This moment in time...................
I have been thinking about this for a long while, even BB-before Bernie. It is the culmination of so many election cycles where we were forced to vote for the lesser of two evils, again and again. I had been uncomfortable with the process for some years, spurred by the death of JFK. I felt at the time that we had experienced a coup, I waited, but things didn't seem to change too much. Life went on, at least for us, Doctor Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy all went down in quick succession leaving the liberal base of the Democratic Party rudderless.
Fast forward to the 2000 election and all the elections since, we end up with the same set of results with both parties. No one wanted war in Iraq (that had any sense of what happened on 9-11) but we got it. Howard Dean stood up against war in 2004 and was flattened by his own party, we got Kerry who begot a second Bush term. Obama appeared, almost by magic, from nowhere in 2008. Liberals flocked to a person they thought was a liberal. He was a blank canvas and he allowed us to paint him with hope and change, when he had no hope of change in him, just more of the same. Now we are again faced with the odious Hillary Clinton who presents herself as the last, best hope of the Democrats. No one believes that, not even the people cheering her on who are either lacking information, have something to gain from Hillary; or, worse, have a lot to lose from Hillary's reprisals should she be elected and find they broke ranks. Hillary is talking like a liberal, but will change her tune once she gets the nomination. Hillary is easily the most war-like of them all. She makes Bush/Cheney and Obama look like amateurs when it comes to creating chaos and toppling countries.
So here we are. Bernie Sanders is putting up a great fight against the Democratic/Republican machines and the Main Stream Media. Against all odds, he has come this far and has inspired millions of Americans to believe there has to be a better way, that we can take on the oligarchy if we stick together. He has fought an uphill battle against the Hillary machine that has been able to steal votes at every turn and to "lock up" delegates for the future. The whole Democratic machine, including the Great Satan have pulled back the curtain to show how the party really works. How they will deny anyone other than the annointed one by any means possible. That there is nothing to sleazy too get Hillary into the WH. Many Republicans are fine with that. They will take Hillary over Trump, because she is reliably corporate and will wage war at the drop of a hat if it pleases the military/industrial complex.
I would like to think that somehow Bernie Sanders will be able to pull off some sort of revolution within the Democratic Party, but the hopes of that are fading as Hillary closes ranks and marches toward the nomination. With all his delegates, Bernie should and could impact the planks for the party. Will any of them see the light of day, once he has been eliminated? Not a chance. Hillary will go back to being Hillary, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DNC will find more creative ways to eliminate anyone who would buck the machine in the future.
We are at that moment in time...................does Bernie knuckle under and embrace Hillary for president? Will the wonder of what has taken place in this moment in time be just a memory? Will all those hopeful people who have risen to take the bait time and time again have their dreams crushed under the boots of the machine? The scales have dropped from our eyes, we have seen for ourselves that the system is rigged, does Bernie have an option beyond slipping into the shadows? He is 74 years old, this moment, this momentum, the contributions, the enthusiasm has all come together for a self-described socialist to move this country into a new era. Will he risk being called a turncoat by the Democrats if he moves to a third party? Who cares. We will not see this opportunity again, we must grab hold of it and do whatever it takes. Even in defeat, we need a third party to break the stranglehold the duopoly has on the elections. As JFK said: “If not us, who? If not now, when?”
Comments
We need something.
What that ends up looking like is anybody's guess. I'm going to caucus on Sunday for delegates to support Bernie at the convention and can't wait for my ballot to arrive in the mail for the primary.
NoHum feelin' the Bern!
peace
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
I'd say no
"...does Bernie knuckle under and embrace Hillary for president?"
As I recall, all Bernie promised to do was to work against a Republican taking the White House. There are many ways to honor this pledge without embracing Hillary's campaign.
Let's just use Drumpf as the example. If Hillary wins the nomination, Bernie directs all of his people to expose Drumpf for the corporatist he is. Present the evidence that he opposes everything the Middle Class once stood for. Then put the question before the voters: "Is THIS Who You Want For President?" No one ever has to mention a word one way or the other about Hillary to do this.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Isn't Hillary a Republican?
Beware the bullshit factories.
Yup!
http://usuncut.com/politics/npr-interview-hillary-clinton-was-proud-of-h...
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
It's all semantics..We still get Hillary!.................n/t
Tipping Point
I often have wondered when (and if) critical elements collide will we be able to seize the moment and "turn the tide". I too have been fighting the fight for a long time. The JFK, then later MLK's, and Bobby's assassinations made me very angry with the world. Put to a higher purpose maybe that anger could push others to a better understanding. Ah, to be young and naive. But, honestly, is pragmatic idealistic optimism a thing‽
I just keep repeating the mantra: "If we vote for him, he will win." If the last few states could go all in we still might have a chance to really make a difference this time.
ORE and CAL could be yuge turnout and make HRC
non-viable and all delegates go to Bernie. That is what the Hill Shills are so worried about. He is going to close the gap rapidly through the rest of the primaries.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020
This is what I keep hoping.
A really big win in California and Oregon would be so very poetic in so many ways. I love poetic, but mostly expect it in the Science Fiction I read as real life rarely delivers like the masters.
So, I await the future with breathless anticipation.
I haven't given up on the nomination...................
I'm looking ahead. I'm still contributing to his campaign and cheering him on and hoping for the best. If that doesn't happen, I don't want to be standing there at the end of July wondering what to do next. It would be too late at that point to really mount a third-party run. It would have to be in the works, NOW.
It won't be too late to vote for Jill Stein
Jill Stein may not have a lot of experience in Government but at least she is actively good and not actively evil which would be enough to prevent more Hillary corruption and wars. Our Country would be much better off with a naive politician who embraces the greater good than a very connected and Washington savvy politician who has evil policies.
Beware the bullshit factories.
We need to hear more chatter.
I would like to hear more from "the great unwashed" of Oregon and California. Are there any particularly good sources to listen in on the chatter out there?
Oh ye of little faith
They want you to think it is over. It ain't over. Do not give in. Do not buy the MSM line. We have a run at this and we need all energies focused to succeed. Don't let them rob us. Don't let them rob your spirit!
From http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/D-PU.phtml
We are 295 elected delegates behind with 1016 to go. The 14 remaining contests look very favorable to us. Keep working toward victory. $Hillary ain't the nominee, she's the proclaimed nominee. Prove them wrong like we have from the start of the Bernie movement!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Exactly, if he was no threat, they wouldn't be so anxious...
to get him to drop out now. They know he can win out West, and maybe in California they don't have their corrupt infrastructure in place to cheat. At any rate, he can certainly interfere with the perception that the Dems have crowned Hillary as their Queen.
Its not over until its over, and you don't give up the moment things become difficult. That's the time to fight even harder. Every time Bernie loses, especially is these very shady situations recently, I send more money.
On to contrary, I have a great deal of faith..........
I believe we actually have a candidate that is so rare in this horrible time, that we must make every effort and every contingency effort to get him into the WH. We cannot just hope that he will pull out the nomination, and we can't let the DNC think that if he doesn't get it, we are all going to come running to Hillary. They need to understand that we are through with the duopoly and will fight for something better.
Once there is a viable third party with a progressive agenda
I think current progressive politicians who are stuck in the Democratic Party will have no compunction about abandoning it and joining the much less corrupt new party.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Time to think outside the box.
We all understand how elections work. There are x number of candidates. The candidate with the most votes (delegates) wins, in this case, the nomination. Presently, our candidate has fewer delegates than another candidate. So that other candidate may win the nomination. Does that mean we're done? Absolutely not!!!
Because this isn't about one election. This is a movement. Those willing to accept incrementalism probably aren't hungry, or don't care about those who are. We who care need to get lots of caring people elected so our country will no longer have hungry people. Based on Maslow's theory, that's where we start; the basics.
Although it seems the story about the frog in boiling water is a myth, the concept is what's happened over time. When I was young, my mother didn't work. She was educated (amazing, considering the time), but she chose to be a stay-at-home parent. She could make that choice because my father was able to earn enough to support her and three children on one salary. When we were young, he was a social worker. As now, social workers weren't well paid. But we were the average middle class family.
Over time, one salary wasn't enough to support a family. More and more (usually) women entered the workforce. Some were pursuing fields in which they were educated, but many were forced into whatever job they could find because the family needed the income. Now we've become accustomed to two-income families. Only Ann Romney can make the choice to raise her family without having to work. Now we think that's the way it's supposed to be. Everyone pulling their weight. And, maybe it is. Maybe I need to stop dreaming about my childhood when the street was filled with happy kids playing. No childcare needed. No latchkey kids. I don't even remember hearing about homelessness until Reagan came along. We kept adapting and adapting until it became what it is today. And only Bernie is talking about going back to the days when kids played in the street after school. When college was free or inexpensive. When there were jobs that didn't require a college education, but paid well nonetheless. And had benefits like vacations, and sick leave, and health insurance, and pensions----all brought to you by unions.
When you've lived it, it's very hard to listen to some fool tell you over and over that you're not realistic, and what you want can never be. IT CAN BE, DAMMIT!! Because it was, so it can be again.
This isn't over. The youth have gotten a taste of what's possible, and they're not ready to let loose. And it's our job to encourage them. Encourage them to continue to be active. To run for office. To never stop demonstrating. Because that's the only thing that has ever brought change in this country (or probably any country).
Sorry for the rant. I guess I've been stifled for waaaay too long.
Happy, this is exactly spot on
My maternal grandparents had no education at all. They were not well off, lived through the depression, but my grandfather was able to run a small farm, work as a house painter, and keep his wife and children healthily fed and clothed, and even pay for dental school for my uncle.
My paternal grandparents also had no education, but owned a farm down South and raised EIGHT children running that farm.
Next, my parents. My dad graduated high school but no higher education. My mom the same. They got government jobs where they met, but my Mom never worked once they married, although later she did real estate part-time and does to this day. My dad stayed with the government until he was offered early retirement in the early 90s. He has a pension for life, health coverage for life, and brings in 70K a year without lifting a finger. I was raised solid middle class, maybe even on the low edge of upper middle class. (oh yeah, and of course they are conservative Republicans, because its not fair for anyone to get hand outs... sigh...)
Now, my siblings and myself. My older sister went into government, she's almost qualified for retirement now, but can't retire because they got rid of pensions and went for individual retirement accounts in the market. If she retires, she'll have to keep working in the private sector. My younger sister got a masters degree and does very well, but both her and her husband have to work, and she's the breadwinner. I got my bachelors degree, and do ok as a programmer, but I'm the least "successful" of the three kids, and even on two salaries, there's no way my husband and I could afford to raise kids.
The lives all of us siblings are living are miles away from the lives our parents had. We all work way too much, and we make far less in terms of buying power than my parents did.
I don't understand how they can pretend its not possible when a whole bunch of us have seen it and live it.
I think this is about one election AND a movement
A president can do a lot of damage to the World and there has already been too much damage done, we've run out of time and can't afford the additional damage that an establishment president would bring.
Beware the bullshit factories.