I get it. People don't really want to change.

[Ron Green]

What Bernie Sanders is calling for is not what people want to do. They don't want to find a whole new way of working. They don't want to figure out how to become more "citizen" and less "consumer" when they're just trying to get by. They don't want to spend precious free time working within their communities to develop a whole new economy when they can vote for the most familiar and comfortable candidate and hope for the best.

They don't want to buy what Bernie is selling, because what he's selling is too hard. It's way outside the box of listening to the media, "liking" a particular candidate and getting to the polling place. It's about creating a political economy that responds to the real needs of communities and is therefore built and owned by the people. There are little hints of it all over America, in halting response to the economic terror that is growing, but you rarely hear about them on the Disaster Media. Every visionary, every thinker in this tiny and hopeful world mentions Bernie's candidacy, often along with the economic writings of Pope Francis.

This is a major transformational call, and most of America, even if it wants it, doesn't want to do it. The media play against it, of course, but even people on the ground see what's needed and shake their heads. It's the biggest step we will have ever taken; bigger than the New Deal, because this won't be done from the top down.

[VanillaRhapsody]

1. I tried to tell folks long ago...

Americans do not change quickly....the wheels of change move slowly....gradually

[pengu]

8. Unfortunately climate change isn't moving so slowly

[VanillaRhapsody]

10. No....and slowly they are starting to come around

but still slowly...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

43. The REAL problem is there are people who actually believe reality is something they can vote for....

They believe if we vote Republican than that's AGAINST global warming as something real.

If we vote Democratic than that's FOR global warming as something real.

It'll just go away through the power of collective thinking.

They need to see this:

[Ron Green]

11. Unfortunately the time has run out for the leisurely

change. 2 degrees Celcius is upon us.

[VanillaRhapsody]

12. Well we are doomed then

because Americans are not all Liberals....

[HerbChestnut]

15. It's funny.

When studying history, often times you can look back at a series of decisions that a country made which led to some disastrous event occurring, and the only response that makes sense is, "WTF were they thinking??" I hope we're not put in that situation 20-30 years from now.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

44. There's already kids looking at their parents as assholes for owning an SUV.

[AtheistCrusader]

34. Only when people keep insisting so.

In ten years I've seen same-sex marriage legalized, physician assisted suicide legalized, and pot legalized in my state.

Things change fast, if you work for it.

[NCTraveler]

37. Not one bit of that happened fast. Nt

[AtheistCrusader]

38. In our state? Every single one happened in one election cycle.

That's pretty quick in my book.

[NCTraveler]

51. That is during an election cycle...

And is reflective of circumstances and decades of grassroots work. Truly decades of people fighting. I do see your point that when conditions are right that many good things can happen almost all at once. A lot of the change you described is because the grassroots movements attached to each one changing the political climate and we shouldn't minimize the fact that a lot of this is a massive backfire of Roves political stunt with gay marriage in Florida in 2004.

[AtheistCrusader]

67. Grassroots movements have reach and visibility that you couldn't match 20-30 years ago.

At a cost that is, in some cases, less than nothing or can bring in advertising revenue.

The world is changing. It's staggering.

[VanillaRhapsody]

39. 10 yrs is fast?

No...

[AtheistCrusader]

42. That many major issues in a short span? That's pretty good.

And that's just three local issues. There were more.

Nationally, the president got the ACA off the ground. There was a ton of major changes in that span. Change can be fast and far reaching.

And it's going to get faster. The cadence of public interest and leverage on these issues is picking up.

[redwitch]

2. Change is hard.

And yeah, I think it is scary for most people. I don't know how desperate the situation has to become before the majority of people are screaming for real, substantive change.

[UglyGreed]

4. This why you see

people using scare tactics to push you to vote for the lesser of the two evils. Ya gotta take a chance, take a stand once in your life. Enough of living scared.

[tecelote]

7. Let's hope we change faster than the climate.

Let's hope we change before WWIII.

Let's just hope we change before it's too late.

[redwitch]

9. I do hope for that.

Fervently.

[HerbChestnut]

16. The Great Depression brought in FDR.

The Great Recession brought in Obama.

[4MyGrandson]

33. If FDR had sold out the "recovery" from the Depression as much as Obama has sacrificed the

opportunity to undo Shrub's recession and other, non-economic policies, we all would be speaking German and working for real slave wages in a right-wing paradise.

If Obama had governed as the candidate he pretended to be, as half the Democrat that FDR was, we all would be celebrating the continuation of amazing progress and dancing on the grave of conservatism.

History does not present these opportunities with great frequency.
Obama wasted the best one in my lifetime, with dire consequences.

[jwirr]

50. +1

[Fumesucker]

58. Welcome to DU

Love your handle!

[pipoman]

3. It would likely be better received if we had 10% unemployment instead of 5%...

[UglyGreed]

6. ask the people who

have lost their high paying jobs and now work part time or just had their unemployment run out....

[pipoman]

13. Where I am I haven't ever had as much difficulty filling

Full time jobs with benefits.

[UglyGreed]

14. well I guess I'll have to take your word for it

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/04/-the-real-unemployment-rate.html

[corkhead]

5. reminds me of this:

[Catherina]

17. Depends what people you're talking about ;) Rec'd n/t

[Scuba]

18. "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

[mmonk]

19. Or are so afraid to try.

[Ron Green]

20. Yes; fear and nostalgia have a powerful sway upon Americans,

and the media manipulate those with great skill.

[Maedhros]

21. The Democratic rank-and-file has been living under a manufactured cloud of fear for at least

two decades. The party leadership and its allies in the media have done a very good job of making sure that all Democrats see, all the time, is crazy Republicans doing crazy things. Notice that every day on DU, the featured story on the home page is always about a Republican nut job, and only very rarely about a Democrat.

Why? Because the Democrats are not offering any liberal or progressive solutions - they're giving us watered-down conservatism instead - and need to keep us afraid of the Republicans lest we get tired of their refusal to do the hard work of fighting back.

[DirtyHippyBastard]

41. +1. nm

[zeemike]

52. Yep you got it pegged.

They see us as children that they can scare with a monster in the closit...and it was telling when the party leadership urged us to watch the GOP debate.

[tk2kewl]

53. .

[MohRokTah]

22. No, I really don't think you get it.

Keep trying, you just might get it by the time Sanders drops out.

[AlbertCat]

30. This condescending attitude....

.... matches Hillary to a tee.

That's why she's so wrong for everyone!

[MohRokTah]

40. I just give back what Sanders supporters have been giving for months. eom

[Romulox]

23. Hillary's supporters feel that they have much to lose if the Status Quo is threatened. nt

[MoonRiver]

24. NO we don't feel that way. And how arrogant of you to speak for others.

This Hillary supporter feels she is the best thing that could happen to this country, and I will jump for joy when she becomes President.

[Romulox]

25. I speak for myself, and I stand by my assessment. Hillary is the candidate of the Status Quo. nt

[AtheistCrusader]

35. I'd say slightly left of center.

But we can do better.

[BillZBubb]

45. I'd say right of center

Particularly on foreign policy. But even on economic policy there isn't a whole lot of difference between her and someone like papa Bush.

[Ron Green]

26. Your post is what this OP is about.

[MoonRiver]

27. Well I believe Hillary will bring positive change.

So your premise is flawed at least in my case.

[AtheistCrusader]

36. Incremental.

Small moves. Even I'm not so cynical to believe she won't bring ANY change, or that any change could be assumed bad.

But we can do better.

[MoonRiver]

46. We'll have to agree to disagree.

[AtheistCrusader]

66. OR we can look at track record.

[Robbins]

29. which will never happen

if bernie doesn't win primary trump wins ge.

she brings no change to table on trade,wall street,and war.

[AlbertCat]

31. And how arrogant of you to speak for others.

Arrogance on display:

"No, I really don't think you get it.

Keep trying, you just might get it by the time Sanders drops out."

So this must be hypocrisy.

"when she becomes President."

and arrogance.

[upaloopa]

28. People want change. They want better lives for

themselves and their kids. Seniors like me want our Social Security and pensions and health care to be there for us.
We just don't see the path to those things running through Bernie Sanders.
You make such a big mistake to think you are the only ones who are enlightened about things. I am 4 years younger than Bernie. I thought the same things as Bernie has all my life. I was aware in the 50's and 60's. I was drafted and sent to war. I marched in civil rights demonstrations too. I knew the suffering of gay friends in Los Angles in the 80's and saw some die of aids. I have two gay family members and a Black niece. I can't walk in their shoes but I know there are times when they were very mistreated.
Don't come here like you know it all and we Hillary supporters are just plain fucked up!

[AlbertCat]

32. People want change.

So they vote for the name they know and the person they've seen before.... who lost the last primary because of "Hope & Change"...

[Ron Green]

55. I'm not acting like I know it all, and I certainly don't consider you to be

f***ed up. I'm talking about a lot more than Social Security and health care.

In my opinion, this country needs a whole different politics AND economics, and Bernie's election would be just one little step in that direction. And because of the reasons in the OP, it probably won't happen. I agree with a poster in this thread who pointed out that Obama squandered the once-in-a-lifetime chance that Bernie won't get because of the overwhelming push for Hillary.

I'm your age, and saw and lived the things you describe. How did I come to such a different conclusion about our path for the future?

[PowerToThePeople]

47. ...

[aidbo]

64. I get what you're saying with this video, but you may not know that lemming mass suicide is untrue.

The misconception of lemming "mass suicide" is long-standing and has been popularized by a number of factors. It was well enough known to be mentioned in "The Marching Morons", a 1951 short story by Cyril M. Kornbluth. In 1955, Disney Studio illustrator Carl Barks drew an Uncle Scrooge adventure comic with the title "The Lemming with the Locket". This comic, which was inspired by a 1953 American Mercury article, showed massive numbers of lemmings jumping over Norwegian cliffs.[7][8] Even more influential was the 1958 Disney film White Wilderness, which won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature, in which staged footage was shown with lemmings jumping into certain death after faked scenes of mass migration.[9] A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, Cruel Camera, found the lemmings used for White Wilderness were flown from Hudson Bay to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where they did not jump off the cliff, but were in fact forced off the cliff by the camera crew.[10][11] Because of the limited number of lemmings at their disposal, which in any case were the wrong sub-species, the migration scenes were simulated using tight camera angles and a large, snow-covered turntable.[12]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings#Misconceptions

So what that video shows is actually lemming mass murder.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.

[jalan48]

48. It takes a major crisis to change people.

In the fall of 2008 economist's were saying the economic crisis was the worst since the Great Depression. Obama managed to turn things around enough that we avoided that. However, Republicans (and some Democrats) would not allow any substantive changes to Wall Street's casino capitalism. Another crisis is going to happen, it's just a matter of time. Next time it just might be the Great Depression II. Bernie and Elizabeth Warren will suddenly become mainstream for the majority of Democrats. Unfortunately, today's mainstream Democrats just aren't ready for the necessary changes that will be taking place a few years from now.

[Ron Green]

59. The major crisis is being skillfully camouflaged

by politicians and media working for the Rulers. In a rational world, these would be seen clearly: the heating of the planet, the alienation of consumers from producers, the toxic and cynical culture, the control of both Church and State by the Market, and on and on. Taken together, it's a crisis perhaps unprecedented; so large that indeed only a systems change can even bring a hopeful chance.

But in our irrational age, we "like" candidates in the same way we "like" a brand of pickup truck.

[SunSeeker]

49. What people don't want to change is the party controlling the White House.

That is one of the reasons why people support Hillary.

[randys1]

54. If change is the desired outcome, then talking down to certain folks sure isnt the way

to get there and having a "my way or the highway" attitude sure as hell wont get us there.

This is why Bernie is so reluctant to attack Hillary and why he is slowly, painfully, learning how to react to the changes on the ground such as Black Lives Matter.

As an older American White Male, it can be hard for us to change the way we deliver a message, even if the message is a good one.

[Bluenorthwest]

56. As a gay man I find your post insulting, we have been bashed by every candidate this Party ran

for years, openly and basically the straights in this Party demanded that and cheered for it. What straight Democrats have heaped on their LGBT peers is really unforgivable, from DOMA to the 08 Inaugural it has been a long, nasty history of arrogant and dismissive behavior.

All your cohort did was talk down to us and about us. For decades. The straight white males leading the snarling propaganda pack. Instead of riding a stolen high horse you should be engaged in the making of amends.

[randys1]

57. I cant help you there, I have one goal and one only, and you KNOW it

and that is to prevent the Gay hating, Woman hating, Black hating GOP from taking the WH

I am here solely for that agenda.

[lovemydog]

60. It's tricky to try and encapsulate all that's going on

but your post provides some interesting food for thought. Coalitions take a long time to build. Whether or not Sanders gets the nomination, I think his candidacy is just the beginning of building a strong coalition, not the end. I truly hope those who strongly support Sanders and / or work on his campaign continue working on building a big grass roots style coalition. We need more people in Congress like Bernie Sanders. We need more people like him at every state and local level too.

[Ron Green]

63. Thank you. His truly is a national voice now, despite the media fail.

I'm hopeful that all the young people I see excited about his candidacy will get hip to Gar Alperovitz, Gus Speth, Strong Towns, Yes! Magazine, the Steady State Economy, and all the other hopeful resources struggling mightily against Wall Street and its minions.

[treestar]

61. If they did, they certainly would elect different Congresses

But most people don't go around yelling about the TPP and income inequality and the corporatists and the banksters and Wall Street. They just want a good economy and to do OK themselves. They don't give a shit about the 1% as long as the rest is enough.

even poor people who need services are usually never to be heard ranting about "the oligarchs."

[Ron Green]

62. Yep, that's what Teevee and bad schools are for.

Critical thinking AND spiritual empathy are a difficult combination to achieve, but that's what it's gonna take.

[Martin Eden]

65. A whole new way of working? Not.

THE PEOPLE don't have to change the "way they work." We just need to get off our damn asses and vote for leaders who will change the way Washington works. The changes affecting our lives would be better compensation for minimum wage earners and more affordable health care & education. Our tax dollars would go for those things instead of corporate welfare and the military industrial complex and bailing out Wall Street after their next fraudulent scheme.

It really isn't that hard, people. Use your brains, apply a little critical thought, and VOTE for candidates who will work on our behalf to make those changes.

The alternative is to continue the downward spiral.