A HUGE March for Bernie Sanders in Los Angeles California (4-17-16) #MarchforBernie
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Last edited Mon Apr 18, 2016, 05:16 PM - Edit history (1)
(Sorry for being off-topic but i can not create my own thread as i am newly signed up and just wanted to share a view with everyone here)
Hello! I am Carlien and have been lurking on this website for some time now, following up on the 2016 elections and hoping America will do what is right and change their future into something better. The whole of Europe will identify as democrat but we have a different view on what that really is. Being a democrat here means you are for a system in which voting is a right of all people and every vote counts equally. As a half American/Dutchie i am shocked to see how America holds its elections. It is nowhere near transparent and with things like brokered conventions,super delegates or even the threshold of popular votes needed to settle the score, it seems to me you got this thing all screwed up. This is how they do it in 3rd world countries where people have their voices taken away from them and dictators rise to power to take advantage of their citizens. When the wealth streams only to a few and is not being invested into society, society can not thrive.
I am a Bernie Sanders supporter – Sorry Hillary Clinton supporters no offense – . But the vast majority here in Europe would be for Bernie. In our opinion he simply uses common sense, and everything he has said would not even be considered much on the left. Here he would be a centrist barely, because even our right wing believes in affordable health care & education. Our right wing believes in investing in the infrastructure and making sure we don't step into wars and i can go on for quite a bit longer. My point is I'm frowning so much lately at all the scares and fears some people have about Bernie. I mean come on there's nothing scary about his vision! And he ain't a communist lol! He is just a social democrat and what that means is that he is for Democracy and that he believes in basic human rights! Like Health care & Education and having a good environment because these things benefit ALL people in ways that are fundamentally important to living a good life. Now you can argue about whether his vision can be implemented but really it can! If we can do it then surely the self proclaimed greatest nation on earth Can do this to. And you can say "ow but you have only a fraction of people compared to us" and that is true, but its just a matter of scaling & making sure you set the right priorities. Right now you choose to engage in endless (and in my view pointless) wars everywhere on this earth, its not really helpful owkey. There is a reason why Europe is being flooded with refugees at the moment. Obama alone has dropped over 20.000 bombs on Iraq and Syria (and they are not Huge countries) would you stay in a country where there is constant danger of death and everything around you is being destroyed? Of course you wouldn't.
So if you set the right priorities and use a bit of that war money you can easily pay for something like education! Plus bare in mind Bernie is not even talking about free education he simply means tuition free education. Let me explain how the dutch make it possible: Our primary school system is fully free for all children just like in America i believe. Our high school is free as well apart from the books. And for college/university we have affordable costs on a yearly basis like $ 1000/1500 a year which you would get a loan for and if you completed an education within 10 years you would not have to repay this loan. Right now i believe we have something similar to what Bernie is suggesting we still have about the same affordable price for education and the loan, but now we will pay it back (and its not that much if you count 3 or 4 years of 1000/1500) and we pay it back without interest. Because nobody should profit of people who want to learn. If you have educated people it is an investment in society because you want your people to be educated and well off! Also you want to evolve as a society into the future! Education is knowledge and knowledge is power. We pay for education with tax money.
As for single payer health care...The system you have now is ripping off the people big time. Single payer health care is something we have had for decades. It is a self funding system as everyone pays their fair share of health care insurance but not everyone has a health problem at the same time. So you got to see it like this: You pay x amount of money which is not enough to treat a medical issue that you have. When you and your neighbor both pay that same x amount of money it is enough to treat that medical issue. You are sick, not your neighbor so the money goes to you. Then another time when your neighbor has an issue that money is used for him/her instead. This is a very basic simple example and its a much more complex then this of course but you get the point! So my example of health care: I have a family that consists of my partner, 2 children and myself. Children up until the age of 18 do not have to pay for health care and adults pay between 100$ and 150$ per person a month for basic to full coverage health care. Basic includes doctor visits and most mainstream health care. If you need something like ongoing physiotherapy you just take a package that includes this and you would pay 10/15$ more a month to have that covered your total would then be 110/115$ a month. To have this system working as good as possible it is also law here to have health care insurance so that everyone chips in. And just to show figures we have about 17million people x 125$ health care cost = 2,125,000,000$ !!!That is a lot of money to start of with 
So yea that's just what i wanted to share about health care & education. I am not an expert but we over here all know it is important from left to right. We do not want anybody to suffer that is the fundament of a modern society! And America should really embrace this concept because it is civilized, stop acting like a third world country. Bernie Sanders is not a radical man living in a fantasy world, here in Europe we have had his ideas working for decades. We have good social political views & our economy is not at all at risk because of this.
Thanks for reading!
I am actively trying to get people to join in phonebanking on social media and a lot of people are also joining internationally. Because outside of the US people are seeing that this is a huge chance for Americans and very important for restoring democracy. My American side of the family is ALL voting/has voted for Bernie Sanders
and you are certainly most welcome here.
K&R
But just to add: he would not be leaning to the left here Shockingly to Americans maybe but Bernie would be leaning more towards the right in Europe. Our right wing is more left then your democratic party. It's fine though it is a huggeee improvement to anything you have right now.
First of all, really good question! I think for Americans it is hard to view themselves as part of a bigger world. In my opinion you seem to have a so called "Island Mentality" in America:
Wikipedia: "Island mentality refers to the notion of isolated communities perceiving themselves as superior or exceptional to the rest of the world. This term does not directly refer to a geographically confined society, but to the cultural, moral, or ideological superiority of a community lacking social exposure. Island mentality can be characterized by narrow-mindedness, ignorance, or outright hostility towards any artifact (concept, ideology, lifestyle choice, art form, etc.) originating from outside the geographic area inhabited by the society".
This is not meant as an attack or anything, just an observation. Just a simple, but accurate example: You call your baseball games "The World Series" and I'm not seeing France participating for example (sort of quote from Eddie Izzard)
About your questions...
--- im curious, in the rest of the world, what do people think are the reasons that the left in america is center-right in europe?
Well even our most right wing party (and we have about 10 political parties here in The Netherlands) is for affordable Healthcare & Education for all people. And they also think of other social programs as important like social security benefits. I think in Europe the people are part of a society that acknowledges solidarity towards others. I do not see much of this in your "democratic" party.
--- is it because americans are too apathetic to stand up to greedy corporate interests?
Not really apathy, it's more that you have been indoctrinated daily for many, many years (decades) that what you have now is "the best in the world". It's very difficult to look outside of what you know (or as Bernie Sanders would say "think outside of the box"
. Your mainstream media doesn't help either, neither does your education I think (I do believe Americans are brought up from an early age with the notion that the United States of America is the greatest place on earth). Don't get me wrong, I do think believing in your country IS a good thing, but you shouldn't be blindsided by patriotism. Being blind to other countries could lead to not learning how to better your own democracy. By looking at other countries you as a people could learn about for ex. a better affordable healthcare program for all.
--- or is america just a hopelessly hypocritical country when it comes to sex, violence, guns, god, and big money
In Europe we strongly believe in seperating church and state. Big money should be kept out of politics to keep it free from corruption. It IS strange that on your TV networks you can see people getting shot, beaten, whatever but as soon as a single nipple is shown the outrage can be heard across the Atlantic (odd really).
In Europe we think it's pretty strange that everybody seems to own a gun in the USA. We do not feel the need to own guns to have any feeling of protection. We feel like we can place our trust in our police forces to keep our streets safe. In the majority of Europe we really trust the police, in some European countries maybe a little bit less (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and maybe Italy) because there's more corruption there. Overall though we believe in our police forces. They are there for us and do not abuse their power. About guns in the USA, You have a second amendment right to bear arms and nobody should disallow you for having a gun because of that. Maybe in time you will vote this amendment away when the country has moved past its Wild West style of society, and that will start by having a police force that you can trust.
Anyway long post short, I would LOVE it if America would embrace a more social society. And I think the whole world would like that too. Instead of being so interfering in other countries make your own AMAZING! And you CAN do this because you have so much power and strength. So instead of being a bully on the world stage be a wondeful society that cares about it's own people and gives a good example towards other nations.
And welcome to DU! It's really great to have you with us! 
