Do I think for a moment that if Sanders becomes president that he will get Medicare for all? Free higher education? Universal childcare?
Not for a second.
A couple of hurdles first. I don’t think Sanders gets the nomination until he can secure Super Tuesday, which I think he will.
He also has to beat Trump, which I think is possible.
But the Senate and Congress both have to have big wins with the Democrats in November to secure Sanders’ agenda.
Okay, so let’s pretend Sanders is sworn is as president #46 and the Dems control both houses. What than?
What has been frustrating me the most is that we ‘need a moderate’ for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. If there is one thing we don’t need, is a moderate. We tried that strategy last time, progressives were not energized and they didn’t vote in key states. Many polls showed after the election in 2016 if Sanders would have been the nominee he would have beat Trump. Sanders is just as progressive today as he was back then. Little has changed with Bernie, and that is why so many people support him.
Moderate candidates want to continue to sell you the ‘status quo’ like expanding the ACA and making college education ‘more affordable’. Whatever that looks like.
What Sanders is proposing is we ask for the most and negotiate down from there. Isn’t that what you do when buying or selling a house? A car? You don’t ask for the least and expect to get what you really want. When I see the moderate candidates argue their agenda in this way, I just shake my head.
Sanders knows he won’t get all he is asking for, but if you don’t ask, you will never know.
What I think will happen is a deal where people can sign up for Medicare if they don’t want their private insurance. Personally, I think it will be so wildly popular that within 5 years you will see very few people keeping private insurance unless they are super wealthy. The best and most efficient way to solve our healthcare crisis in this country is by covering everyone, 100%. This would achieve this goal. This is what is mandated in Germany.
As for free college education, keep dreaming Bernie. But what I do see is free technical education, and maybe half of college tuition covered with maybe government loans at 0 or 1% interest. I could see a scenario that if you are at a certain income level, college would be more affordable or partially free.
As for universal childcare, this could be achievable, but there are a lot of moving parts. Personally I am opposed. Having children is essentially a choice, and when you make that decision, you should be prepared to make sacrifices financially. What I could see happening is longer paid leave for mothers and fathers and universal pre-k education. This would narrow the gap of time you would need a child care provider.
Like I said, Bernie may not get everything he is asking for, but it is a great strategy, because you never get anything unless you ask first.
Paid parental leave is achievable with bipartisan support. One solution is very simple: update the unemployment code to make a new child an even that would trigger an unemployment claim. Employers are paying the premium already.
If certain industries can take four or five or six months off each winter and get paid, then we can figure out how to do this for 12-16 weeks for new parents.
Sanders comes across with socialism. He’s to old. What’s needed is a two term president and he’ll not make it. I met him 10 years ago when I was planning a communications system for Vermont. He impressed me then and would now. However, it’ll take a better candidate to beat Trump.
Going to college is a choice as well so I can’t support free or partially free college. 4 year degrees aren’t essential to make a decent living. I know quite a few without degrees that are quite successful.
There is a 800 pound gorilla in the room, it’s the coronavirus. Will it end up being a dud? Will it break Trump, or make him further? Until we can answer these questions, I don’t think who is the Democratic nominee matters so much.
As I have mentioned before on this blog, I think this race is Trump’s to lose, and when the Trump Era does finally end, this country will move either more to the right or the left and how Democrats playoff the end of the Trump Era will greatly be dependent upon how we look after 2020, and who is to blame, or perceived to be blamed, for the loss to Trump in 2020.
Assuming that the coronavirus does not ruin Trump in 2020, I am afraid that Trump will win comfortably. Look at the numbers in Wisconsin for instance, they are very scary. Last summer all of the major Democratic candidates were beating Trump, today only Biden beats him, and in Wisconsin, all of them are currently losing to Trump, including Biden. Trump only needs to hold on to Wisconsin to win in 2020. He can afford to lose Michigan and Pennsylvania as long as he holds onto Florida too, and currently Trump is ahead in Florida and has been playing a rather smart card in recent years, in terms of Florida, by moving his permanent residence there and having played an obvious Israel card, which is directed in my opinion, more at Florida, than the Middle East.
That said, if Trump wins, then who do we want to lose to Trump: A moderate, or a liberal? I say a moderate, because if a liberal like Sanders loses to Trump the left will never hear the end of it, which will further push the can down the road in terms of being able to enact a liberal agenda, but if a moderate loses to Trump, then the left in the Democratic Party can use that to consolidate power after 2020 similar to how the establishment, absent the Carter aberration, used the McGovern defeat and Carter re-election defeat to regain party control.
So, my strategy is more Machiavellian, I guess, but it is premised on a Trump win and how to play that reality to move the country further to left after Trump and not to the right.
A course, the Trump courts, which are growing everyday, are a caveat to this strategy in terms of being able to implement a liberal agenda near term or long term, but I think that can be dealt with overtime through a public outcry of attrition against right-wing judges based on ethics concerns and the hope that their capitalistic tendencies and personal misdoings will in many cases quickly compromise their deserving right to be on the federal courts at levels.; an other Machiavellian thought.
Thus, for now, it is: “It’s coronavirus, stupid.” But if Trump plays his cards right on this one, if he has to, then he can also use this virus to further consolidate power: then what Michael Moore said in 2016 about Trump being the last US President is even more credible and menacing than ever; and then moderate or liberal wouldn’t really matter, unless that new reality then spurns an opportunity for the left down the road with no cans needing to be kicked once we catch up with them, however, sometime after the election of 2020.
Filtering again.
Sanders is a Communist straight up. There is no such thing as a Democrat Socialist. I can understand your disdain for Trump or Republicans but, your openingly courting a Communist, WTF. He has openly over the years praised Castro, he honeymooned in the USSR. He has openly praised just about every Communist country over the last 30 years such as Cuba, China, Nicaragua, USSR, etc. He is NOT, I repeat NOT a Socialist but, a Communist. We wrap words up like Progressivism as a cover for this type of Bullshit. This dude even had bad things to say about JFK’s view on the Cuban revolution. This guy when he was mayor of Burlington tried to establish a Sister City program with cities in the Soviet Union. People come on, this is nuts, completely nuts. We can disagree on policy but, this just makes absolutely no sense and if he wins the nomination, he is going to CRUSH the Democrat party and the down-ticket folks will lose out big time. If this is the face of the Democrat party they are toast forever and will never recover. I am NOT a Democrat nor would I ever be one under any circumstances unless JFK is somehow resurrected but, we need realistic normal blue dog democrats to balance things out, not a Communist. If you wan’t this shit you should pack it up and move to Cuba, Venezuela, El Salvador, China, or some other Utopia where you can live your dreams out. This shit has never worked and it’s been tried probably at least 100+ times all over the world in the last 120 years, they ALL end poorly. I may have to stop coming here and reading this blog if this is the kind of stuff that is supported. Lunacy pure Lunacy
Bernie is NOT a communist, just another talking point Trump will use up until November. There are many social programs in this country, many of which you probably took part in or currently do. All Bernie wants to do is expand some of them. That doesn’t make you a communist.
https://www.thebalance.com/welfare-programs-definition-and-list-3305759
I love Bernies platform; free, free, free. Just like the Turbo Tax commercial. Free college, student loan forgiveness, free universal healthcare. No wonder young people support him in droves. People over 30 know it’s a hot load of crap. Nothing is free in this world. Bernie loves to hate on the rich as if they are the root of all evil. Yes, let’s penalize and vilify successful people even more. What a election losing formula.
Hard pass.
I dont want the Government making decisions for me and telling ME what they think is best for ME and taxing me more for it.
What we need is smaller Government which Sanders is exactly the opposite of.
l3wis, the social “programs” already in place are ones the Govt doesnt even do a great job at providing and does so at a much higher cost. These social programs do NOT mean that we already have SOCIALIST ideals in place just because the word “social” is in the word.
Sanders is not only a commie, but he is an NWO elite who cant even practice what he preaches. Sanders can stuff his agendas where the sun doesnt shine.
LJL, probably got stuck in spam folder and went bye, bye. Please resubmit.
As Bernie pointed out the other night, the wealthy in this country have been enjoying socialism for decades. Do you think it is fair that Amazon hasn’t paid any taxes? Do you think it is fair your tax rate is higher than the wealthy? I don’t.
If I had gotten zero interest (or even 1% to cover administrative costs) student loans – I would have them paid off by now vs. still owing twice as much as I initially borrowed.
As to paid parental leave – yep, PE’s got it. I’m one of those folks that gets 5-6 moths off every year with UI because my employer WANTS it that way- so they KNOW I will be available when I get the call that the work season starts. They also pay well enough (union job) that the 6-7 months of actual work I do = more to what a lot of “full time” employees in this state earn. And lest some “conservative” comes up with the argument that it’d hurt too many “struggling” businesses – my employer has been profitable enough with this model that they have expanded GREATLY over the past decade – to the point they are the single largest business of their type in North America. FYI – 20 years ago – it was a 3 person operation.
Erica – What lower cost private alternatives are there to “social programs†already in place are ones the Govt doesnt (sic)even do a great job at providing and does so at a much higher cost.” Just want to understand where you get your actual numbers from to make this claim. I.E., what are the private equivalent programs to Medicare, Social Security, etc.? Throw me a name. let me check them out.
Erica – PS – you know that NWO is a 100% CAPITALIST concept (not a “commie” one) right? Evidently not.
Bernie Sanders being a Communist is NOT a talking point from Trump, its fact and its everywhere. Left wingers and folks like Chris Matthews even said it, it’s ALL over and it’s not a talking point it’s a fact. James Carvel is all over scratching his head on this guy. You can’t polish a Turd, it’s still a Turd. I can point to numerous articles on his praise for Communism and has even stated in his own words he is ok being labeled that. A simple google search on his position over the years show his love for the Sandinista, Marxist dictators, the USSR, etc. You can call yourself whatever you want but, his ideas are Marxist. He wants to control the means of production. This is NOT about Donald Trump so stay on Topic. ALL the Dem candidates SUCK but, Sanders is a flat out Communist. The Democrat party has FINALLY woke up a little and said, ohhh wait we have Communist on stage and in our party for the last 20+ years. While I know they all have to attack him because he is the Front Runner, they have finally taken the gloves off to expose what most on the right already know, he’s a F@cking Communist, plain and simple.
There are TONS of videos of his views, praise, and admiration for Marxist dictators. One does not have to look far to find it. For the Record, Denmark which Sanders keeps saying thats what he wants, are NOT Socialist countries. They have a large safety net such as Universal HealthCare but, they are market driven economies that put a premium on private ownership and their PM has even come out to refute what Sanders is saying because its giving them a bad rap.
https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/denmark-tells-bernie-sanders-to-stop-calling-it-socialist/
I am amazed one could even think he is anything other than a Marxist.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/former-swedish-prime-minister-dunks-on-bernie-sanders-gushing-over-soviet-union
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-cold-war-travels-bernie-sanders-found-much-to-admire-behind-enemy-lines-now-thats-a-problem-for-his-campaign/2020/02/24/fd02fb50-572a-11ea-8753-73d96000faae_story.html
https://triblive.com/opinion/john-stossel-revolutionary-bernie-sanders/
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/bernie-sanders-social-democrat-communist-ben-shapiro
Rufus, may want to wake up.
NWO is not about conservative, liberal, or anything in between.
It’s pure absence of anything moral.
It is THEM vs us and they intend for us to be their slaves in every sense of the word.
Communists believe in democratic centralism. They also believe in complete control of the means and production by the state (the masses). Democratic socialists do not practice democratic centralism and they tolerate private ownership of some of the means of production.
What is democratic centralism, you ask? Democratic centralism (which is lower case by way) limits democratic debate of a given issue to the confines of a few. like a Soviet Politiburo, then it is presented publicly to a legislative body, like the once Supreme Soviet (USSR), for ratification, or should we say rubber stamping.
And if you still don’t think there is a big difference between communism and democratic socialism, then all you need to do is drive a Volvo, or Saab, and then try driving a Lada, or a Zil.
( – and Woodstock adds: “I had a cousin who bought a Lada after the wall came down, but the chain kept breaking”….)
One more thought, why is it a problem when McGovern or Sanders greet or say complimentary things about Castro, but when Nixon does the same with Mao, or Trump with Kim Jong-un, then the right doesn’t have a problem with it?
If I remember right, there is a picture from 2012 of Thune shaking McGovern’s hand, while McGovern is in the hospital. So should we be concerned? It appears that Thune is only one degree from Castro then, but yet, still how many degrees from Kevin Bacon?