General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSee What the Populist Candidate Has To Say
Read this and his stands on 12 important issues at: https://berniesanders.com/issues/
The American people must make a fundamental decision. Do we continue the 40-year decline of our middle class and the growing gap between the very rich and everyone else, or do we fight for a progressive economic agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides health care for all? Are we prepared to take on the enormous economic and political power of the billionaire class, or do we continue to slide into economic and political oligarchy? These are the most important questions of our time, and how we answer them will determine the future of our country.
The long-term deterioration of the middle class, accelerated by the Wall Street crash of 2008, has not been pretty. Today, we have more wealth and income inequality than any major country on earth. We have one of the highest childhood poverty rates and we are the only country in the industrialized world which does not guarantee health care for all. We once led the world in terms of the percentage of our people who graduated college, but we are now in 12th place. Our infrastructure, once the envy of the world, is collapsing.
Real unemployment today is not 5.8 percent, it is 11.5 percent if we include those who have given up looking for work or who are working part time when they want to work full time. Youth unemployment is 18.6 percent and African-American youth unemployment is 32.6 percent.
Today, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the median male worker earned $783 less last year than he made 41 years ago. The median female worker made $1,337 less last year than she earned in 2007. Since 1999, the median middle-class family has seen its income go down by almost $5,000 after adjusting for inflation, now earning less than it did 25 years ago.
The American people must demand that Congress and the White House start protecting the interests of working families, not just wealthy campaign contributors. We need federal legislation to put the unemployed back to work, to raise wages and make certain that all Americans have the health care and education they need for healthy and productive lives.
Get onboard the Populist Movement and support Senator Sanders.
uncleverusername
(37 posts)I mean look at all those non-mainstream policies!
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)marym625
(17,997 posts)K&R
mother earth
(6,002 posts)K & R
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)I want one of those.
mother earth
(6,002 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)one_voice
(20,043 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Party.
appalachiablue
(41,172 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)It feels so good to hear what the Democratic Party should stand for!
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)Love Bernie!
GeorgeGist
(25,323 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Fairgo
(1,571 posts)The internal struggle beteen our aspirations and fear of change, the eternal conflict between people and governance, the balance between internecine struggle and the promise of new growth towards old values...played out proudly (and loudly) on the public stage. Screw the optics! Let's hammer out a new identity - hammer and tong. I'll get behind finished work and the servant we assign to see it done. But first, let's dance!
Thespian2
(2,741 posts)but actually means it...
dgauss
(883 posts)Go Bernie.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)morningfog
(18,115 posts)No positions, no platform, no policies, not even issues of importance to her campaign. Just her want to be champion and her ask of your money and time to make that happen.
I love Bernie's list, it's the real deal.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Its a mirage.
peacebird
(14,195 posts)NuttyFluffers
(6,811 posts)glad he's in the race!