Thu Jul 9, 2015, 07:46 PM

A Socialist Surge in the U.S.? Bernie Sanders Draws Record Crowds, Praises Greek Anti-Austerity Vote

Published on Jul 7, 2015

http://democracynow.org - The Greek election has also factored into the U.S. presidential race. On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders said, "I applaud the people of Greece for saying 'no' to more austerity for the poor, the children, the sick and the elderly. In a world of massive wealth and income inequality, Europe must support Greece’s efforts to build an economy which creates more jobs and income, not more unemployment and suffering." Sanders’ anti-austerity platform is resonating with voters. On Monday, Sanders spoke before 9,000 in Portland, Maine. Last week he drew more than 10,000 people in Madison, Wisconsin, in the largest crowd of any presidential candidate in the 2016 race. We speak to Richard Wolff about Bernie Sanders and what it means to be a socialist.

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6 replies	Author	Time	Post
A Socialist Surge in the U.S.? Bernie Sanders Draws Record Crowds, Praises Greek Anti-Austerity Vote (Original post)	mother earth	Jul 2015	OP
Sweet!	daleanime	Jul 2015	#1
Austerity in the US hasn't been anywhere near as bad as in Greece	Warpy	Jul 2015	#2
You can thank Occupy for that,	imthevicar	Jul 2015	#4
He frames it the right way	Babel_17	Jul 2015	#3
It may be a bit early to call it a socialist "surge," but . . .	markpkessinger	Jul 2015	#5
Digging some Bernie right about now!	Sunk in Tupelo	Jul 2015	#6

Response to mother earth (Original post)

Thu Jul 9, 2015, 07:53 PM

daleanime (17,796 posts)

1. Sweet!

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Response to mother earth (Original post)

Thu Jul 9, 2015, 07:55 PM

Warpy (105,784 posts)

2. Austerity in the US hasn't been anywhere near as bad as in Greece

but it's been happening here for far longer, ever since the oil shocks in the 70s and the inflation that wages never pretended to keep up with. Then the good jobs got shipped offshore and debt was substituted for wages and now we're screwed.

We've had nearly 40 years of austerity and we're sick of it and that is what Sanders has tapped into.

Sanders isn't campaigning so much as a socialist, more as a mainstream New Dealer and it's about bloody time someone did. People are finding his message very attractive in the sea of boring "business as usual" messages.

"Business as usual" has been slowly killing us for a very long time. Maybe if Sanders has a good showing in the primary, the party will catch a clue about that.

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Response to Warpy (Reply #2)

Fri Jul 10, 2015, 09:32 AM

imthevicar (811 posts)

4. You can thank Occupy for that,

They changed the national conversation from"How much Austerity?" to "why ain't this rich buggers paying their fare share?" I have always said they were a complete success for this alone!

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Response to mother earth (Original post)

Thu Jul 9, 2015, 08:07 PM

Babel_17 (5,400 posts)

3. He frames it the right way

"Europe must support Greece’s efforts to build an economy which creates more jobs and income, not more unemployment and suffering."

Hopefully that can be arranged. Let Greece make the sensible corrections all dispassionate observers agree on, and let money enter their system and get people back to work.

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Response to mother earth (Original post)

Fri Jul 10, 2015, 09:08 PM

markpkessinger (8,140 posts)

5. It may be a bit early to call it a socialist "surge," but . . .

. . . I think it is fair to say the term "socialist" has been, in large measure, de-fanged as a political insult!

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Response to mother earth (Original post)

Sat Jul 11, 2015, 12:29 AM

Sunk in Tupelo (66 posts)

6. Digging some Bernie right about now!

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