View Full Version : what color pill for this?
podfish
04-29-2016, 08:26 AM
If it takes a pill to go against 'conventional ideas', this take on Bernie might require one. At least in this part of the world, where the Bern is felt strongly. But he captures my feelings pretty well, too.
... I think he's basically running a con, and one with the potential to cause distinct damage to the progressive cause. I mean this as a provocation—but I also mean it. So if you're provoked, mission accomplished! Here's my argument.
Bernie's explanation for everything he wants to do—his theory of change, or theory of governing, take your pick—is that we need a revolution in this country. The rich own everything. Income inequality is skyrocketing. The middle class is stagnating. The finance industry is out of control. Washington DC is paralyzed.
But as Bill Scher points out, (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/bernie-sanders-democratic-party-new-york-primary-213829) the revolution that Bernie called for didn't show up. In fact, it's worse than that: we were never going to get a revolution, and Bernie knew it all along. Think about it: has there ever been an economic revolution in the United States? Stretching things a bit, I can think of two:
The destruction of the Southern slave economy following the Civil War.
The New Deal.
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/04/heres-why-i-never-warmed-bernie-sanders
Perhaps a psychedelic pill, because it sounds like these guys have been dropping acid!
Bernie has been talking about a political revolution, not an economic revolution.
Economic evolutions do happen, and they are the result of social and political evolutions... a wave that Bernie and several others are riding, but not one they created.
On April 28th, Bernie gave an amazing speech at a rally in Oregon. He's asking pertinent questions about the future and mission of American government and the Democratic Party in particular. Check it out for yourself. The video is long, and Bernie gets up to the podium at 13:00 minutes in. (The Shakespearean intro is worth a listen, too.)
https://portside.org/video/2016-04-29/bernie-sanders-rally-oregon
(https://portside.org/video/2016-04-29/bernie-sanders-rally-oregon)
Here's where the evolution part comes in:
Sanders' Impact on Millennials: 'He's Moving a Generation to the Left'
After Bernie Sanders's defeat in New York last week, his chances of winning the Democratic nomination are dwindling. Yet, even if he loses this campaign, a poll published Monday (https://iop.harvard.edu/iop-now/harvard-iop-spring-2016-poll)[1] suggests that Sanders might have already won a contest that will prove crucially important in America's political future.
The poll of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 finds that Sanders is by far the most popular presidential candidate among the youngest voters. This group's attitudes on a range of issues have become more liberal in the past year.
The data, collected by researchers at Harvard University, suggest that not only has Sanders's campaign made for an unexpectedly competitive Democratic primary, he has also changed the way millennials think about politics, said polling director John Della Volpe.
"He's not moving a party to the left. He's moving a generation to the left," Della Volpe said of the senator from Vermont. "Whether or not he's winning or losing, it's really that he's impacting the way in which a generation — the largest generation in the history of America — thinks about politics." ... Continues here on Portside (https://portside.org/2016-04-27/sanders-impact-millennials-hes-moving-generation-left)
Even good old Noam Chomsky has gotten in on this:
Young Bernie Sanders Supporters are a "Mobilized Force That Could Change the Country (https://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/28/noam_chomsky_young_bernie_sanders_supporters)
If it takes a pill to go against 'conventional ideas', this take on Bernie might require one. At least in this part of the world, where the Bern is felt strongly. But he captures my feelings pretty well, too.
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/04/heres-why-i-never-warmed-bernie-sanders
Valley Oak
05-10-2016, 07:37 PM
Published on Apr 26, 2016
Josh Zepps (host of We The People Live podcast) joins TYT to discuss the Democratic Primary election. The debate is joined by John Iadarola, Cenk Uygur, Jimmy Dore and Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0Iqezv2d_E
If it takes a pill to go against 'conventional ideas', this take on Bernie might require one. At least in this part of the world, where the Bern is felt strongly. But he captures my feelings pretty well, too.
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/04/heres-why-i-never-warmed-bernie-sanders
Valley Oak
05-18-2016, 04:36 PM
How about the color purple?
(It's a blend of red and blue!)
Who knows? The world may never know...
If it takes a pill to go against 'conventional ideas', this take on Bernie might require one. At least in this part of the world, where the Bern is felt strongly. But he captures my feelings pretty well, too.
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/04/heres-why-i-never-warmed-bernie-sanders