Bernie Sanders has a better chance of winning in November and getting things done
If you stay tuned in to any media establishment outlet such as CNN or NBC, you can be sure the anti-establishment candidate will be said network’s target. It’s only logical, the corporate media will always look after their own interests, and soon enough they’ll have everyone believing their own hype.
This scenario is true with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, not Republican Candidate Donald Trump. Trump has managed to be labeled as an anti-establishment candidate despite the fact that he is himself a billionaire, which in an oligarchy is the establishment.
Back to Bernie, there are two main talking points making the rounds on CNN and their ilk. Neither of which have to do with actual policy. The first point comes straight from the horse’s mouth which is that Hillary Clinton has a better chance of getting things done in Washington. The other is that Clinton has a better chance of being elected President. That she is more electable as they say.
For starters, if you think Hillary has a better chance of getting things done, you don’t know history. Whether she claims to be a moderate or progressive, it doesn’t change the fact that Republicans absolutely despise her. They are just as likely to work with Obama as with her.
You may draw attention to what her husband was able to accomplish with Republicans when he was President. If that is a sign of things to come we should be backing away. Punitive welfare reform, the Defense of Marriage Act and the deregulating of Wall Street to name a few. For all his help, Republicans tried to impeach him.
Let’s not pretend to believe that a political party who pushes the Benghazi conspiracy, email scandal and countless other hit jobs would be willing to work with Hillary on anything remotely liberal. She has been in the public eye for decades and she has been shot down every step of the way starting with healthcare in the 90’s.
What may or may not separate Bernie from Hillary in this regard is the people. When Obama was first elected, he was propelled there by a progressive movement similar (though not as big) to Bernie Sanders. After Obama assumed office, the movement disappeared along with Obama’s progressive agenda. It’s hard to say which one withdrew first.
Whether Bernie could keep his progressive movement’s momentum going once he reaches the White House remains to be seen, but I believe he will succeed, at least with some policies. Hillary, as it stands now, has no movement behind her.
As far as electability goes, this is another instance where the public should not believe the hype and instead believe in facts, which in this case are polls. While Bernie has erased nearly a thirty point lead that Clinton had over him as recently as December, what really matters is how they fare against Republicans.
In a recent Quinnipiac poll, a theoretical match-up with Donald Trump has Sanders beating him by 10%, while Hillary only beats him by 5%. Against Ted Cruz, Sanders is winning by 4% while Hillary is tied. If you want to be even more frightened, Against Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders is tied while Clinton is losing by 7%. Scary stuff indeed.
The point is, against every Republican candidate, Bernie Sanders is doing better. Despite the fact that Clinton is more moderate, independents just don’t like her. Independents actually poll much better with Sanders likely due to his anti-establishment positions.
It’s clear that Bernie’s socialist label isn’t hurting him, hell it may even be helping him. Republicans can call him a socialist all they want, it didn’t hurt Obama and he’s anything but. The democratic socialist brand is nothing to fear, a majority of Americans already support much of its ideology, you just won’t hear it from the establishment media. Right now, it’s better to bet on Bernie.
Hillary Clinton would be better than any Republican, that’s a given. She is brilliant, quick on her toes and far intellectually superior to her potential GOP opponent, no matter who it is. She is also totally incapable of relating to voters at large, has the warmth and personality of a squid, and is changing colors fast as Sanders remains consistent.
What we get from Bernie Sanders are specifics. Direct honest answers. No bullshit, no cliches, no over generalized rhetoric. We hear that kind of inane crap from politicians all the time, and while it works for idiot Republicans who can’t understand anything that isn’t a cliche and generalization, progressives want real answers and are much more in tune with the real problems of America: the hate of the right wing, the attempts from the evangelical Christian zealots determined to destroy the 1st Amendment and establish a far right wing war mongering oligarchy/theocracy, the dire need for greater strength in organized labor and decent wages, health care for all, and much needed education reform that makes it possible for all qualified students to attend college. That the universities in this country are, outside the Ivy League and some fine smaller schools, sports factories with athletic foundations piling in the billions while students sometimes can’t finish school because they just don’t have the money, or if they do, they are in debt for decades if not a lifetime. Meanwhile, Joe Running Back, barely able to sign a legal signature or find his classroom, not that he attends anyway or takes his own tests, is treated like a hero because he can run a 40 yard distance in a certain amount of time and can run with a football or shoot a free throw.
Some athletes do graduate and succeed if they aren’t drafted into the pros – one basketball player in my home state of Arkansas, Jimmy Counce, who started for the Razorbacks in the mid 1970’s for a team that gave the pros Ronnie Brewer and Sidney Moncrief, is today a superb heart and thoracic surgeon in NW Arkansas. He operated on my mother and did a magnificent job. But these instances are rare.
Sanders wants all those who want a true quality education to be able to get one. What is wrong with that? He wants people to earn decent wages with benefits, and force corporations like Boeing and GM pay their taxes, who do not pay one fucking cent. So why do GOP voters, usually poorly educated, disdainful of most intellectual pursuits like science, history or other fields buy the horseshit the GOP leaders feed them when it means the voter is doing everything against his and his family’s best interests?
It’s stubbornness, gullibility, plain stupidity and superstition that allows organized religion to ruin their minds and make them hate science, or have any money spent on it.
So Sanders will not appeal to them, and he knows it’s a waste of time. He is making inroads against Clinton, who was, not so long ago, the presumptive Democratic candidate. Not so fast. He is making this a real contest, will do much better with minorities and the southern democrats than the establishment media wants him to do, and would be a very good president if he could get support from Capitol Hill.
The media is not the friend of progressives, either. The main networks are all huge corporations, and have agendas of their own, and propaganda to try to spread. It’s easy on the right side of the tracks, but tougher to pull the wool over the eyes of the left, where the brains are. Hillary is finding this out fast.