Bernie Sanders: Talkin' 'Bout A Revolution

[bigtree]

Bernie Sanders ‏@SenSanders 1h
Please share your ideas with me. How do we make that political revolution?: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/we-need-a-political-revolution …



The status of American democracy is frighteningly dismal.

In the coming November elections, it is estimated that 60 percent of Americans will not vote. Worse, 70-80 percent of those hurting most economically, low and moderate income workers, will not be participating in the election.

Further, political consciousness in this country is extremely low, with most people not knowing who their member of Congress is or which political political parties control the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

Meanwhile, while tens of millions of American workers have given up on the political process and no longer see government as relevant to their lives, the billionaire class is more active politically than ever before. As a result of the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson and other billionaires will be spending hundreds of millions of dollars to elect candidates whose main function is to help the wealthiest and most powerful people become even wealthier and more powerful.

In other words, the rich are becoming richer and spend huge sums on political donations. The poor are becoming poorer and don't even vote.

Our job is to make a political revolution. Our job is to educate and organize so that working people fight for their rights and for their dignity - and are actively participating in the political process. When we do that, when we stand together, we win: Health care for all, a fair distribution of wealth and income, a major federal jobs program, higher wages, reversing global warming and real campaign finance reform.

When we give up and don't participate, we lose. And what we will see is the continued collapse of the middle class and an increase in poverty, cuts in Social Security and Medicare, a growing gap between the very rich and everyone else, no increase in the minimum wage, no effort to make college affordable and more devastation because of global warming.

Please share your ideas with me. How do we make that political revolution? How do we bring people together to fight for their rights and a progressive agenda which represents the needs of all Americans, and not just the top 1 percent.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Bernie


http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/we-need-a-political-revolution

[tymorial]

1. I love this guy

[nolabels]

2. I think the 1% oligarchs have already done a political revolution on the rest of us

It will take something different to get them off their perch.

The idea of correcting a problem with the thing that created it seems counter-intuitive to me

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Fighting fire with fire .

[MannyGoldstein]

17. Time for a counter-revolution. nt

[rhett o rick]

53. If we can't get our message out to the people, we are lost. But most of all we need the help of

elitists that are either sympathetic to our plight or recognize that a stable America and a thriving middle class will benefit them.

Governments are all run by elitists. We need to find some on our side.

[Eleanors38]

21. Time for agreement. nt

[Dustlawyer]

28. I suggest we organize protests from 9/13 - 11/4 with the focus on getting the money out of elections

altogether by demanding Publicly Funded Federal, State, and Local Elections! TV and Radio must air the ads as a public service for use of our airwaves under license. Campaign season would be 2 months or so like England's, so many would support it just to not have to watch the commercials 24/7.

The more money a candidate raises, the more we point out that they owe a Quid Pro Quo. Same for Super PAC spending! It can work if we spread the word through social media, to other organizations who have been fighting for their causes only to be pushed back by the money against them!

[nolabels]

33. Another idea you might want to consider is power is never given

It looks all too comfortable to say that the 1% could give a crap about any protests. They got theirs and if you think some part of it should be yours then how you going to get it? The idea of protests once meant something because if something didn't change eventually after the protest things got ratcheted up. Now people just go home and say 'oh well, guess nothing can be done'.

In no way would i be advocating for anything that might be harmful or dangerous but it might be a good idea to have an end game. Protest and go home because it feels good, okay and all good if that's the end game. Social media and any or all things that have no financial part in the equation is how to go the offensive. If money is involved you are playing in their court, if what ever you doing can also be purchased with money you are playing into their court.

The People who where protesting, striking or even rioting at the turn of the nineteenth century were demanding time off and reasonable work hours which brought efficiency into vogue. You can't buy time off no matter how you slice it, it has to be taken. The 1% didn't want to give it because they figured they would lose on the profit margin, but really they couldn't afford not to give it because they were losing more in fighting it. A game changer is needed

[bigtree]

40. you make a good point, nolabels

. . . I believe that for any movement to have a permanent and transforming imprint it should have a legislative goal attached which will transcend the whims of the emotions of the moment; like King's Poor People's Campaign.

The Poor People's march and the subsequent Resurrection City protest in D.C. had the 'economic bill of rights' being debated in Congress that King put at the head of his protest.

"Under the "economic bill of rights," the Poor People's Campaign asked for the federal government to prioritize helping the poor with a $30 billion anti-poverty package that included a commitment to full employment, a guaranteed annual income measure and more low-income housing. The Poor People’s Campaign was part of the second phase of the civil rights movement. While the first phase had exposed the problems of segregation, King hoped to address the "limitations to our achievements" with a second, broader phase."

So, certainly, at least in the economic phase of Dr. King's advocacy and activism, protestors had a specific set of legislative expectations and demands which were clearly presented and understood . . .

[nolabels]

62. That is it also, people don't want handouts mostly, they want a hand in the game

Don't give him a fish, give him a fishing pole (to paraphrase slightly). I think the issue might be that once they get the fishing pole is helping them from getting sidetracked. Our culture is a repository of ways to get one sidetracked.

Though their situations might have been more dire and frightening theirs also might have been easier in ways because of the ability of being able to have a keener focus. If our focus becomes like a religion (without the folklore and fairy-tales) it becomes easier. The trick is how can you get a man to believe he will catch a fish and he will get better at it as he does it?

[Dustlawyer]

60. Well, until you have a better idea I think I will try to get everyone's attention with this idea.

I am tired of waiting and so are many others. Too many Americans are completely ignorant of what is going on and if some learn through this it is a start. The way I take your post is that we should continue to do nothing.

Besides, I am not trying to change the minds of the 1%, I am trying to mobilize Americans to the point where they demand that the money be taken out of elections, to which I have proposed a solution. If someone has a better idea then by all means, let's do it!

[nolabels]

61. As far as i can see, we only have one life to live

I think we should do any and all things that we think are important. Also not chastising ourselves or others because we might have got it wrong with our first choice is to our detriment and counter productive. There are billions of people thinking about all kinds of things which gives me much hope. That 1% that we ridicule has an actual percentage shrinks by the day. And even more interesting is that group in itself has no real control over that process.

That other thing, that idea they call money exhibits a much changed idea at massive accumulations of such. The ominous thing i am looking at is that our trajectory as a civilization is unsustainable at many facets and where it gives in and or breaks is anyone's guess. It could be is good in some ways because it seems to be happening at an accelerating pace. This would indicate to me that we all might be protesting all together quicker than we thought. This i believe could happen more sooner than later because there is nothing really opposing it, we probably just cannot see how that happens yet.

It's like watching how flock of birds fly together, you don't know who the leaders are but by virtue by just being in the group just a few can change the direction. Singles or small groups not following the flock direction is sometimes perilous to them both in the short term and long term and they instinctively do it (hang around with the group that brought them there). We have much the same characteristics but we always don't notice them till it starts happening

Here is interesting article that relates about to one my favorite subjects, environmental collapse

4 reasons conservatives love global warming, won’t stop it
Commentary: We’re addicted to economic growth, consumer consumption
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/4-reasons-conservatives-love-global-warming-wont-stop-it-2014-07-09?pagenumber=1

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bigtree.

[orpupilofnature57]

4. An American Patriot !!!!

[ladjf]

6. Senator may be our finest spokesperson for American Democracy. nt

[Babel_17]

7. K&R

A kick and rec for a person who is always on our side.

[sheshe2]

8. We vote, that's how.

There is no sitting this one out!

[freshwest]

19. Yes, that's exactly what Sanders said the problem has been. Those are satisfied with the status quo,

and don't need a change, will sit this one like they did in 2010.

[sheshe2]

20. If they are satisfied and don't need a change then,

who are these people exactly? I mean, let's get serious here. Only the 1% are riding high. I just don't get it freshwest.

[hootinholler]

37. It's not the satisfied sitting things out

It's the demoralized. I'm surprised you don't get that.

The vast majority don't vote because they have nothing to vote for, only things to vote against.

[JustAnotherGen]

34. In total agreement

That's the answer!

[AAO]

9. Voting for Bernie would be awesome!

[trof]

10. K&R

[Half-Century Man]

11. March to the beat, and move out.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. It sounds like a whisper

[cantbeserious]

16. + 1 - Such A Talent - The Troubadour For The 99%

eom

[Half-Century Man]

26. I don't know if it's a memory I inherited or just a vivid image I constructed.

But hot summer nights with a lit by the fires of a burning castle are wonderful.

[Enthusiast]

12. Go, Bernie!

Bernie is the best!

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[Pharaoh]

13. Sanders/Warren ticket

would be awesome. They would slice and dice the republicans!!

[Eleanors38]

22. Now, your talking. If they can show up in a peanut field in N. Florida...

and make a successful pitch, the game's over. Otherwise, what is offered is "The 480" + 55 yrs.

[cantbeserious]

15. Thank You Bernie

eom

[Plucketeer]

18. It's SO EASY....

to get caught up in the struggles for progress on SO MANY individual points and problems - then argue them ad infinatum and even maybe inch forward on one or two percent of them now and then.

The OVERARCHING span is campaign financing. That's IT! That - and the real and true enforcement of it - is the cure-all for all that ails US. Heck, I'm as guilty as anybody about getting sucked into the individual donnybrooks of stupidity that wash over us thanks to "representatives" who are beholden to those who grease their rails. I have to remind myself on a daily basis: Hey dummy! It's the MONEY - not the idiot taking it. Eliminate the money and eliminate the dolts. Bing, bang, boom!

Edit to add: I LOVE dear Mr. Sanders and the lady whose picture's at the bottom of my posts!

[MoonchildCA]

23. He's my hero.

[brooklynite]

24. How is using the political process to deal with policy issues a revolution?

[morningfog]

27. Because the policies have gone so far in opposition of the people that

reclaiming the policies, even through the political process, would be an overthrow of the current system.

Interesting that is your critique of his message.

[grahamhgreen]

29. Remember the "Reagan Revolution". We're still in it.

[sabrina 1]

25. We need hundreds like him in office. How to get them elected is the problem

now that so much money buys elections. We need candidates who refuse corporate money and make it such an issue that anyone who IS taking it, becomes a political pariah.

Bernie must know what happens to anyone who tries to run without selling out to Corporations.

We know what is wrong now, we know what needs to be done to begin fixing it, but we don't know HOW to do it.

I wish we had hundreds of Bernies, then maybe we could begin to end the current corrupt system we are asked to participate in every few years.

[stillwaiting]

50. We need a nationwide, sustained, decentralized movement that last for years and years.

With THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of "leaders" scattered around the nation in every state, every large city, and many smaller cities.

It cannot be co-opted by the Democratic Party. We aren't going to be getting "better Dems" working with today's Democratic Party even when we end up voting for them when we try to minimize the harm that Republicans would deliver.

In order for progressives to win Democratic primaries we're going to have to do this grassroots-style and outside of the Party apparatus and Party Leadership.

[sabrina 1]

51. I agree. The old way isn't working for a majority of the people, and that is a fact.

It will take years, decades probably, to undo the damage that has been done. I like your idea.

[stillwaiting]

52. We could make it fun. Weekly meetings and gatherings, potlucks, newsletters, etc…

In neighborhoods all over the country...

[JDPriestly]

55. Bernie wins Vermont because he works for his voters no matter who they are.

He cares about people. His selflessness and sincerity could bring the country together. It would not be a violent revolution. It would be a revolution of the heart and will. That's what we need.

[riverbendviewgal]

30. Rich liberals should adopt a state

And help pay to get every person who has no Approved voting ID to get it. Often this requires research and sendin money to obtain birth recor or some other kind of records. This should be happening now.. Hoĺlywood and Athletes who have the bucks can be doing this. It should be well publicized to reach these non id voters. Then when these people do vote their WILL be a political revolution.

[WillyT]

31. Huge K & R !!!

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

32. The true revolution would be...

to get the average citizen to first believe in, then partipate in, a broken political system.
We can spout all our talking points, wave all our banners, discuss, engage and cajole each other about the who, what and why things are the way they are but that won't make a fly speck worth of change in a person who is suffering from the effects of bad governing.

When you live searching for something, anything that will either bring in more money so you can feed yourself and the kids, pay the rent or mortgage, put gas in the car, so you can get to your crappy job, you really don't believe a vote for someone will change things. You go about your day, scrapping it out. You don't have the time to learn about the people running for office, you gotta get to your next job. You don't have time to watch the news, you gotta get your Mom shopping for the little she can buy to survive another week. You gotta take her because she can't afford to drive.

A vote is going to change stuff? Oh yeah, I believe that, sarcasm will be the rule of the day.

I live in a very poor neighborhood. My wife and I have told our neighbors many times, brought them over to our house, shown them on our computers, the programs that our local, county, state offers to help them in their specific instance. Most nod their heads and agree saying yeah that would be great. Yet they go on in their daily lives, programs not taken advantage of.
Why? Lazy? Uninformed? No the answer is very much simpler than that. "I just didn't have the time",most say.

They have to beat out a day filled with low paying jobs and don't have the time to try to help themselves.

We are so blessed to be able to have the time to read a site such as DU to take the time to script out opinions, answers and lament on why a person won't vote. We can afford to have internet access.

Now the question remains, How to start a "Revolution"? How can we get people to believe again, to believe in a broken system? That accomplished, maybe just maybe, we can get them to vote.

[davidthegnome]

36. Excellent post.

Ironically, I don't live in a poor neighborhood - but then, it sure isn't my home, either. My parents have worked their whole lives to get where they are now - three years away from retirement, a nice, modest home on the lake... and two of their long since adult children living with them. I often think of ways that I could help them retire sooner, or more comfortably, when they finally do retire. What it comes down to though, is that I can't. Not unless I get extremely lucky, like winning the powerball or something.

It shocked the hell out of me when I learned in sociology that my parents combined income (before taxes) of somewhere around one hundred thousand a year (closer to 55-60 after taxes) was only "average working middle class". I couldn't even imagine earning that much. I started working fourteen years ago, at sixteen - washing dishes for a Chinese Restaurant where cooks swore at me in a language I didn't understand. The conditions were terrible, minimum wage was 5.65 an hour, there was smoke everywhere, broken beer bottles in the urinals I had to clean, so much "hard work" that I began to see just what "adulthood" was going to be like, as one of the 99%.

For some reason, back then, I had the crazy notion that hard work was going to earn me a living. That, if I didn't want to borrow a fortune to go to school, perhaps I could save enough money to pay for it myself. Then I became aware of what car payments did to my monthly income, or what car insurance did to it. I became aware of things like paying rent, heating oil, electricity, gas, or grocery bills. The only reason I never ended up in a homeless shelter or on the street was that I had parents who cared. Even now - at thirty, it's much the same.

Now, fourteen years later... I think I have somewhat of a grasp of the reality of the situation. A GED education didn't get me very far - and a year of college (on top of my other expenses - and the lack of decent jobs) buried me up to my eyeballs in debt. I'm thirty years old, living with mommy and daddy (I love them like crazy, but I long for some independence) and working for a hotel where I earn eight dollars an hour as a front desk clerk.

At sixteen, I would have thought eight dollars an hour - or the 9.50 I once earned with a temporary telemarketing job... I would have thought that was a lot of money. Now? Now I work so I can pay for my car and my gas, so I can get to work. Now I work for what little I might be able to save for my own son's education, for whatever ridiculously small amount I might be able to put away towards one day going back to school.

There are huge positives in my life - most of them revolve around my family and the fact that I have a home to live in and don't really have to worry about whether I'll be able to pay for food. Most of them revolve around the wonderful people, courageous people I know who work hard for their own families.

It makes me grimace though, when I hear my fellow employees spout fox news talking points, or bitch about that evil socialist Obama. A co-worker with four children, who's husband is suffering from severe clinical depression, who just went through surgery for a bad knee... tells me, with a straight face, "No, I'm not going to sign up for Obamacare. Obama sucks! He just wants to take everything we have! Nope, we're going to work our way out of our mess.." I'm tempted to tell her not to hold her breath, but I just shrug and offer my sympathies, because she's a hard working mom, even if she is kind of ignorant. She has a four year degree in early childhood education - and makes as much as I do, eight dollars an hour, no benefits, just lost medicaid and food stamps because she got a job.

How do we start a revolution? It's real simple, actually. We have to offer people a chance at something better, hope of a better life, of hard work earning a living, of the ability to live without the heart rending, mind-boggling stress of working shitty jobs for just enough money to barely get by - or, in even more cases, to not get by at all without help.

We have to prove we can do this, demonstrate it, show it off, sell it, wave it, shout it, advertise it... make it happen.

Until we can do that, the majority will be working too hard and suffering too much stress and economic hardship to believe their votes can actually accomplish anything meaningful. This is especially the case when almost all of our politicians are millionaires, or members of the 1%.

[bread_and_roses]

35. I love Bernie but this is no solution

We do not have candidates to vote for who will fix the problems. Too many are in the pockets of the 1%, one way or another.

Every homeless person in this Country should be camping on the local County office lawn or sidewalk..

Every mother who can't feed her children should be camped in front of the local DSS office.

Every person without a job should be camped in front of the local unemployment office - if they can find one, everything's online now - so maybe in front of their local cable provider?

Let them put us all in jail. More will come.

Now, I do know that "shoulds" and "oughts" are as futile as wishes. But it's when those things happen that we'll get change, not from voting.

Democracy is bought and broken - I surely wish it weren't so, but if wishes were horses ....

[Bluenorthwest]

54. Around these parts we've been seeing camps at government locations for some time....

[davidthegnome]

38. K & R

I love Bernie Sanders - if we had more like him in positions of authority or power, I believe we could accomplish many great things. This is the kind of guy I want to vote for - and, hell, work for too.

[raouldukelives]

39. K&R

If one wishes to stand against something, not standing with it is a good start.
Just depends on the force of the impetus for action against the draw of easy money. For most people, easy money trumps moral fiber.
Still, it seems like something is brewing. I feel people really want change, they just don't want the effort of having to be it.

[bigtree]

41. one of the things Bernie discussed recently was the benefit of running as an independent

. . . although I'd like to see him run as a Democrat and would instantly support him in that role, he has said that an independent campaign has the benefit and potential of motivating and sparking an actual movement. There's a lot of sense in that.

Bernie in The Nation:

. . . there is today more and more alienation from the Republican and Democratic parties than we have seen in the modern history of this country. In fact, most people now consider themselves to be “independent,” whatever that may mean. And the number of people who identify as Democrats or Republicans is at a historically low point. In that sense, running outside the two-party system can be a positive politically.

On the other hand, given the nature of the political system, given the nature of media in America, it would be much more difficult to get adequate coverage from the mainstream media running outside of the two-party system. It would certainly be very hard if not impossible to get into debates. It would require building an entire political infrastructure outside of the two-party system: to get on the ballot, to do all the things that would be required for a serious campaign.

. . . Since I’ve been in Congress, I have been a member of the Democratic caucus as an independent. Senate majority leader Harry Reid, especially, has been extremely kind to me and has treated me with enormous respect. I am now chairman of the Veterans Committee. But there is no question that the Democratic Party in general remains far too dependent on big-money interests, that it is not fighting vigorously for working-class families, and that there are some members of the Democratic Party whose views are not terribly different from some of the Republicans. That’s absolutely the case. But the dilemma is that, if you run outside of the Democratic Party, then what you’re doing—and you have to think hard about this—you’re not just running a race for president, you’re really running to build an entire political movement . . .

[polichick]

43. He describes the dilemma very well here.

[BobbyBoring]

44. Just wondering bigtree

Why would you support him more as a Democrat? I think we need to have far more independents than we have now.

[bigtree]

45. I don't think there's enough organization to do much more than divide the Democratic Party's vote

. . .right now.

Most of those independent votes would come out of our party. Sure, there would be a contingent of new voters, but I don't believe an independent 'movement' in that election would overtake the Democratic effort. Sanders speaks to this in the article I provided snips from.

I'm not convinced, and even Bernie is ambivalent about even the ability to sustain an independent run. I'm ambivalent about a 'movement' that would threaten to advantage the republican party in their presidential bid.

[polichick]

42. Well, now we're talking! k&r

[redqueen]

46. Well this us encouraging.

[L0oniX]

47. Start the revolution by refusing to vote for Hillary.

[Comrade Grumpy]

48. He needs to enter the Democratic primary. n/t

[blkmusclmachine]

49. "In the coming November elections, it is estimated that 60 percent of Americans will not vote."

That's what happens when you have 2 corrupt political Parties. Voters stay home, because nothing ever changes in this badly broken system of Big Money/Rank Political Favoritism in the Incorporated States of America.

[johnnyreb]

56. K&R

[Joe Shlabotnik]

57. "The first duty of a revolutionary is to be educated." - Che Guevara

Bernie is right. Politics as most know it has become choreographed bickering. Education as we know it serves only to maintain the status quo.

Political consciousness, through education is what we need: 'the understanding of one's true position in history'. Certainly, once enlightened as to how alienated the working class has become, reversing our atomization, and overcoming our learned helplessness becomes possible.

[NorthCarolina]

58. Sanders/Warren 2016! 'nuff said (nt)

[freebrew]

59. Reality:

The rich are getting richer and are buying the police in every town and city in the US. There will be no more protests, see. The cops are now all ex-military and have been trained to kill anyone that disobeys their orders.

Disobedience is the same as resisting arrest and you can be shot for that, no problems.

I love Bernie, but we must face facts, eh?


(I still can't find a smiley for cynicism...)

[polichick]

63. Something constructive to do in a week of destruction...

Send your ideas to Sen. Sanders.

[NM_Birder]

64. Easy, remove politicians from tho political process, and follow a LEADER

not a groomed political collectible.

I see the major problem is the one we all see and live everyday. Each side only tells the side of the story THEY want told, Horrible is reported on one side, while ignored on the other, despair is felt on one side and ignored on the other, financial collapse is being lived by millions, yet shuffled to the bottom of the deck by BOTH.

Every day,the population of both hypocritical sides attack each other with the exact same political ammo, while the "leaders" of BOTH parties prosper together with just a simple toss of a little more wood to stoke the fire.

I wonder if I'll be banned for saying the best thing that could be done, is for everybody to go Independent, THAT will spark the "revolution", not more quipping at each other over partial truth in "news reporting", Not all Republicans are the devil just like not all Democrats are the saviors of humanity, the majority chunk of both sides think the same basic way, the puppet masters stoking the fire are the ones that are manipulating everyone into thinking "that other side" are the reason life sucks. THINK about it, we all know people from all angles, few of us really and truly know more crazy women hating, bigots that hate the president because he's black, than normal everyday people,..... he got elected with republican help, The VAST majority of all Americans are good decent, honest people that want whats best for everybody, the problem is that we are all so busy living a life, clever advertising and gimmickry work both in the grocery store AND in political fishing nets. If you want a political "revolution", you are going to have to offer a product worth revolting for, a new seasoning on the same dish ain't gonna do it.

Politicans don't LEAD anymore, they are a show horses, with defend able reputations, placed in the running for the advancement of the cause, except the cause has lost sight of it's masses.

Can anyone who has been in politics for 20, 30 40 years really say they understand what the hell is really going on in the lives of everyday people ? no way. politicians have to be elected and groomed, to understand how to "work the system" I.E......comply with the established order of political operations.......IF they want to keep the job. Doing the right thing isn't hard,.......unless of course you have to manipulate the entire process and outcome to best suit a political career first, and the people second or third. Hanging on to the your most popular anchor will still just get you to the bottom, Summerfest is on here in the Q and I can hear the music and smell the food - Cheers DU!

and by the way ............ GO BIG BLUE ! preseason approaches!