Bernie Sanders' Platform isn't the problem

[bravenak]

http://m.lasvegassun.com/news/2016/feb/21/bernie-sanders-platform-isnt-the-problem/

[giftedgirl77]

1. Nope, it's his lack of platform & track record that is the problem.

But hey what do we know???

[CentralMass]

5. Bernie's platform.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://berniesanders.com/issues/&ved=0ahUKEwiYpPuO5onLAhUI1GMKHct-BLkQFggkMAA&usg=AFQjCNEImjfLBXTFV91L_Ule-uHBKWSy1Q&sig2=0rV85W401Yu28HL-QgkHww

[giftedgirl77]

48. You don't have to like it but thems the facts.

[bravenak]

6. And demeanor

[CentralMass]

14. Bernie's demeanor.

[bravenak]

15. Angry

[CentralMass]

17. Did you watch that video or him speak. Or look at his history ?

[bravenak]

18. I have been seeing him for YEARS

[jfern]

94. And you claim to have supported him

[bravenak]

98. I did. You all changed my mind, you know this

Made me vet him

[NurseJackie]

60. Exactly!

Thank you.

[CentralMass]

8. Bernie's accomplishments.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/02/19/heres-a-long-list-of-bernie-sanders-accomplishments-with-citations/
Early days

Won a championship on the basketball team at his primary school in Brooklyn.

Was Captain of his cross-country team, winning a lot of races. In fact, he was so successful he was repeatedly talked about in the school’s yearbook the very next year despite having already graduated.

Early activism


Forced the class president at his James Madison High School to raise scholarship money for kids in Korea, after they had been orphaned due to the war there in the 1950’s.

Organized a sit-in against segregation when he was still a student in college. This was the first civil rights sit-in in Chicago history. This led to the University of Chicago investigating the discrimination just a week afterward.

Mayor of Burlington

Defeated the 5-term mayor of Burlington, winning by just ten votes in his bid against Democratic mayor Gorden Paquette. Hey, a win is a win. The odds were stacked against him. (Guma, The People’s Republic, pg. 42.)

He won re-election three times, defeating Democratic and Republican contenders.

Caused voter turnout to double during his tenure.

Burlington became the first city in the country to fund community-trust housing under Sanders’ leadership.

He not only balanced the city budget, but undertook ambitious downtown revitalization projects. He even helped bring in a minor-league baseball team to the town, the Vermont Reds.

He sued the town’s local cable franchise and won reduced rates for customers.

Kept a developer from turning important waterfront property into condominiums, hotels, and offices to be used only by the wealthy and affluent. Instead, it was made into housing, parks, and public space. Even today, the area still has many parks and miles of public beach and bike baths, including a science center.

Provided new firms with seed funding, and helped businesses create trade associations. He funded training programs to give women access to nontraditional jobs and even gave special attention to women wanting to become entrepreneurs.

Voted as one of America’s best mayors by U.S. News & World Report in 1987.

Teaching days

Taught political science at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Hamilton College.

U.S. House of Representatives

His 1990 victory was described by The Washington Post as being the “First Socialist Elected” to the United States House of Representatives in more than 40 years.

Served in the House from 1991 until the time he became a Senator in 2007. Over a span of 16 years, he continuously won re-election by large margins, with the only exception being 1994.

In his very first year in the House, he co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He led this group for its first eight years. Its primary devotion is to advance liberal causes and is currently the largest organization within the Democratic congressional caucus.

He sided with the minority in voting against the use of force against Iraq in 1991 and 2002. He also opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Voted against the Patriot Act despite the majority of Congress voting for it (357 to 66). He also sponsored several amendments trying to limit its effects, even getting a proposal passed through the House preventing the government from obtaining a record of the books people buy.

Was an open critic of Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan and took him head on insisting he only represented “large and wealthy corporations.” Greenspan later admitted to Congress that his economic ideology regarding risky mortgage loans was flawed.

He passed more amendments than any other member during his time in the House. It earned him the nickname “The Amendment King.” He did this despite being a “socialist” and Congress being controlled by Republicans from 1994 to 2006, in one of the most partisan right-wing Houses ever.

Passed an amendment to “require offenders who are convicted of fraud and other white collar crime to give appropriate notice to victims and other persons in cases where there are multiple victims eligible to receive restitution.”

Passed an amendment that improved Postsecondary Education. It administered a competitive grant program to institutions of higher education seeking to reduce costs through the purchase of goods and services. This saved colleges and taxpayers both money.

He amended the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 2003, stopping the IRS from being able to use funds that “violate current pension age discrimination laws.”

He expanded free health care and won a $100 million increase in funding by using his amendment powers. This added community health centers that gave out a variety of free health care services.

Prevented child labor by passing an amendment to a general appropriations bill. This stated that the U.S. will not appropriate funds for the importation of goods made by the hands of minors.

Won a $22 million increase for low-income home energy assistance and a related weatherization assistance program. This helped heat homes for the poor.

Passed an amendment that formed a bipartisan coalition effectively prohibiting the Export-Import Bank from handing out loans for nuclear projects in China.

U.S. Senate

Defeated a wealthy businessman, Rich Tarrant, to win his U.S. Senate seat in 2006, in one of the most expensive campaigns in Vermont’s history.

Received the distinction of being named the third-most popular senator in the country, according to Public Policy Polling in August 2011.

Given a score of 100 percent by the NAACP and NHLA (National Hispanic Leadership Agenda) based on his record during his time in the Senate.

Named one of the top 5 American Jews of the Forward 50 in 2015.

Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in 2013-2014.

Became ranking minority member of the Senate Budget Committee in January 2015.

Became ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging.

Passed an amendment making sure that solar water heaters provide at least 30 percent of hot water for new federal buildings. This is forcing us to use green energy.

Made sure to it that bailout funds weren’t used to replace laid-off U.S. workers with exploited and poorly-paid foreign workers.

Helped ensure that child care was being offered to parents in the Armed Forces by requiring the Comptroller General to provide accurate reporting on what was being done.

Required a public database be made available showing the names of senior Department officials seeking employment with defense contractors. This helped crack down on corruption.

Required that the TRICARE program provide treatment to veterans affected by certain types of autism. It wasn’t previously being done.

Won a battle requiring the Government Accountability Office to conduct an audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the part that doesn’t interfere with monetary policy). This revealed the names of the recipients of over 2,000,000,000,000 in taxpayer assistance.

Was praised by John McCain(R-AZ) and Sen. Jack Reed(D-RI) for overhauling the Veterans Administration. Was said to have done such an excellent job of bringing all parties to a deal, that it wouldn’t have gotten done without Sanders’ work.

But, most of all, what Bernie has done is inspire Americans. That’s what he’s doing in this election. His list of accomplishments doesn’t include all the times he’s stood on the Senate floor giving a passionate speech on why the “big banks need to be broken up.” No, you can’t quite quantify things like that.

Here is one of the most inspiring videos of Bernie Sanders you will ever see:

[giftedgirl77]

50. Won a championship in basketball in primary school???

Ffs

[bravenak]

13. You just got spammed

[JonLeibowitz]

37. With accomplishments.

[bravenak]

39. Constant spamming of stuff we already know has the opposite of the intended effect

[giftedgirl77]

52. Because he won a basketball championship in primary school.

That does it, he has won me over bc I played basketball in elementary school too. I wonder if when he got a bad call, did he scream that it was establishment refs?

[CentralMass]

2. Are Hillary's policies a problem ?

Can you list some of them and tells us why they make you want to vote for her ?

Besides ACA what policies of her predecessors do you embrace and feel have made things better ?

[bravenak]

9. Bringing up hillary as a response to Bernies failings is a problem

[CentralMass]

20. I posted his platform and accomplishments. I mentioned nothing about any failings.

I then asked the about Hillary's platform and accomplishments and what among them you feel 0makes or will make your life better.

[bravenak]

23. This op. Is about BERNIE

Trying to hide behind Hillary is inappropriate

[CentralMass]

26. Right. And outside of two minor questions I posted articles about his platform, accomplishments, and

his demeanor.

[bravenak]

29. You immediately started talking Hillary

As if Bernie needs her to prop him up

[cascadiance]

43. Yep, it's just about how you want us to hate Bernie as much as you do!

Without any reason, or basis of comparison on ISSUES, which is what most Americans care about when they elect a leader!

But many of us might contend that you know Hillary can't win on issues, so you try to control any conversation you have so that you only talk about how to slam Bernie, which you seem to have a base level emotion for wanting to do all of the time.

Ignoring us trying to compare RATIONALLY Bernie's policies versus Hillary's policies in my book is inappropriate in a discussion forum.

It is a discussion of issues and how they affect Democrats, who should have a common view on what stances we advocate as a party being solved. Without looking on balance how all candidates for a given position would approach these issues, I contend we can't have a rational discussion. Do you want a rational discussion, or do you just want to promote discussions that find ways to slam someone you don't like. I would argue that without wanting to talk on balance both candidates want to do for us, we're not promoting a healthy discussion but more division.

[bravenak]

46. This op is about Bernie

[cascadiance]

56. About your hate for Bernie... I get it!

Pardon us for not wanting to follow your rules and would rather follow DU's rules of discussing things like Bernie Sanders in context of what he's doing which is running for president of this country, and who he's engaged in an election in pursuing that goal. Just because you want to only talk about hating him, and only want us to echo your sentiments, doesn't mean we have to. Sorry!

[bravenak]

58. I do not read lectures

[immoderate]

3. The only question is "How?" ??

Why??

--imm

[bravenak]

12. I know how and why

[immoderate]

21. So THAT — is IT!

—imm

[firebrand80]

4. He could have added

The fact that Bernie accused Clinton of hugging the President tight as a pander to black voters.

That statement isn't going to help Bernie at all, and I doubt he'll repeat it.

[bravenak]

10. It was offensive and tone deaf

[oasis]

7. Damn that Charles Blow, he's reduced "pie in the sky" to

"Wondrous wishfulness.

[bravenak]

11. Wondrous wishfulness makes it sound christmasy

[bettyellen]

16. well it comes down to people seeing Bernie as Santa and Hillary as the Grinch....

and they would obvs want to have a beer with Santa.

[bravenak]

19. Thats what I see too

Santa is not real i try to tell them but they wont listen

[bettyellen]

25. As the last of six kids in a house with no closet space- I never was fooled by the Santa myth.

It is a sweet story, but I understood where and how those gifts got there. Always appreciated them too!

[bravenak]

34. Me too. I always did the xmas shopping with my mom

[bettyellen]

62. I could tell when my sisters helped mom shop. cooler toys. LOL. then my Mom got lazy and just

sent us out on our own. I remember going back and forth from Woolworths to Macys comparing a stack of cheap toys versus one nice one that we could share (and fight over!) I think we were splitting forty bucks at most between the three of us. my nephew sniffs at forty dollar gifts, the little brat!

[bravenak]

67. I went to walmart and kmart when we still had one

Up here there were barely any of what I considered real stores. Once I started going myself it was always video games and clothes.

[bettyellen]

70. Macys was like the super fancy place where we couldn't afford anything unless it was

marked down 75% off. I hear that branch is finally closing down, and it makes me kind of sad. I remember taking my Mom shopping there and she never wanted to spend any money on herself, LOL.

[bravenak]

73. Yep. We went to nordstroms AFTER christmas

Paying full price? We might not eat, lol!

I wish we had Macys tho

[Ron Green]

22. Blow's article is as shallow as it gets.

He ignores the obvious answer to his question "How?" That answer, of course, is "First, start to tell the hard truth from the White House."

Part of that truth is that Blow, and almost every other "journalist," is beholden to a system that, if it doesn't start to undergo major change, will collapse and take us all down with it.

Hillary's mendacity and her campaign's lies are the canary in the coal mine. We'd better get the hell out.

[bravenak]

24. Bernies lack of connection to black voters is losing this election for him

[basselope]

28. Ahh, the mythical lack of connection.

[bravenak]

31. He lost nearly 80-20 with black voters

Not mythical. We can decide if we have a connection to him without your help. The answer is, most of us don't

[basselope]

53. Incorrect on all counts.

[bravenak]

61. You can say that but the stats bear this out

He lost nearly 80-20
We won NV for Hillary, black voters did.

[basselope]

69. Not at all.

I know that is the story you like to tell yourselves..

But it isn't true.

Sorry.

[bravenak]

71. I literally read the numbers

Black precincts went hillary by WIDE margins

[basselope]

75. You mean the same polls that Clinton people are claiming are wrong today?

[bravenak]

77. I mean the counts from heavily black districts

[basselope]

79. Very favorable for Bernie going forward.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[bravenak]

81. Not at all

[basselope]

88. Yep. Watch and see

[bravenak]

89. I WATCHED him LOSE the Black Vote In Nevada and saw

That it was 73 percent HILLARY

[basselope]

90. Nope

[bravenak]

91. Amazing

[basselope]

92. His growing performance with the black community is.

Thanks for pointing that out!

[bravenak]

97. Nonexistant

[basselope]

105. Only to blinded Clinton supporters.

The rest of the world gets it.

Don't worry, you'll catch up.

[bravenak]

106. Sad

[basselope]

108. You are.

But don't worry.

You'll figure it out or be left wondering what happened.

[bravenak]

109. Like you in NV

[basselope]

114. Plenty happy with the NV results.

A sign of good things to come.

Super Tuesday will be a tie and the race will be completely reset again.

[bravenak]

115. Fascinating

[basselope]

118. Yes.

Watching his support grow among PoC is very fascinating.

Much better performance than expected.

[Ron Green]

30. It's a big test for Americans, black and white.

And we probably will fail it. Most of us are consumers now, not citizens.

I'll keep fighting the good fight, but I'm not very hopeful right now.

[bravenak]

32. And your idea of failing the test is different than mine

[Ron Green]

35. That it is, for sure.

The more I see from Clinton's campaign, the more I know this.

[bravenak]

36. Ditto for Bernies

[bigtree]

57. the new 'system' Bernie's proposing looks a lot like the old one

...with no sign of any influx of Bernie-like or sponsored candidates who would make up a Bernie legislature.

His revolution is leveraged on a potential army of voters who haven't yet materialized, but more significantly, his revolution appears to be mainly about defeating Hillary and electing him.

Hillary has a ready base of support in the legislature for her agenda, including from all but two members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus he founded. So far, Sanders has only attracted three of his former peers in Congress to his campaign. That's no revolution, it's a recipe for legislative disaster.

[basselope]

27. His only problem is fighting the clinton super pac.

[bravenak]

33. And black voters

[basselope]

55. Nah, he's doing fine with black voters.

[bravenak]

59. Where?

[basselope]

68. Everywhere.

[bravenak]

72. Except america

[basselope]

76. All over America.

[bravenak]

78. Nope

[basselope]

80. Yep.

Sorry it didn't work out for you.

[Autumn]

38. We are well aware his platform isn't the problem. nt

[bravenak]

40. His issue is black voters do not feel him like I have said for MONTHS.

[Autumn]

41. i can certainly understand that. As an old Latina woman I don't feel Hillary.

I did in 2008 but not this time.

[bravenak]

42. Glad black voters are the deciding factor

[Autumn]

45. I don't have a crystal ball so...

[bravenak]

47. I'm prescient

[Autumn]

54. I'm leaning toward people who won't vote to be the deciding factor in 2016.

I think there will be a lot, be those who won't bother to vote for Hillary or those who won't vote for Bernie. Six of one half dozen of the other.

[cascadiance]

51. So are you going to tell us this kid isn't black?

Seems like a pretty bright black kid who feels pretty strongly in support of Senator Sanders, instead of your racial stereotype that all black people have some reason to not like Sanders. Speak for yourself, but don't assume you can speak for other smart folk like this kid.

[bravenak]

63. He is not in the majority of AAs

[cascadiance]

64. And you think that a majority can't explain WHY they would support Hillary the same way you can't?

You still don't want to explain why you think Hillary is a better candidate, only how you don't like Bernie, and think you know that most AA's share your thought processes.

I just point out one young very bright AA kid who thinks for himself, and really thinks heavily about issues defies your stereotype!

[bravenak]

65. We do not OWE explanations

[cascadiance]

66. You don't OWE anyone anything. I never said you did. Don't put words in to my mouth!

But if you think that only talking about "what is not to like about Bernie" is going to win Hillary support and do anything more than just telegraph that "you don't like him", then I would contend that you aren't thinking rationally in that respect.

I've shown that other POC do think for themselves and do want to look at how their candidates will approach issues they care about, and at least one of them as shown here supports Bernie. They don't all fall in to your efforts to categorize them as mapping to your thought patterns, and I would challenge the notion that any sizable number of POC do, when they really look closely at what both candidates are about.

I would challenge that it is especially important in this election when we are not only faced with the many problems that POC have faced with police abuse, etc. that I'm completely on board with trying to fix, but we face so many other issues too like climate change, and a looming economic disaster of the scope of the last depression that would have been worse then without the leadership of FDR to help us out of it then. This election it is absolutely essential that we look at more than just how much experience people have in government, which is in a government that has failed us in so many ways in recent decades, and who has the vision and policies that will fix a lot of these problems we face. To try and dismiss that is what many of us here feel a step backward rather than forward. Big money would like to pay for means to have us to not look at our candidates in this fashion, but they are ultimately going to lose trying to do that.

[bravenak]

74. Stop lecturing and demanding explanations if you want a better result

[cascadiance]

86. Sorry, I guess it's a mistake responding to YOUR lectures here!

I'll stop doing so, as it does seem to be a waste of time.

[bravenak]

87. When people try to flip the script on me it dont work

[Petrushka]

82. That young man is a wonderful representative of our country's hope for the future . . .

. . . in my opinion, of course.

Thank you for the video.

[bigtree]

44. Charles Blow

[bravenak]

49. He kills it

[bravenak]

84. They do drama just fine without me

[SusanCalvin]

95. .

[bravenak]

96. .

[SusanCalvin]

93. Interesting analysis, thank you.

I like your new avatar as well.

[bravenak]

101. My avatars at the bottom in my sigline??

Or the Vangogh? I love van gogh and katt williams is so damn funny. If you wanna laugh hard, his standup is hilarious. He said Huckabee sounds like some bad weed, i was on the floor. Huckabee. That terrible huckabee ass weed! Im sorry!

[SusanCalvin]

113. Dunno if I have my vocab right.

The Van Gogh is what I noticed. I need to look at the stuff at the bottom as well, when I am on a device where I can see any of it.

[bravenak]

116. Ahh! You were right!

[SusanCalvin]

117. Well, it sounds like the other stuff is good,

So I'm happy I was wrong!

[FrenchieCat]

99. Oh...I think his platform is a big problem, IMO!

Investors would take their money out of this country so quickly.....and end up reducing us to a 3rd world country....

Sanders’ Plans Make Republicans Look Serious

Enter Bernie Sanders, who makes the Republicans look like models of sobriety and scholarly exactitude. The proposals listed on his campaign website add up to around $18 trillion to $20 trillion over the next decade, according to the New York Times. Adding Emory’s Kenneth Thorpe’s higher estimate on the health plan brings the total cost to above $30 trillion.

This week, four respected economists who served Democratic presidents wrote a letter bluntly pointing out that “no credible economic research” supports Sanders’ economic assumptions and predictions. They were referring to the claims by a Sanders enthusiast, George Friedman, who has tried to make Sanders’ math work.

To do so, Friedman assumes that per-capita growth would average 4.5% (more than double the rate over the last three decades), and the employment-to-population ratio would suddenly reverse its long decline and reach 65%, the highest ever.

Even more magically, productivity growth would rise to 3.18%. As Kevin Drum has pointed out in Mother Jones, “there has never been a 10-year period since World War II in which productivity grew by 3.18%.”
http://www.investors.com/politics/on-the-left/fareed-zakaria-sanders-plans-make-republicans-look-serious/

[bravenak]

100. It's a 1940s nostalgic solution to current problems

It is unsupportable

[FrenchieCat]

102. Who was the last person elected President who ran on spending 30 Trillion dollars?

That's what I want to know!

[bravenak]

103. I'm not sure we had one

But if we did they lost lost lost!!

[DesertFlower]

104. bernie has a great message and i supported him. contributed

to his campaign several times, but after watching the debates i realized hillary is the more qualified candidate.

if he is the candidate he'll get my full support.

[bravenak]

107. That makes sense

She is more well rounded, more varied interests

[DesertFlower]

110. it was a hard thing to do, but

as my friend said "vote with your head -- not your heart."

[bravenak]

111. It was hard for me too

I had bad feelings for Clinton. But reality is reality. We need somebody who can multitask.

[DesertFlower]

112. same here. nt