The weekend of the South Carolina primary is upon us and I want to lay out once and for all my feelings about Bernie Sanders, the presumptive front runner.
First, there is one objective, TO EJECT DONALD TRUMP FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. Nothing else comes within a mile. He must be removed, indicted for all the his felonious treasonous crimes, tried and locked away For Ever. Also his grifter crimey family. And all his associates. I want the whole lot of them punished and ruined. That’s the goal. I will back our nominee no matter what. There’s no alternative. Number two is to ensure that the Democrats* (more on them later) hold the House of Representatives and win four seats in the Senate. I take back what I said, that nothing comes within a mile of ousting trump, this is tied for first place and can not be overstated, which brings me to Bernie Sanders (probably still in the lead even after S.C. because of California polling). Sanders has spent his life raging against the machine for progressive causes. His accomplishment are debatable, but that’s what the debates were for. Not that you’d have learned much by watching on Tuesday night which started as a virtual food fight and closed with, “What’s your favorite color, and if you were going to be a tree, which one would you choose?”
“Sanders calls for an end to our foreign wars, a reduction in the military budget, he’s for ‘Medicare for All,’ abolishing the death penalty, eliminating mandatory minimum sentences and private prisons, a return of Glass-Stegall, raising taxes on the wealthy, increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour, cancelling student debt, eliminating the Electoral College, banning fracking and breaking up agribusiness,” according to Chris Hedges, Truthdig, Feb. 17, 2020. Sanders is also adamant about addressing climate crisis with The Green New Deal.
I love all of that! So what’s my gripe about Bernie Sanders? It’s like this;
Bernie Sanders is running in the Democratic Primary against the Democratic Party. His rallying cry is the ‘Demahcratic Pahty’ is corrupt and should be destroyed along with ‘Thugh Billionayhs’ that fund them. Down with ‘Billionahys’ !! Booooo. Which segues into the swag section of the speech; A pony in every pot! And by that I mean free health care, free college, free day care, free Care Bears, you name it. Maybe I’m dense, but I simply don’t see how we get there from here. Let’s pretend Sanders wins the nomination and the election. Trump is out, Bernie is in. He forms a Progressive administration. Now what? I envision his inaugural speech as a shouty inversion of trump’s 2017 dystopian scree. Then the market will crash promptly at 8 AM on January 22 (assuming we’ve recovered from this crash). Berners don’t give a rat’s ass about the stock market, but the rest of the world kinda does. Our beloved media will be in a doomsday frenzy predicting the end of the freedom, no more champagne, or pure bred dogs, etc. because let’s face it for the zillionth time, Americans can not get it through their thick liberty lovin’ skulls that (democratic) socialism is beneficial to them. Also, pretend we pick up enough seats to turn the Senate blue and hold the House or some combo. Stalemate is still inevitable because the programs that Sanders wants are extremely complicated (impossible) to implement in four years. There’s a guy whose name rhymes with Larock Dalama who has a thing or two to say about that. (Maybe we should’ve gone with the candidate with all the Plans). He’ll still have to deal with the Republicans, eh, maybe not, fuck ‘em. Kidding, bi-partisan solutions always sell better. Sanders has been a virtual loner in Congress for 34 years. I don’t know if Pelosi and the Democratic establishment can find a comfort zone to work with him if he’s be railing against them through the entire election. (Thanks for the cash, bite me) It’s no laughing matter, Bernie will inherit a Republican made mess like most Democratic presidents and have to raise interest rates and taxes to even get started. I know ‘it’s only going to affect the 1%,’ yeah, let’s see about that.
So how the hell does an avowed anti-capitalist create a strong economy? The Green New Deal is the cure for all that ails us, but jobs, the holy grail of congressional districts, are at stake. Something Mr. Screw the Establishment seems to overlook in his zealousness. Nix the entire health insurance industry and put 100,000 people out of work. Ditto the energy industry, ditto x 100 the military supply industry. Remember, I agree with his agenda basically, but no one can wave a wand and make threatening jobs and raising taxes into a kumbaya moment that bolsters good will. Any U.S. president is only as good as his economy. As George Washington said to Hamilton, “Winning was easy, young man, governing’s harder.” *file under there’s a Hamilton quote for everything.
Then there’s his age and general health…. let’s not even go there. And his commie past. And Jane.
Lastly, and this is personal, there’s his demeanor and personality. I have a background filled to the hairy nostrils with old ranting angry Jewish men, Atle kakers. They are the rightest person in every room they are in. They have to win every argument and every conversation is an argument. I can’t for the life of me figure out what Bernie supporters find endearing about this. Maybe they feel like someone is rallying for them finally. I find it repulsive. That anger, the shouting, the finger waggling triggers me to hide under my bed. If I have to listen to four years of that god awful Brooklyn accent (JESUS BERNIE SAY R, PLEASE) after four years of donald’s demented Adderall-spiked ear-bleeding steaming piles of nonsense, I’ll go deaf.
But I digress. Here’s the nub: Sanders’ goal is to shred Washington as we know it. Which is as insulting as it is absurd, since he’s been in government for his entire life. He’s not the outlier he claims to be ffs. If he’s the top of the ticket, he’s obligated to pull for the team. He needs the DNC war chest. Bloomberg’s money would be nice too. He needs every Democratic vote, especially new voters, and a bunch of Independents, which he swears he can deliver, but so far hasn’t born fruit. Troubling, right?
The good news is that Fox News just released a poll that anyone can beat trump, if the Corona virus doesn’t get to him first.
*The Republican Party has collapsed into a shriveled nut sack of its former Grand Ole self, if you’re not a White, Christian, Fox News viewer this is not your party. The GOP doesn’t have to stretch far to sell its positions to its homogenized base. The Democratic Party on the other hand is everyone else; a grab bag of squabbling left-wing, moderate and even mid-conservative stalwarts of the party. There are also oodles of niches, LGBT voters, ex-Republicans, the urban, suburban, rural, educated, all economic classes, and lots of pissed off women. We have the young, the old, people of color, the disabled, techies, environmentalists, people who have bupkus, or portfolios, 401k’s, unions, gig workers, people with health insurance, those without insurance, vets, cowboys, Indians, people on Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. To quote from the recent debate, we go from the Naked Cowboy, to Uncle Dick in a deer-blind. Whether you would give your left arm to meet Barbara Streisand or DaBaby we are your party. That is a helluva lot of people to please. Good luck to whomever can take this on. Bernie Sanders so far it’s your nomination to lose. Let’s see where we are on Monday.
Reading for extra credit:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/24/senate-bernie-sanders-2020-117266
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/us/politics/bernie-sanders-russia.html
https://qz.com/1560188/what-the-2020-democratic-candidates-did-in-congress/
I have to agree w most of what you’re laying down, Wendy. I was hoping Warren would do better than she has. She seemed a tad more palatable to me than Bernie w his angry rants. I will most certainly rally behind him if the DNC relinquishes the nomination to him. If it happens it will come begrudgingly the way DJT took it from the disbelieving RNC. But Bernie has never come across as a one who could unite our divided & ailing country. He could surprise us though. Wendy, I’m enjoying your political analysis. Keep us posted as it all unfolds. HST would of been proud of you! ~ Tad