Tuesday, February 25, 2020

The Plan (Plus: A Caucus Observer's Tale)


The Plan
by C. A. Matthews

Coincidences happen. Serendipitous events do occur and can be taken advantage of. Conspiracies actually take a lot of work and plotting, though, something which implies its participants are energetic and coordinated. Most groups can’t be bothered with that level of sophistication in order to promote their agendas.

It’s just easier for organizations to make simple plans—long-term or short-term plans. Many on the Left are fairly certain they see the overarching plan of the Democratic Party’s leadership in regards to the 2020 presidential election fleshing out. The Dem leaders don’t like democratic socialism, socialism, or anything that hints at taking care of our neighbors and bringing everyone’s standard of living up to an equal level and providing health care for all Americans. The top dog Dems like PACs/Super PACs and accepting large sums of money from corporations and individuals. In short, they ain’t too bothered with overturning the Citizens United ruling and outlawing money as speech. 


And why would the DNC leadership want to change their ways? Getting rid of PACs and billionaires’ contributions is not in their best interests. Who really cares if poor folks can eat or pay their heating bills anyway! The poor don’t write big checks or put high-powered Dems on boards of directors after they’ve retired from their cushy party or government jobs. Democracy and fair play obviously aren’t important virtues to the DNC. Face it, they’re just not.


At least this time around they’re not hiding their tactics. If anything, they’re telegraphing them loudly and clearly. They allowed billionaire Michael Bloomberg to buy his way onto their debate stage by purchasing tons of commercial ad space on TV, the internet, print and billboards with what amounts to his pocket change. No one at the top of the party blinked an eye, either. No one said, "Hey, that's not fair to poorer candidates!" The DNC might say they hate a certain white male racist misogynist one-percenter in Washington, DC, but they’re more than willing to install another one in his place it seems.  

It's surreal. The DNC doesn’t really care about being seen as hypocrites while touting widely they’re the “party of workers.” What kind of “workers” are those, Dems? Professional butt-kissers? Amateur Boot-lickers? It boggles the mind how anyone with half a brain and an ounce of morality would have anything to do with such a morally bankrupt organization.

But then you stop and think and realize that the status quo establishment yields tight control over the ballot box and the debate stage. So the choices of the “major” parties in the November presidential election will be (once again)  Trump and Not-Trump or "Trump-lite" Bloomberg. Surprised?

Unless an outsider can get a foot in the door of this corrupt duopolistic system, don’t expect anything short of a revolution (a violent one) from changing how the system works in this country. “The Plan” says things stay the same and the money keeps flowing upwards into the billionaires’ pockets while We the People grow steadily poorer and sicker and our waters become ever more undrinkable and our soil turns to dust. Too bad, so sad you weren't born a Zuckerberg or a Bezos or a Bloomberg, right?


The outliers like Bernie Sanders or a third party candidate like the Green Party’s Howie Hawkins or Dario Hunter will not be allowed to compete. The Plan has already developed its "apps" and has the rigged electronic voting machines ready. The Plan doesn’t allow for the voters to actually have a choice to tackle the climate catastrophe and restore our lost civil rights. Oh no! The fat cats can’t have that. And so the DNC will (once again) rig their convention by using their Superdelegates to keep the “people's choice” Bernie from the nomination for the people's own good.

Lee Camp and Saagar Enjeti both give pretty good explanations of how this plan will come about in the following videos. A brokered convention all but puts the nails in the coffin of a Bernie Sanders presidency. The other Dem candidates on the debate stage in Las Vegas appear to be in on the fix, too, as they salivate at the chance to take power in Milwaukee. The will of the people doesn't enter even the picture.


And, of course, they DNC will try to blame any apparent lack of democracy in their primary process on the "Russians" or whomever is convenient rather than accept responsibility for their own heinous actions. I'm just waiting for it to happen. Oh, wow... They just did.

I apologize if this tirade comes across as a bit of a downer, but I thought you should be prepared for the worst. If by a miracle-upon-a-miracle the miraculous happens and the voters actually receive a “choice” at the voting booth this time, that victory will taste all the sweeter. 

But for those of us who were there in Philadelphia in 2016, I caution you to not hold your breath. You’ll need your oxygen to pick up your pitchfork and get marching immediately. As the song says, “We won’t be fooled again.” See you in the streets.


https://youtu.be/mjW_zh-xEXA

https://youtu.be/CTzDY4Q5zqc

Related articles and videos:

Nick Branna, Former Bernie Staffer Tells What Will Happen Next in the Primaries (video)
https://youtu.be/B9On84hT9cQ

Why Does Anyone Think Michael Bloomberg Would Beat Donald Trump?
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/02/why-does-anyone-think-michael-bloomberg-would-beat-donald-trump

Leaked Audio: Bloomberg Says Only Minorities Commit Crimes (video)
https://youtu.be/bT8g2ImDckc


And for those who try to dig up "Russiagate" and use it as a reason to eliminate Bernie Sanders from the DNC nomination:  

US Intelligence Briefer Appears To Have Overstated Assessment of 2020 Russian Interference
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/23/politics/intelligence-briefer-russian-interference-trump-sanders/index.html

Analysis Show DNC Servers Locally Hacked
https://www.mintpressnews.com/analysis-dnc-servers-locally-hacked-russian-interference-unlikely/229699/

 ***
And now a special report courtesy of Our Revolution--Northwest Ohio:
How Bernie Sanders Learned from 2016

Last week a group of four activists from Our Revolution – Northwest Ohio traveled to Iowa to canvas, knocking on hundreds of doors and driving vans of people to their caucus sites, and then serving as observers. Below is a brief memoir from Dennis Slotnick, Caucus Observer.

Observing a Caucus in Iowa in 2016

In a small precinct 25 miles north of Davenport, Iowa, a roller skating rink turned into a Democratic Party caucus site. Voters checked in on paper sheets and sat in the skating area in two almost equally populated sections. I counted heads: Bernie 65, Hillary 57. The organizer wrote on a white board different numbers. He was the only other person visibly counting. He put reverse numbers up: Bernie 56, Hilary 63. Numbers are approximate because it was not possible to know who were caucusers from observers. Children and teens wandered about getting food and drinks, sitting in the area to be counted. After presentations to the groups by pro-Hillary and pro-Bernie campaigners the realignment occurred. When I counted again, the second count was about the same, although nothing was written and no paper trail could be made. There were no ballots, no cards or documentation.  Just the whiteboard. I was stunned. In shock, I looked to the guy from New York who also observed and we both agreed that anyone could walk down on the floor to be counted. We shook our heads in bewilderment. There were not any Bernie campaign precinct captains. There was not presence of organized observers. There wasn’t a way to identify who was an observer or caucus member. Other problems occurred as you may recall. Many precincts were so close that a coin flip settled the question in eight districts--7 of the 8 flips went to Clinton. What was the probability of that occurring? 1 in 256.

Apparently, this was not an isolated case, and apparently word got
back to Bernie because caucuses were run differently in 2020.

   
Left: At caucus site, Des Moines, 2020. Observers were identified with labels. Right: These people are holding their voter cards with name, address, ID number and their signature.


February  3, 2020: Des Moines, Iowa, Caucus Precinct at 3500 2nd Street 

There were three precinct captains from presidential candidates Sanders, Warren, and Biden. They assisted with the caucus in handing out voting cards, taking count by raising of hands, and announcing the count out loud as each person was called. This occurred both before and after realignment and then the cards were all collected, counted and recorded by the precinct captains for the caucus. This is where the internal Sanders campaign caucus result numbers come from. There were also a dozen observers for Bernie Sanders available to assist in the caucus as needed and performed the witness role.
Vote Count Precinct 3500 2nd Street: 

Bernie Sanders 138
Joe Biden 9
Elizabeth Warren 1

 

Since neither Warren or Biden got 15%, all delegates from this precinct would go to Bernie Sanders. There were a dozen Bernie observers available that performed the witness role. Sanders' internal numbers were not the same as of the Iowa Dems. 

Sanders Reporting Numbers        Iowa DNC Reporting numbers  
Sanders 29.4%                                   Butigieg  26.8%
Butigieg 24.87%                                Sanders 25.9%
Warren 20.65%                                 Warren 18%
Biden 12.92%                                     Biden 15%
Klobuchar 12.92%                           Klobuchar  12%

 

How could this be?  
The reporting came to a halt when the Sanders campaign revealed their internal numbers to the Iowa Democratic Caucus organizers. This data was accompanied by five lawyers to challenge the results. The five Bernie lawyers approached the Iowa Dems demanding to know why the Bernie inside list votes were so different from the Iowa Dems' count.   
A faulty app was blamed for the delay and “inconstancies” in reporting while a recount of cards began. Dems withdrew their first release of numbers and decided to count the cards to verify the electronic numbers. (Recall that if Sanders campaign did not work with the Iowa Democratic Party to get these cards and use them in the caucus, this manual recount would not have been possible.)
 

Bernie still stands with his numbers.
See statement from Bernie campaign

   
Left: Cards raised by caucus goers used for oral count. Holding high for Bernie Sanders.
Right: Recording and reporting the collected cards for Bernie Sanders'  internal numbers.

It is profoundly revealing to me that the the campaign of Bernie Sanders has learned from the primary elections four years ago. The campaign has built a massive network of skilled precinct captains in every precinct, instituted the voter card system, and kept a methodical record of the numbers. Anticipating the problem, there were lawyers on site to challenge the data and make a case as soon as the results came out. 
The media has now revealed that the app used by the Iowa Dems was bought for $85,000 from Shadow, Inc., a media company that Pete Buttigieg has a vested interest. Furthermore, Pete Butigieg paid $40,000 to assure this system was used.
 
*** 
From the Move to Amend:
 
There is some debate about whether he said this but we're thinking about these words attributed to President Abraham Lincoln:
“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”

And here we are. The top tenth of a percent owns more wealth than the bottom 50% of people in this country -- and we have no mechanisms in place to stop or even mitigate that upward flow of wealth. Help grow the movement to end corporate rule and get big money out of politics by sharing the Motion to Amend today.

If we weren't sure whether or not we live in an oligarchy, we are watching in real time as a multi-billionaire is purchasing his way into a lead spot in the Democratic Party primary. If Bloomberg succeeds and gets the nomination, the American people will have a choice between two grotesquely wealthy politicians, both with corrupt histories. 

This isn't random or just an unfortunate blip in our history -- this is the culmination of a century and a half of corporate domination over political system (not to mention our communities, our environment, our bodies, etc). Now is the time for us to come together to amend the Constitution to make clear that corporations are not people, and money is not free speech! There is a solution -- share it with your friends and family today, by sharing our petition on your social media and email networks!

The #WeThePeopleAmendment is the only amendment that gets to the root of corporate rule by getting big money out of politics, and abolishing ALL corporate constitutional rights. 

It is the only way to turn this ship around and correct this disastrous course -- that Lincoln so presciently warned about -- toward real democracy. 
But it takes a movement. Share the petition far and wide, so we can build that movement for democracy!

Thank you for being in it with us --
- Move to Amend National Team

P.S. Help us grow the movement to fundamentally change the system that even President Lincoln could see was tilted in favor of corporate interests by sharing our petition today! 


***
Day by day, Amazon is extending its reach into everyday people’s lives through new technologies marketed as helpful and harmless. That cannot be farther from the truth. We are on the brink of a mass surveillance crisis and Amazon is ushering in this dangerous new era via Ring.


Ring, owned by Amazon, is a doorbell camera that allows the user to monitor activity through the Neighbor app, to see what’s happening outside of the home and many times, inside as well. Amazon not only has access to this footage, they own the content in perpetuity. But it gets worse-- Amazon makes insidious deals with local law enforcement agencies, rapidly targeting cities and writing marketing scripts for police officers to convince residents to buy Ring, often at a discounted rate or even for free.

Innovative technologies should not be used to increase policing at the expense of our privacy and freedom. Sign the petition to tell your mayor or local police chief to put an end to shady partnerships between law enforcement and Ring.

It has been proven time and time again that Black and brown communities suffer the most at the hands of technology bias. Algorithms that supposedly function without racial bias, in fact do. Facial recognition technology supposedly created to increase accuracy, often get it wrong-- especially among people of color. Pairing what we know about these problems in emergent technology with the widely reported flaws and hacks that have already happened with Ring, is clearly a recipe for disaster.
 
Our people are already overpoliced and over-surveilled through practices ranging from Stop and Frisk, to Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) which specifically targets MASA (Muslim Arab South Asian) communities. Technology has no place in further terrorizing people of color. It’s time we demand an end to over policing and it starts with holding Ring accountable.

The future of technology is ours to shape. We need to demand proper safety and privacy standards now or run the risk of living in a tech fueled 21st century police state tomorrow. We must take a stand before it’s too late.

In solidarity,
Kim Flores and the ACRE team

P.S - Are you being watched at work? Read the Medium post from our friends at Coworker.org and take the brief survey at the end to tell your story of surveillance. Coworker.org is a global platform to advance change in the workplace. Surveillance and control in the workplace is an authoritarian dream come true and we can’t be silent while everyday workers are being impacted.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

2020--The Year That Will Shape the Future of the Democratic Party


Our guest blogger shares his well-researched reasoning on why he supports the senator from Vermont. What do you say about The Independent Reformist's insights on the future of the Democratic Party? Is it a "make or break" year for them if they don't nominate Bernie Sanders? For the US as a whole if Bernie isn't allowed to run for the White House?
  

2020 – The Year That Will Shape the Future of the Democratic Party: Why I Support Bernie Sanders
by The Independent Reformist

https://bernnoticepolitics.wordpress.com/2020/02/05/2020-the-year-that-will-shape-the-future-of-the-democratic-party-why-i-support-bernie-sanders/

Let me preface this article by stating a couple of things for the sake of clarity:
  1. I have no intention of slandering or disrespecting other candidates or their voter base. I believe it is counter-productive and a good way to alienate those whom you may potentially bring to your side in the general election.
  2. I understand that some may support different candidates. That is your right and I respect it. That said, please note that this is my opinion and I hope that you will at least consider what is being said in a fair and honest manner, regardless of where your allegiance lie afterwards.
With this out of the way, I would like to outline the reasons why I support Sanders in 2020, as I did in 2016.

I think that the summation of the campaign slogan “Not Me, Us!” encapsulates why I am a Sanders voter. I am voting for a future that is comparatively of less consequence to me than it is to younger voters. With that being said, we must think beyond our own individuality and consider the countless others who are not in our shoes.

Income Inequality & College Debt
It is hard enough to try to get ahead in this world. We all have to work to put food on the table, and ensure that basic needs are met. Now imagine trying to get a start in life where most jobs that pay a decent wage require a college degree.  Sure, you can get a scholarship, if you make the cut for the limited scholarships available. If you don’t, then you have to take out a loan.

The common answer from older voters is “Well, I had to do it too,” but have you considered that the cost for a college education has skyrocketedeven when compared to the cost of living?
College_tuition_1978-2010 Wikicommons

Just to get a decent start in life, the current generation has to take on debt that has inflated 2.5 times the value of a home and basic cost of living between 1978 to 2010. This effectively puts them in a massive hole that they will need to work their way out of.

To make matters worse, according to an article written by Abigail Hess from CNBC:
As 2019 comes to a close, for many doing a review of their finances, the decade will likely be defined by student debt.
Today, some 44 million Americans collectively hold nearly $1.6 trillion in student debt. Given that there are approximately 242 million Americans over the age of 18, that means that roughly 18% of American adults are paying off student loans.
These rates are even higher among young people. According to the Federal Reserve, over half of young adults who went to college in 2018 took on debt.
At the end of 2009, Americans held roughly $772 billion in student loans. By the end of 2019, that total had spiked to nearly $1.6 trillion — that’s an increase of roughly 107%.
Reference: Student debt increased by 107 this decade, Federal Reserve data shows – by Abigail Hess – https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/30/student-debt-totals-increased-by-107percent-this-decade.html
To make matters worse, they are still looking at an income rate that has largely been stagnant since the 1970s. Yet the top 5 percent of earners income has gone up dramatically in comparison. In light of all of these facts, how can we expect them to simply accept things as they are? Better yet, why do we as a society continue to accept it?
512px-Income Gains - CPBB

Also as a result of the bad trade deals like NAFTA, the American manufacturing base, especially in the Midwest (Rust Belt) is virtually non-existent. Automation is also eating into low skilled and redundant work, so the pool of jobs is getting smaller. As direct result, the pool of competitors for jobs rises and the employers can pay employees less.

In summary, if the young average worker has to spend a good chunk of their lifetime working out of debt because of college loans, they are already going to have less disposable income. If there is no upward mobility in wages as cost of living increases, they have even less. How can an economy not be stagnant when the working class has no disposable income (if they even have an income) to buy products? This matters because the consumer, not the business person, is the gas that fuels the economy.

The $15 an hour minimum wage that Sanders dragged into the mainstream is a start. There still have to be opportunities, and they need to have real relief from crushing loan debt. The only solutions, other than “We can’t do that,” has come from Senators Sanders and Warren and Andrew Yang. Sanders' goal, in my opinion is more ambitious where it forgives college loan debt and makes state run colleges and universities tuition free. The latter alleviates the burden on future generations.

Include Senator Sanders federal jobs initiative and you have more of a pool of opportunities for workers. It will have the additional impact of decreasing the pool of employees which can force private industry to offer more competitive wages for talent.

The Future of Humanity is at Stake
The worst effects of climate change are still to come, but half measures will get us nowhere. If we don’t take serious action, we could leave future generations a planet that is hostile to human life. Being in the pockets of the fossil fuel lobby via campaign donations risks watering down efforts to aggressively change to more sustainable energy.
1987_yearly_temperature_anomalies_from_1880_to_2019

Our effects on our ecosystem is no longer debatable. There is scientific consensus that humanity’s effect on the ecosystem is measurable and evident.
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95 percent probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.1
Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate.
The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.2 Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response.
Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that the Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. Ancient evidence can also be found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. This ancient, or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery warming.3
Reference: https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
The role of adults in society is to try guide the next generation in a manner that gives them a chance at a better future than the previous generations had. We also owe them and subsequent generations a habitable world that they can pass on to their progeny. This isn’t just an United States thing. This is an “all of humanity” thing. It’s global.

Just one campaign cycle ago, Senator Sanders declared the top threat to national security being climate change. At the time, many laughed. Now in 2020 more people are parroting the line. Once again showing Senator Sanders was out front, before most of the rest of our leaders in Washington D.C.

The time for half-measures is over. If we are to be good custodians of our world, and the future of humanity we must be serious about climate change. I believe that Sanders is as serious about combating climate change as they come.

Racial and Social Justice
It is easy to look at the current field and note that they are all white people. The News media certainly reminds us enough. What it doesn’t mention is that Senator Sanders is Jewish. Both of his father's parents were lost in the Holocaust.

He is not the kind of person to go out of his way to bring it up, but when asked about it in a 2016 CNN interview the exchange went as follows:
Sanders could be the first Jewish U.S. president ever elected, though he has repeatedly described himself as a secular Jew without strong ties to organized religion. 
Jewish political activists, historians and pollsters have said Sanders’ minority faith has also been overlooked because the national attitude toward Jews has evolved to the point where there’s no stigma attached to the religion or culture. 
Sanders’ comments on his Judaism were in response to CNN’s Anderson Cooper asking him if he is intentionally keeping his Judaism in the background , after an audience member asked Sanders whether he believed God to be relevant, to which Sanders responded, “yes.” 
Reference: CNN Politics, Bernie Sanders: ‘My fathers family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust’ by Daniella Diaz
Understanding these facts can help understand why Bernie took the stand that he did during the civil rights movement. It’s easier to relate to other ethnic groups and marginalized communities when you are a descendant of a marginalized community yourself.

Without going into all of the details in this article (which is lengthy enough), I will reference a Mother Jones article about Sanders in the Civil Rights Era.
During Sanders’ first year in Chicago, a group of apartment-hunting white and black students had discovered that off-campus buildings owned by the university were refusing to rent to black students, in violation of the school’s policies. CORE organized a 15-day sit-in at the administration building, which Sanders helped lead. (James Farmer, who co-founded CORE and had been a Freedom Rider with Lewis, came to the University of Chicago that winter to praise the activists’ work.) The protest ended when George Beadle, the university’s president, agreed to form a commission to study the school’s housing policies... He continued his activism with CORE and SNCC. In August of 1963, not long after returning to Chicago from the March on Washington, Sanders was charged with resisting arrest after protesting segregation at a school on the city’s South Side. He was later fined $25, according to the Chicago Tribune:
Reference: Mother Jones, Here’s What Bernie Sanders Actually Did in the Civil Rights Movement” by Tim Murphy
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/02/bernie-sanders-core-university-chicago/
He has also taken a stand for LGBTQ rights in the 1970s. Politifact referenced Chuck Todd’s comment about Senator Sanders stance as follows:
Chuck Todd, the host of NBC’s Meet the Press, focused on same-sex marriage during an interview with Clinton on Sept. 27, 2015.
“Bernie Sanders has been where you are on these issues,” Todd said. “Bernie Sanders was there when it came to marriage 20 years ago. Do you think one of the reasons he’s doing well right now is some progressives think, ‘Well, you know what? He was there when it wasn’t popular.’”

Todd said Sanders was “there” on same-sex marriage 20 years ago, but we found evidence pointing back even further.
In the early 1970s, Sanders ran for governor of Vermont under the banner of the Liberty Union party, a coalition of leftist groups. The party platform called for making taxes tougher on corporations and lighter on families, an end to the Vietnam War and a number of measures to get government out of people’s private lives.
“The Liberty Union believe that there are entirely too many laws that regulate human behavior,” Sanders wrote in an open letter. “Let us abolish all laws which attempt to impose a particular brand of morality or ‘right’ on people. Let’s abolish all laws dealing with abortion, drugs, sexual behavior (adultery, homosexuality, etc.).”
Reference: Politifact, “NBC’s Chuck Todd: Bernie Sanders was there on same-sex marriage 20 years ago” by Jon Greenberg – https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/sep/29/chuck-todd/nbcs-chuck-todd-bernie-sanders-there-same-sex-marr/
There is a reference to the original letter, but unfortunately it is a broken link. However, the same platform can be found here:
Bernie's 1972 Lette Liberty Union Platform - The New Republic

Some might argue that he didn’t perfectly meet the modern bar. Perhaps so. But there are many who were around in that era who didn’t even meet his bar.  I think a fan made video sums it up nicely, using the speech given by Killer Mike:

Video by GoodNightProductions – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikgh4JbAWUU

I would rather have someone who at least will honestly take a stand when times are hard, than someone who only says the right things when it is convenient or politically expedient.

A Candidate Who Means What He Says and Says What He Means
I often say that “You can’t possibly mean what you say, if you don’t say precisely what you mean.” Words have meaning, and how you use them have consequences. We currently live in a time where “Doublespeak” is the norm. Where being duplicitous is completely expected, especially when it comes to politics.

There was a time where speaking openly and honestly was refreshing and welcomed. Yet our jaded sensibilities have allowed us to give up of honesty. You can look at what Senator Sanders says and compare it to his track record in life and politics to find he is remarkably consistent. He has stood for these policies for decades, most notably in the decades when it was not popular, and he was one of the lone voices in the wilderness.
640px-Bernie_Sanders_by_Gage_Skidmore
When Bernie said, “We need to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour,” in 2016 everyone in the establishment said we can’t do it. Now it’s mainstream. When Bernie said, “We need to have Medicare for all,” in 2016, the establishment said that’s crazy. Now it’s mainstream. When Bernie said, “I am going to run on a grassroots funded campaign without big donors,” in 2016 the media said it would never work. Now he is a fundraising juggernaut rivaled only by Trump and Bloomberg, but the difference is Bernie is running solely on small dollar contributions from working class people like us.

I could continue on with health care and the need to bring the Democratic Party back to FDR principles. I could go on about how the power brokers in the party have ignored the Midwest until election time and then forgets them just as quickly. I can talk about how the Flint Water Crisis still needs resolution, and how the DNC hasn’t addressed it outside of campaign talking points, but this article is quite long enough. The bottom line is we need and frankly deserve a leader who works for us!

Make no mistake, he’s not perfect. No one is. But when compared to the numerous other candidates his rhetoric and actions, few (if any) have been more consistent than Senator Sanders. It’s easy to say something when things are popular. It’s easy to fight for something when everyone, including entrenched power is on your side. The true mettle of a person is measured when they take a stand when an idea is well outside of the mainstream.

I stand with the candidate who fights for the the alienated, the discriminated and the decimated. Say what you will, but in my opinion that is Senator Bernie Sanders. Unbossed. Unbought. Unbroken.

References:
Image, Not Me Us Rally picture, by Mark Dixon – https://www.flickr.com/photos/9602574@N02/25300155296
Image, College Tuition vs Home Prices vs CPI – Wikicommons – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:College_tuition
Student debt increased by 107 this decade, Federal Reserve data shows – by Abigail Hess – https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/30/student-debt-totals-increased-by-107percent-this-decade.html
Image Graph Real Family Income between 1947 and 2018, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality
Image, Temperature Anomaly Common Baseline 1951-2019,  NASA – https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
Climate change references,  NASA, Global Clmate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet – https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
CNN Politics, Bernie Sanders: ‘My fathers family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust’ by Daniella Diaz – https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/07/politics/democratic-debate-jewish-bernie-sanders-cnn-flint-michigan/index.html
Mother Jones, “Here’s What Bernie Sanders Actually Did in the Civil Rights Movement” by Tim Murphy https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/02/bernie-sanders-core-university-chicago/
Politifact, “NBC’s Chuck Todd: Bernie Sanders was there on same-sex marriage 20 years ago” by Jon Greenberg – https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/sep/29/chuck-todd/nbcs-chuck-todd-bernie-sanders-there-same-sex-marr/
Image, “A Letter from Bernie Sanders”, The New Republic, “Bernie Sanders Was Just Another hippie Rummaging Through My Mom’s Fridge” by Chelsea G. Summers – https://newrepublic.com/article/122005/he-was-presidential-candidate-bernie-sanders-was-radical
Video by: GoodNightProductions, Bernie Sanders Ad (Killer Mike Speech) The Time is Now – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikgh4JbAWUU
Image, Bernie Sanders, Wikimedia Commons by Gage Skidmore – – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bernie_Sanders_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg