Bernie's strategy.
People are constantly saying Bernie focuses too much on economic issues and ignores social issues. I think some people believe Bernie is so wrapped up in economics that he ignores everything else, that he's too one track minded. A lot of people view Hillary as a strategizer, one who's always playing for an edge, and Bernie as a preacher, someone ground in his beliefs and focused on them. I think a lot of people are selling Bernie short, he's way smarter than that. He's got a brilliant strategy and he's playing it to near perfection.
Bernie is the best candidate on social issues, he's always ahead of the curve and his record is impeccable. So why is he constantly being attacked on social issues? It's not because the attacks are true, they're blatantly false and easily disprovable. The answer is simple, as good as he is on social issues the other Democratic candidates are almost as good. While he might be ahead of the curve, the curve eventually catches up. There's not a whole lot that separates each of them. This is a subject that someone like Hillary (who is the front runner) can exploit to her advantage. If the focus of the campaign is just on social issues then it's hard to make up a lot of ground when there's little difference. The Hillary strategy is to pound social issues and keep Bernie on defending his social stances while she touts hers. Hence the never ending social attacks on Bernie. Her strategy isn't to gain ground (she already has most of it), it's to block him from gaining ground.
While the difference between candidates on social issues might be a razor's edge, the difference on economic issues is a wide chasm. There's no candidate that can come close to competing with him on his economic populism. Bernie knows this. That's why his focus is economics all the time. Oh he'll take the timely dives into social, environmental, and other issues which have always been very important to him, but he refuses to get off message about what truly separates him from the others. He doesn't need to spend all his time defending his social credentials because they're virtually perfect. Besides he has a legion of supporters to prove those credentials every time they're attacked. And contrary to what some people might claim or think he won't ignore social issues in office. He never has.
He has a laser like focus on economics because he knows that no other candidate in either party can come close to him on it. It's that message that is gaining him ground in large chunks and is going to carry him over every other candidate. He's going to keep pounding it until everyone in the country has heard it, with or without the help of the media.
As Bernie supporters it's our job to play defense so he doesn't have to (which shouldn't be too hard since we've got so many stats backing us up). We're the fact checkers and truth tellers. We can't let any smear go unchallenged. We also have to keep getting his message out to everyone so they can see what truly makes him above all the other choices.
Bernie has a strategy. The strategy and the message goes directly against the people who are in control, and it's working. That's what scares them so much.
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It is nothing BUT horse shit.
Of course, we must express more than calling it wrong when talking about Sander's social platform (in order for the mindless programmed message to have a finger poked through that meme).
Sometimes I feel like the social message should appear in the form of Ikea furniture instructions. Picture that!
