If this campaign "isn't about Bernie" but is really a movement that will force Congress to pass

[Empowerer]

such things as Single Payer and measures to eliminate income inequality, take down Wall Street and the big banks, etc., why aren't you doing it now?

If it's not about Sanders, why do you have to wait for him to be in the White House before taking action?

[cali]

1. You're kidding, right?

[arcane1]

2. The questions get lamer by the day, don't they?

[Dretownblues]

3. Nice try

But you sir are no Ken M.

[99Forever]

4. ...

The bait is getting stinkier all the time.

And lamer.

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. .

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Did you miss Obama asking to be President while constantly saying things such as

“We don't ask you to believe in our ability to bring change, rather, we ask you to believe in yours.”

“Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.”

“We are the change we have been waiting for.”

Obama said this: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

If it was not about Obama but about 'us' why the heck was he asking me to vote for him and not for 'us'?

Or is this another one of those 'rules are different for Bernie but we won't say why' threads?

[cosmicone]

7. Bernie is toothless

He couldn't possibly get a shiny new bus stop erected near his house.

Anyone can spew out platitudes when the followers don't demand a well-defined plan of how those platitudes can be reached.

At the moment, odds of single payer passing = 0
Odds of big banks being broken up = 0
Odds of confiscatory taxation = 0

Freebies are never really free and most of the voters know this.

[ejbr]

8. Yes!

Status quo!! Status quo!!

[Empowerer]

9. Regardless whether these things can actually be accomplised, his supporters THINK they can be

and insist that the reason is that millions of them will rise up and FORCE Congress to do it. All well and good and more power to them. but not one of them has explained why, if it's just a matter of people power, and not something Sanders is supposed to do on his own, they haven't marshalled their forces to do this before now - and they're still not doing it. they insist that "this isn't about Bernie" but they're focusing all of their attention, efforts and resources on getting Sanders elected while the revolution they keep saying will occur any day continues to be put on hold until they can get Sanders in the White House.

I'm just raising a question. But given the crickets that followed my OP (except for a few non-responsive snark responses), it seems they have no logical explanation.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. “Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.” Obama 08

"his supporters THINK they can be and insist that the reason is that millions of them will rise up and FORCE Congress to do it." Empowerer, 2016

Compare and contrast these two statements.

[Empowerer]

11. You're raising a strawman

that has nothing to do with my question.

If you believe that the people can force Congress to do what Sanders says he going to accomplish - and that it's not about Sanders himself - why do you have to wait until January 21, 2017? Why not do it now?

[Armstead]

22. Maybe the crickets have to do with the nonsensical nature of your post

Bernie has mobilized people behind the goal of change. That is just one part of a much larger and more complex ongoing dynamic.

There has been a large movement of people working for change -- but it's hard when so many Democrats are as resistant as the GOP.

I don't understand why YOU don't want change. Perhaps instead of defending failure -- and denigrating those who are working for positive change -- you might actually push for it too, regardless of what Presidential candidate you support.

[Voice for Peace]

12. It takes a dreamer and moreover

Imagine all the people, living life in peace.

Naysayers, and compromisers of essential ideals, do.not inspire anyone.

"There comes a time when 'no' is not an answer, and compromise is not a solution."

Prem Rawat
tprf.org

[cosmicone]

13. I want my asking price for the house or it stays on the market forever

No compromise.

Nada.

Not even a carpet cleaning allowance.

Asking price or bust.

.
.
.
.
.
and then the house is foreclosed but the owner is happy that he/she didn't compromise!

[Voice for Peace]

14. You have to choose what to compromise, and

what NEVER to compromise.

Don't sell your life for less than it's worth.
These are the times to reach really high.

[Empowerer]

15. Yes, they are

Reach as high as you can, but know that in the real world, with real people who don't always agree, you are not going to get everything you want, so you will almost ALWAYS have to compromise. That does not make anyone evil or a sellout. It's how societies function.

[Voice for Peace]

16. How about compromising honesty?

Some compromises are not an option, my opinion. You can gain the world but lose track of your own conscience.

[Empowerer]

17. Every major positive social change we achieved in the last 100 years resulted from compromise

And would not have been achieved had both sides refused to meet somewhere in the middle.

Just as no coach would tell their team not to run the ball unless they were guaranteed to score a touchdown on the first down, no serious or effective leader forces their constituents to settle for nothing because they couldn't succeed at winning everything in one fell swoop..

[Voice for Peace]

18. I believe we are talking about two different things.

The kind of compromise I mean is akin to the proverbial bargain w the devil.

Teamwork, diplomacy, problem-solving, and all that good stuff requires talent and is most successful, for example, if the people involved don't lie to or about each other.

[Empowerer]

19. If FDR could compromise with Southern Democrats on Social Security, If MLK could compromise with the

White Citizens Council on bus desegregation, if President Truman could compromise with the military in desegregating the armed forces, if MLK, Whitney Young, Roy Wilkins, LBJ, et al could compromise with Southern Democrats on the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and Fair Housing Act then Sanders and his people can figure out a way to work toward their goals, even if it means compromising with people the believe are beneath them, rather than walking away empty-handed because they can't get everything they want the first time around.

The first approach is how we help to bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice; the latter is just naive and arrogant grandstanding, a tale "full of sound and fury signifying nothing."

"If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Armstead]

23. But I doubt you'd lower your asking price to $1

and throw in a new car while you're at it.

[Empowerer]

20. Crickets . . .

So maybe it really IS about Bernie, after all?

[Armstead]

21. Um, I can't walk into Congress and tell them what to do

But it would sure as hell be good of more Democrats in Congress actually stood up and stood behind progressive change, instead of placating Big Money Lobbyists and telling us why nothing can be accomplished.

[baldguy]

24. Not only are Bernie & Co. not doing anything about it now

They're not doing anything to bring it about in the future.

None of Sanders proposals will ever become law without a supportive Congress. Yet he is doing absolutely nothing to help elect like-minded candidates down ticket - and is positively hostile to the party apparatus tasked with getting Democrats elected & keeping Democrats in office.

Meanwhile Clinton raised $18 million to elect Democrats.