Richard,
I think that means that although you were listening, you weren't actually
hearing and understanding. (smile)
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of R. E. Driscoll Sr
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2019 12:35 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders on Democratic Socialism,
Elizabeth Warren and the Media
Miriam: I have listened Bernie several times over the past week but heard
nothing positive. I think he is static noise in the broadcast.
R
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 17, 2019, at 10:25 AM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
That's pretty much how I feel. We really don't have any perfect solutions.
Getting along in this life involves making a lot of compromises. That's how
we survive. However, it's certainly OK to dream big dreams.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2019 11:59 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders on Democratic Socialism,
Elizabeth Warren and the Media
Given the people running for the office, I suspect I'll vote for Sanders.
But I do not believe he can turn the downward spiral of the American Empire.
Nor would that even be a good thing. But if we can protect the American
Working Class for a few more years, maybe we can find and implement some
solutions.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/15/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Bernie Sanders on Democratic Socialism, Elizabeth Warren and the
Media By Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
15 June 19
The Vermont Senator’s campaign is still trying to find its rhythm —
but its message is clear
If it seems like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is fighting for his
political life amid a series of negative articles, it might be
because he always is. The Sanders campaign is grounded in a principle
that an absence of controversy would be the real indication of trouble.
It’s not a cliché: Sanders is always, literally, embattled, among
other things because his version of politics is a battle, a zero-sum
clash of economic interests in particular. “The way he fights is
unique,” says his campaign manager, Faiz Shakhir. “He goes to Walmart
and confronts the CEO over wages. He goes and stands with striking
McDonald’s workers directly.”
The latest brush-fire, a series of negative articles trumpeting a
poll surge by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren as the latest
indication of Bernie’s oft-predicted demise, is just par for the
course.
Sanders this week gave a major address, explaining why he calls
himself a “Democratic Socialist.” He did this in 2015, and after much
discussion this spring it was decided he needed to do so again.
Speaking at George Washington University, Sanders described his
campaign as a continuation of FDR’s legacy, specifically the
so-called Second Bill of Rights, as enumerated in the 1944 State of
the Union Address. He plans on releasing an “Economic Bill of Rights”
that will essentially provide government guarantees for a living
wage, affordable housing, health care and a complete education.
Echoing a famous line by Roosevelt, he talked about his
confrontations with corporate interests.
“They are unanimous in their hatred of me, and I welcome their
hatred,” he said, to cheers.
Unlike the last election, when the policy difference between himself
and opponent Hillary Clinton was so great it scarcely needed
explaining, Sanders in 2019 is running in a much-altered Democratic
Party environment. In part due to his own efforts in 2016, and in
part due to a growing movement driven by the likes of Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez and others, he’s now chasing the nomination in a field
full of candidates expressing varying degrees of support for policies
once considered radical: Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, free
college, even a guaranteed income.
This is an accomplishment on the one hand, but also a complication:
How does Sanders stand out now in a political landscape that
(policy-wise, anyway) has made wholesale moves in his direction since
2016?
In an odd way, Sanders defines his campaign by the negativity it attracts.
Other campaigns that might talk the talk on issues like climate
change can’t be taken seriously, Bernie Sanders tells me in a phone
call from Washington, D.C., unless they “frontally confront the
fossil fuel industry.” If you’re not “embattled,” you’re not real. In
this vein he derides the “middle ground” platform of someone like
current frontrunner Joe Biden, which Sanders says “antagonizes no
one, stands up to no one, and changes nothing.”
Asked why he chose this week in particular to give an address on
Democratic Socialism, Sanders says the motivation was “twofold.”
“The first is to try to move this country away from an austerity policy,”
he
says. “We must recognize that economic rights are human rights.
People are entitled — and I underline the word entitled — to a decent
job that pays a living wage. They’re entitled to health care. They’re
entitled to a complete education, to affordable housing.”
He goes on to elucidate probably the biggest difference between
himself and Warren.
“In the words of Roosevelt,” he says, “the Republic at the beginning
was built around the guarantee of political rights. But he came to
believe that true individual freedom can’t exist without economic security.
“It’s time to guarantee economic rights. [FDR] said this 80 years ago.”
Warren and Sanders have nearly identical critiques of how screwed up
American capitalism has become in the global economy age. The main
difference is that while Warren seems to want to fix the problem by
re-invigorating those original political rights, Sanders wants to
take what he calls the “next step” into guaranteeing economic security.
I ask him about the headlines of this week, and how he would best
characterize the difference between himself and Warren, whom he
describes as a “friend.” He answers by describing how he came to his
decision to run.
“I thought long and hard about this,” he says. “My wife and I thought
about it for months and months. We talked about it more than we ever
talked about anything else. We’d be sure of one thing on Monday, then
Tuesday it would be different.”
He pauses. “I reached the conclusion that I’m the strongest candidate
to beat Donald Trump, but that wasn’t all. I wouldn’t just have to
beat Trump — the goal would be to create a movement to fundamentally
transform the country, so the future wouldn’t be threatened by later
Trumps, either.”
Sanders then explains that the only kind of candidacy that could
succeed now would be one like his own. “It won’t work,” he says,
“unless you have the courage to take on the very powerful special
interests that are entrenched and wield so much influence. If you
want to fix the climate change problem, you can’t do it unless you
frontally confront the fossil fuel industry. You want to rebuild the
infrastructure? You have to take on the 1-percent, get them to pay
their share.
“I believe from the bottom of my heart my approach is the only way,”
Sanders
says. “The middle of the road approach isn’t going to cut it.”
I asked him if he’s settled into a psychological strategy for dealing
with the media negativity, which seems relentless. Specifically, did
he ever think about taking the Trump approach, and embracing the
negative media, turning it to his advantage?
He laughs, but only a little.
“It’s hard,” he says. “My views on the press are nothing like Trump’s.
I don’t believe that the media is the enemy of the people. ‘They’re
not terrible people, it’s not fake news — there are a lot of great
reports in the New York Times, we use their work every day here on the
campaign.
“But,” he says, “at the end of the day, the media work for huge
multinational corporations. And as you know — you’re one of the few
who does know — anyone with my agenda is going to attract a lot of
opposition. I mean, last time, I think in a day or two, we had 16
different negative stories in the same paper [the Washington Post].
“As for finding a new way to handle it, psychologically, I think
we’re getting there. I think we’re figuring that out.”
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