Opinion: Call him a ‘socialist,’ but many Americans agree with Bernie Sanders

[cal04]

(snip)
Comfortable in the conviction that the U.S. is the biggest, strongest economy in the world with the highest standard of living, Americans have for decades tended to sneer at these European countries as inferior, bogged down economically by anti-business policies.

But it is slowly dawning on wide portions of the American public — crushed by stagnant wages, robbed of middle-class jobs by competition with low-wage countries, deprived of health care, burdened by student debt and the astronomical costs of a college education — that this supposed superiority of ours is no longer true, if it ever was.

(snip)
“Sixty percent of Americans agree with him that the ‘economic system unfairly favors the rich,’” Borosage wrote. “Two-thirds of the American public think the rich pay too little in taxes. Two-thirds think CEO pay is too high. Three of four think climate change is a serious or very serious matter.”

In his interview with Stephanopoulos, Sanders says his unusual career in politics should make people wary of underestimating him. The “S” word he has in store for Clinton, the Democrats and the eventual Republican nominee may well be “Surprise!”

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/call-him-a-socialist-but-many-americans-agree-with-bernie-sanders-2015-05-13/print
Marketwatch

[Sherman A1]

1. Indeed

and I would be one of them.

[leftofcool]

2. Well, here is the way I see it.

As long as companies can pay lower wages elsewhere, they will move there. Manufacturing jobs are not coming back to the US. We don't make anything here anymore so we have to change the way we create jobs. An infrastructure jobs bill would help a bunch. we could put millions of Americans to work rebuilding because that is something that can't be outsourced. We could build wind and solar farms and that would put millions to work. We could raise the wages to a living wage. CEO pay is not going to change. Climate change is already past the critical point and no one cares. Get a good water filter because we are all going to need them. Perhaps we could actually build them here. A college education is not as practical as it once was. Kids these days might want to think more about tech schools and more practical application, working with your hands, electricians, heat and air etc...

[TBF]

6. Thanks Debbie Downer ~

Did you realize you posted in the Bernie Sanders group?

Let's take your missive point by point:

1. As long as companies can pay lower wages elsewhere, they will move there. - True, but we can make it much more difficult to do so.

2. Manufacturing jobs are not coming back to the US. - That's what happens when you sign things like NAFTA and TTP. Don't pass legislation like that.

3. An infrastructure jobs bill would help a bunch. - No kidding. But we are going to have to pay for that by taxing high income people & especially corporations (including banks).

4. We could raise the wages to a living wage. CEO pay is not going to change. - Yes and No. We must raise wages to a living wage. CEO pay is up to the respective owners/shareholders. Perhaps if we are taxing them properly some of those outrageous salaries will come down - but that is up to them.

5. Climate change is already past the critical point and no one cares. - Defeatest. We can and will do something about this.

6. A college education is not as practical as it once was. - International rankings came out yesterday. Asian countries far superior - we are down around 20 or some such. We must invest in our students. No, not all students belong in college. But I'd prefer a model like Germany in which the very brightest go to college (not simply the wealthy whether they have a brain or not). Right now we pretend everyone can go, but what really happens is the folks who have money or are willing to take on amazing levels of debts to to college.

There are solutions to all of the problems you rise, and Bernie is proposing solutions for them. Your candidate is giving us the same old same old - move jobs overseas and hope for the best. In this group we are not looking to do that. We are looking to elect the person who has solutions for all of us - not just the billionaires.

[Enthusiast]

8. +1 an entire shit load.

[abelenkpe]

13. +1000

[daleanime]

28. Hell yes....

[redstateblues]

11. Please stop being realistic

And telling the truth

[smokey nj]

12. This group is a safe haven for supporters of Bernie Sanders.

[aspirant]

33. +1

The first step is the warning

SUPPORT OUR HOSTS

[TBF]

20. Your realism is killing people. nt

[Dawgs]

17. As a Bernie fan I agree with a lot of what you say.

Although, I disagree that we shouldn't try to deal with manufacturing jobs in the US.

An infrastructure bill and a living wage are critical for saving the economy. You are also correct that climate change is past the critical point, but doesn't mean we still shouldn't try to save the planet. Dead on with college education and tech schools.

[marym625]

3. K&R!

[cantbeserious]

4. I Will No Longer Settle For The Lesser Of Two Evils - Go Bernie Go

eom

[TheNutcracker]

36. Ditto! Bernie Makes me WANT to vote!

[beachbum bob]

5. agreeing with Bernie doesn't matter, he is not electeable in the general election

[TBF]

7. You realize you are in the Bernie Sanders group correct?

He can and will win the general. He has ideas that work for all of us - not just the 1%.

[Enthusiast]

9. Every word he says resonates with a majority of citizens.

We have been led around by the liars for far too long to the point where it has really damaged the nation. Most citizens are now waking up to this reality.

Bernie is especially electable in the general election. His problem is in defeating Hillary Clinton and the well heeled advocates of the status quo.

[smokey nj]

10. This group is a safe haven for supporters of Bernie Sanders.

[donnasgirl]

16. People keep saying that Bernie is not electable

Why not.

[NYC_SKP]

18. You're funny. Sanders appeals to a far broader swath of the electorate.

Former Secretary of State is, in fact, unelectable in the general election. Make your point.

[L0oniX]

21. Wow ...first time we've heard that. Delete it before you get banned.

[NYC_SKP]

22. Too late. We tried. The poster wrote in 2013 that Nader voters caused the Iraq war.

They were not posting in this group in good faith.

Not that Nader and Bernie are interchangeable, but we know we can expect to see more of that Bernie = Nader shit.

[blackspade]

27. Based on what exactly?

[frylock]

32. shit and run

[libdem4life]

34. You do realize you sound like a ... well, Beachbum.

[nyabingi]

14. If Bernie would run as an independent

then he would be much more effective in shaking up the likes of Hillary and other establishment Democrats.

[TBF]

24. I disagree because it's a 2 party system

And it's highly unlikely that a third party will win. In 2008 when I volunteered for Obama I knew he could beat Hillary. I feel the same way now. Hillary is well known but that is not always a good thing. I think Bernie's ideas are better for 99% of the country and I believe he can be the next president.

[Overseas]

15. K&R. Glad to hear it.

[Thespian2]

19. Bernie is my choice

because he is the first candidate not completely owned by the oligarchs...if he is fooling me, then he has done a good job for decades...

Getting Bernie the nomination will be difficult...Billy Clinton is the poster boy for corporations...NAFTA, Glass-Steagal, just to name two
sops to corporations...I think the puppet-masters have chosen HILLY to be their next sock-puppet...The Koch-suckers will probably go with Snotty Walker...The winner of that race will be an agent of the Master Class...

Can Bernie defeat the oligarchs? Yes, but he will need all us slaves to do it...

[Cosmocat]

23. The Oligarchs aren't the problem

the voters are the problem.

There are VERY real and salient reasons for supporting Bernie Sanders from a POLICY standpoint.

Policy and actually voting for your interests, and the betterment of the country, is FAR removed from what most american's process when they walk into the voting booth.

His problem from a standpoint of winning the nomination and winning the presidency is the stupid.

And, the stupid runs pretty darn deep in this country.

[raouldukelives]

29. Indeed. But, the oligarchs create horrible conditions & keep the voters ignorant.

All on the behalf of the investors in the corporations. They have a fiduciary responsibility to not tell them the truth. It could be bad for the all holy bottom line.
So we all end up paying for the sins of shareholders. Well into whatever future they are laboring & funding us into. Well past 400ppm and nobody bats an eye. All because of the tireless efforts of investors. More concerned with the well being of themselves & GE instead of others, instead of nature, wildlife and the future.
Heck, even the more conspiratorial side of me thinks they might even be behind the outright theft of elections.

[Cosmocat]

30. It is a willful ignorance

I totally get what you are saying that corporations and the super rich put a LOT of bullshit out there to muddle things up.

But, they do it because it works.

People are susceptible to it.

We have bullshit meters that tend to go off when it comes to us, but sadly MOST people gobble it up.

I work a poll and have 99.999 percent confidence that votes are properly tabulated from our poll at the very least.

I see ballots when we count them and also am responsible in my poll for assisting people who need it, and I can tell you people are all over the place and vote in some pretty mind boggling ways.

[Thespian2]

31. I don't disagree with you...

I spent 38 years in classrooms...I am well aware of what the oligarchs have created in education...

Electronic voting machines, produced by mostly Republican dominated companies, could also be part of the problem. In our province, we use paper and pencil ballots...our voter turn-out is always above 80%...

Time to re-read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the USA...

[blackspade]

25. I agree.

K&R

[world wide wally]

26. I would argue that most Americans have no idea what socialism is

Thanks to the right wing media, when people hear the word socialism, they conjure up thoughts of the USSR and WWII Germany, thinking it is a form of government and not an economic system.

[libdem4life]

35. I love it ... the "S" word! And he doesn't look like Lenin or Trotsky. Oh my...times they are

a changin'. Time for some new definitions. Democratic Socialist. That's what being a Democrat used to mean. Now, a place where Liberals and Progressives can find a home. Yeah!