Roger Waters chatting about Bernie Sanders
Andy Greene: That election shows how polls aren't always that reliable, so maybe Trump's numbers are really inflated also.
Roger Waters: Yeah. I don't know. It's a long, tedious and corrupt campaign, inevitably. Bernie Sanders is one of the few people saying that Citizens United is one of the biggest steps backwards in American jurisprudence since ... I don't know. Maybe the Harrison [Narcotics Tax] Act [in 1914.] He is right. Citizens United is an appalling misappropriation of the wording of the constitution, I feel. It shows that the Supreme Court, because they are political appointees, by and large, on major issues, vote down party lines. So if you've got five Republicans and four Democrats you are going to get a Republican opinion, as you did when they gave Bush the election after the recount in Florida, sort of snatching it from Al Gore, as they have done with Citizens United, where they are giving big money the absolute permission now to secretly give as much as they want to whomever they want.
I think the big fear about Sanders is that he's so far left, he can't get elected on a national ticket, and if the Democrats nominate him, they'll hand the White House to the Republicans.
Well, you might be right about that, but I hope you are wrong. It is true that people become marginalized if their politics appear to be too far to the left. You have you remember, this is why I admire him, because when he speaks the truth, he speaks the truth. He sounds very left wing, but that is because we have been fed this right-wing bullshit by the whole of the mainstream media since the Second World War. And it has gotten worse and worse and worse, and the outlets for dissenting voices have become fewer and fewer. So he is bound to sound out of step, because he is! And that is what is good about him.
Andy Greene: I just think the term "socialist" freaks a lot of people out.
Roger Waters: Socialism is a good thing! What is wrong with socialism? You are the only country that I've ever heard of that buses its kids to school in the morning. What is that if not socialist? I am serious! I know nowhere else in the world. Then you go, "What the hell is that about?" "Well, we don't want our kids to walk through dangerous neighborhoods to get to school, so we send a bus to pick them up at their front door and take them home afterwards." And you go, "Wow, great." That is pure socialism, and it is correct.
If you had socialized medicine as well, then we could really start calling you a socialist country. At least you have a better medical system now, thanks to Barack Obama, thanks to the executive branch of this administration that we are now seeing draw to a close. But it's nothing like the healthcare you get in any of the other 30 major civilized countries in the world. Your healthcare is great if you are very, very, very rich and you have some rare form of cancer. You have the best brain surgeons or whatever in the world, but they service a tiny, tiny proportion of people. But by and large, your healthcare is dreadful, and the cost of it is almost double anywhere else in the world, and you get half the service for it. You know why?
Andy Greene: Why?
Roger Waters: Because it goes to the fucking insurance companies and to the profits of the drug lords and drug companies. It has skimmed off its profit, and it shouldn't be! Medicine should be provided to all the people, all of the time, for a moderate cost. Of course the drug companies should make moderate profits and of course insurance companies should make moderate profits, but they don't. They are like loan sharks. They are ripping the heart out of everyone, and they are gouging as hard and fast as they can. That is the world we live in.
Andy Greene: That should do it, Roger. Thanks for doing this.
Roger Waters: You know what you need, don't you?
Andy Greene: What?
Roger Waters: Socialism!
Andy Greene: Ha!
Roger Waters: Well, it was nice talking to you. Cheers.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/roger-waters-on-the-wall-socialism-and-his-next-concept-album-20151102?page=9
= new reply since forum marked as read
Fletcher in the name of the song is in honour and remembrance of Roger Waters' father, Eric Fletcher Waters, who died during the Second World War at Anzio.
