive "heroes". I present to you their latest, and possibly worst, capitulation; the abomination of a Behemoth corporate bailout/coup, trailing crumbs for actual humans, which was voted FOR by everyone. I include the House in that, because no one stood up and demanded a roll call vote.
Bring back Mayor Kucinich, preferably infused with the spirit of Alan Grayson. Or, more likely, watch as an American Mao rises.
Commander Cheeto is assuming Mao-like obeisance
Fear not the death squads of earlier cultural revolutions. Social shunning and cancellation are the new punishments. Some may find this ostracism more painful and demoralizing than a death by authority.
El Trumpo is stealing hearts because he is of forked tongue. One part of his protruding verbiage is the sound of the Sirens, beckoning the smitten to their demise. The more publicly appreciated portion is the ability which Trump possess par excellence to speak as if he were one of us. This is in the same manner and intent of Bubba, who fatuously stated: "I feel your pain". This sentence was an incomplete statement. Because Wild Bill should have stated, more completely: "I feel your pain because I am causing so much of it".
Actually, I wasn't referring to Trump,
but rather to someone currently unknown, who leads a real revolution to bring down the corporate state.
Bernie's influence on this country will show up
down the road with the next generation IF they stay active and give a shit.
I still think he is the best candidate to come down the pike in my whole life, and I am not in the mood to bash him.
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
FT, Bernie's Revolution is dead
It died along with his lack of fortitude and combativeness in the cause of equality, justice and humane life. A new Revolutionary must be found. Bernie is dead and buried politically. He is yet too vital, although ineffective, to be interred. But his movement is dead. Dead movement walking as it were.
Look elsewhere for your Savior. Bernie ain't it. In 4 years, Bernie shall be as if he never existed.
Always with the negative waves, Moriarty!
[video:https://youtu.be/Wu2ug--bFPI]
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.
Like I said....not in the mood.
I'll tell you what though.... when YOU find that SAVIOR, let us all know.
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
Bernie hasn't failed us,
because he has given us HIS very best. Yes, he is getting beaten. But who is doing better?
At an Occupy gathering years ago this great artist (Ricardo Levins Morales?) planted a powerful thought in my head. He said, "you know how people say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results? I suggest that is wrong. When the soft water crashes into the shore, throwing all of its weight and might against the shoreline over and over again, you might question that it could shape the coast. But look for yourselves and you can see the evidence. Where water has challenged mighty rocky coasts, even they show that the water has worn them down and shaped them mightily."
Sanders is that wave crashing upon the shore. We are failing ourselves if we think that one wave crashing the shore will be all it takes. He has pushed as hard as he can within the parameters set out by his character and morality.
And those parameters are both his strong point and his weak point. Yes, it is frustrating to see him refer to some as "my friend" when they surely are not. But that is who he is and he is going to stick with it. He has no reason to be my friend! He has never met me. Doesn't know my struggles or concerns. But he is. And just like he can be a friend to a total stranger he can be a friend to a political opponent. It is not Bernies failure that humanity can't see that. It is humanities failure.
With all sorts of free time on my hands now (cant work by state mandate for 6 weeks) I have been at You Tube too much. I clicked on a weird video last week and have subsequently watched hours of this stuff. (Hangs head in embarrassment). "Rockhoppers, hill climbing". These people with 1000 horsepower all wheel drive souped up off road vehicles try to climb the most challenging hill they can find. They power up and charge the hill. Often a dirt and rock mix, maybe an old dry riverbed coming off a mountain. Huge wheels churning earth they power up and up, bouncing over huge boulders, careening off trees, up and up, steeper and steeper until they can go no more. Many get stopped by a 10 foot sheer rock wall, an old waterfall. They bounce against it tires smoking and trying to use every bit of horsepower to get their rig to somehow climb the unclimbable. At some point they spin out, or they flip over backwards or sideways and tumble down the hill. But then there is one that makes it across the finish line. Hits the rocks with enough speed and bounces just right, maintains power and trajectory and somehow clears the course.
Thats where leftists are. The roadside is littered with those who haven't/couldn't do more. Debs didn't get this close to the presidency. MLK got shot. MSM won't let Rev Barber become as popular as MLK. Kucinich got sidelined, Gabbards fell into a trap, Ghandi assassinated, Christ crucified, Wellstone got airplaned, etc etc. The ditch is littered. The hill is unclimbable. The shoreline to rocky.
I submit anyone who throws themselves into the battle is not a failure. The only failures are those who refuse to fight.
I love your comment
Ghandi, Wellstone, Kucinich. Yes small waves crashing upon the shore. Eventually the wear upon the shore becomes unsustainable and the beach front crumbles. Cliffs fall into the sea. But we are talking about millennial, not decades or even centuries.
The old order must die. Preparation for destruction of the old order takes lengthy preparations, such as the ceaseless pounding of the waves provides. But the final collapse is never gentle. When the cliffs fall from their heights, the collapse will be sudden, powerful, relating all the pent energy provided by millennia of wave action.
Are we as a civilization close to causing the hills to tumble into the sea? Please fetch my crystal ball and cross my palm with silver, then I shall tell you what you wish to hear. But first, tell me what you desire to happen, after which I shall script you a personal message attuned to your desires. And to the next inquirer seeking future knowledge, I shall craft another message of hope and love suitable to that person's aspirations.
"He staked his position on an indefensible hill
against superior forces who gave no quarter. He and his men died for us!"
That's the American ideal of a hero and a leader. Right? He gave his all for us. Isn't that, right there, the kind of leader who we look up to in America? How sad that the general and his command all died but they did it so we could be free. They sacrificed for us! How noble!
Fucking drivel. Just like winning is the only thing. Or they died trying. It's typical short game thinking like always focusing on the end of this quarter's earnings is in modern era business. Everything looks great right now but who cares if the whole thing will implode in a few quarters if we keep doing this idiocy. Hey, the leaders will get theirs and be gone by then but WOW! what a quarter!
"For us?" Isn't that how we're always grading our leaders. What they're doing for us right now, right this minute? That leader has worked his entire life for the betterment of all of us but what has he done for me today? Oh. He failed. That's right he failed us. Fuck him.
Sorry guys but this shit's getting tedious. And painfully predictable. Replace leader and general with Bernie and we have a condensed version of AE's latest try at an artful takedown.
Personally I couldn't care what he or any of us thinks of the man Bernie Sanders. Bernie's come closer to changing the minds of Americans about the way the US government operates and what we should expect from those who we elect to leadership positions than anybody in America. Ever. We and they have to get fed up enough with how life is in the US and become willing to change how we think and act for anything to change. Our opponents know that and are willing to sow fear and hate, lie, cheat, steal, prey on ignorance, and do any scummy damn thing they can think up. That's hard to fight and maintain any kind of ethics or not become just like those whose minds we need to change. Yet Bernie has gotten to many of the ignorant, the fearful, and those who are susceptible to and victims of the tactics of our opponents. He's gotten to many who would seem to be our allies too. He's quite possibly got the support to win the presidency if he could get on the ballot. Those, supposed allies - but not - and powerful political enemies, in power would, will, stop at nothing to prevent him winning. They seem to have won the day but it isn't over. This past year has had a lot of crazy....surprises and other stuff. What next?
My whole point is that great leaders learn to fight the good fight, preserve their power, and live to fight again. Yeah, sometimes it's worth leaving it all on the battlefield. That time is almost always when the final battle will decide the war. This isn't it. Each of us has our opinion about how Bernie should act. Maybe he should go ballistic and be a selfish dick like just about everyone in politics but isn't it up to the guy in the battle to decide? When there's a guy like Bernie who has spent his entire adult life with the interests of all of the people in mind, we have to let him decide and suck it the fuck up. There is always tomorrow.
This is the long fight. I doubt Bernie, or me really and I'm not that old, will live to see it to a victory. Hell, Bernie winning the presidency won't be the victory. That would only be where the real fight begins. Bernie's power is in his ideas, ethics, and integrity. He has a choice of doing what is right or doing what feels good to you but probably not to him. He has moral courage and will accept a defeat but keep fighting rather than abandon a lifetime's work. He did in 2016 and I have no doubt he will again. His strength, AE and many may disagree, is that he keeps fighting and moving forward.
By the way, lay off Tulsi. I get it people are disappointed. Suck it up. Right now there is nobody who shows more promise to carry Bernie's banner, along with a few tasty tidbits of her own, than her. This is a long campaign for better lives for all Americans. It is up to us. Whoever carries on after Bernie is no more is only a leader, one person.
The real fight is for the hearts, minds, and better lives for people not a fucking election or any leader.
Edits for clarity. I had to run off before editing properly (like it's right now...HA!) and be busy during this boring excitement we call life during a pandemic.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
I got chill bumps reading parts of your wonderful comment
I'll add something else people are ignoring and that is that so far every State that has voted so far have voted for 'Medicare for All'. Bernie planted those seeds,along with many others, all across this Country and from that some day the people will benefit.
That said, what's bothering me a lot these days are all the progressive YouTube programs hosted by people that have never ran for public offices but spend their time pontificating on what Bernie Sanders should, or should not do, as if they know the full context behind his choices.
Like with every other human, bad choices will be made but you can't just like part of somebody, you have to consider the whole person's choices and at age 69 I can say I haven't known of one person in politics with such sincerity for helping everyone, without exception, that has ever gotten this close to the Presidency.
Thanks again for your comment, and I'd like to know if you care if I copy it to share elsewhere.
Please use it as you wish.
I don't know if Bernie ever was taught that what other people think of us is none of our business but he seems to follow that sage advice.
He also usually follows the wisdom of Samuel Clements. It goes something like, Never explain. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
R. Kipling: Triumph & Disaster = 2 impostors—treat ’em the same
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if---
Thank you ll, for this perfectly matching Kipling poem
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
...
Planting seeds
That is the appropriate metaphor. How many years elapse before the tiny acorn becomes the mighty oak? This depends upon circumstance beyond control of rigid models. Climate, weather, soil characteristic, wind, sunlight are all determinants of how the acorn prospers or not. Where each acorn falls is happenstance. Internal characteristics of the acorn help predict survival. But the quality of survival depends upon facts independent of that acorn's physical make up.
Hopefully, this metaphor is not too opaque for meaning to be ascertained. Spread vtcc's message as far as you wish. It is a strong one. We needs dissemination of ideas far and wide. Hopefully, some will fall onto ground enabling the message to flourish.
vtcc, I have upvoted your comment
Yes, you say many of the things I think quite well. Your military analogies are excellent. And thank your for saying that my anti-Bernie sentiments are "artful". To be clear, I once was inspired by Bernie, the individual. But, now, showing his current lack of moral fortitude, I have lost faith in the messenger. I have not lost the desire to see the message realized.
The revolution must occur. Change in the current system will not occur gradually. My partner delights in saying "planting seeds" and in this she is correct. From the tiny acorn etc. Has one failed to notice that roots of a tree, oak or not, slowly force the sidewalk upwards. The strain first appears at the cracks, after which pavers are slowly elevated on both sides of the crack. Beware, travelers when traversing such uneven ground, lest you trip on the distorted footing.
Looking back into history, we see numerous examples of initiators of movements not living to see completion of their goals until the next generation, long after they perished. Consider Moses who despite envisioning the promised land, did not live to dwell in it himself. Skipping ahead several millennia, MLK showed the way, but he never lived to see the world he so fervently endeavored to create.
Flesh is weak. Mine, yours, all of us. Sure, I can talk a tough game. But I didn't possess either the vision nor aptitude to craft and deliver the message of true populism. Bernie is one man who did both. But the way of all flesh is weakness and decay. Loss of vigor is inevitable to those whose lives end as nature decided, absent war and pestilence. Bernie has lost his. The reasons Mr. Sanders is now not the man he once was is irrelevant. The fact is evident.
My continued participation on c99 is evidence that I still possess hope.
vtcc, your comment proves that you still possess hope.
Dum spiro, spero.
Good on ya mate.
That's a tremendously humble comment. Thank you.
I have no doubt that we're kindred spirits in many ways. I see the pain of disappointment in your writing. I feel your frustration with process and people. I feel your empathy for those suffering the pain of living shitty lives where that kind of suffering doesn't have to exist except for the cruelty and selfishness of a very few and the cold hearted indifference of way too many. I get you and can usually look beyond the lashing out. You have that art down cold. That's a compliment.
Faith? Nope. I reject faith. I prefer ideas and principles. Hope? I have a view of hope that seems different from many people. I think the core of my relationship with hope is that it isn't that easy. It's not a plan. Change, like life, is hard and wishing won't make anything so.
What I have is a good relationship with powerlessness, acceptance, and gratitude and an acquaintance with how they have shaped my life into what it is today.
All I can say is that maybe we'll all catch this bug and die. Or maybe that damn killer asteroid will finally show up. Then nothing will matter. No...wait that's not right.
OK I think I might have it back together again.
During my darker moments I can give in to despair and worry about almost anything. I always get sorted out by trying to help others and recognize that I can only do what I can do based on who I am at that moment. I have to get out of myself. I have to accept what is and work to do, be, better myself. I can accept that I'm powerless to change anything but myself and work to do what's right. That is, be grateful things aren't worse and keep doing what I can to make life better for others. At the end of the day that's all there is.
AE, man, keep fighting. You'll get over the frustration and disappointment. The bastards only win when you let them get to you. The fuckers aren't worthy of that kind of power over you. I won't give them that power, why would you?
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
I think we are misunderstanding Bernie
He never expected or intended to win. He is not Napoleon, he wants to be Christ. If he had been a revolutionary conqueror President Sanders would have been obstructed at every turn and either abandoned by a disenchanted multitude or assassinated. He would have gone down in history not as Washington, but as Che, or even worse as "just another Obama". Instead he chose to stick to his (functionally inadequate) moral principles and by his stubborn martyrdom found a religion that will eventually become overwhelming. It will not be his fault that Homo Sapiens will drive itself into extinction before that happens.
On to Biden since 1973
doh, 2020 edition: so well put
I choose without further comment to reproduce it whole. Thank you.
Oh look! More Bernie Bashing.
And all against a guy who's simply trying to get us free health care.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Bernie is / was about more than M4A
Note my small disappointment that your gif did not include perfume scents from the boudoir. Perhaps my motivations in writing this essay and prior comments have escaped you. For that, I apologize. Once again, perhaps with capitalization, I must say: the message is correct but the messenger is no longer able.
If that does not clarify the issue, please inform as to how this idea might be more propitiously phrased to ensure better understanding.
I immersed myself in politics due to my intense approbation of Bernie's message. This is the message of a liberal populism by the people, for the people. His message, even today is grander than simply M4A. Yet, the messenger's courage has departed, even though the message itself is still vibrant.
Does this explanation soothe you? I hope so. I am all in about M4A. And about so many other things which used to be named "Progressive" whatever the Hell that means anymore.
Save your breath Ed.
I no longer have any tolerance for clever anti-Bernie sophistry from people who think a productive use of their limited time of earth is to obsessively criticize the one politician who actually gives a shit about their well being.
I'm sorry Bernie doesn't fit your preferred ideal of avenging Warrior-Philospher-King, but to make that your raison-d'etre for another gloating round of premature grave dancing is to me nothing more than a sick joke by someone who seriously needs to re-examine his priorities in life.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Perhaps you should run for President Ed...
surely you're a better man than Bernie. Right?
@JtC right. That was one
right. That was one point I missed in my rant. Who has done better against such formidable foes? All who have raised their hands should step forward.
Bernie can only do what Bernie can do. Others need to step up. Run for office Ed!
Wouldsman
politely I inquire of you, are you part of the noted trio of the Hopeful: "Shudda, Cudda, Wudda"? No matter to which choir you lend your voice, please consider response to my liege JtC which is situated below this reply.
Sincerely, I have no choice but to spend most of my ambulatory time crawling on my belly like a reptile.
But, instead, Woodsy, I leave you with a musical description of my prowess or lack thereof.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08LaL6AEDw0]
My Sovereign and righteous liege Lord
It is to you and Joe that I humbly present my ideas for public display. Indeed, JtC, without c99, I should be banging my head against the stones lining the beach of my swamp. But thanks for your kind suggestion.
I must remind you, good sir, that I am an alligator and not a human being. Thus, although I crawl on my belly, just as most craven politicians do when beseeching their donors, I would not qualify to stand or crawl for election to Potentate of the United Swamps of Amerika. Truly, I should love dominion of all I survey, eating the choicest morsels available, served up by adoring female gators. Yet I fear that the Constitution of our Demokratik Republik, precludes reptiles from holding such high office.
I do not refrain from reminding you, L.L., that an attempt was made in 2016 to place a Giant Rodent on the throne. This failed on the grounds that said Rodent was too detestable for the majority of politically brainwashed voters to tolerate. For myself, I love rodents, the larger the better. I am not fond of hor's d'ouvres.
But, JtC, should you decide to champion my reptilian self for the highest office in these United Swamps, I shall confer with you as a plain of action. Until then, my goal is to sun on the shore, awaiting arrival of herons within a few yards of my resting place.
Should I decide upon pursuing higher office, then perhaps a catchy slogan would be in order. How about this one: "Sink or swim, we're all in it together, slurp?!"
Every elected official in DC
voted for that theft of our tax dollars.
All of them are greedy, craven bastards.
Bernie stands out because he is the only one of the lot running for president at the time of the vote.
The only people who had any influence and input into that bill were corporate lobbyists and CEO's.
We 99% were not included in the process of writing it, we were given no ability to protest.
I heard on The Jimmy Dore Show that our health insurance premiums are expected to increase by 40% next year.
The entities that did were the ones who benefitted from it.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981