Seeing Bernie speak against the first war in Iraq in empty house of congress

[Nyan]

made me feel so many things, and I wanted to share them with you.

(I'd be talking about the very first part of the video 00:00~01:44)

Most of the clips in the video I've already seen before, and his speech against the first Iraq War I was also aware of it.
But I didn't know that the official legislative schedule was finished at the time, and no one showed up for his speech.
So who was he speaking to? He was speaking to the American people. But he wasn't really heard by American people as well. Rather, he was heard 24 years later.


I would say that I'm much to the left of Bernie, and I enjoy hearing from people who are to the left of Bernie; among them are my spiritual- and intellectual heroes Chris Hedges and Cornel West, who I believe are the prophetic voice for America and the entire world.
Dr. West is critically supporting Bernie, which is fine by me.
Hedges is just critical of Bernie, and for me that's also fine, because I think Bernie has to face pressure in some areas especially when it comes to Israel-Palestine issue. I fully expect that there will come a moment where I find myself disagreeing with president Bernie on that issue, and when that moment comes, we will need people like Chris Hedges and they will have to be heard.


I don't support Bernie because I agree with him on everything. Nor do I think he's perfect, or a savior of any kind, and I'm not at all certain that he'll be able to bring all the structural changes he wishes to.
I support him because I know he'll do everything in his power to do what he said he will do to millions of his supporters whom he set himself up to be the only people he's beholden to.
I support him because I know he'll stick by his principles. He's proven that over and over throughout his career even when he lost. He so stubbornly stuck by his positions that it cost him elections several times. Eventually he came out ahead, but average career politicians would have compromised in order to win.
Because winning is important, and you can't do anything when you lose. Right?
Well, I say no to that. Winning and losing are a part of life, and it's what you do when you win and lose that determines who you are and what you are really about.


Surely, I think he can win this. There are good many indicators suggesting that.
But I don't want him to win this by giving up his principles (and most likely he won't do that).
And even if he doesn't win the presidency, this should and will go on. Because the political revolution will have to come and that is an arduous task not defined by presidential election cycles. And as he repeatedly states, it's not really about Bernie.
Bernie phenomenon is being created not only by Bernie, but also his constituencies responding to him and his message. Because I think this historic nationwide support and record-breaking donations all go back to Occupy Wall Street Movement, which demonstrated what people initially wished for when they voted for Obama.
And on the dark side, Trump, too, is reacting to the populace anger as much as he's generating it because it's largely a disaffected group of people coming from Tea Party movement that's supporting him (Trump has pretty much devoured support that would have gone to all the Tea Party-leaning candidates like Paul and Cruz). And while the Tea Party movement is ghastly and dangerous in so many ways, you can't ignore the fact that it, too, is a (misguided and ill-informed) reaction to corporate America and Wall Street having destroyed virtually all essential safety nets and societal institutions that keep people secure, solvent, and sane.


Some people say Clinton used to have principles, but that's not true.
It's not a principle if you wouldn't sacrifice anything for it.
When you repeatedly give up your position on issues that are supposedly important to you, like Clinton has many times -on bankruptcy bills, health care bills, death penalty, you name it-, then you're just in it to win against something, not for something. And at some point, you're just in it for yourself. Money, power, glory and influence may come with that, but that doesn't prove that you have made good decisions for the people you're supposed to serve.


I support the person who has stood up for what he believes in even when it wasn't popular, because that is the best kind of public servant we can hope for, and a model to follow for all decent human beings.

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....