Bernie Sanders Didn't Drop Out

Sanders has meetings this morning with Obama and Harry Reid this morning. I wonder if anything will change.

Probably to try and convince him to be happy with a Cabinet post. I doubt he'd be offered VP. For one, his supporters would see it as a betrayal. For another, his ideology is just too different from Clinton.

Personally, I think he's right for sticking to it. For all we know, Clinton may actually be indicted before November. And those super delegates really don't quite count YET.....

a reply to: Gazrok

As has happened before with a candidate dropping out, that would be the usual way of acknowledging efforts and rewarding them with a high level administrative position. However, nothing is usual about this year, for either party or for the nation.

Bernie already is in a high level position with the Legislative branch. He doesn't need (and IMO want) a position in an administration. With Bernie, it's the message--The system is rigged, and the system needs to be turned around to favor everyone, bottom to top, not just the top.

His campaign has validated that people want things turned around. His campaign has validated that, finally, the time is now for a Bernie Revolution.

originally posted by: desert
a reply to: Annee

You know, when someone does something good, we often have said, "He (now she!) should be President!". More in a rhetorical way, but, really, begging for someone to lead us to carry out those ideas. I really, really feel that, whatever happens politically, Bernie is the person to lead the Bernie Revolution. .....Reagan loaned his name to the Reagan Revolution, so I say Bernie Revolution.

No way is the Bernie Revolution dead. Rather, It is just about to be born.

I hope the next administration agrees and finds a place for him that he can continue to make Bernie World a reality - - at least in part.

I've always said I'd love to live in Bernie World. I just don't think he is the right person to take on what the Right has become. Also, I'm a Globalist.

a reply to: Annee

I'm with ya, Annee.
IMO, however, to achieve what you and I would like to see, Bernie has to lead a movement to push the administration, not be involved in it. IMO, he is exactly the person to lead a movement against what the Right has become. He and others like Elizabeth Warren. They can do it, Annee, they can do it. Just not in an administration.

haha.... you want to make someone you no longer want to hear from go away? Give him/her a job higher up....

Our Great Nation was founded on the notion of compromise. There will be things to compromise, if not now then later.
Compromise does not mean one loses all; it means both sides win. You come out of a compromise with both sides giving and getting. That is the "at least in part".

For ATS members who do not remember as far back as you and I do, I want to list a few people who started/led movements:

Rachel Carson, with her book, made people aware of how we were damaging our environment. Lois Gibbs, a housewife, led the Love Canal movement. Carla Cloer, a small town teacher, helped save Redwood groves in the Sierras.

Martin Luther King Jr led the Civil Rights movement; without him and all his followers pushing govt, LBJ would not have signed the Civil Rights acts (and there was compromise to achieve it).

There were leaders in the women's movement, but the movement swelled with housewives and young women following their lead as individuals. Indigenous peoples movement leaders brought human rights to the forefront and instilled pride.

The anti-Viet Nam war movement had leaders and put pressure on govt from the outside to get out. There were a lot of different people and styles in the peace movement, promoting the universal idea and goal of not using war to bring peace, and for people's to live in harmony not discord. There is no end to the idea of wanting peace. It is an idea that must never die, in order for us to live well.

We can go back further to the 1930s and 1940s, with workers rights movements. Further even.

Progress came not with leaders in govt, but people outside of govt organizing to force leaders in govt to change.

Bernie saw that a new day was dawning and woke people up. Go Bernie!

I am grateful for his willingness to jump into the battle for POTUS. Thank you, Bernie.

Bernie already is in a high level position with the Legislative branch. He doesn't need (and IMO want) a position in an administration. With Bernie, it's the message--The system is rigged, and the system needs to be turned around to favor everyone, bottom to top, not just the top. His campaign has validated that people want things turned around. His campaign has validated that, finally, the time is now for a Bernie Revolution.

While I'd like to see him push through it, I guess we'll see.

Personally, I think he's going to cave in to the establishment and get his marching orders along with either a VP nod or cabinet post promise. Which then would basically invalidate his entire campaign in my eyes (and in the eyes of many of his supporters who are #neverhillary).

One of us is going to be wrong soon.

I hope it's me.

a reply to: desert

I think you had to live during those times to know how magical it was (pre-drug era).

It's one of those things you get a taste of and want it to last forever. But, it didn't.

The only other time I experienced that "love/acceptance" energy was at the Olympics.

I am a Progressive Globalist that leans toward a "step type" socialism. That means there has to be a way for the "movers and shakers" to excel and be rewarded for their efforts. Some people are just born leaders.

Love him or Loathe him, Bernie Sanders is a force to be reckoned with. If not for the role of POTUS or Commander in Chief, but the hand on the pulse that is the youth of this country. Hillary Clinton is established, I'll give her that, but established in what? Corporate pandering for the highest bidder?

In this country we do have a shift, a radical realization by the younger generations that the mantle is being passed and guess what, it's your turn. To the Bernie supporters (like me), he seeks to soothe an open nerve that keeps throbbing in your jaw, if only for but a moment. People by the millions are coming out to speak against the corporate establishments and lobbyists on both sides. Sanders and Trump are both "renegade" long shots, but in both cases they have proved people wrong again and again and again. Media bias, lies via omission and fraud are just but a few things that propagate this election cycle. On the right side, Trump seeks to further his own ego while avoiding actual questions. Trump's own staffers speak out against him for continuing a charade of a campaign designed to evoke anger and division among us all while painting himself as lord high commander here to save you all from the enemy he so clearly points the finger at depending on the situation. He ignores actual policy questions in favor of repeating "I'm building a wall," as if that's somehow going to make everything better. Didn't work for China, not going to work here.

On the left you have Bernie, who his ideas seem radical, and for the uneducated and easily offended/intimated, they seem like lunacy. The media love to paint him as maniacal as Ron Paul, and as potentially evil as Stalin, completely ignoring the fact that he has garnered support against numerous odds in a deck clearly stacked against him. If you examine his actual policies and stop for one second to think about what he's trying to say, you'll realize that he's not any different from the New Deal politics of FDR's era. These New Deal policies are the same ones that created more prosperity and benefits for the American people than any other point in our countries history. But let's not focus on what he says, lets instead look at what he does. Bernie is the one thing vacant from politics - He's honest. Bernie is consistent to a fault, he says what he believes and never strays from it.

Then you have Hillary, who changes her mind, ideas and the things that she supports at her core and that "make up who she is" whenever it is financially or politically beneficial. She is a proven liar, a flip-flopper, a panderer and a corporate sellout. Hillary at her core is as pro-wall street and big brother as they come. Looking more at her policies, Hillary is pro war, pro corporate interest and somehow she garners support for being a "strong woman." I can't in good conscience understand how a person, regardless of gender, can run for POTUS and be under federal investigation.

There will be those of you who say to give up, that he's crazy, he should just stop! But isn't that the point? Isn't that what the entire DNC has been doing since the beginning? Hasn't the DNC put debates on during football games to prevent Bernie's message from getting out, all why limiting the debates to just a handful? Hasn't the MSM refused to show the tens of thousands of people showing up to Bernie rallies, filling up stadiums and lining up streets for miles, but they'll show a cropped room of Hillary supporters in a high school gym that is half empty. Hasn't the MSM continued to add the "super-delegate" totals from 8 months prior to the first vote in an effort to fluff up Hillary's numbers? Despite rampant voter fraud, proven and even ADMITTED fraud, refusals to cast re-votes, delegates being awarded to Hillary despite losing by double digits in a primary, and the last hurrah, California. Her planned "winning announcement" days prior to the vote even being cast in an effort to disenfranchise Bernie supporters from turning up to vote for him? Unfortunately it worked.

After all of this, all of the bias, the sleazy tricks and dirty games that have been played, Bernie should just stop right? What kind of man would stand in the way of a woman trying to get into the white house? He must be sexist right? I'm sure his "communist ideas" will never work here, so just step down right? What kind of person could stand against all of this, remain positive, not stoop to negative attacks and still connect with the American people on a level not seen in decades? Bernie Sanders.

All of us, no matter which of the triad you are supporting are frogs in the pot, and the water is getting warmer. Some of us have figured out why that person keeps turning the knob up every time we look at why they are doing what they are doing, and some of us are simply blaming the pot. As I said before, Bernie has touched a nerve of the younger generations of this country, and this is motivating people to take interest in why the water is getting warmer. We cannot survive if we continue like this. I will not concede to Hillary, nor will I invest in Trump to spite her, I simply will not. I am glad Bernie is continuing, because there is always a chance, despite what the MSM, the DNC and all of the right have to say, Bernie is a force to be reckoned with.

Bernie is not the force alone however, it's you that has all of the power, he is just the end of the sledgehammer trying to break down the walls that have been so carefully built around you while you were sleeping. The American people have the voice, they have the power, and no one candidate will save them from everything. There will always be concession, compromise and failures on promises, and anyone who thinks differently is delusional. We still have the power to speak up, to march into Philadelphia and shout at the top of our lungs that we no longer support those at the top telling us what to do while picking our pockets, the question is, are we really ready for the revolution?

I hope so, but if not, i hope you enjoy your pot full of water.

originally posted by: Kingalbrect79
Love him or Loathe him, Bernie Sanders is a force to be reckoned with. If not for the role of POTUS or Commander in Chief, but the hand on the pulse that is the youth of this country.
......

Bernie is not the force alone however, it's you that has all of the power, he is just the end of the sledgehammer trying to break down the walls that have been so carefully built around you while you were sleeping. The American people have the voice, they have the power, and no one candidate will save them from everything. There will always be concession, compromise and failures on promises, and anyone who thinks differently is delusional. We still have the power to speak up, to march into Philadelphia and shout at the top of our lungs that we no longer support those at the top telling us what to do while picking our pockets, the question is, are we really ready for the revolution?

Yes.

The amount of money in the political system, both direct money that legislatures on their job in Washington themselves must beg for from large donors and dark money (note to self and others ....help overturn Citizens United) is what Bernie means by too much money in and influencing politic. The tactics taken to help legislatures pick their voters is also a problem.

The changes that are needed to turn this country around can only come from the Democratic Party. The Progressive Movement, the Bernie Revolution, left the Republican Party 100 years ago. There is a historical, foundational reason that we only have two national parties and that third parties succeed at levels below the national. Because decades ago one party decided to take this country so far to the right (via organizing and media), undercutting the economic and societal interests of us, while giving more to the billionaires, we became a polarized nation. Listen to Elizabeth Warren's words about the GOP. She is right, they are wrong.

When you go to Philadelphia, stand together united. Stand strong, determined, ready to do battle using non-violent tactics. Turn anger into something productive, do not let anger diminish you as a person, take you to the low ground, when your enemy can then take advantage. Go forward. Philadelphia and beyond. Your new future.


a reply to: Gazrok

Oh, I do hope you're wrong, Gazrok!


a reply to: Annee

When you and I grew up, movers and shakers did excel, but not at the expense of the nation. Leaders should not take advantage of the people. I agree, we are in a different world nowadays and need to adjust accordingly, and for the good of all, not just a few.

The Olympics! Wow! "love/acceptance" indeed! That is what we are missing. For four decades now, we've been encouraged by religion and politics to divide. Horrible divisions with horrific consequences. If children do not get love and acceptance, they grow up damaged. We have lost our sense of community as a nation, our Oneness. We have been damaged, but we now have a golden opportunity to start to build community again. This is the important work of the young people. To bridge us together, and together with the world.

Just think how easy it would have been for hillary if bernie was not even in the race.

But he has it made now, the DNC will take good care of him.

So good that he will just roll over and back any old thing they want him to.

He was a real Cinderella story, wasn't he?

originally posted by: desert
We have been damaged, but we now have a golden opportunity to start to build community again. This is the important work of the young people. To bridge us together, and together with the world.

I'm not sure its possible as long as we're built on Capitalism.

a reply to: Annee

A super smart, historically and politically enlightened brother-in-law mentioned 50 years ago that the United States needs to take the best of both economic systems.
People probably aren't aware of how many businesses in America are employee owned

The Employee Ownership 100: America's Largest Majority Employee-Owned Companies

He was a real Cinderella story, wasn't he?

Like Trump, he was invited to the ball to make their crap candidates look good by comparison.

Also like Trump, the plan backfired spectacularly, as they completely underestimated the American people's frustration at being force-fed these bought and paid for cronies.

The GOP didn't have the built in controls of super delegates, so they couldn't do much to subvert the will of the people (though damn they tried, even crucifying their own front-runner...). Unfortunately for the Bern, the DNC's built in controls seem to just be too damn good for him to crack, especially when coupled with out and out cheating during the primaries.

a reply to: theantediluvian

He was waiting to see whether Hillary was to be indicted

Obama told him to chill

If the babe, Hillary, is indicted he would still have a chance to take the nomination