Why I Am Voting For Bernie Sanders
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“Choosing to spend our tax money on building our nation instead of endless war is not magical thinking. Magical thinking is when you believe bombing strangers makes you safe.”
~ Bernie Sanders
So I’ve been collecting Sanders memes from my Facebook newsfeed for months. Some are pro-Bernie, some are anti-Hillary and some are informative, providing information on Bernie’s votes and positions on a myriad of issues. If I were to share all of these, “What’s the Diehl?” would surely collapse from the sheer weight. So I’ve decided to share just a few and focus on the guy’s platforms and positions.
But before I do, I want to address this anti-Hillary thing that’s divided friends and families. I’ve respected but opposed Secretary Clinton for a long time – see “Why I’m Not Voting for Hillary Clinton”from last April – because of her positions on issues (chief among them her support for the Iraq war) and because she seems to think her gender makes her deserving of a big desk and comfy chair in the Oval Office. I am NOT a Republican troll working for the GOP and I’m sick of people insisting that if I don’t support Hillary, that means I want Donald Trump to win. I don’t. And I resent being marginalized and labeled a “Bernie bot” because I happen to express, albeit adamantly and repeatedly, my desire to see Sanders behind that big desk on January 20 of next year.
I’m voting for Bernie Sanders in three days because I think the “He’s not beholden to special interests” thing is true and important. If you look at his donors, it’s easy to make the case that he’ll do more to rein in Wall Street. (Nine of his top ten donors are labor unions, not banks, and he’s raised over $10 million from small donors.) And that, to me, is extremely important. That in my mind makes Sanders not the “status quo candidate” but the “change candidate.” And I want change.
I like how Sanders voted against the Iraq war, the Patriot Act and bailing out Wall Street (TARP).
I like how he supports gay marriage and clemency for Edward Snowden.
I like how he doesn’t think we should bomb Syria – my own opinion on this issue has changed, which clearly indicates I don’t have a problem with people changing their positions per se – or censor the Internet.
I like how he supports Glass-Steagall and opposes the death penalty.
I like how he flies coach, rivals Albert Einstein in the hair department and was the poorest U.S. Senator as of last May. (His personal net worth is less than $350,000; his Democratic opponent is worth more than $21 million). These seemingly meaningless tidbits convey to me and many others that the guy’s focus is on work and issues.
I like how he freely identifies as a “Democratic Socialist” – click here to read, “What is Democratic Socialism, Q & A” by the Democratic Socialists of America – and how he’s opposed to for-profit prisons and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
I like how he thinks Arab nations and wealthy Gulf states should lead and finance the fight against IS, supports the noteworthy deal we struck with Iran and has called for reforming the U.S. Defense Department’s budget to reduce waste.
I like how he’s opposed the Keystone XL Pipeline from the beginning, is against offshore oil drilling and proposed a carbon tax to fight climate change.
I like how he supports raising taxes on the super-rich, expanding Social Security and raising the minimum wage to $15/hour. And he opposes a border fence, is pro-choice and wants to demilitarize the police.
I like how he supports free and affordable college, medical marijuana and single-payer health care. (Click here to read, “A Single-Payer System Makes Economic Sense.”)
I heard a tape of Donald Trump – who, as I said in a recent Facebook status, is undoubtedly the biggest jackass I’ve seen in almost 54 years on Planet Earth – ridiculing Sanders for the way he responded to the two Black Lives Matter activists who interrupted his campaign rally in Seattle last August. Trump insisted that he would not have allowed the women to speak or appear weak like Sanders did by doing so.
Back when it happened I criticized the activists – and lost a few Facebook friends – for doing a disservice to the movement they supposedly represented by being so aggressive. But I thought Sanders’ decision to step back and let them speak showed strength, not weakness. People of color are too often silenced by whites and white privilege in this country – as Sanders clearly knows, having become active with the University of Chicago chapter of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) a year before I was born; participating in Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington in 1963; and getting arrested after protesting segregation at a school on the Windy City’s South Side. (He also supported Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential run but I forgive him.) It’s beyond laughable that Trump would chastise Sanders for doing the right thing, fighting the good fight, when Trump was busy being captain of the baseball team at a private boarding school. (Click here to read, “Draft dodger Donald Trump seeks job of U.S. military commander-in-chief” by journalist Nate Thayer.)
Because this clip is so compelling – Killer Mike is near the top of my “People I Dig” list – I’m interrupting my post to share it with my readers:
This is why Bernie Sanders gets my vote. He’s not the lesser of two evils; he’s the candidate that I’ve been waiting for. I don’t think he’ll capitulate, give away the store to conservatives or stoop to the childish, ill-advised, self-serving level of today’s Grand Old Party.
Is there anything I don’t like about the guy? There are two things: I don’t like receiving 27 e-mails each day from him or his surrogates asking for money, and I don’t like how he supports Israel’s “right to defend itself” which, unfortunately and tacitly, is an endorsement of Israel’s excessive – if not criminal – military action against Palestinians. (He does support a two-state solution and has publicly denounced Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu). Other than that, I’m behind the guy 100 percent and hope I don’t have to hold my nose and vote for Ms. Republican-lite in November.
It’s a load of crap that only Hillary can work with Congress to get things done. (It’s true that a change in the composition of Congress is important to the Sanders Revolution.) It’s crap that he lacks the political experience to navigate the waters of D.C. (He was mayor of Burlington, Vermont for eight years and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 16 years; he’s been a U.S. Senator for almost a decade.) It’s tedious to repeatedly hear and read that there’s little difference between Sanders and his Democratic opponent relative to the GOP’s presidential prospects. It’s b*llsh*t that he’s only in this race to force the Democratic party to the left. And it’s just not true that he’s unelectable and people won’t show up at the polls. (Hundreds of thousands have attended Sanders rallies.) If people vote for him, he can win. And that’s what I’m going to do.
For a cool photo essay of Sanders’ early years, click here.
Source: What’s the Diehl?
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Bernie seems as good as the next politician at telling people what they want to hear. Interviewed on Bloomberg TV last month he could only mumble and evade when asked just who on Wall Street he would jail and for what specific offences. He just had no answer. As distasteful as the Wall Street “bailout” might have been to the general public it may have saved us from a real catastrophe. He won’t discuss that but he will blame Clinton for bailing out GM, a deal that actually seems to have made money for the government.
The problem with being a populist hero is that by concentrating on the passions of the less-than-objective you have to distort, edit and invent your own truth and you have to pretend that the promises you make or insinuate can actually be done and done by the president. Yes, sure we should consider subsidizing tuition costs at state schools and so we support him without asking how the hell that’s within a president’s power. We don’t ask how he’s going to jail “Wall Street” and for what offenses and we ignore the billions of dollars of fines that benefit us far more than putting some CEO in a minimum security prison. We forget that presidents dont get things through congress by fiat.
Sad to say, I think he’s appealing to the lust for revenge and not tempering his speech with reality. Like Trump and the rest he seems unaware of a president’s powers and limitations and speaks to a public who doesn’t either.
Bernie Sanders is indeed a blusterer, who fills his promise-laden diatribes with great passion. This appeals to the younger voters, in the sense they like to listen to him, but actually VOTE? Not so much.
This is a superb piece Mr D. Hope to see more of them #feelthebern!
Bernie 2016! #FeelTheBern! 🙂
Oh, and MadMike, all we gotta do now is get you out of the clutches of the Apple-Borg. 🙂
You’ll never get him away from Apple, or Hillary. He loves them both David 🙂
Thanks Tim, and guilty 🙂
I’m still supporting Hillary for several reasons. I don’t care about her support for the Iraq war. 99% of the congress supported it based on the evidence and I would have voted for it as well.
I agree with you, Patrick Diehl, 100%! And I agree with you, to, Mike. I don’t agree with Bernie on his stand on labeling GMO’s, but there are so many things with which I don’t agree with any of the other candidates on [oh dear, grammar… I think the “on” in that sentence is wrong and unnecessary], that my respect and allegiance is with Bernie. Like Mike, I think that it’s incredibly important that we not let one of the lunatics calling himself Republican anywhere near the White House as a residence so, in the end, I will support the Democratic nominee whoever that is, but meanwhile: GO BERNIE!
People will attend these rallies because they are like big parties, but getting them out to vote is an entirely different story.
PS, love your new avatar 🙂
This is an insightful article, and one that has influenced me to support BOTH candidates. So far as I’m concerned, and this from a Clinton supporter, either candidate can do the job. That, and of course, a republican in the WH would be a disaster for our once great nation. So, I guess that means I’m “feeling the Bern.”
American school shoes did not require duct tape repairs. Oligarchs view anything individuals do, internet or patents, as trolls. We should federally regulate all real estate and insurance, since they crashed the economy. Since the Constitution demands a federal post office, the government must also own all electricity and internet. Jimmy Carter and Peter Grace, both Democrats, cut the capital gains tax, fueling the birth of Amgen, Apple, Genentech and Microsoft while Carter was still president. But Reagan raised the capital gains tax, fueling an LBO craze which offshored manufacturing to China. Oligarchs are afraid technology will lessen their ability to control us, which is why Reagan wanted everyone to use IBM mainframes when microcomputers were born. Now all of Reagan’s economists are whoring for China. Obama brought manufacturing back to the USA but oligarchs want to give those jobs to the offshore workers they bring here. Why do forign governments get haircuts and we can’t reduce the compounded usury interest which comprises the majority of our debt, while banks charge us negative interest for savings. Most great modern inventions are actually thousands of years old, but our patent system made them usable for the benefit of humanity, so now the oligarchs want to ruin our patent system! Night vision can see though hoodies but oligarch control freaks would rather we freeze our ears off. It’s time to put all the tea birch militias on their own reservations so they can be museums like the Amish and the Indians. Osama was the ultimate faith-based initiative, which is why we should federally license and psychiatrically regulate all churches. Paul’s word for fornication meant prostitution instead. Pauls’ word for masturbation meant malady instead. Paul’s word for sycophant meant slander. Moneychangers were racist about Roman coins. Meek means tranquil, not humble. Augustine made pre-quick abortion a misdemeanor. THeir misunderstanding ad hominem to mean ad personam is itself ad hominem. Oligarch casuistry tries to change the meaning of words, redefine the rules! Bill Donohue said “Muslims are right to be angry” after the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Before the hostages, Jerry Falwell thought that Khomeni had to be pretty good because he was a fellow “fundamentalist”. Why are all the Black Muslims Republicans? Osama was the ultimate faith-based initiative, which is why we should federally license and psychiatrically regulate all churches.
Either this is humor I’m missing, or you’re pretty scary. Assuming the latter, do you have any documentation on any the above? Most of it is a good deal different from all I know of history, sociology or technical science.