2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumPeople who are posting comments stating Bernie won't be able to
accomplish any of his planed policies are forgetting the premise of his campaign. Once he becomes president those who voted for him will have to continue to fight with him to insure his and our plans have the best chance to be accomplished. Sounds like President Obama all over again. Voting is great but if change is to happen we must make it so. Political Revolution, remember.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)What happened to your million millennial march?
2pooped2pop
(5,420 posts)oasis
(49,407 posts)HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)And remember, it wasn't until Bernie's first re-election for the Burlington Mayoral position that he helped double the voter turnout and bring in a slew of progressive legislators. Getting Bernie into office is just the first step.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)pandr32
(11,611 posts)While I agree that Sanders is calling on a "revolution" and acknowledging that he will need one to get (any of) his promises accomplished, I disagree with your faith in his supporters to continue his cause long term. It is unrealistic.
Sanders supporters should not be compared to the majority of Obama's supporters that helped him because they come from a different background. President Obama brought minorities out to vote in record numbers and in spite of efforts to suppress their participation.
The American electorate can be a very fickle group of people, and a large number of Sanders supporters are first-time voters and white. After bills have to undergo modifications before they pass, or fail to pass (almost all of Sanders' over his career) people quickly become disillusioned. Add to that the fact that all Sanders would be able to do as POTUS is to set an agenda and hope that Congress doesn't obstruct him like they did/do with President Obama. Like it or not, Republicans are not going away. After demonizing Democrats most of his long-term political career, Sanders does not have the backing of a Democratic Congress, either.
kacekwl
(7,021 posts)those who voted for him can support the agenda. Our voices can be a very effective tool against an obstructive congress. Social media being what it is can be VERY effective. It does not have to be hard.
pandr32
(11,611 posts)Their "very effective" voices were used to threaten some really good people to support their "it's my way or the highway" agenda. Democracy does not mean that people who can swarm and push should get their way...it means equal representation, which also includes those with views that may be contrary to yours. Believe it or not the Founders put together a two party system to temper each other and to compromise. The only way to move forward is to be inclusive, not exclusive. Setting an agenda that a candidate and their followers might think is in the best interest of the country and the people is one thing, but then getting it accomplished without making concessions is another.
This is why Hillary Clinton has set realistic policy goals that she feels she can bring to fruition--she knows what will work and she has the backing to get it done, and make no mistake...she has the public support of most democrats as well.
kacekwl
(7,021 posts)usually the majority but not necessarily equal. Those who participate in government , make voices heard to those who set policy . The power the voices have could be either economic or political pressure . Policies are changed and acted on for many reasons . The Tea Party was a good idea at the start and could have done much more if the we not corrupted by those who bought them out and had them replaced with loons.
kacekwl
(7,021 posts)The same old status que , the some old policies , the same old people running the government from both parties in to the ground. endless war. My goals are health care for all, education my grandchildren might afford, the possibility I might stop living paycheck to paycheck , I could go on but you get my point.
demwing
(16,916 posts)Can you show us where in the constitution the Founders did this?
What party did Washington belong to? Who was the opposition candidate?
You can't find that info, right?
That's because it's not there.
In fact, the Founding Fathers warned us about the threat from a two party system.
John Adams:
George Washington (in his farewell presidential speech):
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/07/guest-post-the-founding-fathers-tried-to-warn-us-about-the-threat-from-a-two-party-system.html
Now check this article, it's an excellent bit of history!:
Did the Founding Fathers Really Want Two Parties?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/willard-sterne-randall/founding-fathers-political-parties_b_1843593.html
brooklynite
(94,727 posts)and the system said that the candidate with the second-most number of EVs would be Vice-President. The 12th Amendment in 1803 changed the formula to separate Pres and Vires votes, which evolved into Party tickets.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)Thanks, it's always good to start the day with laugh.
uponit7771
(90,363 posts)Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)have been fighting for his policies for more than 40 years. I doubt that we'll stop, whether he wins or loses.
CorporatistNation
(2,546 posts)That is why they must be dispatched in the Primary... Remember Max Baucus... Ran through the Part D legislation then CA$HED IN on his maneuver when he retired to a $4 Million Dollar A Year Pharm Consulting job... No Show No Doubt!
Trajan
(19,089 posts)It seems to only gain traction after regular citizens realize they've been getting reamed ...
If one were to search through my prior posts going years and years past ... you would find a voice asking "Where the FUCK are the promoters of Liberalism? ... Where are the proponents ? .... Where is that thread of knowledge where regular people can hear and understand WHY Liberalism is so important to them and their families ?
I think Bernie is finally that Liberal Oracle who has arrived at the right moment in history ... Without him and his promotion of a vision that replaces the current system with one based on fairness - Collective bargaining for workers, strict laws for banks and the marketplace, and access to high education, to name a few important points ...
Without him and his promotion of a vision that competes with the current status quo promoted by the GOP and the Third Way DNC - We will never take that first step ...
We need a movement .. a Progressive movement based on those ideas ... a movement that young people can understand and adopt as there own .... Where THEY can see themselves as part of a cohesive, whole society, with access to necessary institutions like unionization and education, and where they can break out of the threads of need and want from the past, and to finally make a GOOD life for themselves, their families AND their communities ... We need a POSITIVE vision to embrace ...
Only Bernie has brought this to the fore, and he can be thanked for bringing these issues back into currency .... I've been waiting for a Bernie to arrive for a long while ....
Yes - He needs congressional support ... actually ... we ALL need a congress that supports people and families before the filthy fucking rich .... Bernie is just the start ...
Attorney in Texas
(3,373 posts)after he won.
That's not how FDR got his agenda passed into law. FDR campaigned nonstop for more than a decade.
uponit7771
(90,363 posts)... the historically gerrymandered GOP congress that doesn't work FOR the people who voted for them there's no way they're going to work WITH people who didn't... they don't have to.
Unless the GOP congress is put in jail there's very little probability that a 15% avg majority above the Obama coattails is going to oust them out of position now.
This is one of my biggest rubs of Sanders campaign; ignoring the effects of the GOP congress in his critique of the "status quo" and proffering his supporters can ignore them to in thinking about how his agenda is going to be accomplished.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)[font color=white]......[/font][font size=4]Obama's Army for CHANGE, Jan. 21, 2009[/font]
[font color=white].....................[/font][font size=4]"Oh, What could have been."[/font]
Unfortunately, President Obama disappeared into the Oval Office and left his Army sanding in the streets leaderless while "Teabagger Summer" proceeded without impediment.
Had Obama called, I, and millions of others would have answered,
but instead, we got this:
kacekwl
(7,021 posts)what could have been.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)he made a lot of speeches but was basically a blank screen that let everyone be whipped up to cultish levels
uponit7771
(90,363 posts)... historically gerrymandered GOP congress and dismissive of their effects on Obama's agenda.
That's ok, Sanders will not compromise on not one of the 10,000 tenants of the left...
Not one
firebrand80
(2,760 posts)than a Sanders presidency
Punkingal
(9,522 posts)There could be another.
uponit7771
(90,363 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)is why?
Gothmog
(145,554 posts)baldguy
(36,649 posts)There will be no progressive revolution without a progressive Congress. That means a big-D DEMOCRATIC Congress! If Bernie wins the nomination, there will be no progressive revolution.
What it needs is a successful Presidential campaign along with a successful Congressional campaign.
Than means Hillary Clinton as President and the DNC helping Democratic candidates to win along with America.
kacekwl
(7,021 posts)in the last 7 years. Great plan.
baldguy
(36,649 posts)And proves the Sanders campaign is made up of nothing but empty promises and empty rhetoric.
kacekwl
(7,021 posts)My response is the same , win the presidency and have DNC work to win congress. My point is the DNC has failed miserably in this regard.
uponit7771
(90,363 posts)... no consequence during his term and just "bully pulpit", "revolution", "fight" and mean being the strategy he'll use to get past congress's obstructionism
LWolf
(46,179 posts)or just trying to shove it under the rug and distract.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)ignoring and hoping it will go away.
bowens43
(16,064 posts)there is no one republicans and independents hate more then hillary. If by some miracle she would win the GE they will start impeachment proceedings before she is finished taking the oath. She has more insidious skeletons in her closet then any other politician. They have been planning this for hill for decades. They WANT here to be the nominee so they can crush her once and for all.
Anyone who has been following politics for the last few decades knows that she is very unlikely be president and if elected she will accomplish less than any president in history even once she starts moving further and further to the right...and you know she will.
uponit7771
(90,363 posts)... congress.
Sanders HAS act like congress doesn't exist cause if he doesn't it'll make his critiques of the DNC and Obama seem petulant, which they are.
uponit7771
(90,363 posts)... how will Sanders get anything past a historically gerrymandered congress.
Clinton isn't proffering unicorns