Democratic Politicians should be made to attend Boot Camp, with Bernie Sanders as the Drill Sergent

[Armstead]

I posted this thougth last night and it got locked because of its title, which was considered insulting.

So I am reposting the same idea, with a more neutral title.

Every time I hear Bernie Sanders, one thought always crosses my mind.

"Why the hell don't all Democrats talk this way? Why do they waffle and echo GOP talking points (but in a slightly more "reasonable manner) instead of going after the real crux of the problem?"

The real crux of the problem is the the obscene concentration of wealth and power that has occurred, and the way the oligarchs abuse that power and screw everyone else over. The real crux of the problem is the failure to address the real needs of real people, because our failing democracy is geared more towards placating the elites than with actually meeting the real needs of the vast majority.

Some Democrats do fight the good fight along with bernie. But they too have to overcome the resistance of the conservative "centrist" Democrats who waffle and also placate the oligarchs.

Therefore, I would propose that there be a Boot Camp for Democrats where Sanders would teach them how to actually be progressive populists, andf not be afraid of that.

Perhaps it could be called Camp Bernie.

Just a thought. Far fetched I realize....but if only...

[avebury]

1. K&R

Maybe it would toughen them up.

[woo me with science]

2. Bernie's speeches during the filibuster last December

were a tour de force. I had never heard so many specifics and statistics and personal illustrations of the devastation Americans are suffering at the hands of the oligarchs, all put together in one place and presented so passionately. I was literally in tears while driving my car and listening on C-SPAN.

That speech should be required listening for every politician, and the sorts of information in it (updated) should be compiled into a single database so that facts are readily available to back up speeches and policy proposals.

I can't tell you how many times I have been frustrated already by the messaging by Democrats in this campaign, even in those cases where they are pushing the right actions. I listened to a debate about the Ryan plan on C-SPAN recently, and during the entire lengthy event, the Democratic representative NEVER ONCE pointed out the CBO numbers showing that the average senior's out-of-pocket costs for health care would double from 6,000 to 12,000 per year. He had a true but convoluted argument: that the Ryan plan would increase benefits each year, but only at the cost of living increase, which is not enough to keep up with spiraling medical costs, etc. etc.

Meanwhile, across from him, the Republican had a simple soundbite: that Ryan's plan will SAVE Medicare, because it will ensure that benefits continue, while the Democrats want to stay with a plan that is going bankrupt entirely.

Saying that the other guy's plan will increase benefits, but only by the cost of living, is not as effective as saying, "Hey! You live on 20,000 a year, and this guy will have you pay $12,000 a year on healthcare...and if you can't afford it, you're out of luck."

People know that their bank accounts and lives have crashed. They know others are struggling. But Bernie's speeches put it all together with horrifying statistics and numbers and stories....the truth about how the wealth has been moved from our pockets to theirs, the steady sinking of children and families into poverty, the ever-increasing masses of wealth being hoarded by corporations as they continue to demand more and more from people who can't afford to feed their children or pay the rent...

You are right. Bernie's approach should be a model for this campaign. People are desperate to hear that someone in Washington actually hears and sees and cares what is happening to them.


THANK YOU for this post. Kicked and recommended.

[Armstead]

5. +1 to your reply. You hit the nail on the head yourself

[Sportsguy]

46. There Was A Book Made

I think. It's called "The Speech."

[woo me with science]

47. Thank you for posting this!

I wasn't aware of that.

[Sportsguy]

48. You're Very Welcome. Here It Is:

I bought a copy. You can borrow mine when I'm done.:)
http://www.amazon.com/Speech-Historic-Filibuster-Corporate-ebook/dp/B004L9M1EE

[Peacetrain]

3. But Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat.. If you love and appreciate

Bernie Sanders..you love and appreciate him for himself. He does caucus with the Democrats.. so does Lieberman.

[Armstead]

4. I wish the whiole Democratic Party was as good at balancing passion with pragmatism as he is

It's not just personal admiration for him. I've been following him for years, including those timesd when he weas even more of a voice in the wilderness.

And, as I noted in my OP, it has long been immensely frustrating to hear Bernie (and a few others in Washington) speaking the truth but being overwhelmed by the Vanilla platitudes that too often passes for Democratic messaging and policy.

What is even more frustrating is that he and some other progressive Democrats are not really far-left fringes in their positions. They are simply what used to be the mainstream of liberalism and speaking what used to be considered common sense and common decency.

[woo me with science]

7. Yes,

I was writing a post below when you were writing this. You said in just a few eloquent words what I struggled to spit out in paragraphs.

Yeah. That's it exactly. What we're fighting so hard to get back to is what used to be mainstream liberalism. It's that simple.

:thumbsup:

[woo me with science]

6. You're right. I think of him as more of a resource.

I think the Democrats could learn a lot from him this time around. He's not a Democrat, but he speaks to the types of core values and injustices that Democrats have always cared about in this country, and that are so important this election.

It isn't about Bernie. It's about core values of liberalism. Families should have access to jobs that pay a living wage. They should earn enough to put food on the table, save for an education, buy a house. People should not have to be filthy rich to guarantee their access to health care when they are sick. They should not have to fear destitution when they grow old and cannot work any longer. These are the sorts of ideals that the Democratic Party has always worked for in this country. Democrats don't think of themselves as the ones who side with corporations over people. They don't think of themselves as the ones who participate in the kinds of erosions of civil rights we have seen over the past several years. They don't think of themselves as a party that would allow social safety nets to be bargained away.

It's a matter of reminding all of us what we have stood for in the past, and what we can stand for again.

[Armstead]

8. Bernie also knows how to win elections

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. As do Dennis Kucinich (if he can avoid being redistrictred), Marcy Kaptur,

Peter DeFazio, and a few other outspoken but ignored members of the Progressive Caucus. As did the late, lamented Paul Wellstone.

[Armstead]

13. Yep. But some people always find excuses to dismiss Bernie's success as liker "It's Vermont."

But you don't get much more "heartland" than Ohio.

[awoke_in_2003]

42. He is not a democrat in name...

just as many democrats are not democrats in spirit. Comparing Sanders to Lieberman is really a joke.

[cali]

10. My rep, who replaced Bernie in the House, has no need to attend Bernie boot Camp

and this makes no sense: Some Democrats do fight the good fight along with bernie. But they too have to overcome the resistance of the conservative "centrist" Democrats who waffle and also placate the oligarchs.

In any case, fantasies are not real proposals.

[Armstead]

14. Duh...TRhis is a message board. No one should expect theirpersonal ideas to become real here

Doesn't mean we shouldn't express them though.

[phleshdef]

11. Sounds like a bad 80s movie starring Danny Devito as Bernie Sanders.

I have no clue why its Danny Devito, but I didn't write the stupid script.

[BR_Parkway]

12. Mostly because so many on our side of the aisle are wealthy

too. How many in Congress, on either side are not in the upper 2-5% ? Not enough to get a quorum at some of the committee meetings. But we get frustrated when they "don't get how it is for us little folks". Well, they don't. They are not us. And too many of them who started as us - have forgotten what it's like.

Look at Obama - classic 'rags to riches' story over all. And I believe him to be a truly empathetic man - who still considers the plight of an individual single mom struggling to make it each month on her minimum wage job with poor housing and transportation options. But in his current position, how often during the day does he have an opportunity to actually sit down and think about what's going to work for her? In between briefings on Libya bombing and G8 summits or Federal Reserve votes. I'm not saying he never thinks of her, but really, the man has a ton of crap on his plate (he volunteered, I know)

How many others have we sent to Congress that now have 10's or even 100's of millions of dollars? They can sit in meeting after meeting looking at charts and statistics and other mind numbing things and try to make sense of it - but their day to day life is so different from ours, how often do they even comprehend what life is like for the rest of us?

[AzDar]

15. ...Bernie

:loveya:

[Dr Fate]

16. Our Centrist party might be for it if a fellow centrist like Lieberman was the driller.

Centrists dont listen to Liberals. Why should they, with with Liberalism's LOOOOOONG list of getting nearly every major issue wrong?

Our party should continue listening to other centrists, who have been correct on the economy, the war, unions, strategy , etc.

[Armstead]

17. What?

Wrong on financial deregulation in the 90's?

Wrong on the devastating effects of so called "free trade" policies as a way to outsource American jobs and production?

Wrong on the effects of consolidation into media monopolies of media reform in the 90's?

Wrong on the decline of the middle class as a result of these and other corporatist policies?

Wrong on the political ineffectiveness of DLC Democratic waffling against a strong GOP and right wing base?

Etc.....

If you want the Democrats to be a tamer clone of the Republicans,and another arm of Corporate America, that's certainly your right to think so. But I believe we need at least a TWO party system.

[Avant Guardian]

25. I have seen 'centrists' here touting a combination of supply side and fiscal responsibility

Half and half. The result would be self destructing fiscal policies. It is mindless madness. I think some of the GOP nuthouse is rubbing off on certain 'Democrats.'

The Democratic party is turning into bizarro world. Stranger in many ways than what the GOP has turned into.

[awoke_in_2003]

43. The only thing that matters to some is winning...

these are the same type who have no problem selling out and cowtowing to the republicans.

[Avant Guardian]

23. Nothing like coherence

To get your point across

[xphile]

30. You seem to be having a bit of trouble with revisionist history there.

It is the centrists who have been wrong on every issue. Centrists don't listen to liberals because centrists are too busy sucking up to the corporate interests who bought them like any other whore would.

[robcon]

18. If you want to be part of a small fringe party, follow Bernie Sanders.

If you want to win elections, disregard him.

[Armstead]

19. Yeah. He's so fringe that he won 65 percent in his Senate race

Maybe if more democrats had been so fringe in the last election we wouldn't be in such a mess today.

[CBHagman]

24. 65 percent in Vermont....

Look, I love Bernie Sanders to pieces, but to get things done you have be able to gain allies, round up the votes and pass legislation, win elections, etc. Frankly you have to shape popular opinion, and while I'm not discouraging doing that, it's an uphill battle in this country.

I think our best hope in this country is working with things such as people's innate sense of justice regarding things such as Medicare and taxation (i.e., preserve the former, make the latter more progressive) and also work demographics to our advantage, which means getting out the vote (especially in the growing Hispanic population, in a more environmentally aware and tolerant bloc of younger voters, among moderate to progressive boomers, women in general, et al).

But Vermont is not a composite of the 50 states, and you'd be delusional to think so. Here's the population, make-up, etc., as compared to the rest of the country:

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/50000.html

Getting back to the thread topic, hey, I'd love to vote in 100 Bernie Sanders in the Senate, but you're not going to. You're simply not going to. The other 49 states aren't Vermont, won't be any time soon, and you're not going to get very far by keeping a nice long list of Democrats who are just too impure for you.

[robcon]

26. Bernie will get the Democratic Party member vote. He won't get independents. He won't win.

Not a chance.

[Armstead]

32. What are you talking about.

How about actually looking at who has supported him in his long and successful political career.

It isn't just "hippies."

[Armstead]

31. Vermont is not Mars...And SanderS addresses what you are talking about

I looked at those population stats. The only thing that is wildly out of line isvis the high percentage of white peopke compared to ethnic minorities..Which is largely irrelevant in this context, becausevBernies positions would not be contrary to minority voters at all.

I live near Vermont, and it is a meaningless dismissal of his abilities when people say someone like him could only win in that state...Vermont has its fair share of working class people, country folks, conservatives, etc. Bernie has won election after election both because he is a skilled politician, is personally popular -- and most important -- because working people know he is fighting for them (even those who would not label themselves as progressive or even liberal).

It is true that not all states would be receptive to a frumpy Jewish guy from New York. In other states the equivalent might have to talk with a drawl or have other characteristics of their own region..

But the progressive populism, honesty and straightforward fighting spirit that characterizes Sanders could be a viable formula forolitical success in many parts of the country.

[CBHagman]

35. Nobody's running down Vermont or Sanders or minorities here.

And nobody's saying he could only win in Vermont.

And now that I think of it, there's already Camp Wellstone.

http://www.wellstone.org/our-programs/camp-wellstone

[Armstead]

38. When you said thinking he could win wider is "delusional" sounded like running it down

It sounded a lot like the excuse that is made by many people who want to avoid the issue. "Oh that's Vermont. It's not really America. That's the only state where a wild eyed commie like Sanders could win."

If that was not your intent, I apologize.

But my point is that Vermont is America, Sanders is a very potent political force in Vermont, and his success seems like there could be lessons for Democrats who want to win on a staunchly liberal/progressive populist agenda that directly addresses the problems facing working people in this country.

People are obviously free to disagree with that. But it is a strawman to claim that progressive populism can only work in one state.

[CBHagman]

40. I don't think you actually read my post.

I think you seized on the word "delusional" and were off to the races. No one used the words "wild-eyed commie" or the like.

There are already a number of progressive groups (e.g., Wellstone Action) training people on the ground, but we need a lot more work done in the media and in getting hold of public debate in general. That means making allies and working with people with whom you might not agree on every issue.

[Armstead]

41. Well, delusional is a hot-button word

and the argument that a progressive like Sanders can't ever win outside of Vermont is frequently used to shut down any consideration of the notion tghat democrats can or should be anything but pale and tepid. That reaction among many at DU always bugs me.

Also, if you read my response, you'll notice the phrase that if I misunderstood your intent "I apologize."

The OP was not necessarily meant as saying anything like the idea of a Camp Bernie would ever happen. It was more a metaphor that in my opinion, more democrats SHOULD be like Bernie in terms of actually addressing those core issues head on....And Bernie is NOT merely a gadfly or obstructionist...If you recall during the health care debate, he offered a real counter proposal, but in the end he went with the Dem plan, and bargained to increase funding for community health clinics in the process. So he is able to "play well with others."

I also admired Wellstone for the same reasons (and a number of other Democratic politicians.) Anything that can advance the role and power of true progressive populist policies within our broken political system, I'm in favor of, whether within or outside of the Democratic party -- preferably from within.

[awoke_in_2003]

44. yeah, because winning elections...

is more important than acting like republicans. Our party is fucked up because we refuse to hold the so-called "democrats" accountable. We loved to crow about how the right was nothing but a big echo chamber, and that is exactly what we are becoming.

[ProSense]

20. Senator Sanders is great

He also knows how to count votes. Aslk him about the less than 10 votes he said his single payer bill would have garnered.

There are lot of Democrats who stand and fight for things. In fact, the two most significant fights were launched by Senator Kerry: opposition to the nominations of John Roberts and Sam Alito.

He has put up a few good fights recently, for the climate change bill, through two versions.

What Democrats could use more than anything is a movement that recognizes the value of progress and fights for it.

[NorthCarolina]

21. Because the DLC turned the Democratic Party into GOP-Lite...

Two political parties that both serve the same master....Wall Street. Folks caught on to them, so now they prefer to refer to themselves as "New Dems". End result of their efforts, the Democratic Party no longer advocates for the people. What some mistake as capitulation to the GOP on the part of these new breed of Dems is in reality complicity.

[Avant Guardian]

22. The Democratic party was GOP lite when Bush was president

The party is now GOP Jr.

[robcon]

27. The DLC did not change the Democratic Party. It represented the centrist part of the party

which was always there.

[NorthCarolina]

28. It pulled the party to the right, and instilled a mentality that desires the base to vote

and then disappear and remain quiet until the next election cycle.

[robcon]

29. "Instilled a mentality... to vote and then disappear"?

Instilled a mentality????? wtf are you talking about?

[Armstead]

33. Depends on how you define "centrist"

Corporate conservative policies and a close alliance with Wall St. Oligarchs is not the center.

[PassingFair]

39. They "figured out" that they could collect money from the corporations, just like the republicans!

All they had to do in return, is VOTE like republicans.

The fight against their anointed candidate must have
scared them a bit...luckily they had a ringer in the
wings!

[opihimoimoi]

34. Yup....Fall IN......

[Bake]

36. Bernie: "You know what makes me sad? YOU DO!!!"

Get R. Lee Ermey to play Bernie in the movie!

:rofl:

Bake

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[KoKo]

45. kick..