Miriam,
The family in your example sounds as if they are doing more good in
the world than a great many folks who spend their time bitching about
how the world treats them, and then do little or nothing. They have
taken on a great challenge and made a family out of it. Perhaps they
are Christian, or Jewish, or any of a dozen other religions...or none
at all. No matter. They are living the sort of life that stands as
an example for the rest of us. But it sounds as if that is not why
they are taking on the responsibility of raising these children.
So, do they say that they are a Middle Class family? Or does that not
matter to them.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/24/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
And, it happens that the people whom I used as an example of a family that
is living comfortably, are not only politically progressive, but chose to
adopt babies who were not white American newborns, but who came from
orphanages in China and foster homes in Guatemala. And the eldest is
severely damaged with autism and unable to talk and my former client says,
will always need help. The youngest came as an older baby. Her adoption was
delayed because she was suspected of having AIDS and there was a delay
until
she was shown to be negative because US Immigration doesn't allow children
with AIDS to be adopted and brought here. And that child has emotional
problems.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2015 12:27 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to the Red
States and Draws Huge Crowd
Well Miriam, I hope neither of us are arguing. If it were an argument it
would be a pointless one. But for the sake of discussion, and the exercise
of sorting out our own thinking, it's worth the conversation.
I know there are those who have strong reactions to the term, Middle Class.
But for me it is just a couple of words. If my client, living in one of
the
more expensive retirement apartments wants to say to me that she is Middle
Class, I accept that as her belief. Our clients are still mostly older
than
me, and probably any major changes or catastrophes will not occur before
they have gone on to their great rewards. I am not going to upset them by
attempting to explain how I think of them as vassals of the Empire. First,
they really are not.
Unless the Empire collapses tomorrow, they will go on just as they are
until
their end. It's their grand children and great grand children we need to
be
working with.
But once again I digress. I understand that there are still many people
living as you describe. And if they tell me they are middle class, I will
not argue the point. Why upset someone over two pointless words? I would
rather get into a discussion asking what they are doing to defend their
current situation, and to expand their success to others. Are they active
in local politics? Are they working with groups of children, perhaps
teaching them a more realistic history of our nation? If they tell me that
they are too busy with family matters and work, I will nod and say that I
understand. Why turn people against myself when what I say is taken as an
insult? If I become casual friends with them and over time they come to an
understanding of how they are being used, then that little bit is a gain.
And for the record, there are people who tell me to my face that I am not
doing enough to bring about change. "Well," I tell them, "I'm no Ralph
Nader". And just for the record, Ralph, as much as he does and has done,
has not overthrown the Corporate Empire. But what he has done will make a
small dent in the Corporate Wall and allow others much easier access.
From time to time I confess that I do rant about my belief that religions
are the expression of all that is wrong with the Human Species, holding
forth the Dictator Model of government that keeps us in a negative frame of
mind.
We need to create a collective God, more than the Big Three, who are really
One, and overseen by Mom. We need to invent a belief in a collective group
of perfect beings who have the job of forcing...encouraging...us to be
involved in making our Planet Earth a perfect place to live.
Hmm...I think I got off track again. But all of my rambling is aimed at
expressing my own thoughts. I am neither right nor wrong. I'm just having
a good chat with friends, Aren't I?
Carl Jarvis
On 7/23/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm not arguing with your point, Carl. I just would like to remindnation implode.
everyone that there are people who are not poor and who are not ultra
wealthy, who are living very comfortable lives. A former adoption
client called me today, just to ssay "hello" after not having talked
to me for several years.
Interestingly, her political and social views are very similar to
mine. Her thoughts and feelings about Obama, for example, are almost
identical to mine. I can't remember what her husband does for a
living, but she is a stay at home mom. They adopted 4 children, 2 from
China and 2 From Guatemala.
The
youngest one must be about 9 or 10 now. One of their daughters attends
a private educationally progressive school because she was miserable
in her public school. One daughter is autistic, but I think the
special school that she attends is public. The other two go to public
school. The family lives in a comfortable neighborhood in Queens in
New York City and owns their own home. But it isn't an upscale
neighborhood and the house isn't huge. Two of the children take dance
lessons. The children are all attending day camp this summer. Just to
be able to do these adoptions costs a lot of money, thousands and
thousands of dollars because of the travel expenses and agency fees.
These people have everything they need but they don't live, what is
considered a lavish life style. And there are lots and lots of people
like them.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2015 9:52 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to
the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
Well Dick, that makes it all very clear and concise. Like looking at
mud through a smoke screen.
If I get the drift, we could say that anyone who is able to employ the
services of others but is still under the boot of the Ruling Class, is
today's Middle Class. Still, whatever we call it and whatever energy
we put into our discussion, I think we're beating a dead horse. At
least the poor feller is dying. The kinds of jobs that once defined
our prospering Middle Class are being outsourced to countries teaming
with cheap labor. Even once prestigious callings such as doctors,
lawyers, professors, bank managers, and brokers are struggling to
maintain their "middle class" life style.
HMO's have the doctors by the short hair, many lawyers have a shine on
their pants and holes in the soles of their shoes. Professors fight
to gain tenure, often living in poverty. Bank managers and many
brokers are mere errand boys, barely keeping their heads above the
financial waters. That is a middle class I want nothing to do with.
Far too many followed the Pied Pipers of the Corporate Empire. and now
they are reaping their reward.
And now we have a gaggle of clown clones prancing about pretending to
be republican presidential candidates. If any single one of these
puppets are elected, and their austerity programs for the
Working/Middle Class are put into effect, we will watch this once
powerful
We will not need to worry about the one hundredth anniversary of thecultures.
Great Depression. Our crash will make that event look like a Sunday
School Picnic.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/23/15, R. E. Driscoll Sr <llocsirdsr@xxxxxxx> wrote:
The Middle Class:
Found the following:
(1)
http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEVvORH7FV2CAAjdEPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBy
O
HZyb21tBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--/RV=2/RE=1437700114/RO
=
10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fMiddle_class/RK=0/RS=XHP
Y
CLxinY98YVg8OPDsv0bXH2I-
(2)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The *middle class* is a class of people in the middle of a social
hierarchy. In Weberian <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber>
socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people
in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the
working class <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_class> and upper
class <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_class>. The common
measures of what constitutes middle class vary significantly among
workers <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-collar_worker>.
(3)
History and evolution of the term
The term "middle class" is first attested in James Bradshaw's 1745
pamphlet /Scheme to prevent running Irish Wools to France./^[1]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#cite_note-1> ^[2]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#cite_note-Bradshaw1745-2>
The term has had several, sometimes contradictory, meanings. It was
once defined by exception as an intermediate social class
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class> between the nobility
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobility> and the peasantry
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasantry> of Europe
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe>.^[/by whom?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_wat
c
h#Unsupported_attributions>/]
While the nobility owned the countryside, and the peasantry worked
the countryside, a new /bourgeoisie
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie>/ (literally
"town-dwellers") arose around mercantile functions in the city.
Another definition equated the middle class to the original meaning
of capitalist
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist>: someone with so much
capital <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_%28economics%29> that
they could rival nobles. In fact, to be a capital-owning millionaire
was the essential criterion of the middle class in the industrial
revolution. In France, the middle classes helped drive the French
Revolution <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution>.^[3]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#cite_note-3>
The modern usage of the term "middle class", however, dates to the
1913 UK Registrar-General's report, in which the statistician T.H.C.
Stevenson <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.H.C._Stevenson> identified
the middle class as that falling between the upper class and the
working class.^[/citation needed
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed>/] Included
as belonging to the middle class are professionals, managers, and
senior civil servants. The chief defining characteristic of
membership in the middle class is possession of significant human
capital <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital>.
Within capitalism, "middle class" initially referred to the
/bourgeoisie <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie>/ and the
/petite bourgeoisie
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_bourgeoisie>/. However, with
the impoverisation and proletarianisation
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletarianisation> of much of the
/petit bourgeois/ world, and the growth of finance capitalism
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finance_capitalism>, "middle class"
came to refer to the combination of the labour aristocracy
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_aristocracy>, the professionals
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professionals>, and the white collar
The size of the middle class depends on how it is defined, whether by
education, wealth <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth>, environment
of upbringing, social network
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network>, manners or values, etc.
These are all related, but are far from deterministically dependent.
The following factors are often ascribed in modern usage to a "middle
class":^[/by whom?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_wat
c
h#Unsupported_attributions>/]
* Achievement of tertiary education
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_education>.
* Holding professional qualifications, including academics
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academics>, lawyers
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawyers>, chartered engineers
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartered_engineer>, politicians
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politicians>, and doctors
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physicians>, regardless of leisure or
wealth.
* Belief in /bourgeois <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeois>/
values, such as high rates of house ownership
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owner-occupier>, delayed
gratification <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification>,
and jobs which are perceived to be secure
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_security>.
* Lifestyle. In the United Kingdom, social status has historically
been linked less directly to wealth than in the United States,^[4]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#cite_note-4> and has
also been judged by signifiers such as accent
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_%28dialect%29>, manners, place
of education, occupation, and the class of a person's family, circle
of friends and acquaintances.^[5]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#cite_note-5> ^[6]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#cite_note-6>
* Cultural identification. Often in the United States, the middle
class are the most eager participants in pop culture
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_culture> whereas the reverse is
true in Britain.^[7]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#cite_note-7> The second
generation of new immigrants
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrants> will often
enthusiastically forsake their traditional folk culture
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_culture> as a sign of having
arrived in the middle class.^[/citation needed
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed>/]
In the United States by the end of the twentieth century, more people
identified themselves as middle class than as lower or "working"
class (with insignificant numbers identifying themselves as upper
class).^[8] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#cite_note-8>
The British Labour Party
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_%28UK%29>,
which grew out of the organized labour movement and originally drew
almost all of its support from the working class, reinvented itself
under Tony Blair <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Blair> in the
1990s as "New Labour
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Labour#New_Labour>", a party
competing with the Conservative Party
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_%28UK%29> for the
votes of the middle class as well as the working class. By 2011,
almost three quarters of British people were also found to identify
themselves as middle class.^[9]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class#cite_note-9>
There is a separate section based upon the concept of Marxism.
R. E. (Dick) Driscoll, Sr.
On 7/23/2015 2:01 AM, Frank Ventura wrote:
Alice and all, I always had issues with the term "middle class:.
Does that imply it is the middle between the working class and the
ruling class? There are certain groups of people such as doctors and
cops that enjoy certain protections that the working class does not.
Like you said you don't see cops and doctors being killed in jail
cells for not using their turn signal.
Frank
*From:*blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Alice
Dampman Humel
*Sent:* Wednesday, July 22, 2015 9:19 PM
*To:* blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism
to the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
Doctors and lawyers, unless they're working in the free clinics or
for legal aid are most definitely not considered middle class.the
rest of what you say is an exposee of how you see the world and
can't be argued with for that reason, but that statement about
doctors and lawyers being middle class is inaccurate .just ask the
doctors and lawyers themselves, their patients and clients, their
neighbors, and see what the consensus is...
On Jul 21, 2015, at 10:50 PM, Roger Loran Bailey (Redacted sender
"rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx <mailto:rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>" for DMARC)
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
wrote:
Like I have said, when you use a word or phrase to mean everything
it means nothing and when everyone calls themselves middle class
then middle class means nothing too. The trouble with that phrase,
though, is that it never really meant much in the first place.
Literally, I suppose it is somewhere in between upper and lower,
but then you have to specify where one class ends and another
begins and by what criteria you are doing the measuring. The terms
upper and lower don't mean much either. If you want to talk about
classes then to do so with some kind of real meaning you have to
use terms that actually describe the role of the classes you are
talking about in the economic system you are talking about. With
all that said, though, I will have to admit that I have a very
strong personal distaste for that term middle class. Virtually
every time I have heard the term being used it has been used to
derogate me and the people I associate with by reassuring that
person who is using it that they are better than us. The vast
majority of people I have ever known do not refer to themselves as
part of any class in normal conversation. If the conversation
turns in a direction that they have to call themselves something
they will usually say working people or poor people. The few who
call themselves middle class, though, do not have to have the
conversation turn in a direction such that they will have to
identify their class. They make a point of telling you that they
are middle class to be sure that you will not mistake them for one
of you. Added to that, all of these obnoxious bourgeois
politicians are constantly talking about what they are going to do
for the middle class as if the vast majority of us do not even
exist. When Joe Biden came to Charleston a whole lot of poor
people turned out for his speech. I know a lot of them. His speech
consisted of middle class this and middle class that through the
whole thing. Did he even have the slightest idea how much he was
turning off his audience. I really did hear at least two people
say that they were convinced that he didn't care a thing about us
because all he cared about was middle class people and in that
context the phrase middle class was used with a bit of a sneer.
Traditionally the phrase middle class refers to the professional
class, that is, doctors, lawyers and the like. Among most of my
acquaintances those people are usually referred to as rich people,
not middle class people. That is, of course, inaccurate, but it is
the term that is used. There are two neighborhoods in Charleston
that mainly consist of those types. They are South Hills and
Edgewood Drive. There are other such neighborhoods, but it is
those two that are normally referred to by the most of the people
I am acquainted with as snobville or where those rich people live.
By the way, John D. Rockefeller owns a house in South Hills, so I
suppose there really are some rich people there, except that
Rockefeller does not really live there. He only bought the house
to officially maintain a West Virginia residence so that he could
be senator. South Hills was about as low as I think he would ever
be likely to go even if he didn't have to live there though.
On 7/21/2015 11:23 AM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
When Carl and Roger talk about this, they ar using a Marxist
framework in
which class definitions are very specific. You are using the
terms in the
way most Americans use them. But it is also true that blue
collar workers
have been referring to themselves as middle class, probably
ever since they
moved to the suburbs, owned one or more cars, and a color TV.
Corporations'
advertising has sold everyone on the fantasy that they are
similar to the
rich which is why so many former Democrats voted for Reagan.
Was it in the
eighties that all these people began taking cruises? Everyone
purchased this
1 week fantasy of opulence. One or two thousand people crowded
onto a ship,
the majority in tiny windowless cabins, with fancy looking
public rooms and
unlimited food of mediocre quality on the less expensive
cruises and now, on
almost all of them, and nightly entertainment. And each day,
they stop at a
port and are shepherded in huge groups to places where they
can buy things.
And they all think they're doing what the rich do.
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Alice Dampman
Humel
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2015 10:16 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders Takes His
Populism to the Red
States and Draws Huge Crowd
I also think there is significant overlap.many working class
people are
also middle class, and conversely, many middle class people are
simultaneously working class. Socially and economically, I
don't see the two
as mutually exclusive, Under certain circumstances, they seem
to be two
different terms that describe the same thing. Maybe it's a
slant in one
direction or another, and the accusation leveled that many
middle class
people think calling themselves middle class somehow elevates
them above the
people they might call working class and look down on is
certainly true in
some cases, but some people always feel they have to look down
on somebody,
and I don't think this is characteristic of all or even many
denizens of the
middle class . I certainly know and have known in the past,
many so-called
middle class neighborhoods that are populated by people who
hold jobs
considered to be working class, not white collar.
And of course this kind of gray area does not exist between
let's say upper
and working class.
Alice
On Jul 20, 2015, at 3:54 PM, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
wrote:
It may have something to do with the fact that his background
is
working
class. His family was Jewish, working class, and he grew up in
Brooklyn.
He's a bit younger than I am, but our childhood experiences are
probably
similar. One doesn't forget that, unless one puts forth a lot
of
effort to
do so.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Roger
Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx
<mailto:rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>" for DMARC)
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2015 3:18 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders Takes His
Populism to
the Red
States and Draws Huge Crowd
There is at least one point in favor of Sanders. He, at least,
gives
lip
service to working people instead of assuming that the
so-called
middle
class is the only class of people worth addressing.
On 7/20/2015 2:33 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) Home >
Bernie Sanders
Takes His Populism to the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
________________________________________
Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to the Red States and
Draws Huge
Crowd By Zaid Jilani [1] / AlterNet [2] July 19, 2015 Today,
Sanders
took his Southwestern tour to Dallas and Houston. In Dallas,
he spoke
to nearly 10,000 people. The senator condemned the
Democratic Party's
political strategy in the South, saying that it has
"conceded half of
the states in the national level." He said that when
"childhood
poverty in Texas is 27 percent, we've gotta take it on. When
34
percent of people living in Texas have no health insurance,
we've
gotta take it on." The people sitting in the bleachers
behind him took
to their feet to applaud when he said it makes more sense to
invest in
"jobs and education" rather than "incarceration," something
that has
become a feature of his stump speech.
Sanders' speech in Phoenix on Saturday night brought
together an
estimated eleven to twelve thousand people - one of the
largest
political rallies in the city's history (by comparison
Barack Obama
got 13,000 in January 2008 [3]). The crowd gave Sanders
standing
ovations at numerous points, such as when he condemned
police
violence, called for tuition-free college, and demanded that
American
provide for the veterans of its wars. It's worth noting
that, in contrast
to Donald Trump's homogeneous audience, Sanders'
crowd was extremely diverse; there was heavy representation
of young
Latinos, with one activist introducing the Senator before
his speech.
Bernie is campaigning across the Southwest to show he has
broader
appeal than just the safe blue-state regions of the country.
It is an
echo of the swing through the South that Sanders did in
2013, when he
was still considering his candidacy.
"I really strongly disagree with this concept that there's a
blue
state and red state America," he told In These Times in an
interview
that year. "I believe that in every state in the country the
vast
majority of the people are working people. These are people
who are
struggling to keep their heads above water economically,
these are
people who want Social Security defended, they want to raise
the
minimum wage, they want changes in our trade policy. And to
basically
concede significant parts of America, including the South,
to the
right-wing is to me not only stupid politics, but even worse
than
that-you just do not turn your backs on millions and
millions of working
people."
Although the majority of the address in Phoenix was similar
to the
remarks the senator has given around the country, there were
a few
innovations. "God bless Pope Francis," he joked. "Some
people think my
economic views are radical, you should check out this guy."
He also
ended his address on a note of optimism, pointing out that
while some
may say this country can never have truly universal health
care, this
is the same country that in the span of two and a half years
successfully defeated both the Germans and Japanese in the
Second World
War.
Watch the video of Sanders' address below:
In Houston, Taylor Channing, a 25 year-old from Houston who
has been
volunteering with his local Bernie Sanders group, was
thrilled by Sanders'
visit.
"It's funny because whenever I found out the other day that
he was
coming to Houston, I mean it freaked out we weren't
expecting such a
gift or such an early visit to one of the reddest states in
the
nation," he exclaimed. "I've never seen such a response to a
progressive campaign in my lifetime. I thought the response
I saw to
Obama was huge but this is just, I mean it's just, it's
insane."
For Channing, this Southwestern tour is a sending a message
to the
entire country about the Bernie Sanders' attitude towards
politics. In
his mind, Sanders is saying "I have no druthers about
showing up in
what is perceived to be a conservative bastion and just
being who I am
and seeing how the people respond."
By the looks of the response in Phoenix and the expected
response in
Texas Sunday evening, this strategy is working.
Zaid Jilani is an AlterNet staff writer. Follow @zaidjilani
[4] on
Twitter.
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx>'.
[5]
[6]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-takes-his-populis
m-red-
states-and-draws-huge-crowd
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/zaid-jilani-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/01/31/75657-obama-rally-draws-13-
000-in
-phx/
[4] https://twitter.com/zaidjilani
[5] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Bernie
Sanders
Takes His Populism to the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
[6]
http://www.alternet.org/ [7]
http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) Home >
Bernie Sanders
Takes His Populism to the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
Bernie Sanders Takes His Populism to the Red States and
Draws Huge
Crowd By Zaid Jilani [1] / AlterNet [2] July 19, 2015 Today,
Sanders
took his Southwestern tour to Dallas and Houston. In Dallas,
he spoke
to nearly 10,000 people. The senator condemned the
Democratic Party's
political strategy in the South, saying that it has
"conceded half of
the states in the national level." He said that when
"childhood
poverty in Texas is 27 percent, we've gotta take it on. When
34
percent of people living in Texas have no health insurance,
we've
gotta take it on." The people sitting in the bleachers
behind him took
to their feet to applaud when he said it makes more sense to
invest in
"jobs and education" rather than "incarceration," something
that has
become a feature of his stump speech.
Sanders' speech in Phoenix on Saturday night brought
together an
estimated eleven to twelve thousand people - one of the
largest
political rallies in the city's history (by comparison
Barack Obama
got 13,000 in January 2008 [3]). The crowd gave Sanders
standing
ovations at numerous points, such as when he condemned
police
violence, called for tuition-free college, and demanded that
American
provide for the veterans of its wars. It's worth noting
that, in contrast
to Donald Trump's homogeneous audience, Sanders'
crowd was extremely diverse; there was heavy representation
of young
Latinos, with one activist introducing the Senator before
his speech.
Bernie is campaigning across the Southwest to show he has
broader
appeal than just the safe blue-state regions of the country.
It is an
echo of the swing through the South that Sanders did in
2013, when he
was still considering his candidacy.
"I really strongly disagree with this concept that there's a
blue
state and red state America," he told In These Times in an
interview
that year. "I believe that in every state in the country the
vast
majority of the people are working people. These are people
who are
struggling to keep their heads above water economically,
these are
people who want Social Security defended, they want to raise
the
minimum wage, they want changes in our trade policy. And to
basically
concede significant parts of America, including the South,
to the
right-wing is to me not only stupid politics, but even worse
than
that-you just do not turn your backs on millions and
millions of working
people."
Although the majority of the address in Phoenix was similar
to the
remarks the senator has given around the country, there were
a few
innovations. "God bless Pope Francis," he joked. "Some
people think my
economic views are radical, you should check out this guy."
He also
ended his address on a note of optimism, pointing out that
while some
may say this country can never have truly universal health
care, this
is the same country that in the span of two and a half years
successfully defeated both the Germans and Japanese in the
Second World
War.
Watch the video of Sanders' address below:
In Houston, Taylor Channing, a 25 year-old from Houston who
has been
volunteering with his local Bernie Sanders group, was
thrilled by Sanders'
visit.
"It's funny because whenever I found out the other day that
he was
coming to Houston, I mean it freaked out we weren't
expecting such a
gift or such an early visit to one of the reddest states in
the
nation," he exclaimed. "I've never seen such a response to a
progressive campaign in my lifetime. I thought the response
I saw to
Obama was huge but this is just, I mean it's just, it's
insane."
For Channing, this Southwestern tour is a sending a message
to the
entire country about the Bernie Sanders' attitude towards
politics. In
his mind, Sanders is saying "I have no druthers about
showing up in
what is perceived to be a conservative bastion and just
being who I am
and seeing how the people respond."
By the looks of the response in Phoenix and the expected
response in
Texas Sunday evening, this strategy is working.
Zaid Jilani is an AlterNet staff writer. Follow @zaidjilani
[4] on
Twitter.
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Source URL:
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m-red-
states-and-draws-huge-crowd
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/zaid-jilani-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/01/31/75657-obama-rally-draws-13-
000-in
-phx/
[4] https://twitter.com/zaidjilani
[5] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Bernie
Sanders
Takes His Populism to the Red States and Draws Huge Crowd
[6]
http://www.alternet.org/ [7]
http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
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